Spirituality and Stroke?

Jill Bolte Taylor was coincidentally a neuroscientist at Harvard’s brain research center when she suffered a stroke at the age of 37. While she initially felt pain, she describes the overall feeling as “good,” a kind of letting go, as her perceptions dulled and worries faded. She was struggling to survive, and yet, her mind felt stronger and clearer than ever.

Taylor recovered completely and now teaches others about her “blissful enlightenment” via techniques for using the right side of the brain, the more creative side, more often than we do. Most English-speakers primarily utilize the left side and its logic, but she argues that we can consciously choose not to do so, and live a more spiritual life in the process.

Taylor has just published her memoir, fittingly entitled, My Stroke of Insight, and occasionally does public speaking about the subject. While some former colleagues and scientists are skeptical, she believes she has found new psychological tools to help brain-trauma patients as well as healthy people live their lives fully.

Have you experienced spiritual enlightenment as a result of a traumatic medical experience? [The New York Times]