Psyche Development

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[size=117]The holistic advantages of dual brain stimulation[/size]

Split brain experiments by Roger Sperry in the 1960’s “Hemisphere Disconnection and Unity in Conscious awareness”, and further work by him together with R. Gazzaniga and J.E. Bogen: “Interhemispheric Relationships: the Neocortical Commissures; Syndromes of Hemisphere Disconnection” (which eventually led to the Nobel Prize) presented a general conclusion that the left and right side of brain respond to distinctly different, yet mutually compatible sets of stimuli.

The diagram below, which first appeared in Betty Edwards’ multi-million-seller book; “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” illustrates the masculine/analytical; feminine/ intuitive dynamic that governs the individual human psyche very clearly.

What Betty discovered by applying Sperry’s findings to her art classes, was that by designing drawing exercises that forced pupils to see artistic images and perspectives with the right side of the brain, instead of trying to mechanically regulate them with the left, which most of us do, students (children and adults) with almost no artistic ability to begin with, could without exception, make sudden dramatic breakthroughs in artistic expression and progress to near professional levels inside three months.

Betty’s book got me to read up on Sperry’s findings – that study, together with some thirty years of research I had done myself on child development, among a wide range of cultures around the world, eventually got me interested in developing a dual brain child educational curriculum of my own which I called HeartStart. For the past eighteen years I have applied this home school developmental program to the education of eight of my own children. I have mentioned the outstanding results each have achieved, not only in the high marks in the academic subjects required by the State, but also in their exceptional artistic creativity and ethical social behavior. The threads it was mentioned on generated remarkably little reaction from the members of this forum.

As the future of this nation – and indeed its powerful influence on the rest of the world, will be determined by the next generation if children, such lukewarm interest in how we are continuing to educate them is somewhat puzzling – especially when there is a general consensus that our current education system is failing, while the potential for a revolutionary break-through in dual brain creativity and motivated ethical behavior, uncovered by Sperry, has been languishing in the offing for nigh on forty years.

Perhaps the lack of interest has been because I have failed to mention that dual brain exercises are efficacious not only with children, but among adults of any age as well. In essence dual brain development refers to our grasp of the both the physical world as well as our metaphysical potentials.

We have all been more or less well-trained in physics and know something of its finite limitations, but very few of are aware (other than via the distortion of biased religious instruction) of the infinitely more fascinating field of metaphysics. Specific exercises in right brain stimulation almost immediately open a whole new world of creative potential to those who first attempt it. Most people who have become involved with yoga, tai chi and meditation classes, etc, can attest to this to some extent. But there is also a wide range of other interesting metaphysical drills and exercises that not only further stimulate your creative impulses and allow you to execute skills in every walk of life that you only presently dream you have, but also awaken within you to a deeper sense of affection and altruism for mankind in general - and a more profound grasp, even reverence, for the workings of the Cosmos.

I would like to take interested members through a step by step process, describing the fascinating journey our family has experienced over the past eighteen years as we applied this new dual-brain approach to the development of the child psyche – as well as the general improvement of the adult psyche we have also experienced. I do this in the hope of perhaps giving the dual brain message more substance than previously, and thereby hopefully generating a more lively discussion on a vital subject that has the potential to give us an entirely new perspective on the way we all look at and share this life on this home planet of ours.

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Interesting, I would like to draw better… can you suggest any reading?

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Better than reading, I strongly recommend you join a meditation or kriya yoga class and try some right brain stimulation for yourself, if you have never done so. I took my first lesson more than thirty years ago and within a week began to experience distinct changes in my personality. I awoke one morining with an unusual insight and feeling for the vast brothetr and sisterhood of man - and all the ages of struggle our ancesters have been through. This was something i had never even thought of, let alone experineced before. That was enough to get me hooked. Over the years as I have practiced various other techniques for right brain stimulations I found out for instance, that where I previously thought I was tone-deaf, that I had a rather leasant voice and could hold a melody. I had always envied my brother who was a naturally gifted artist, and found that with a little concentration I could equal any of his best works. My IQ actually rose above average and my math skills improved considerably.

The exciting thing about dual brain stimulation is that almost every talent mankiind is capble of lies latent in every one of us. We do not have to start from scartch to learn anything. !00,000 generations of genetic inheritance has deposited those skills in our DNA. Right brain drills and exercises evoke those latent memories. That is why the results are so quick and dramatic.

If you are interested in finding just how well you can draw, I recommend Betty Edwards book, as mentioned in my first post. There are also any number of papers related to the beneficial efects of meditation. Check the Internet.

All my own experiences are recorded in my book on Psyche-Genetics, including a detailed account of the variety of dual brain exercises conducted with my children over the past 18 years. Your can click on my website as listed below for a preview.

Best of luck

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Does that mean I have to join a religious group? I’d rather not. Can’t you tell me some of the benifits of meditation, and how I can go about doing it myself?

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Though meditation is mostly practiced by Eastern-orienated religious groups, meditation per se is not religious, just as saying a private prayer is not. You can practice it by yourself - though group support tends to be far more helpful for beginners. Many give up because they feel that nothing is happening, or that they are not doing it correctly.

The effects of meditation are very subtle. One has to be in close tune with one’s inner self in order to notice the initial benefits. They whole idea is to try and shut down the interminable inner dialogue that takes place continuously in the left brain during most of one’s waking hours. Though we do not realize it, these mundane thoughts continuously carry us all away from the here and now, For instance, we have all e3xperienced driving across an entire busy city, gripped by some irellevant train of thought, and arrive at ones destination without being able to recall a thing that happened on the way.

There are all kinds of techniques on can use to try and shut down pointless analytical thinking. One can use a mantra, or concentrate on a candle flame. I find that concentrating on my breathing gets me into a meditative state very quickly. If you do it rythmically for five minutes or so - say by counting six seconds for the inward breath, six seconds on hold and then six seconds on the outward breath, and so on - that puts the busy left side of the brain on idle. Of course, only a few seconds after stopping the count, mundane thoughts tend to arise again and carry you away from the here and now again. Don’t be discouraged. If you keep on trying to stop that mental masturbation and get back to silence, even for a few seconds at a time, that effort in trying to evoke more self-awareness, no matter how weakly, is exactly what meditation is all about. There is much talk about Samadhi and Satori and estatic states of bliss among religious meditators- but from a practical down-to-earth rationality - evoking a keener state of inner self-awareness equates with a heightening of one’s outer ntelligence. No man is an island. Knowing more about yourself only computes via one’s relationship to everyone and everything else - thus the keener your inward look is, the sharper your outward look becomes.

As I said, the process also awakens latent creative skills. What actually happens is that you become far more careful in what you do and in how you do it. If you take twenty minutes to draw a face instead of two minutes, the results are naturally strikingly better. Meditation gives you the power of patience and concentration - which in turn allows you to do everything just that little more carefully. This includes your relationship with other people. To coin a hippie phrase - you start giving out and receiving good vibes.

Almost all meditators report a deepening senses of spiritual awareness. There is no need to shy away from this mystical experience because of any concerns you might have about religion. Spirituality is a universal phenomenon. That awakening within the self belongs to no religious affiliation. The Truth or Love or God that you discover within yourself during meditation, is unique to you.