Many people who have written to me ask why it is that although they intellectually understand what I, or other teachers, have to say about the problem of ego, they still can't seem to come to real insight or awakening.
One of the reasons one may not be able to come to a breakthrough awakening is if they are predominantly left-brained. As I am sure most of you know the brain is really more like two brains, or two hemispheres, the left, and the right. Most of us tend to have a predisposition to one side or the other. Let us look at how the two halves work.
Left -Brain Right- Brain
Logical Random
Sequential Intuitive
Rational Holistic
Analytical Synthesizing
Objective Subjective
Looks at parts Looks at wholes
For general uses a balanced brain works best. We need to look at life in the matter of fact way the left-brain functions, but we also need to tap into the intuitive side of the brain if we want to live more creative lives.
One problem that seems to take place is when you bring the ego/conditioning into the picture and see how it relates to which hemisphere is dominant. There are many variables as to how a person may have been conditioned to use one side of the brain over the other side, from family conditioning to DNA. Whatever the cause of our predisposition to one side or the other, is not what I am trying to share right now. However, I am very interested in how the two ways of perceiving life can help or hinder one's awakening.
If you are predominantly left-brain, you will find it much more difficult to make a meaningful breakthrough in understanding. The left-brain, in my view, is more like a catalog or dictionary that we draw from to make our decisions and actions in life. We function within a set of conditionings that allows very little freedom. It is a safe place to be. It is the home of the ego idea. It tends to be more conservative, both politically and religiously. "We believe what we are told. We trust our political and religious authorities to do the right thing and we don't question their judgment." The left-brained person is not likely to really go beyond his or her conditioning. Not only because that is not the way that side of the brain works, but also because to do so would cause fear. If we, as left-brained tending people, open up to the more intuitive, creative and holistic way of perceiving reality it would be a threat to the ego. This is where our sense of insecurity comes in. We sense intuitively an emptiness that gives a hint that the ego dream is unreal. The conditioned mind interprets that feeling as death and it withdraws from it. It is safer to live a left-brain life than face what must mean death. Of course, this is all a subconscious process that we rarely see clearly.
If you did extensive research into which side of the brain rightwing fundamentalists predominantly come from, you would see it is the left. How else could someone function with such little insight?
With the right hemisphere we are dealing with holistic, intuitive, synthesizing and creative openness. However, it too needs to be balanced. It is very helpful to be able to use the left-brain capacity for logical thinking and processing of information. However, if the logic is not open to a deeper understanding and sensing of reality, it will keep us blind to what is true.
Having been predominantly right-brained, it seems clear that awakening starts there. I have known many predominantly left-brained people and they seem to lack an openness and freedom that is so clearly there in people where the right brain dominates. However, I have also known many predominantly right-brained people who seem to have their heads in the clouds and can't really focus on the moment-by-moment decisions we all have to make. Balance is needed.
I hope this is not sounding like a good, right-brained, verses evil, left-brained, judgment. We are all both brains. If you can see where your brain is functioning from most of the time, it can give you a clue as to what may be stopping you from letting go and opening up to something so new to the mind as to totally transform the way you see life.
If you see that your left-brain dominates your life then try doing more right-brained activities, liking art, music, poetry and being in nature as often as you can by yourself. Try to sense more and not just try to find the facts and draw a conclusion from them. If you can see the limitation of being either predominantly left or right, you can help bring yourself to be more balanced.
Real insight and understanding has little to do with the brain. It is sort of what takes place between the hemispheres, as it does between thoughts. What we ultimately are is beyond the brain. The brain is more like a conduit for Heart/Mind to transmit Insight. We so identify with our history, which is all within the brain; we don't see the underlying Reality, which is beyond space/time or individuality, yet it expresses Itself as Individuals.
