What happened when a neuroscientist had a stroke, and the epiphany that followed..

I just wanted to share this with as many people as possible..

Wonderful message, intriguing concept, beautifully articulated.

An excellent book too:

My Stroke of Insight

reply to post by vagabondrobb

Thanks for posting this!
I enjoyed watching it. She really got emotional when she talked about letting go in the ambulance.

You will love this :

reply to post by vagabondrobb


Any chance you can provide a synopsis of the video?

Just to clarify...

reply to post by vagabondrobb



Thank you for posting this.

Even though her voice resembled the characters placed in a movie or tv shows just to annoy the hell out of you, it could be forgiven for the message. Thanks again for the post.

Cheers,
jay

Just to clarify...

reply to post by vagabondrobb
Ummm.....Thank you......just...thank you. I needed that, right then in that moment. It made me realize that I inhabit the right side of my brain predominantly. Everything she explained, I have experianced, not through the vehicle of stroke, but through the core searchings of meditation, through the non selfish bliss of deep spiritual prayer. If I have a message for those of you who have never experianced such inclusivitity then it would be......have patience...have patience with those who have. When you have traveled those byways, it seems like a truncating punishment to step back into the world of the left brain, things are smaller here, more egotistic, more painful, more sorrowed. Often We who inhabit the right side and can step beyond that pale realm of selfish, into wonder and expansive all knowing, of Gnosis, fall short when we return. We sometimes become insufferable persons, disdainful, having shortened patience with others and powerless. Powerless, because we can never convey the totality of what you miss, can not bring you by the hand into wonder, cannot cause you to see with eyes shut and mind quiet and know without thought. If you have ever pondered a place where exploytation does not dwell, where the full entirety of the all is accessable, then there are many ways to reach there. If you would know harmony, peace, love, joy....then there are many who can show you. I could help you, without fee or thought of gain, the only price, a willingness to shed pretension and prejudice and maintain a truly open mind. If you leave aside the I cants or the it's too hards, then you are only a few short steps away. There is no need to meet, or for me to know your name, or for me to know anything about you. There is chat and U2U, again I simply ask patience, It's hard to be here and none have perfected.

YouSir

Thank for you sharing this.
Beautiful.

This experience is always occurring in peoples minds and bodies; most are too distracted by everything else to perceive it. Letting go of everything else to experience whats always there is difficult, because we are constantly trying to control our momentary experience with actions, words or thoughts, instead of just being. Perhaps that will help some recognize and enter and exit the stream at will?

I had a block for 8 years trying to experience it again, after the first time I experienced stream entry during meditation. I thought it was out there somewhere, or it needed certain conditions, morality etc etc, when it is always there no matter what. Some advice I can lend to help recognize that its always there and can be entered; is to try and experience three senses at the same time, such as touch, sight and sound...I discovered doing that; short circuits whatever it is, that covers the stream of bliss up...some call it Mara or the mundane defilement etc. which only confuses it with more duality. With practice you can tune into it as easily as listening carefully, or looking closely.

Wow... That was so moving.

Not sure what to say that hasn't been said so eloquently by her.

Just thank you OP for the video, I'll make sure to pass it on.

A shiny star and a bullet proof flag for you sir.

reply to post by vagabondrobb


I just finished, and highly recommend, the book On Having No Head by Douglas Harding. Here's him describing the experience that resembles the one described here and served as inspiration book:

"What actually happened was something absurdly simple and unspectacular: I stopped thinking. A peculiar quiet, an odd kind of alert limpness or numbness, came over me. Reason and imagination and all mental chatter died down. For once, words really failed me. Past and future dropped away. I forgot who and what I was, my name, manhood, animalhood, all that could be called mine. It was as if I had been born that instant, brand new, mindless, innocent of all memories. There existed only the Now, that present moment and what was clearly given in it. To look was enough. And what I found was khaki trouserlegs terminating downwards in a pair of brown shoes, khaki sleeves terminating sideways in a pair of pink hands, and a khaki shirtfront terminating upwards in—absolutely nothing whatever! Certainly not in a head.

It took me no time at all to notice that this nothing, this hole where a head should have been was no ordinary vacancy, no mere nothing. On the contrary, it was very much occupied. It was a vast emptiness vastly filled, a nothing that found room for everything—room for grass, trees, shadowy distant hills, and far above them snowpeaks like a row of angular clouds riding the blue sky. I had lost a head and gained a world.

It was all, quite literally, breathtaking. I seemed to stop breathing altogether, absorbed in the Given. Here it was, this superb scene, brightly shining in the clear air, alone and unsupported, mysteriously suspended in the void, and (and this was the real miracle, the wonder and delight) utterly free of "me", unstained by any observer. Its total presence was my total absence, body and soul. Lighter than air, clearer than glass, altogether released from myself, I was nowhere around."

more at the link: headless.org...

Great videos really worth of seeing !

Few years ao i watched a documentary of small 6 years old girl who had severe epilepsy seizures and they decided to remove one hemisphere of her brains the right one. After seeing your linked video i wonder what life would be just being "logical" and how she is doing nowadays..

reply to post by vagabondrobb


Great post, Vaga. S&F

Lately I've been thinking about just how powerful (and untapped) our brains are. For most of us, if we see someone vomiting, we have to fight our own urge to puke. We see someone yawn - WE yawn even if we're not tired. These two things, puking and yawning, are not caused by our bodies, but by our brains. Messages are sent from the brain to the stomach to heave up our guts, or to tell our mouths to yawn. And, these things are almost instantaneous. The brain doesn't have to practice for years to master upchucking and mouth-stretching.

That is the power of the brain.

So, why can't we tap into that power? As a smoker for over forty years, why can't I force the brain to immediately stop the urge to light up a cigarette? Why can't I tell it, "When I wake up tomorrow I won't even remember that I ever smoked?"

Why can't overweight people kick their brains into gear to start melting away the body fat?

If our brains can instantly call for something as unpleasant as vomiting, surely there's a way to tap into this power for the good of our bodies. Wouldn't you think?

reply to post by vagabondrobb


Thank you for sharing that incredible video!

Back in high school, when they were teaching me art, part of the time we spent drawing exact objects we saw to trigger the right side of the brain into working for art. I use this now sometimes to get myself into the right brain mode, and until just now, I did not really realize that.

I personally don't think one should choose one side of the brain over the other, the idea, for me anyways, is to meet in the middle, and process information from both. Drawing from both sides, and finding how it fits into my reality.

What an awesome video!

So glad you guys found this interesting and inspiring - sorry about the missing synopsis, I was in a bit of a hurry, and wanted to get it out into the ether, before I forgot.

Personally, I find it incredibly difficult to 'let go' of my analytical left hemisphere. When I sit down to write or concentrate in one particular direction, I become bombarded with a hundred different thought processes, attacking from all angles. On the rare occasion when this onslaught is subdued, usually when I'm sleep deprived, I find I am able to just close my eyes and 'witness' things. I am able to write beautiful poetry, form original ideas and envisage entire visual scenes unfold before me (I'm a filmmaker). It's like I'm suddenly able to perceive a deeper part of my mind, or brain, which is usually obscured by the storm of a thousand questioning rain drops which hammer on the windscreen of my consciousness. I see clearly. I wonder if this wonderful view I am too rarely able to witness, is my 'right side'. And I hadn't thought about it before, but after watching the video, I remembered that yes, that place I am able to go to - boy it's peaceful, a place where nothing matters, a place of peace and understanding.

Incidentally I also came across this article today, with a simple test to determine which hemisphere is most dominant The Right Brain vs Left Brain I discovered that I am predominantly right.. which confuses me slightly, because it sure feels like my left is the boss.

reply to post by vagabondrobb

Thank you for this ... I watched it all ... I have had a similar experience.

In January 1996 I had a closed head trauma that caused a small haemorrhage to the Internal Capsule, one of the inner 'onion' layers of the brain. This effectively shut off communication to areas of the left hemisphere and left frontal lobe of my brain.

Until about five years ago I lived with inner silence. I also lost all sense of concern and the capacity for fear.

The switching between left and right is hard to describe because when I was in the right side I needed the left side to describe it in detail and when I was in the left side it was hard to recall and it was a struggle just to process the necessary things to manage basic life functions.

It has been a long journey back and have made more progress in the last two years than the previous twelve due to some quite serendipitous discoveries.