The amazing website TED.com , which really lives up to its tagline "Ideas worth spreading" is hosting a "Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference" in Monterey/California and the best talks are available as video there. You can find really inspiring talks there from poeple like Al Gore , Ray Kurzweil , Lost-Creator J.J. Abrams and many others. Really worth a look.
In February this year there was a talk by brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor called "My stroke of insight ". In the very moving talk she describes a stroke in her brain which totally shut down the left hemisphere of her brain. Then the very interesting thing happening was, despite that she could not talk or recognize any numbers, that she experienced something like a spiritual awakening. What she called Nirvana means the enlightened state or as buddhists describe it as "the perfect peace of the mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflictive states. This peace, which is in reality the fundamental nature of the mind, is revealed when the root causes of the afflictive states are dissolved." (Wikipedia)
Several weeks and a lot of attention later, Jill Bolte Taylor was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on her Soul Series . What seemed to be happening was that her mind shut off the shatter and noice of thinking and went into the state which usually will be experienced through deep meditation and spiritual experiences, realizing Oneness with all. And she shares this stroke of insight as one of the most important insights that could happen to a human being.
If the above video is not working for you, you can watch the video directly on TED.com here .
Comments
5 Comments
Yes indeed a moving talk. The right side of the brain seems to be the part for the present moment, while the left side of the brain is in past and future. She also said this, very interesting.
Saw this talk a while ago. She is very inspiring, hopefully this message comes through to many many people. Thanks for mentioning. Also check out the TED talk from Buddhist Monk Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness here http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness.html
Sorry that the book did not illuminate the 8 years of rehab or whatever she did in her recovery. I was hoping that there would be a lot of insight there too. Also, disappointed that her physical and cognitive problems were coming back on track so quickly because her brain cells really did not die but were simply stunned as she says. This makes her different from a lot of survivors whose cells did die and those people need a way back too. But it is a very different condition then hers. My wife has Cerebral Vasculitis that cause her 12 separate blockages and subsequent physical and cognitive problems that will take the rest of her life to see what comes back.
Can Miss Taylor share with us her rehab stories and what may be the things we need to do that we may not be doing and did her mother stay with her for the eight years. Did she have a 24/7 caregiver and so on.
Thanks
Jake and Jane Osborne
Hi Jake, I’m sure there is also material out there for your questions. Maybe it is possible to get feedback regarding the rehab from her direction.
This article was also focused in the obvious connection between her incident and the experience of awakening.
I wish you and your wife all the best!
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 about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.