這幾天，我每天都不亦樂乎地穿梭於幾十篇茶軒高手們關於信仰，宗教和精神話題的帖子和討論之中。
信仰和精神一向是我非常感興趣的話題。在眾多的討論中，spirituality這個詞好像沒有被怎麽提及過，或者它也是被提到過，隻是因為spirituality這個詞包含太廣，所以我還未見到一個確切的中文翻譯。我想，spirituality可以指信仰，可以指精神，但它包括的還有一種靈性。
一個spiritual being不一定屬於任何宗教，但是,她是相信更高智慧生命(a higher intelligence)或者超自然力量的存在的。這個更高智慧可以被稱為上帝，也可以被稱為真主或者其它。這個相信也就是她靈性表現的一方麵。除了靈性方麵，一個spiritual being思索和探求的是生命的意義感，目的感和使命感，她追求的是自我認識，自我完善和自我超越。這就是我對spirituality很簡單的一個說法。
在眾多的帖子裏，我看到的主題是一種對spirituality 的追求和探索。在此，我也貢獻一篇自己剛剛翻譯完的文章。這篇演講文章很有意思，它講的是一個科學家無意間在自己腦中風經曆中所感受到的spirituality, 她在文中稱之為涅盤（Nirvana）。因為演講者（Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor）是一位腦學家的原故，所以她講的spirituality是從科學的方麵來描述的，她的經曆更進一步地證明了科學和spirituality兩者之間緊密相連的關係。
我不是專業的翻譯家，而且，因為翻得匆忙，所以請大家閱讀的時候多加包含。在翻譯的過程中，我覺得她用的一些詞或者概念與佛家的一些觀點或是語言很是相近。因為我自己的佛教知識很是貧乏，所以，歡迎大家對我的一些詞的譯法提建議。
（題外話，她對左腦，右腦的解釋和描述還使我聯想起壇裏的一篇關於文理科分科的文章。基於我以前讀的一些材料，我在這方麵的理解大概是，理科牽涉到較多左腦擁有的功能，而文科運用更多右腦的功能。讀了這篇文章後，我更覺得如果要培養一個全麵發展的人，平衡教育是多麽的重要。）
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天賜的機遇 - 一個腦學家從自己腦中風經曆中得到的啟示
翻譯：潔心
演講前言
神經生理學家吉爾.泰勒有過一次腦學家夢寐以求的機遇。她經曆過一次大中風。在這個中風的過程中，她親身體驗到她的腦功能從語言，運動到信息處理，一個接一個逐漸消失的經過。她牢牢地記住並且研究了這每一個瞬間。這是一個非常動人而且極具感染力的故事，從這個故事中，我們更加清楚了大腦在把個人與世界，及他人銜接起來而充當的角色。
Dr. Taylor 的演講稿
由於我的一個患神經分裂症的哥哥的原因，我從小就立誌要成為一名腦學家。作為他的妹妹以及一名科學家，我一直想知道為什麽我能夠把我的想法與我的現實生活環境銜接掛鉤，繼而把我的意願付諸實行，而我的哥哥卻不能夠把他的想法與眾所皆知的現實連接，反之, 他的想法卻更象是一種幻覺。
我由此而決定獻身自己於精神病方麵的研究。為了能夠在哈佛大學精神係佛郎西 本博士的實驗室裏進行研究工作，我從印第安納州搬到波士頓。在實驗過程中，我們經常問這樣的問題，正常人的腦子與精神病患者的腦子在生理上到底有什麽區別？
我們繪製出腦神經的地圖，研究腦細胞之間的聯絡交流，以及促成這種聯絡的化學基因。這個研究工作使我的生命充滿意義。下班之後，我還去為美國精神病患者同盟會做義務工作。
一九九六年十二月十日早晨，我從一覺醒來後，發現自己的大腦發生了問題。我的左腦裏的一根腦血管崩裂了。在接下來的四個小時裏，我靜靜地觀察著我的大腦失去信息處理功能的全部過程。那個早晨，我失去了走路，說話，讀寫和記憶的功能。從實質上來說，我變成了一個擁有成人身體的嬰兒。
如果你看見過大腦是什麽樣的話，那麽你就知道左半腦和右半腦是完全隔離分開的。（拿起一個模型）這裏展示的是一個人類大腦的模型。這個是大腦的前邊，在大腦的後側垂下來的是脊髓。很明顯，這兩個腦皮層是完全分開的。如果借用電腦的術語來解釋大腦的功能，那麽我們右腦的功能就好比一個並行處理器，而我們的左腦的功能更類似於串型處理器。這兩個半腦是通過胼胝體來進行交流的, 胼胝體是由三億個軸突神經纖維組成的。除此以外，這兩個半腦是完全分開的。由於兩個半腦處理信息的過程不同，因此，它們分類管理的事也不同。它們各有各的個性。
我們的右半腦管理的是處於當下發生的事。它的注意力是集中在目前，當下的狀況中。右半腦的思維是圖像思維，它的認知過程是通過一種動覺。外在的信息是以能量一般的形式通過我們的感官而進入我們的內部。進入以後，這種代表當下狀況的信息會被處理，放大成為類似組合圖一般的圖像來描繪當下的這一刻。這個描繪包括當下瞬間收集到的關於嗅覺，味覺，感覺以及聽覺上的信息。做為一個人，我自認是一個由氣能量組成的生存物，我是通過我右半腦的知覺與我周圍環境中其它的氣能量（指其他人和天地自然之氣）鏈接在一起的。 我們每個人都是由氣組成的生物，我們都是通過我們右半腦的知覺而相連在一起的人類大家庭。此時此地，我們都是這個地球上的兄弟姐妹，在這裏一起工作，生活使這個世界變得更美好。此時此刻，我們是完整，美好，無暇的。
我的左腦是一個截然不同的地方。左腦的思維方式是線型的，是有規律的。我們的左腦關心的是過去和未來。左腦的主要功能就是從在右腦繪畫出來的這個圖像裏提煉出種種詳情細節，然後把這種詳情細節歸納分類，之後，左腦再把這種經過分類後的細節性的信息與我們的過去聯係在一起，以預測將來要發生的種種可能。左腦的認知過程是通過語言。是那從左腦裏產生出來的喋喋不休的念頭和自言自語把我和我的內心世界與外在世界聯係在一起的。是我腦子裏的小聲音在對我說：“不要忘了在回家的路上去買些香蕉，放在明天早上吃。”是同樣的這一種具有計劃性的智能提醒我該什麽時侯洗衣服了。但它首當其衝的重要性在於，是這個小聲音在對我說，“我是。我是。”每當我的左腦對我說：“我是，”的時侯，我就馬上變成一個單獨存在的個體，一個實實在在的，獨立的，與環繞我周圍的氣能量分離的個人。
大中風的那個早晨，我喪失的就是來自於這個部分的大腦功能。
那天早上，我從一個來自於我左眼的陣痛中醒來。這種痛好似於你在吃冰淇淋的時侯感受到的一種突如其來的痛。它是間或揪心，間或放開，一緊一鬆的一種痛。一般來說，我從來沒有經曆過什麽疼痛。當時，我決定還是按照原定的計劃辦事。起床後，我開始在我的滑翔健身機上健身。運動的時侯，我低頭看著自己的手，突然意識到我的雙手好似兩個抓在橫杆上的原始人的爪子。我覺得很奇怪，然後開始低頭觀察自己的身體，我覺得自己的外表很是怪異。那一時，我的意識，知覺好似開始脫離我原本熟悉的對現實生活規律的認識和理解，我的知覺從一個在健身器上做運動的人的角度變成了一個目擊自己做運動的知覺。
這所有發生的一切都是那麽奇怪，與此同時，我的頭痛也開始在加劇。於是，我決定停止運動走下健身器，當我走過客廳的時侯，我意識到自己身體內部的一切正在急劇地緩慢下來。踏出的每一步都是那麽僵硬，那麽審慎。走路的速度也毫無流慣性，我的知覺好像是被什麽壓迫著，我的注意力也因此而集中在自己身體的內部組織裏。當我準備走進淋浴的時侯，我可以真實地聽見自己內部組織係統的對白。我聽見一個小聲音在說：“準備好了，這部分的肌肉組織需要收縮，那部分的肌肉組織需要放鬆。”
一時間，我失去了重心，當我倚靠在牆的一側的時侯，我低頭打量著自己的手臂，突然意識到自己不能夠明確劃分自己身體的邊界和範圍。我劃分不清自己身體在外在環境稱托下的開端和終點。因為組成我手臂的分子和原子和組成牆壁的分子和原子已經混合在一起了。我唯一能夠覺察到的是一股氣能量。我自問：“我怎麽了，發生什麽事了？”那一刻，我腦中的念頭，左腦中貫有的自言自語已經完全靜默消失了。就好像有人在遙控器上按了一下靜音按鈕。
起初，我震驚地發現自己的腦子裏是多麽的寂靜。然後，我的注意力馬上就被身邊那股宏偉壯麗的氣所吸引住。因為我已經不能夠再區分自己身體所屬的範圍和與外界之間的邊界，我陡然覺得自己是無比的寬闊巨大。我覺得自身和周圍的一切已經溶為一體了，這是一件多麽美妙的事。
霎那間，我的左半腦恢複了它的功能，它對我說：“我們有麻煩了，我們有麻煩了，我們應該馬上去求救。”如此這般，我的知覺功能又蘇醒了過來。我對這之前所經曆處在的那個腦海空間的昵稱是香格裏拉。那是一個多麽美麗的地方。設想一個和你的雜念和喋喋不休的自我對話完全脫離的地方。在那個空間裏，所有生活上和工作上的壓力和緊張都隨之消失。我覺得輕鬆非凡。設想世上所有因為關係（指人與人，人與環境之間的關係）而引起的壓力和憂慮都溶化消失。那一刻，我覺得非常的平和寧靜，就好似37年來我一直背著的所有的包袱都被卸了下來。正當我完全陶醉在這愉快的感覺的時侯，我的左半腦開始複蘇，督促我集中思想去尋求援助。我走出淋浴間開始著裝。循徊在我的公寓中，我自思該是時侯去上班了，並且自問有沒有開車的能力？
正在這個時侯，我的右臂突然麻痹，我由此而意識到自己是中風了。但是，我的反應卻是：“這實在是太棒了，有多少腦學家有這樣的機會可以從一個來自內側的角度來研究自己的大腦？”
與此同時，又一個念頭閃過我的頭腦：“但我是一個很忙碌的人。我中不起這個風啊！”我又想到：“好吧，我也沒有能力阻止這個中風的發生，那就讓自己病一兩個星期吧，過了以後我就可以再繼續工作。”
於是，我決定打電話去公司求助。但我記不起公司的電話號碼。有幸的是，我的書房裏有一張公司名片。於是，我走進書房裏找到一堆三寸厚的名片。盡管在腦海中，我能夠清晰地看到自己的名片，但是當我凝視著那張躺在最上麵的名片的時候，我卻不能判斷那是不是自己要找的那張，因為從我眼裏看出的都是像素（屏幕上的小點）。而且，那些組成字的像素，背景的像素，還有組成符號的像素都混雜在一起了，我什麽都分不清。於是，我決定等待自己腦子清醒的那一刻，我料想，到那時我就又可以找回自己原有的正常的知覺和思維，以便我與自己熟悉的那個世界，那個現實再次接軌，我也可以分清哪一張名片是我要找的。45分鍾後，我慢慢整頓了約莫一寸厚的名片。
在這45分鍾的同時，我的左半腦的內出血也越來越大。我失去了讀數字的能力，我不懂電話（指電話上的數字），但打電話求助是我唯一的計劃。於是，我一邊拿著電話，一邊看著名片，試圖著比較名片上和電話上號碼的形狀和筆畫。但是在這期間，我又會時不時，迷迷糊糊地飄回到那個香格裏拉的地方，等我再回到現實的時侯，我卻又不記得自己到底撥了哪些數字。
我隻能用自己麻木，好似殘肢的手臂來蓋住那些已經被撥過的號碼。等我下一次再回到那個正常的現實中來的時侯，我就知道自己撥號碼的進程了。最終，我成功地接通了電話，我的同事接了線。但是，從電話的這一端，他的嗓音聽上去卻像是如同“喔喔喔喔”一般的聲音。我以為他聽上去象個金毛狗。在我的腦海中，我清晰地覺得自己在對他說：“我是吉爾！我需要救助！”但是，從我的喉嚨裏發出聲音的卻是：“喔喔喔喔。”這下子，我的聲音聽上去也象是一個金毛狗了。當時，我並不知道自己已經失去了聽講語言的功能。
我的同事意識到事情的嚴重性，於是他找來人援救了我。不多久，救護車送著我開去了麻省綜合醫院，我的身體蜷縮得像是一個胎兒。我感覺到自己身體裏的氣開始消失，就好像是一個氫氣球在泄氣的時侯被癟幹內裏最後的一點氣，與此同時， 我感覺到自己的靈魂也在脫離。那一刻，我意識到自己不再是自己命運的主宰者。除非醫生把我搭救回來，予我第二次機會，不然，這一刻就是我過渡（到另一世界）的時分。
那天下午，我醒來後驚訝的發現自己還活著。當我感覺到自己靈魂在脫離的時侯，我已經對自己的生活做了道別，此時，我的神誌還懸浮在這兩個大相徑庭的事實裏。外界的感官刺激為我帶來（肉體上的）痛苦。亮光象野火一般燃燒著我的腦子，聲響是那麽的震耳欲聾，雜亂無章，我無法從背景聲中分辨出嗓音，這一切使我隻想逃脫。因為我不能確認自己的身體在空間裏所處的是哪一個位置，我覺得自己非常曠闊巨大，就好象是一千零一夜裏瓶中精靈從瓶子裏被解放時一般。我的靈魂像是一條沉醉於翩躚大海的鯨魚一般的飛舞高揚著。我記得自己當時在想，龐大的自己無論如何也是再也擠塞不進那麽小的一個肉體裏了。
但是與此同時，我意識到，自己還活著，活著而且已經找到了涅盤（梵語）。如果我活著並且找到了涅盤，那麽，每個活著的人都可以找到涅盤。我想象著一個充滿美麗，和平，慈善，友愛的人類的世界。他們知道，自己隨時都可以走進那個香格裏拉的地方。他們可以選擇走進那個在左半腦右邊的空間並且在那兒找到安詳寧靜。那一刻，我認識到，這場經曆是多麽可貴的一個天賜，那麽樣的一個關於怎樣充分生活的領悟。這個意念激勵著我康複的欲望。
中風後的兩個半星期，在開刀的時侯，外科醫生從我的腦子裏取出了一塊緊壓著我大腦語言係統中心的，相當於高爾夫球大小的血塊。我的康複花了整整八年的時間。
那麽，我們究竟是什麽（人到底是什麽）？我們是宇宙的生命力，有著靈巧的雙手和兩個具有認知能力的半腦。每時每刻，我們都有自我選擇的能力，選擇在這個世上做一個怎樣的人。此時此刻，我可以走進我的右半腦的意識形態 - 就象這樣 - 我是 - 這個宇宙的生命力，也是五十兆個組成我的軀體的，天賦的，美麗的分子，我和（宇宙間）所有的一切都是水乳交融，渾然一體的。或者，我也可以走進我的左半腦的意識形態，變成為一個個體，一個實實在在，與外界完全分離，與你完全分離的個體。我是吉爾 波特 泰勒博士，知識分子，神經生理學家。這些(指頭銜或標簽)就是我內中的“我們”。
那麽，你要選擇什麽？哪一個是你要選擇的？什麽時侯你會做這種選擇？我相信，如果你選擇用更多的時間生活在象存在你右腦裏一樣的那種內心寧靜平安的狀態裏，那麽每個人的平靜內心就會使得更多的安寧被反射到這個世界上，我們的世界就會變得更加和睦。我由此而認為，這是一個值得傳播的信念。
English Version - Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight
演講前言
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story of recovery and awareness -- of how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another
Dr. Taylor的演講
I grew up to study the brain because I have a brother who has been diagnosed with a brain disorder, schizophrenia. And as a sister and as a scientist, I wanted to understand, why is it that I can take my dreams, I can connect them to my reality, and I can make my dreams come true -- what is it about my brother's brain and his schizophrenia that he cannot connect his dreams to a common, shared reality, so they instead become delusions?
So I dedicated my career to research into the severe mental illnesses. And I moved from my home state of
So we were essentially mapping the microcircuitry of the brain, which cells are communicating with which cells, with which chemicals, and then with what quantities of those chemicals. So there was a lot of meaning in my life because I was performing this kind of research during the day. But then in the evenings and on the weekends I traveled as an advocate for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
But on the morning of
If you've ever seen a human brain, it's obvious that the two hemispheres are completely separate from one another. And I have brought for you a real human brain. [Thanks.] So, this is a real human brain. This is the front of the brain, the back of the brain with a spinal cord hanging down, and this is how it would be positioned inside of my head. And when you look at the brain, it's obvious that the two cerebral cortices are completely separate from one another. For those of you who understand computers, our right hemisphere functions like a parallel processor. While our left hemisphere functions like a serial processor. The two hemispheres do communicate with one another through the corpus callosum, which is made up of some 300 million axonal fibers. But other than that, the two hemispheres are completely separate. Because they process information differently, each hemisphere thinks about different things, they care about different things, and dare I say, they have very different personalities. [Excuse me. Thank you. It's been a joy.]
Our right hemisphere is all about this present moment. It's all about right here right now. Our right hemisphere, it thinks in pictures and it learns kinesthetically through the movement of our bodies. Information in the form of energy streams in simultaneously through all of our sensory systems. And then it explodes into this enormous collage of what this present moment looks like. What this present moment smells like and tastes like, what it feels like and what it sounds like. I am an energy being connected to the energy all around me through the consciousness of my right hemisphere. We are energy beings connected to one another through the consciousness of our right hemispheres as one human family. And right here, right now, all we are brothers and sisters on this planet, here to make the world a better place. And in this moment we are perfect. We are whole. And we are beautiful.
My left hemisphere is a very different place. Our left hemisphere thinks linearly and methodically. Our left hemisphere is all about the past, and it's all about the future. Our left hemisphere is designed to take that enormous collage of the present moment. And start picking details and more details and more details about those details. It then categorizes and organizes all that information. Associates it with everything in the past we've ever learned and projects into the future all of our possibilities. And our left hemisphere thinks in language. It's that ongoing brain chatter that connects me and my internal world to my external world. It's that little voice that says to me, "Hey, you gotta remember to pick up bananas on your way home, and eat 'em in the morning." It's that calculating intelligence that reminds me when I have to do my laundry. But perhaps most important, it's that little voice that says to me, "I am. I am." And as soon as my left hemisphere says to me "I am," I become separate. I become a single solid individual separate from the energy flow around me and separate from you.
And this was the portion of my brain that I lost on the morning of my stroke.
On the morning of the stroke, I woke up to a pounding pain behind my left eye. And it was the kind of pain, caustic pain, that you get when you bite into ice cream. And it just gripped me and then it released me. Then it just gripped me and then released me. And it was very unusual for me to experience any kind of pain, so I thought OK, I'll just start my normal routine. So I got up and I jumped onto my cardio glider, which is a full-body exercise machine. And I'm jamming away on this thing, and I'm realizing that my hands looked like primitive claws grasping onto the bar. I thought "that's very peculiar" and I looked down at my body and I thought, "whoa, I'm a weird-looking thing." And it was as though my consciousness had shifted away from my normal perception of reality, where I'm the person on the machine having the experience, to some esoteric space where I'm witnessing myself having this experience.
And it was all every peculiar and my headache was just getting worse, so I get off the machine, and I'm walking across my living room floor, and I realize that everything inside of my body has slowed way down. And every step is very rigid and very deliberate. There's no fluidity to my pace, and there's this constriction in my area of perceptions so I'm just focused on internal systems. And I'm standing in my bathroom getting ready to step into the shower and I could actually hear the dialog inside of my body. I heard a little voice saying, "OK, you muscles, you gotta contract, you muscles you relax."
And I lost my balance and I'm propped up against the wall. And I look down at my arm and I realize that I can no longer define the boundaries of my body. I can't define where I begin and where I end. Because the atoms and the molecules of my arm blended with the atoms and molecules of the wall. And all I could detect was this energy. Energy. And I'm asking myself, "What is wrong with me, what is going on?" And in that moment, my brain chatter, my left hemisphere brain chatter went totally silent. Just like someone took a remote control and the mute button and -- total silence.
And at first I was shocked to find myself inside of a silent mind. But then I was immediately captivated by the magnificence of energy around me. And because I could no longer identify the boundaries of my body, I felt enormous and expansive. I felt at one with all the energy that was, and it was beautiful there.
Then all of a sudden my left hemisphere comes back online and it says to me, "Hey! we got a problem, we got a problem, we gotta get some help." So it's like, OK, OK, I got a problem, but then I immediately drifted right back out into the consciousness, and I affectionately referred to this space as La La Land. But it was beautiful there. Imagine what it would be like to be totally disconnected from your brain chatter that connects you to the external world. So here I am in this space and any stress related to my, to my job, it was gone. And I felt lighter in my body. And imagine all of the relationships in the external world and the many stressors related to any of those, they were gone. I felt a sense of peacefulness. And imagine what it would feel like to lose 37 years of emotional baggage! I felt euphoria. Euphoria was beautiful -- and then my left hemisphere comes online and it says "Hey! you've got to pay attention, we've got to get help," and I'm thinking, "I got to get help, I gotta focus." So I get out of the shower and I mechanically dress and I'm walking around my apartment, and I'm thinking, "I gotta get to work, I gotta get to work, can I drive? can I drive?"
And in that moment my right arm went totally paralyzed by my side. And I realized, "Oh my gosh! I'm having a stroke! I'm having a stroke!" And the next thing my brain says to me is, "Wow! This is so cool. This is so cool. How many brain scientists have the opportunity to study their own brain from the inside out?"
And then it crosses my mind: "But I'm a very busy woman. I don't have time for a stroke!" So I'm like, "OK, I can't stop the stroke from happening so I'll do this for a week or two, and then I'll get back to my routine, OK."
So I gotta call help, I gotta call work. I couldn't remember the number at work, so I remembered, in my office I had a business card with my number on it. So I go in my business room, I pull out a 3-inch stack of business cards. And I'm looking at the card on top, and even though I could see clearly in my mind's eye what my business card looked like, I couldn't tell if this was my card or not, because all I could see were pixels. And the pixels of the words blended with the pixels of the background and the pixels of the symbols, and I just couldn't tell. And I would wait for what I call a wave of clarity. And in that moment, I would be able to reattach to normal reality and I could tell, that's not the card, that's not the card, that's not the card. It took me 45 minutes to get one inch down inside of that stack of cards.
In the meantime, for 45 minutes the hemorrhage is getting bigger in my left hemisphere. I do not understand numbers, I do not understand the telephone, but it's the only plan I have. So I take the phone pad and I put it right here, I'd take the business card, I'd put it right here, and I'm matching the shape of the squiggles on the card to the shape of the squiggles on the phone pad. But then I would drift back out into La La Land, and not remember when I come back if I'd already dialed those numbers.
So I had to wield my paralyzed arm like a stump, and cover the numbers as I went along and pushed them, so that as I would come back to normal reality I'd be able to tell, yes, I've already dialed that number. Eventually the whole number gets dialed, and I'm listening to the phone, and my colleague picks up the phone and he says to me, "Whoo woo wooo woo woo." [laughter] And I think to myself, "Oh my gosh, he sounds like a golden retriever!" And so I say to him, clear in my mind I say to him. "This is Jill! I need help!" And what comes out of my voice is, "Whoo woo wooo woo woo." I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, I sound like a golden retriever." So I couldn't know, I didn't know that I couldn't speak or understand language until I tried.
So he recognizes that I need help, and he gets me help. And a little while later, I am riding in an ambulance from one hospital across
When I awoke later that afternoon I was shocked to discover that I was still alive. When I felt my spirit surrender, I said goodbye to my life, and my mind is now suspended between two very opposite planes of reality. Stimulation coming in through my sensory systems felt like pure pain. Light burned my brain like wildfire and sounds were so loud and chaotic that I could not pick a voice out from the background noise and I just wanted to escape. Because I could not identify the position of my body in space, I felt enormous and expensive, like a genie just liberated from her bottle. And my spirit soared free like a great whale gliding through the sea of silent euphoria. Harmonic. I remember thinking there's no way I would ever be able to squeeze the enormousness of myself back inside this tiny little body.
But I realized "But I'm still alive! I'm still alive and I have found Nirvana. And if I have found Nirvana and I'm still alive, then everyone who is alive can find Nirvana." I picture a world filled with beautiful, peaceful, compassionate, loving people who knew that they could come to this space at any time. And that they could purposely choose to step to the right of their left hemispheres and find this peace. And then I realized what a tremendous gift this experience could be, what a stroke of insight this could be to how we live our lives. And it motivated my to recover.
Two and a half weeks after the hemorrhage, the surgeons went in and they removed a blood clot the size of a golf ball that was pushing on my language centers. Here I am with my mama, who's a true angel in my life. It took me eight years to completely recover.
So who are we? We are the life force power of the universe, with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. And we have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world. Right here right now, I can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere where we are -- I am -- the life force power of the universe, and the life force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form. At one with all that is. Or I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere. where I become a single individual, a solid, separate from the flow, separate from you. I am Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, intellectual, neuroanatomist. These are the "we" inside of me.
Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when? I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world and the more peaceful our planet will be. And I thought that was an idea worth spreading.
Video Link of Dr Taylor’s Speech: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
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