Stroke of Insight and Altered States of Consciousness
In the sixties and seventies, there was a lot of talk about drugs being the door to changing one’s awareness. People were interested in living a life different than their parents, wanting to have insights like the Maharaji during the Beatles infatuation with the guru and experiencing love. Of course some people were also interested in drugs and alcohol then in order to just become oblivous or block out things. In the book “My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Taylor, there are some interesting parallels between her loss of the left hemisphere perceptions during her stroke and the expansiveness one feels from certain types of drugs.
She herself is not making these comparisons, but people comment on various blogs as well as at amazon that the perceptions she describes seem very “trippy” and “psychedelic”. This is because she talks about losing her sense of boundaries, her sense of I and also the baggage of 37 years of living. Of course, she also fought hard to not just stay in the “bliss” of the right hemisphere, but she also worked at integrating herself back into ordinary life. She called her adventures into the right brain “la-la land” affectionately.
What is interesting is that there have been in-depth discussions with her on Oprah as well as with Tolle about the power of the now and it seems that drugs are a way people hope to have this type of experience. Don’t lose your dream to be able to let go of the expansive sense of life, the bliss , but instead let go of the method that is used via drugs to reach it. It is good to not want to live a humdrum ordinary life and to have dreams of great joy. But how will you reach this? The inferior forms through self-loss in drugs will not work. You can see more about her book here:
Jill Taylor alternated between the bliss of the energy and expansiveness
of the right side of the brain and the desire to also bring back the structure side of the left side, even if that brings back some of the burdens that come with the usual sense of “I”. It took her 8 years to get back from not speaking,talking or walking to her PhD level as a brain researcher. She has a very profound understanding of the mind.
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey
