Theos-Talk Archives (November 2001 Message tt00367)

Eldon:

Thanks for the reference. I have suspected for some
time that when the self-other distinction disappears
after a period of strenuous meditation that is
actually a result of brain fatigue. Not it appears
there may be some scientific justification for that
view.

Steve


--- Eldon B Tucker <eldon@theosophy.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> There's an article, "Searching For the God Within,"
> that appeared
> in NEWSWEEK last January. It's been reprinted on the
> Internet in
> several places. One of many that I found on
> google.com was:
> 
> 
>
<http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a6c9e7f5c72.htm>
> 
> The article makes a number of interesting points.
> One is that
> there's an "orientation area" in the brain that
> finds "the
> border between self and world." A Tibetan Buddhist,
> in meditation,
> quiets down that center in the brain, as shown on a
> "brain-imaging machine called SPECT."
> 
> I'm not surprised to read that there's a center in
> the
> brain that is responsible for the sense of personal
> self.
> Most functions of consciousness are represented in
> the
> brain. There's an activity of mind that creates the
> notion
> that there's an external, objective world which is
> apart from
> one. That activity of mind is quieted and stopped in
> successful
> meditation. The fact that there is a brain center
> that
> corresponds to this type of awareness gives further
> emphasis
> to this idea -- that there's a specific type of
> consciousness
> related to self-awareness and personal boundaries.
> 
> A materialist might argue that consciousness is the
> fortunate byproduct of the electro-chemical activity
> of
> the brain. A spiritualist might argue that
> consciousness
> comes from spirit and uses the brain as a receiving
> instrument.
> 
> If the brain and our physical plane consciousness
> are
> intimately intertwined, perhaps it's something
> different
> than either view suggests. Awareness and brain
> activity
> cycle together, the actions of each affecting the
> states
> of the other. It's like a "chicken and egg" problem.
> Which
> came first? The answer is the same to the brain/mind
> problem as to the puzzle of the chicken and the egg.
> They both came at the same time, from another
> source.
> They are inseparable parts of the same process.
> 
> Both mind and brain arose together as part of a
> Monad's
> urge to attain awareness on this plane, and
> represent
> a particular form of experiencing, understanding,
> and
> appreciating life in this world. Other experiences
> of
> life, apart from the physical body, would require
> both
> corresponding types of consciousness and some
> physical
> (or astral) mechanism for expressing that
> consciousness.
> 
> -- Eldon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 


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