Guest guest Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 From http://www.innerworlds.50megs.com/enlightenment.htm Enlightenment is a rare experience, and so are visions of God. THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD HAS BEEN PRODUCED IN THE LABORATORIES of Laurentian University's neurosciences program, and is the subject of a book by the program's director, Dr. M.A. Persinger. The book's conclusion, that the 'God-experience " reflects specific neural activity, is quite a radical notion for the western world. Much of the East, on the other hand, places it's crucial emphasis on enlightenment. ....... The only thing that all of these (eastern ) traditions all agree on is that to get there (enlightenment ) is to end a discomfort ( suffering ) intrinsic to being alive. ....... STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ARE SUPPORTED BY PATTERNS OF BRAIN ACTIVITY. AND ALL BRAIN ACTIVITY TAKES PLACE WITHIN THRESHOLDS. ...... The sense of self is said to change when a person becomes enlightened. They no longer 'identify' themselves with, or take their identity from, the 'old'. No matter what else they may be, they are now " another person " . THE HUMAN SENSE OF SELF IS MAINTAINED IN THE LIMBIC SYSTEM, and the limbic system exists on both sides of the brain. Each structure on one side that feels good to us (when it's busy) is complimented by another on the opposite side that feels bad. So, for most people, an emotional structure called the AMYGDALA feels good on the left, and bad on the right. And, for most people, a cognitive, thinking structure called the HIPPOCAMPUS feels better on the right and worse on the left . ...... These two brain parts are next to each other. INTERGROWN, in fact. And A NORMAL BRAIN HAS A POSITIVE AND A NEGATIVE ONE ON EACH SIDE. However, some people have 'left-handed' limbic parts. For them, the positive amygdala will be intergrown with the positive hippocampus. Communication between the two will be much easier than in a normal brain. The other side of the brain will have strong communication between the negative hippocampus and the negative amygdala. Such an individual might find themselves very emotionally labile, or sensitive. But when we stop to recall that most spiritual practices exclude negative thoughts and emotions, then it seems possible that LONG-TERM PRACTICE MIGHT EVENTUALLY STOP THEIR OCCURRENCE. More likely, a threshold might be passed that will leave positive emotions with lower thresholds than negative ones, and positive expectations for ongoing events becomes easier than the opposite. The idea that MEDITATION 'WORKS' BY STARVING NEGATIVITY RATHER THAN FEEDING VIRTUE is supported by a recently-published study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Since you are looking into these kind of things, you might want to check out www.bigmind.org <http://www.bigmind.org/> I won't vouch for it.someone told me about it. _____ adithya_comming [adithya_comming] Wednesday, April 06, 2005 2:55 PM Nisargadatta Re: brain and Enlightenment - Another. From http://www.innerworlds.50megs.com/enlightenment.htm Enlightenment is a rare experience, and so are visions of God. THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD HAS BEEN PRODUCED IN THE LABORATORIES of Laurentian University's neurosciences program, and is the subject of a book by the program's director, Dr. M.A. Persinger. The book's conclusion, that the 'God-experience " reflects specific neural activity, is quite a radical notion for the western world. Much of the East, on the other hand, places it's crucial emphasis on enlightenment. ....... The only thing that all of these (eastern ) traditions all agree on is that to get there (enlightenment ) is to end a discomfort ( suffering ) intrinsic to being alive. ....... STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ARE SUPPORTED BY PATTERNS OF BRAIN ACTIVITY. AND ALL BRAIN ACTIVITY TAKES PLACE WITHIN THRESHOLDS. ...... The sense of self is said to change when a person becomes enlightened. They no longer 'identify' themselves with, or take their identity from, the 'old'. No matter what else they may be, they are now " another person " . THE HUMAN SENSE OF SELF IS MAINTAINED IN THE LIMBIC SYSTEM, and the limbic system exists on both sides of the brain. Each structure on one side that feels good to us (when it's busy) is complimented by another on the opposite side that feels bad. So, for most people, an emotional structure called the AMYGDALA feels good on the left, and bad on the right. And, for most people, a cognitive, thinking structure called the HIPPOCAMPUS feels better on the right and worse on the left . ...... These two brain parts are next to each other. INTERGROWN, in fact. And A NORMAL BRAIN HAS A POSITIVE AND A NEGATIVE ONE ON EACH SIDE. However, some people have 'left-handed' limbic parts. For them, the positive amygdala will be intergrown with the positive hippocampus. Communication between the two will be much easier than in a normal brain. The other side of the brain will have strong communication between the negative hippocampus and the negative amygdala. Such an individual might find themselves very emotionally labile, or sensitive. But when we stop to recall that most spiritual practices exclude negative thoughts and emotions, then it seems possible that LONG-TERM PRACTICE MIGHT EVENTUALLY STOP THEIR OCCURRENCE. More likely, a threshold might be passed that will leave positive emotions with lower thresholds than negative ones, and positive expectations for ongoing events becomes easier than the opposite. The idea that MEDITATION 'WORKS' BY STARVING NEGATIVITY RATHER THAN FEEDING VIRTUE is supported by a recently-published study. ** If you do not wish to receive individual emails, to change your subscription, sign in with your ID and go to Edit My Groups: /mygroups?edit=1 Under the Message Delivery option, choose " No Email " for the Nisargadatta group and click on Save Changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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