The most promising concept I learned out of Taylor’s TED talk is the importance both halves of the brain play in human existence. In particular, I am fascinated by the connection the right hemisphere has to the “nirvana” or “la-la land” connection in our lives. You see, when she was talking about her awareness at leaving her body and moving into the nirvana state, I found it interesting that as a scientist she did not specifically call it what many others might refer to as, this being “heaven.” And yet, here is a case where a well-trained, knowledgeable and respected scientist acknowledges that which cannot be explained in logical reasoning. In other words, as she mentions how these two hemispheres work so well together, what she is really saying is that the “heaven/nirvana” side (the right) and the other the “earth bound/human form” side (the left) must work together for full existence. In addition, I was intrigued with the connection of “we” being a part of the right/heaven/nirvana/experiential/sensing/energy side of our being, while the “I” side is the left/earth/human form/linear/methodical/thinking/single existence.
For me, this makes me consider much more outside myself. As I see it, I cannot be completely a full “brain” if I do not exist in both planes. And that goes for everyone I interact with too. For as much as I am a single entity, in reality without the whole of all energies (people, plants, animals, physical energies) then ironically I do not exist. What this says to me is that the “I” can only exist in the “we.” And for Taylor, because she reached out to the “we,” she was able to save her “I,” and interestingly enough, it is the scientist in her that recognized that she needed the “we” to be her “I.”
References
TED. (February 2008). Jill Bolte Taylor: My Stroke of Insight [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.
