I am reading a fascinating book entitled My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Taylor. Jill was working as a brain scientist at Harvard, when she awoke one morning to the terrible pain of a stroke. She was hemorrhaging blood on the left side of her brain. The book is about that experience and her recovery.
Jill explains some things about the left and right sides of our brains. The left brain houses our linguistic abilities, our calculating abilities, our analytical judgment. When Jill lost those functions, they were replaced by an incredible inner peace, euphoria, and bliss (she also uses the terms "grace" and "Nirvana." She had no verbal cues, but also no lifetime of emotional baggage. The right side of our brains gives us our ability to understand big picture concepts and ideas. Normally there is a constant interaction between our left and right hemispheres. Jill lost that.
Did you know that each of us has approximately 50 trillion cells in our bodies? That most of us have nearly identical brains? It is the 0.01 percent in which we are different, that creates all the fun in the world. Viva la difference! That all living things, including plants, animals and humans share a common DNA? (and, I might add, a common Creator)!
Speaking of our Creator, I found it interesting that Ms. Taylor referred to the "Great Spirit." With only her right brain functioning, she felt "at one with the universe," and a "glorious bliss." Could the right brain be the place where our soul is housed?
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