The Presence
Some have such an experience of a presence
that they then leap to call the experience
god, the cosmos, or the all.
The experience is indeed felt,
but is something else entirely.
It is the left brain,
wherefrom the sense of self comes,
sensing the unspeaking right brain as a presence.
To call it god/all is of a cerebral mistake,
not to mention it being a giant leap
of unfounded opinion rather than fact.
You can even feel it a bit now,
kind of, however slight,
such as when having dinner,
driving, or doing some task.
It then feels like your left brain
is full, of course,
and that the right is empty,
the left side even feeling warmer;
but, pause from the task for a second
and holistically observe something as a whole,
such as a furniture cabinet or a car,
not getting into the details.
Now the right brain is the half
that feels warm and full—
and maybe even a little spacey.
That’s all it is, folks.
In some it can get very extreme,
medically bothersome even,
like having two selves
or positing an intruding self
that is not one’s own.
Patients whose hemispheres’ connection
is severed to relieve epilepsy
may even develop
two separate consciousnesses,
often at odds with each other,
such as getting choked with one hand,
the other hand trying to take it away.
Another, differently sourced feeling,
of being one with the cosmos
comes during meditation,
but is only of the calming
of the brain neurons
in the parietal lobe,
those that maintain
the identification of the self
and also of where the body ends
and the rest of the universe begins.
That’s all it is.
This can also happen
during praying or chanting;
it’s been measured in monks.
Who then, upon recalling,
or during a state of meditation,
or just by living,
can use an experience
of doubtful analysis
by the mere state of being
to say anything further
about the true nature,
why, source, how, and wherefore
of the conscious awareness
of felt sensation—
without consideration of the
electrochemical states beneath?
There are those who feel
they have to say,
based on introspection alone,
and those who do not,
for science also informs them
of the states beneath.
Some have such an experience of a presence
that they then leap to call the experience
god, the cosmos, or the all.
The experience is indeed felt,
but is something else entirely.
It is the left brain,
wherefrom the sense of self comes,
sensing the unspeaking right brain as a presence.
To call it god/all is of a cerebral mistake,
not to mention it being a giant leap
of unfounded opinion rather than fact.
You can even feel it a bit now,
kind of, however slight,
such as when having dinner,
driving, or doing some task.
It then feels like your left brain
is full, of course,
and that the right is empty,
the left side even feeling warmer;
but, pause from the task for a second
and holistically observe something as a whole,
such as a furniture cabinet or a car,
not getting into the details.
Now the right brain is the half
that feels warm and full—
and maybe even a little spacey.
That’s all it is, folks.
In some it can get very extreme,
medically bothersome even,
like having two selves
or positing an intruding self
that is not one’s own.
Patients whose hemispheres’ connection
is severed to relieve epilepsy
may even develop
two separate consciousnesses,
often at odds with each other,
such as getting choked with one hand,
the other hand trying to take it away.
Another, differently sourced feeling,
of being one with the cosmos
comes during meditation,
but is only of the calming
of the brain neurons
in the parietal lobe,
those that maintain
the identification of the self
and also of where the body ends
and the rest of the universe begins.
That’s all it is.
This can also happen
during praying or chanting;
it’s been measured in monks.
Who then, upon recalling,
or during a state of meditation,
or just by living,
can use an experience
of doubtful analysis
by the mere state of being
to say anything further
about the true nature,
why, source, how, and wherefore
of the conscious awareness
of felt sensation—
without consideration of the
electrochemical states beneath?
There are those who feel
they have to say,
based on introspection alone,
and those who do not,
for science also informs them
of the states beneath.
