9 comments to “you must see this”

1. Davee wrote:
   31. March 2008 at 10:38 am :

   i must confess, during the part where she describes her vision of the world full of people with access to that perspective, full of compassion and appreciation for the beauty of the world, i was overcome with emotion. oh what a beautiful vision. worth working toward, yes? do you think it is possible?

2. seen it wrote:
   1. April 2008 at 8:42 am :

   Very powerful speaker; she reminded me of a televangelist near the end. However, I found it interesting she became choked up while admitting she lost control, and herself, in the stroke. Her reaction seems to contradict the enlightening experience she claims to have had. She’s still seemed afraid of loosing control, or at least embarrassed about having once lost it. Strange, don’t you think? She continues to fear her body.

3. Davee wrote:
   1. April 2008 at 8:52 am :

   Not sure. I don’t think she’s still enlightened, just deeply changed. In the tibetan canon at least there is a key point about reaching enlightenment, and then separately about stabilizing that experience - learning how to rest in it. Getting there and gaining confidence in that is first, then learning to stabilize it takes awhile longer. At least that’s how it’s described. Might not even be tibetan actually, I think the buddhist philosopher Asanga in the fourth century also detailed that particular progression in moving toward enlightenment. Takes more than just one experience of it.

4. gregg wrote:
   15. April 2008 at 11:30 am :

   One of the things I took away from it was that enlightenment really seems to relate to unifying the activity and communication between the hemispheres of our brains. When she spoke of the purity of her “enlightened” dimension, I thought of Chogyam Trungpa once describing enlightenment as being different than being blissed into incapacitation. That came a little more into focus as she described trying to make a phone call and not being able to remember the individual numbers.

   Linking the inner to the outer world, the united with all and maintaining my sense of self and being able to move forward without being disengaged from now is something that made a little more sense after seeing this video.

   gregg

5. Davee wrote:
   16. April 2008 at 10:09 am :

   thanks for the qualification. ya, i’m throwing around the term ‘enlightened’ too loosely. the term is already really muddled.

   i wouldn’t really go so far to say that she was ‘enlightened’ during her episode. though it did sound like she had some moments where grasping at a conceptualized view of the world had dropped. but it was too extreme. it was a complete cessation of conceptualization it sounded like, not just dropping the attachment to it.

   i’m with you, gregg. having both the conceptualizing ability AND the lack of attachment or clinging to the mentally produced conceptualization seems like the goal of buddhism. not the complete cessation or even her stated goal of being able to “access” one or the other. though that sounds great too compared to my current state. but i think enlightenment is not the cessation of anything particularly, more seeing it for what it is - conceptual elaboration - and not being fooled or attached as much to thinking our thoughts and emotions are ‘real’. something like that.

6. Adriane wrote:
   23. May 2008 at 9:03 pm :

   I recommend Amazon as the place to get Jill Bolte Taylor’s book MY STROKE OF INSIGHT because they have a wonderful interview with her on Amazon that offers new content I haven’t seen anywhere else - that link is: http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FMy-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal%2Fdp%2F0670020745%2F&tag=owlmonkeycons-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325

   The book is an absolutely wonderful journey by a brain scientist who suffered a stroke. She recovered fully, back to teaching at Medical School no less (and she gives great tips on how and what to do to recover from a Stroke or help others recover).

   Dr Taylor also learned to fully be present in the part of the brain/mind where we experience full inner peace and Nirvana. SHe teaches that too, and that’s why everyone should read this book.

   This story is as inspiring as The Last Lecture or Tuesdays with Morrie - and it has a Happy Ending!

7. Baker wrote:
   2. June 2008 at 3:33 am :

   I read “My Stroke of Insight” in one sitting - I couldn’t put it down. I laughed. I cried. It was a fantastic book (I heard it’s a NYTimes Bestseller and I can see why!), but I also think it will be the start of a new, transformative Movement! No one wants to have a stroke as Jill Bolte Taylor did, but her experience can teach us all how to live better lives. Her TED.com speech was one of the most incredibly moving, stimulating, wonderful videos I’ve ever seen. Her Oprah Soul Series interviews were fascinating. They should make a movie of her life so everyone sees it. This is the Real Deal and gives me hope for humanity.

8. Helen wrote:
   3. June 2008 at 2:17 am :

   Thank you for that. Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight is one of the most incredible stories I’ve heard in a long time. Her TEDTalk video blew my mind wide open to new possibilities. On the one hand, there’s what she went through and how she emerged from it. On the other hand, there’s what she can teach all of us.
   I saw the 4 part Oprah interview on Oprah dot com Soul Series and I did learn a lot from that, but I’d like to find our more of how to do what Dr. Taylor did, without having a stroke of course!
   Thin how many of us are living too much in the head, and not the heart. And of course, you can’t get more left brain than a Harvard Brain Scientist. Isn’t it ironic that she should be the one to have the stroke and transform from the quintessential left brainer into this “”seen the light”" disciple of finding inner peace?
   I hope this movement keeps going. Maybe there will be My Stroke of Insight classes where we can practice what Jill Bolte Taylor is preaching.

9. Davee wrote:
   13. June 2008 at 10:04 am :

   Thank you both for you comments!

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