Jill Bolte Taylor's amazing TED talk
At least three of this year's TED talks were flat-out amazing: Tod Machover's, Benjamin Zander's, and Jill Bolte Taylor's. The first of them has just been posted:
Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard neuroanatomist, eavesdropped on her own stroke. As I wrote the day of her talk, she walked us through what she felt and thought while her brain was going wild, from the borderline-metaphysical ("I can't define where I begin and where I end") to the borderline-hilarious ("I'm a busy woman. I don't have time for a stoke"). Her description of her time in that strange state, caught between two worlds, the rare researcher who has been able to chronicle a brain-changing event from the inside, was astonishing.
And now you can see and hear it, too:
The brain she's holding there is a real one, by the way.
We'll alert you to the other two classics when they're published.
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Comments: 16
[03.16.08 08:59 PM]
That was absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing. I've passed it on.
[03.17.08 09:06 AM]
That was incredible. Ms Taylor provides so much insight and opens up so many more questions. For starters: What is choosing? Is choosing is an emotion artifact? Then; where is emotion manifested or processed? It suggests an inherent collaborative being or episode.
Lovely reflection, insights AND spirit.
Thanks!!
[03.17.08 04:03 PM]
Fantastic! Thank you so much. How long will this be available for viewing? Is it possible to download?
[03.19.08 12:27 AM]
Beyond the edges of us there is a space that calls. A space where no thing is separate of the one thing and where all things exist in the one moment. This is the place of awareness where all cultures seek to find our one true connection.
Could this be the edge of all questions and answers? Is this the rare knowledge that elusive mysterious held to gift that only a few masters found? Can this be the place that the disciples huddle together and share reverend whispers about?
How cool how brave how fortunate how awsome how inspiring to have it shared in such a way for us all to equally experience.. Jill Bolte Taylor you are a true gift your enthusiasm a joy .. your discovery takes a person both within and without your find it is ......... a real treasure
[03.20.08 04:35 AM]
Awsome... Jill Bolte Taylor has my full attention.. i have passed this on to many. How can I view more of her story.. I am truly on the edge of my seat!
[03.23.08 11:17 AM]
Video isn't working:(
[03.27.08 03:10 PM]
WOW, Thank you, Thank you and Thank you. I am in tears, what an amazing lady. With all respect!
[03.28.08 10:53 AM]
Amazing experience, amazing woman! Truly inspiring! Jill Bolte Taylor is a gifted enthusiatic speaker and I too have passed this on and would love to see more of her story.
[04.01.08 09:45 AM]
Very informative. send more. Thanks.
[04.04.08 11:22 AM]
I have just finished watching this amazing woman. Today is the one anniversary of my father's death and tomorrow my mother's. My mother had a stroke 9 years ago and my father 2 years ago. They died 14 hours apart. What interesting insight. After my mother had been in a coma for many weeks she suddenly looked down at her arm and said "I wish they would take this giant fish out of the bed." I visited her daily she was rarely aware of her situation. She was lucid and incredibly loving and kind. But she saw some amazing things which she often conveyed to me. Most often she felt an energy in space, and told me she had had been in outer space. She was also able to tell me all kinds of things I never thought possible. Bless you Jill Bolte Taylor you have helped to understand .
Sincerely, Karen Stevens
[04.18.08 04:59 PM]
what this woman is describing are effects of a significant dose of Lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as LSD. The symptoms match EXACTLY what one would experience after consuming a decent quantity of acid.
[04.21.08 01:45 AM]
NoStroke's comments are accurate insofar as psychoactive substances can bring about these experiences. Additionally, deep insight meditation also helps one to access these subtler realms of existence, but we are reticent to call this 'nirvana.- more likely to be but a step on the path. Metaphysical experiences come in many shapes and colours, but are not an end unto themselves. One must be careful not to confuse milestones along the way with the final destination.
A very moving story about what life really is. Stirring to note that so many of us are caught up in day-to-day life that we miss the deeper awareness of what life really is beneath the fetters of are imprisoned lives and paradigms that enslave us. Thanks for jolting us back with glimpses of the infinite.
Thank you, Jill Bolte Taylor
[04.24.08 03:09 PM]
The silence of the left hemisphere, though, does not necessarily constitute a mystical experience. Nor does the right hemisphere 'mediate' a mystical experience. The brain is part of the temporary world. The Pure Silence of a true mystical experience is not contingent on the temporal, but is eternal. How can a temporary structure mediate an eternal experience?
More important than how the brain/mind works is WHY the it works. If the Silence is so wonderful, why is the information processing mechanism, right or left hemisphere, ever used at all? This is all sorted out in the recent book "Why The Mind Works" by The Nectar Project.
[05.04.08 11:59 PM]
Jimmy,
(Finally) watched this on the plane today. It occurred to me that she was describing the LSD experience almost exactly. I wonder what could be learned from that connection. I'm especially glad to see many others have drawn that parallel to her talk (so I know I'm not crazy.)
-a
p.s. i owe you a phone call
[05.06.08 12:44 PM]
With regard to the LSD experience, wasn't that
what Timothy Leary was on about? That one could experience enlightenment through taking acid?
There is a podcast with the lady here:
http://tinylink.co.za/7f71f1
I too want to share her experience with everyone
I know. Seems as if not everyone I know is as ready to be blown away as I was.
