Spectrum of Ecstasy and McGilchrist's hemisphere model

1/ Reading Spectrum of Ecstasy (thanks @QiaochuYuan & @Meaningness!) ...and the parallels between it and Iain McGilchrist's @divided_brain model are... like 100%? If it weren't for the fact that IM doesn't use the term "non-dual", these pages could literally from IM's book.

May 14, 2019

2/ Given my understanding that @Meaningness's work is based largely on what Spectrum of Ecstasy is talking about, I now want to amplify this tweet like 30×.

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Mar 16, 2019

@Meaningness @reasonisfun Also David have you looked into any of Iain McGilchrist's stuff on brain hemisphere lateralization? It's profoundly relevant to your work. He frames the modernity madness & breakdown as being characteristic of the left hemisphere denying the role of the right. Core to all of this

3/ He replied and noted that he had read some summaries, but if you're someone out there who has appreciated meaningness.com or vividness.live, you almost certainly want to check out The Master and his Emissary!

David Chapman @Meaningness · Mar 16, 2019

@Malcolm_Ocean @reasonisfun Thanks, yes, I haven’t read his book, but have read some summaries

4/ Here's a link to The Master and his Emissary on Amazon: amzn.to/2JFiHYc

5/ It has been blowing my mind with its capacity to explain, to my left hemisphere, *that it is a left hemisphere*. And that it has a RHem partner that's MADE to handle unknowns and uncertainties and paradoxes and improvising, so my LHem doesn't HAVE to.

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Mar 1, 2019

But I'm not holding these as separate skills to train—my right hemisphere is actually quite good at all of these already! That's its job—and I've trained many of these too. The thing is that these capacities have been restricted by my left hemisphere's dominance.

6/ This realization has been critical, for me, for teaching my LHem that if it lets go, everything doesn't disintegrate. I lose my (illusion of) perfect control, but I don't become powerless. So I feel safer letting go. Which is key because

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Apr 26, 2019

@jonnym1ller @SarahAMcManus > "LH needs to allow it to do that job" could sound prescriptive, and it sort of is, but it's also just highlighting that 70% of the corpus callosum is inhibitory, so the RH literally *can't* do it's job if the LH won't let it (& vice versa)

7/ I don't grok enough about the brain or about tantric non-dual awareness to have a precise model for how they relate, but I feel like we're on the cusp of this and I'm really excited about that.

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Apr 19, 2019

Oh! one thing I've been realizing is that it seems that almost everything people want to call "awakeness" is associated with right-hemisphere brain function. That is, they all involve an awareness of the limitations of re-presentation and a connection with what is present. 🤔🧠

Further thoughts on this over here: (mostly more questions, not answers)

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Jun 7, 2019

@_awbery_ @QiaochuYuan One thing I found striking is Culadasa's description of enlightenment in terms of the neurology, talking about the brainstem. I'm now super fascinated how this connects with @Meaningness' depiction of the different Results of sutrayana & tantrayana. twitter.com/Malcolm_Ocean/…

Jun 7, 2019