The Eternal Language of Truth
Part II
by Lorena Loo
Part II
by Lorena Loo
My favorite split brain patient story is about the recently divorced man. One day he set out of his house intending to go to the park. As the headed toward the park, the left side of his body suddenly turned him around and propelled him walking in another direction altogether. His left brain finally regained control over his body and he returned to heading to the park. But the man realized that had he continued walking in the direction his right brain wanted him to, he would have ended up right on the doorstep of his ex-wife. His left brain had wanted to go to the park but his right brain, his emotional brain, wanted to visit his ex-wife
We can see then how our right and left brains not only have different ways of functioning and processing information but can conflict with one another. Also, because they have different "languages" of communication, when each sends information to the other half, it can often be misunderstood or not understood at all.
The advent of speech and language in our evolution has had a profound effect on our consciousness, specifically on our ability to readily access the spiritual realms. Why? It is because we have shifted to predominantly left hemispheric consciousness and there is illustrated by a literal map on our brain surface of our body.
There are structures at the top back of our brains called parietal lobes, one in each hemisphere. These lobes map out an image of our bodies and it does so by alloting more representation to those areas of which are greater importance in sensory and motor functions. The end result is a distorted body image which you can see in the image below. It is called a homunculus. The hands are greatly exaggerated because we have come to rely on them for so much, including writing. But the mouth, tongue and also pharynx (even though it isn't so clear in that diagram) are highly exaggerated. This is because we are such verbally language oriented creatures and that is left hemispheric consciousness.
We can see then how our right and left brains not only have different ways of functioning and processing information but can conflict with one another. Also, because they have different "languages" of communication, when each sends information to the other half, it can often be misunderstood or not understood at all.
The advent of speech and language in our evolution has had a profound effect on our consciousness, specifically on our ability to readily access the spiritual realms. Why? It is because we have shifted to predominantly left hemispheric consciousness and there is illustrated by a literal map on our brain surface of our body.
There are structures at the top back of our brains called parietal lobes, one in each hemisphere. These lobes map out an image of our bodies and it does so by alloting more representation to those areas of which are greater importance in sensory and motor functions. The end result is a distorted body image which you can see in the image below. It is called a homunculus. The hands are greatly exaggerated because we have come to rely on them for so much, including writing. But the mouth, tongue and also pharynx (even though it isn't so clear in that diagram) are highly exaggerated. This is because we are such verbally language oriented creatures and that is left hemispheric consciousness.
© Copyright Lorena Loo
What this means is that left brain thinking has become for us our conscious mode of awareness and that is at the expensive of right brain thinking. As we are language dominant, it means right hemispheric consciousness is more unconscious to us. But mystic, spiritual experiences occur in the right hemisphere. In addition to that, it has been found that people whose unconscious thoughts break into conscious awareness more readily are more likely to have spiritual experiences.
Now we are going to look at the vertical component of our brains. By that I mean that as we evolved from simple organisms to humans, our brains evolved in layers with each layer growing over the previous layers.
There are 3 main layers involved, the first of which is what is called the Reptilian brain. It is called that because they are the ancient, early parts of our brain that developed during reptilian adaptation to life on land. Our Reptilian brain has very similar neurological structure and functioning to that of the complete brains of reptiles. It includes the upper spinal column, brain stem, cerebellum and hypothalamus.
Now reptiles are creatures of habit and instinct. They like pattern, order and familiarity. They engage in ritualistic displays and so love ritual. They are also slow to learn and need repetition.
Our Reptilian brains also love order, ritual, and need repetition and patterning. Religious rituals are characterized by formality, patterning, repetition and rhythm. Rituals formed an important part of the symbolic teaching employed by the ancient mystery schools. Rituals address the needs of the Reptilian brain.
The next stage in the evolution of our brains is the so called old mammalian or paleo mammalian brain. It goes by a more common name of limbic system. This second addition to our brain grew over the Reptilian brain and emerged during the mammalian phase of our evolution.
Now I want to do another very quick experiment with you. Could you please close your eyes and take a couple of relaxing breaths. I want you to imagine yourself holding a baby. Notice which side are you holding the baby. Now you can open your eyes again. How many of you imagined yourself holding the baby on your right side? How many on the left side? A Japanese researcher named Nakamichi found that 72% of females and 65% of males preferred the left side. That is your emotional brain, or right brain consciousness.
You have emotions because of the limbic system. This is your emotional brain. It is the emotional core of our nervous system. It is the neuronal circuitry here that controls our emotional behavior and motivational drives. It allows us to experience and express emotions such as happiness, pleasure, aversion, fear, anxiety, anger and rage.
From the point of view of brain evolution, the primary distinction between mammals and reptiles is emotionally based bonding. Some of the same limbic structures found in the human brain are also found in the brains of monkeys, apes, cats and dogs which is why they too like us need love, affection and physical closeness.
This part of the brain is aroused by touch, smell, food, music, social contact and most of all, that greatest and strongest emotion of all-LOVE. The components or nuclei of the limbic system are the primary parts of our brain associated with memory, production of visual imagery, sexuality and the expression and perception of most aspects of emotion and that includes sexual and religious ecstasy.
The most important parts of the limbic system are the amygdala and hippocamus and the areas immediately surrounding them. All of these are associated with the temporal lobe.
The significance of this is that the only regions of the brain that are implicated in the generation of fear, love, intense emotions and religious and spiritual beliefs are the limbic system (specifically the amygdala and hippocamus) and the inferior temporal lobe.
Now we are going to look at the vertical component of our brains. By that I mean that as we evolved from simple organisms to humans, our brains evolved in layers with each layer growing over the previous layers.
There are 3 main layers involved, the first of which is what is called the Reptilian brain. It is called that because they are the ancient, early parts of our brain that developed during reptilian adaptation to life on land. Our Reptilian brain has very similar neurological structure and functioning to that of the complete brains of reptiles. It includes the upper spinal column, brain stem, cerebellum and hypothalamus.
Now reptiles are creatures of habit and instinct. They like pattern, order and familiarity. They engage in ritualistic displays and so love ritual. They are also slow to learn and need repetition.
Our Reptilian brains also love order, ritual, and need repetition and patterning. Religious rituals are characterized by formality, patterning, repetition and rhythm. Rituals formed an important part of the symbolic teaching employed by the ancient mystery schools. Rituals address the needs of the Reptilian brain.
The next stage in the evolution of our brains is the so called old mammalian or paleo mammalian brain. It goes by a more common name of limbic system. This second addition to our brain grew over the Reptilian brain and emerged during the mammalian phase of our evolution.
Now I want to do another very quick experiment with you. Could you please close your eyes and take a couple of relaxing breaths. I want you to imagine yourself holding a baby. Notice which side are you holding the baby. Now you can open your eyes again. How many of you imagined yourself holding the baby on your right side? How many on the left side? A Japanese researcher named Nakamichi found that 72% of females and 65% of males preferred the left side. That is your emotional brain, or right brain consciousness.
You have emotions because of the limbic system. This is your emotional brain. It is the emotional core of our nervous system. It is the neuronal circuitry here that controls our emotional behavior and motivational drives. It allows us to experience and express emotions such as happiness, pleasure, aversion, fear, anxiety, anger and rage.
From the point of view of brain evolution, the primary distinction between mammals and reptiles is emotionally based bonding. Some of the same limbic structures found in the human brain are also found in the brains of monkeys, apes, cats and dogs which is why they too like us need love, affection and physical closeness.
This part of the brain is aroused by touch, smell, food, music, social contact and most of all, that greatest and strongest emotion of all-LOVE. The components or nuclei of the limbic system are the primary parts of our brain associated with memory, production of visual imagery, sexuality and the expression and perception of most aspects of emotion and that includes sexual and religious ecstasy.
The most important parts of the limbic system are the amygdala and hippocamus and the areas immediately surrounding them. All of these are associated with the temporal lobe.
The significance of this is that the only regions of the brain that are implicated in the generation of fear, love, intense emotions and religious and spiritual beliefs are the limbic system (specifically the amygdala and hippocamus) and the inferior temporal lobe.
In the diagram to the left [this was not included in the talk but I thought it might be of interest here], the location of the temporal lobe in the brain is illustrated. There are 3 fissures in our brain that partition it each cerebral hemisphere into 4 lobes, one of which is the temporal lobe. I mentioned the temporal lobe earlier. The left temporal lobe, the one in the left hemisphere of our brain, becomes activated when we read. The temporal lobe is concerned with hearing (sounds) and also merges with structures such as the amygdala and the
hippocamus in the limbic system. In fact, the amygdala is also in the temporal lobe and we have one amygdala and hippocamus in each hemisphere of our brain.
Along the surface of the inferior temporal lobe (that's the lowest part of the temporal lobe) and within the amygdala are densely packed neurons (i.e. nerve cells) that fire off selectively in response to visual images of faces, hands, eyes and geometric shapes. These are called feature detectors and they allow us to recognize faces and geometric shapes. But they just don't fire off when you see any face or geometric shape. It seems that there is a pre-coded database of visual images or patterns within our limbic brain and when these feature detecting neurons of our temporal lobe and amygdala encounters one of these, they fire off in response.
One of these pre-coded geometric shapes they fire off in response to is a cross. When you stare at a cross, your temporal lobes are activated. Crosses are universal symbols across all cultures throughout time. So are the geometric shapes of the circle, square and triangle. Some 30,000 years ago our archaic ancestors the Cro-Magnon painted circles, squares, triangles and crosses on the walls of their caves. They seemed to imbue them with great spiritual significance. It is very likely then that these same sacred geometric shapes are also encoded into the limbic brain's database.
Since the neurons of the amygdala and inferior temporal lobe are involved in all aspects of emotion, geometric shapes can become infused with emotions. Carl Jung spoke of archetypes. When revealed as images, they were usually emotionally invested symbols or concepts that transcended meaning or precise definition. They have their origins in an archaic conscious or collective memory.
It seems that we come with a pre-coded database of emotionally charged symbols which our brains are programmed to fire off in reponse to. And one of the characteristics of all religions is the use of emotionally charged symbols. That is, they are tapping into the database in our limbic system.
And what was the primary aspect of symbolism employed by the ancient mystery schools? Symbols, primarily though not exclusively of a sacred geometric nature and these are many of the same emotionally charged symbols accorded great spiritual significance across all cultures throughout time.
The last stage in our brain evolution is that of the neocortex or new mammalian or neo mammalian brain. This is our thinking brain, concerned with higher order thinking, learning and learned behaviors. It functions like a computer and is concerned primarily with events of the outside world. In contrast with the Reptilian brain which loves order, our neocortex is constantly in search of novelty, new experiences and new meanings. It likes to think of itself as the ruler of the mind but it can't act without the co-operation of the two older brains. In fact, of the three evolutionary brains, the neocortex is the most dispensable.
Rats and hamsters raised without the neocortex are capable of mostly normal lives. But in experiments with monkeys where their neocortext is left intact but the connections of their body to the older brains are severed, the monkeys could move around and eat. However, most of their normal monkey behavior disappeared.
Below is a diagram comparing the neocortext and limbic system of four species. From left to right they are rat, cat, monkey and human. You can see that the human brain has the largest limbic system and the largest neocortex which makes us the most emotional and the most intellectual creatures to have ever walked this earth. Now animals, they can do bad things out of lust or hatred. But these actions are only on a temporary scale because they lack our rational faculties. Humans, on the other hand, because we have those higher thinking abilities, can inflict extended and longlasting harm. We can plot for years and years just to extract revenge on someone. We can spend an entire lifetime engaged in accummulating successively more and more wealth and at the expense of others and frequently causing harm to others. We just merely need to look at the state of this planet on an ecological and environmental perspective to see what kind of harm we are capable of doing. There is a teaching alleged to the Buddha that goes: The wings of the bird flying toward enlightenment are compassion and wisdom. Compassion and wisdom are qualities we do not seem to place much emphasis or give consideration to in our culture. [Note: I added this paragraph and diagram below to the written text here. It was not included as part of the original talk.]
Along the surface of the inferior temporal lobe (that's the lowest part of the temporal lobe) and within the amygdala are densely packed neurons (i.e. nerve cells) that fire off selectively in response to visual images of faces, hands, eyes and geometric shapes. These are called feature detectors and they allow us to recognize faces and geometric shapes. But they just don't fire off when you see any face or geometric shape. It seems that there is a pre-coded database of visual images or patterns within our limbic brain and when these feature detecting neurons of our temporal lobe and amygdala encounters one of these, they fire off in response.
One of these pre-coded geometric shapes they fire off in response to is a cross. When you stare at a cross, your temporal lobes are activated. Crosses are universal symbols across all cultures throughout time. So are the geometric shapes of the circle, square and triangle. Some 30,000 years ago our archaic ancestors the Cro-Magnon painted circles, squares, triangles and crosses on the walls of their caves. They seemed to imbue them with great spiritual significance. It is very likely then that these same sacred geometric shapes are also encoded into the limbic brain's database.
Since the neurons of the amygdala and inferior temporal lobe are involved in all aspects of emotion, geometric shapes can become infused with emotions. Carl Jung spoke of archetypes. When revealed as images, they were usually emotionally invested symbols or concepts that transcended meaning or precise definition. They have their origins in an archaic conscious or collective memory.
It seems that we come with a pre-coded database of emotionally charged symbols which our brains are programmed to fire off in reponse to. And one of the characteristics of all religions is the use of emotionally charged symbols. That is, they are tapping into the database in our limbic system.
And what was the primary aspect of symbolism employed by the ancient mystery schools? Symbols, primarily though not exclusively of a sacred geometric nature and these are many of the same emotionally charged symbols accorded great spiritual significance across all cultures throughout time.
The last stage in our brain evolution is that of the neocortex or new mammalian or neo mammalian brain. This is our thinking brain, concerned with higher order thinking, learning and learned behaviors. It functions like a computer and is concerned primarily with events of the outside world. In contrast with the Reptilian brain which loves order, our neocortex is constantly in search of novelty, new experiences and new meanings. It likes to think of itself as the ruler of the mind but it can't act without the co-operation of the two older brains. In fact, of the three evolutionary brains, the neocortex is the most dispensable.
Rats and hamsters raised without the neocortex are capable of mostly normal lives. But in experiments with monkeys where their neocortext is left intact but the connections of their body to the older brains are severed, the monkeys could move around and eat. However, most of their normal monkey behavior disappeared.
Below is a diagram comparing the neocortext and limbic system of four species. From left to right they are rat, cat, monkey and human. You can see that the human brain has the largest limbic system and the largest neocortex which makes us the most emotional and the most intellectual creatures to have ever walked this earth. Now animals, they can do bad things out of lust or hatred. But these actions are only on a temporary scale because they lack our rational faculties. Humans, on the other hand, because we have those higher thinking abilities, can inflict extended and longlasting harm. We can plot for years and years just to extract revenge on someone. We can spend an entire lifetime engaged in accummulating successively more and more wealth and at the expense of others and frequently causing harm to others. We just merely need to look at the state of this planet on an ecological and environmental perspective to see what kind of harm we are capable of doing. There is a teaching alleged to the Buddha that goes: The wings of the bird flying toward enlightenment are compassion and wisdom. Compassion and wisdom are qualities we do not seem to place much emphasis or give consideration to in our culture. [Note: I added this paragraph and diagram below to the written text here. It was not included as part of the original talk.]
