Quake3World

Tsakali_ wrote:very romantic story, yet I can't think it's much different than a religious person seeing the virgin mary

[xeno]Julios wrote:

Tsakali_ wrote:very romantic story, yet I can't think it's much different than a religious person seeing the virgin mary

It probably isn't that different. Certain types of experiences which are dubbed "religious" are very concordant with the sort of experience being described in that talk.

The difference is that some people are able to process that experience in a manner which doesn't involve the invocation of things like a bearded man in the clouds.

To experience the oneness and pureness of the right brain, you simply have to temporarily shut of the ramblings of the left brain. This can be done with meditation. Although, this oneness is often experienced as a result of being thrown into it by forces outside of the natural processes of your body acting on you. E.G. a stroke shutting down the left hemisphere thus forcing your right side to take over, or with drugs having a similar effect. When thrown into this experience unexpectedly, clearly it will have a far more profound and amazing effect on you. Wheres if you bring yourself to this state more naturally by meditation or other means, it will never have as great of an impact. From the cultural and ideological interpretation of what kind of experience is more appealing to each individual, the opinion can be formed as to which is "better". Obviously some would prefer the quick fix (and would have to deal with the repercussions of it), whereas others would prefer the more natural holistic route.

Along with all of these ideas, it has to be realized that we ARE whole beings that ARE potentially one with ourselves and the universe. With all mystic, religious, or spiritual labels aside, these are simple concepts that any decent amount objective thought will bring you to the acceptance of (if not true acceptance, then at least the probability of). It would be useless to contemplate restricting our brain usage to one hemisphere over the other, because logically neither would exist in at all the same way without the other already being there. Experience generally shows you that keeping a near balance between any two things is the most beneficial anyway. The brain as a whole is an amazing thing, and each hemisphere is so uniquely powerful that we can only benefit from any combination of their usage.

feedback wrote:oh god, she started crying

life force energy of the universe... fucking hippy

[xeno]Julios wrote:I imagine that much of buddhist medidation (and contemplative traditions in general) have this as a goal - and it seems that such states of mind are inextricably bound to high states of compassion and empathy.

Dave wrote:speaking of L and R brain.. I just found this with google: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/ ... 61,00.html

Interesting... How do you see it?

Transient wrote:I saw counter-clockwise initially, but I was able to see it clockwise after trying. Now I can't see it the other way anymore.

xer0s wrote: Has there ever been any testing done to determine if these buddhist monks can actually shut down a hemisphere during meditation? It would be interesting if they received a CAT scan or an MRI brain scan during heavy meditation to see what is going on in there...

xer0s wrote:

[xeno]Julios wrote:I imagine that much of buddhist medidation (and contemplative traditions in general) have this as a goal - and it seems that such states of mind are inextricably bound to high states of compassion and empathy.

Has there ever been any testing done to determine if these buddhist monks can actually shut down a hemisphere during meditation? It would be interesting if they received a CAT scan or an MRI brain scan during heavy meditation to see what is going on in there...

Geebs wrote:d) people with serious neurological damage can't be trusted with the evidence of their own senses.

Geebs wrote:

Geebs wrote:d) people with serious neurological damage can't be trusted with the evidence of their own senses.

is the point I was making. The flailings of the (compressed) bits of the rest of the brain != nirvana. She was probably also high on a bunch of endogenous opioids

You could, taking a reductionist viewpoint, use this as an equally powerful argument that religious experiences are a sign of being fucked in the head.