~ ~ |
Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. interview: Nirvana
and the Brain
Excerpt from Shrink Rap Radio interview by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. Jill
Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.: You have this ongoing brain chatter
in
the left hemisphere, in the language centers that is designed to have
communication, and it helps you retain information about the external
world. So, I
know where I work, because my brain tells me where I work. And I
know which car is mine, because my brain tells me which car is
mine. So it’s always relating me to the information in the
external world, and when that circuitry went off – turned off - I found
myself flushed in silence, and an unusual silence. But in
the silence there’s so much! I’m no longer distracted by the
details of the external world, and I was captivated by the magnificence
of the present moment. And
since I could no longer identify the boundaries of where I began and
where I ended, I was no longer this confined little entity.
Instead, I was at one with all the energy that was around me, and it
was beautiful there. It was
peaceful, it was quiet, it was enormous – it was that all-knowing space
where you know absolutely everything, and you don’t know a single
detail that has to do with the external world. And it
doesn’t matter, because you have this sense of peacefulness and
beauty... and euphoria. Jill
Bolte Taylor, Ph.D, is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist
who teaches at the Indiana University School of Medicine in
Bloomington, Indiana. In
this right-hemisphere
state, she seemed to experience something akin to enlightenment.
Dr.
Jill has dedicated her career to the advancement of post mortem
research into the human brain and to the education of the public about
the fragile, yet resilient nature of this incredible organ.
Because
of the long-term shortage of brain tissue donated for research
into severe mental illness, she travels throughout the country.
By sharing her science and her unique personal journey, she
communicates a message of hope, education, and celebration. Now,
here’s the interview. Let’s
start out by having you
tell us about your life before you had your stroke. In your book
you talk about the left
and right hemispheres of the brain and how they function. And
this turned out to be important because you had a stroke on the left
side of your brain. So, before you tell us about your experience
with the stroke, perhaps you could give us some background on the
functioning of the left and right hemispheres... and also a bit about
your background as a brain scientist, because that’s very relevant, as
well. It was
apparent to
me at a very early age that he was very different in the way that he
perceived the world and in the way he chose to behave. And
because he was my sibling, he was my constant companion, as siblings
are in a family unit. I
really grew up to see the world through
his eyes, and it just did not resonate well with little Jill and who I
was and what I thought was how I was supposed to be in the world.
So, because of my fascination with my brother and the awareness that we
were very different, I dedicated my career to studying the brain and
became fascinated with the brain, obviously very young, and was
fascinated with body language and different ways of communicating with
one another and how we can observe ourselves or engage in the drama in
our lives. So, I
really had kind of a shifted perspective of what
is normal and what is not normal, but I didn’t know who was
normal. And I didn’t know if it was him, or if it was me, until
he was officially diagnosed as young adults. They’re
both always functioning but there’s usually
certain cells that are dominating or inhibiting other cells. And
that’s unique for each one of us. When you look at stroke
survivors, for example, the first question I always ask anyone who
calls me and says, “My loved one has had a stroke,” is, can they speak?
And,
of course, the opposite
side of the body becomes paralyzed when a stroke happens and the motor
cells are influenced. So, the two hemispheres complement one
another. They’re
constantly always functioning, but they’re not
all, all the cells are not always constantly firing. Some are
more dominant; some are inhibited by those dominating cells. And as
a result of that, we ended up with all kinds of personality
tests that came out to identify which hemisphere are you. And I
always had a certain amount of skepticism about that level of
simplification because I had two hemispheres, and we all have two
hemispheres. I was
very blessed that my father was extremely
creative, extremely musical, extremely social, and anybody would have
defined him as right-hemisphered, while my mother was history and
philosophy of science and mathematics, and she had this incredible
mind. She
was a Radcliffe/Harvard girl, and so my mother had this
extremely well-developed and beautiful left hemisphere. And I’m
looking at me as their offspring, saying, “But I’m both. I have
this right hemisphere from my dad and this beautiful left hemisphere
from my mother,” and we all do. So
when you pinhole a child into,
“Oh, your child is very right-hemisphered,” and then that’s all they
develop, that’s unfair to the child. For
me, the purpose of the
video was to help people to actually bring new fuel, if you will, to
the old argument, but to expand it beyond where we used to be with it
and to try to help people recognize, “Yes, I do have both of these
hemispheres. They both have these beautiful gifts, and I don’t
have to be just one way. I have a choice, moment by moment, in
how I do want to be in the world, and how I do want to spend my time,
and how I do want to look at this specific situation.” ~ ~ ~  Related
Talent Development Resources pages:Neuroscience articles ~ ~ ~ |
         ~ ~
|