Right brain the way to the numinous?

Just saw a fantastic video from the TED website. Link is here www.ted.com...

There's a related thread in bts about the speaker Jill Bolte Taylor. However I would like to discuss more about how it could relate to paranormal experiences.

Could it be that most forms of religious experiences/oobe/ap could simply be a function of heightened access to the right brain either by training/malfunction? Eg. religious ecstacies experienced by the really devout etc

Could quick lobotomies be the choice of the future for instant numinousity for the mtv generation? j/k

Oh and lastly, anyone could give me some resources on how to go about improving my right brain functions?

PS: am reading Eckhart Tolle's Power of Now...now, in the introduction it seems as if he might have had a mini stroke too! j/k

PSS: Sorry edited the post, changed nirvana to numinous.

[edit on 26-5-2008 by postmeme]

[edit on 26-5-2008 by postmeme]

You can start by meditating. That allows you to access a different part of your consciousness.. which is a right brain thing. A visit to the local bookstore is a good start.. Go to the alternative religion/occult section.. they always have good books on the mind and psychic development.

[edit on 26-5-2008 by Lantian]

Meditation is clearing the mind of all thoughts and emotions for a prolonged period. Do that enough, and your mind will become "flat" and "emotionless" permanently. That is called nirvana.



NOT something to go looking for.

Oops maybe nirvana wasn't the really right word to use. Need to learn more grammer heh.

I think what I wanted to say was that I'm beginning to feel that if one would want to experience the numinous (hmm right word?), one should try training to access the right brain freely & maybe thats where the religious ecstacies of the various religions could be coming from.

Edit: Changed nirvana to numinous in original post.

[edit on 26-5-2008 by postmeme]

reply to post by postmeme


Ah,lobotomy's as a good thing, wondered when I'd see that role around again.

Well, i'm already left handed, and I spend about as much time daydreaming as I can, so I should have a pretty good head start. As for meditation, well, it doesn't really help me that much.

Could it be that most forms of religious experiences/oobe/ap could simply be a function of heightened access to the right brain either by training/malfunction?

Beware: there is nothing simple about it - except to the "simple"...

(Just to avoid misunderstanding: I don't mean you, I don't even know you; I mean various"researchers" of phenomena that clearly escape their span of thought and action.)

Originally posted by postmeme
Oops maybe nirvana wasn't the really right word to use. Need to learn more grammer heh.

I think what I wanted to say was that I'm beginning to feel that if one would want to experience the numinous (hmm right word?), one should try training to access the right brain freely & maybe thats where the religious ecstacies of the various religions could be coming from.

No, the organ of cognition - REAL cognition - is the heart.
(Although there ARE "auxiliary" organs, if you will.)

It is clearly stated and described as such in many, many writings by people who have experienced it themselves.

You can choose to believe them or not.
It won't make a difference as far as the truth is concerned. :-)





[edit on 26-5-2008 by Vanitas]

www.mp3lyrics.org...


Lobotomy, lobotomy, lobotomy, lobotomy!
DDT did a job on me
Now I am a real sickie
Guess I'll have to break the news
That I got no mind to lose
All the girls are in love with me
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/FbpR ]
I'm a teenage lobotomy

Slugs and snails are after me
DDT keeps me happy
Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em
That I got no cerebellum
Gonna get my Ph.D.
I'm a teenage lobotomy

Huge Ramones fan. I am left handed in some things. Right handed in others. I golf righty, frisbee righty, eat lefty and most other things lefty. I think that is why I am so 'confused' most of the time. Arm swilling ambidextrous though.

Hahaha that was one reply I wasn't expecting, made me laugh out loud.

More people are posting about Jill Bolte Taylor in the other forums as well as more people watched the video clip. Actually I wasn't sure whether I should have posted this in the paranormal forum or the medical one...

Anyhow, did some more thinking & wanted to post some of my previous experiences on this & why I posted the topic.

About 6 months back or so, I had a lucid dream which I hadn't been actively seeking. It was one of the most successful ones, achieving flight & with it, the most intense feeling of joy ever, like really a rush of euphoria. Waking up, everything seemed brighter & more alive. It was a definite rush. Reading Tolle, I really found a similarity in his opening paragraph.

After that I was reading Chin Ning Chu. In the section titled the art of breathing, there was an emphasis on observing the space where inhalation met exhalation, about 12 fingers from the nostril, she called it "the gate to the mystery of this universe and beyond". In the section, title courting blissful oblivion, she says not to focus on the joy of orgasm but rather the source of orgasm. And coincidentally it seemed to be in the same space. Maybe it's the pituary gland or hypothalamus.

So I've been following a bit of each & recently, while dozing on a lazy afternoon, I actually felt a tickle in my brain, much like a sneeze. I relaxed & just let it continue on until it felt like my whole brain was ticklish...very enjoyable until I realised I can't really stop it. It was a bit like remembering the memory of an orgasm. Panicked a bit because it didn't seem to stop and thats when it shut down pretty abruptly.

Anyway point I'm trying to make is, what if everything seemingly mystical or paranormal is simply an activation of the right side of the brain? Feelings of bliss or encountering the numinous might simply be your brain activating the g-spot in your brain...

What if there's no external phenomenon happening & everything is pretty much internal phenomenon?

Anyway, after that tickling incident, somehow I kind of forgot about it until I saw the TED presentation by Jill. Think I'm gonna start exploring again.

Think the ancient yogis or tibetan monks might simply have been chasing after their version of runner's high, bliss from within rather than without.

If everyone could learn this, there will not be a need for illegal drugs, there'd be less crime maybe, everyone can be happy when they want to be...

Sorry for the rambling post

PS: by the way, is it possible to develop a resistance to too much endorphins? or is there any danger if you leave the endorphins running on 24/7?

[edit on 27-5-2008 by postmeme]

imho, Dr Taylor is reaching so far as to becoming a cult zombie,
both her and I shared a similar brain hemorrhage experience,
but her 'road to damascus' epiphany moment is devolving into a metaphysical morass.


i agree that what she experienced is essentially the founational building blocks of what has become organized religion. The religion 'story' was built on the mystical & otherworldlyness of that almost inexpressable state of being we sometimes find ourselves in.

transcendance, awe, disassociation from the mundane body,
becoming a nebulous presence outside of and 'above' the dull, boring, insignificant world of reality

yeah, that's there...if one wants to dwell on the state of being, and covets the rewarding feeling of experiencing that tranquil state...
Dr Taylor seems to want to recapture that 'high', just like a dope junkie habit.
I myself chose to immerse myself in the wonder of restacking the building blocks which leads to knowledge, experiences, and generally growing my feeble intelligence & share the observation/experience with interested parties... as opposed to Dr Taylors 'evangelizing'


thats my bucket of water on the subject