By Dr. Sunita Rai
Dr Jill Bolte Taylor (2008) described her experience of experiencing a brain stroke and her deep realization of human beings being a life force of the universe with two cognitive minds. It was interesting how she described that her recovery was based on the creative energy from the right hemisphere. We know how the left and right hemisphere functions very differently and the connection between the two is through the corpus callosum. However, when one side of the brain shuts down, the other takes on the active role of compensating for it. Cozolino (2006) noted that the right brain development precedes the left-brain development and is more aligned to unconscious processes. He emphasized how the brain is a living system and that plasticity occurs through the life cycle.
Dr Taylor (2008) asked some very important questions: ‘Who are we’ and ‘Which do you choose and when?’ It was highly inspiring to hear from a scientist that consciousness is a possibility and one could do it through taking time and effort to choose the right hemisphere for better living. Placing our individual views into a social perspective, knowing our limitations, biases, and prejudices, an appreciating the importance of human relationships have the potential to lead us to a more loving world (Cozolino, 2006). Most importantly, for a healthy psyche, we need to have the vision that we are all connected beings regardless of the outer structure that we wear.
More so is this important in this modern world where we should realise that fundamentally we are simple human beings connected by simple aspirations. There is no difference between the brain of a person born in poverty and the one born in opulence. In fact the difference between the the two people is an illusion created by our self created values and beliefs.