this video of a presentation from the recent TED conference is one of the most interesting things that i’ve seen in a long time, it’s well worth the 18m44sec that it takes to watch. the description of the video on the website is:

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

but what that description doesn’t get into is the insight that mrs taylor had about how the brain can bring about both happiness and suffering. as she lost the left half of her brain, the feelings she described are very similar to the feelings yogis and meditators describe when deep into their practice. in fact, she may have even experienced a bit of what pantalji describes as samathi. as a person with a scientific background, i found it especially interesting to hear these insights from a scientist.

“I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be.”