No Political Solution

Some people think life is a dream
So they making matters worse

Bob Marley "Crisis"

I am convinced that what happened to me on February 14, 1997 was meant to offer up  knowledge of practical worth. Otherwise I would not continue to give literary shape to my thoughts about it. There is already enough noise pollution. But, I cannot forget that on that day, abruptly and without warning, my soul escaped the confines of my body in order to float above the bed upon which I was resting. Shortly after that, the material realm around me seemed to disintegrate into a sea of particles and then into a misty either. That was the beginning of a spiritual awakening that culminated in a mystical union. 

All at once my world-view shifted. No longer could I remain an atheist and declare random chance to be the propagator of my existence. Shortly after this revelation, my mental stability was threatened by a mania bordering on psychosis. I became aware that there were changes going on in my cerebral cortex. Essentially, a shift in my thinking was accompanied by an actual metamorphosis of the grey matter in my skull. And, the effects of this transfiguration on my brain chemistry bubbled on and off for about 3 months.

Twenty nine years later the information age is in full swing. But in 1997 I could not readily access information on the internet like we do today. However, I did manage to find an extensive collection of books related to theology and spirituality. Some of which turned out to be very helpful as I stumbled to negotiate the evolutionary event that was going on in my inner kingdom.

Lately I was reminded of one of those books written by Gopi Krishna. He, too, was aware that his own awakening experience signaled changes in his brain. He was convinced that he had experienced an evolution of consciousness. He had been meditating for decades and knew about the awakening process. And, although he was better prepared than I, he suffered with physical and mental health ailments for years after. Fortunately, the maladies commonly associated with the awakening of this spiritual energy have not been my fate. 

There has, however, been a true shift in my thinking. My sense of self is no longer fettered to the content and activity of my mind. I am definitely more aware of how my programmed mind impacts me. It is as if I have escaped "the matrix" and now know that I am merely a deluded creature in God's garden. And paradoxically, this humility has given me access to my true identity; that is, a spark of the Almighty Cosmic Consciousness embodied in a member of the human species. The claim that we are spiritual beings having a human experience is not, for me, just another platitude to help me dissociate from the world I live in.   

Since experiencing the aftereffects of that mystical union, I have been eager to find a scientific explanation for the cerebral mechanisms involved. And, I believe I have found such information in the book entitled The Master and His Emissary by Dr. Iain McGilchrist.

Because the human primate is endowed with a bicameral brain, we experience two very different ways of attending to the world. Generally speaking, the left hemisphere equips us with focused attention to help us manipulate and fulfill our own needs. The right hemisphere endows us with a broad vigilant attention that keeps us aware of the goings on in the outside world. And, how we see the world is determined by the ways in which the two hemispheres of the brain influence each other.  

McGilchrist aptly demonstrates how the left hemisphere, in its focused quest to manipulate, inherently lacks concern for the other. Whereas, the right hemisphere, in its openness to interrelatedness, is interested in others. I am merely pointing to a few of the author's findings. He offers so much more to consider about the workings of the bicameral brain, including its impact on the trajectory of human history. 

According to McGilchrist, a "battle" has been going on in the western mind. Our brain's left hemisphere has been working overtime to dominate perception and subdue the right hemisphere's influence. And, without the right hemisphere's capture of the big picture all around us, we remain unconscious of our own embodiment. We get to "retreat into an abstracted, cerebralized world". Stranded in this intellectual no-man's land we remain detached from the real world "out there".  

Certainly our current level of technological advancement is indicative of how valuable those left hemisphere operations are to our species' ascent. However,  McGilchrist convincingly argues that the left hemisphere must remain a servant to the right hemisphere. He makes evident how the social disintegration, we are witnessing in this modern era, is a consequence of the grip that left-hemisphere has had on western thought. The decline in human dignity speaks to a substantial lack of concern for the other.

It took a mystical union to dissolve the obstructions in my perceptual field enough so that I could perceive The Almighty in all its interrelatedness, working in and through the phenomenal world. Prior to this encounter I was saddled with a contracted view.  What I saw around me was a lifeless collection of inanimate objects. My mind had no room for the enchanted world of a transcendent Creator. 

However, I did have a vague awareness of an interconnectedness that reigned over my existential predicament. But in comparison to my current state of mind, the world around me seemed like an inert backdrop for a narrative I was enacting. I was stranded in a land without depth, a flatland. Keeping in mind McGilchrist's model, I now suspect that the left-hemisphere of my brain had some kind of stranglehold on my perceptual processing of realty. 

At the time of my awakening  it felt as if channels of perception had been blown wide open. My focus of attention immediately stretched to take in the wider world; so much so that I had an encounter with the very ground of being. Instantly I was made aware of the Almighty Creator in all things. 

I am definitely more open to perceiving the "aliveness" of the phenomenal world. My existential predicament feels more like an organic predicament now. My conscious awareness has expanded to include a realization of the Transcendent. And, I surmise this rewiring of my perception has something to do with repressed neuro pathways being fired up in the right hemisphere of my cerebral cortex. But whatever the reason, the static, abstract view of existence, known to be generated by the brain's left hemisphere no longer prevails. 

The domination of left-hemisphere processing is, for Dr. McGilchrist, at the root of our modern day dystopia. And, I find it interesting that the good doctor's prescription for our current trouble requires an enlargement of our attention to include the big picture, the domain of the brain's right hemisphere. For McGilchrist, the pursuit of the spiritual holds the answer to our problems.

Although Gopi Krishna did not have the scientific phraseology of a Dr. McGilchrist, he too could see the swelling pressure to change the way we relate to the world. He recognized  that our current troubles are a product of our intellectual advancement unaccompanied by spiritual growth. He warned that if growth only occurred in one of these aspects, what unfolds poses a danger to the community until harmony is restored. Like McGilchrist, he believed this crisis of modernity requires an openness to seeing The Almighty in all things. That very enlargement in perspective, that happened to me in a flash so many years ago. 

No one is coming to save us from our modern day dystopia. We humans, who pose a serious threat to our species' survival are being compelled to ascend the evolutionary ladder. The chaos of modernity is driving some kind of metaphysical shepherding of humanity. We need an upgrade that results in a kinder, gentler human species. 

We are being asked to participate in the actual evolution of Homo sapiens. Each one of us is being compelled to transfigure the workings of our own cerebral cortex. We are being called to a transformation of consciousness; one that has us concerned with our connectedness.  And, for that to happen, left-hemispheric processing has to be put in its proper place. Our focus of attention must expand to encompass the spiritual if our grasp of reality is to get us closer to the Truth.  

Faithfully yours,

Sheila Banks 

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