Dying Pansy I
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few of us would wish for: a massive stroke. What she learned from it about the right and left brains seems relevant to all of us, and I'm passing it on here.
Her experience also sounds loosely parallel to two experiences I have had, and it has echoes in my experience of making art and being affected by it.
In my case, after a week at a meditation retreat, the death by suicide of a close friend, and two weeks with pneumonia, I had the sense Bolte describes, for about 45 minutes, of being one with the mass of particles and energy that make up the cosmos. It was as if everything looked like a pointillist painting, and so did I, though things still looked literally the same. Nevertheless, I felt in a continuum with the sand, the surf, the wind, the dogs running on the beach, the mist in the air, the sunlight. The sensation lasted until I'd had several brief encounters with people on the beach, and then I returned, mostly, to my more conventional view of reality. The other was my sense, during a near-death experience, of being bodiless and identityless and being utterly at peace in the threshhold between living and dying.
Both of these experiences are somewhat echoed when I am deeply involved in making art, and when I am fully tuned in during counseling sessions. I have a sense of being tapped into something much larger and more universal than myself, and to being a conduit for a vast energy that joins us all.
What transcendent, "right brain" experiences have you had? I'd like to hear about them, either here or in the Art, Healing, and Transformation group.
Thanks!
More anon,
- David
David J. Bookbinder, LMHC
Discussion:
Living in the Right Side of the Brain
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group
Cultivating Creativity group
Request a flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas
© 2008, David J. Bookbinder
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Amazing flower mandalas! I often focus on flowers as a way to remember my own ability to bloom, to open up without fear or worry.
Dr. Bolte Taylor's is an amazing story. Since the first time I watched her TED presentation in May, I have adopted "I am the life force power of the universe" as a sort of mantra to remind myself of the eternal positive energy within and all around me.
"...being tapped into something much larger and more universal than myself.... a conduit for a vast energy that joins us all."
When I really get involved in making a drawing, I lose track of time, I lose track of who "I" am, I lose track of my society, my family, the weather, everything -- and simultaneously I merge with the subject, the paper, the pencil. It's brief, but it feels totally great. Sometimes when I feel stuck in a mood or mentality I don't enjoy, I can turn it around by focusing my intent through drawing. It gives me a break from the negative, worrisome, problematic thinking, thinking, thinking!
Check out my daily art journal:
heartstorms.wordpress.com
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