P A R A D I G M S H I F T

(The Duality of the Brain)

‘Where the skull divides there lies the Gate of God.’

The Taittireeya Upanishad

The reader may know that my work is based on what I call the Neutral Point and that my own research, ideas and theories are the result of an extraordinary experience I had in 1993. 

I later learned that this experience was a 'Kundalini Awakening' - Kundalini being a Hindu term.

The existence of this ‘neutral’, ‘midpoint’ in consciousness, which can initiate such an awakening (enlightenment) is supported by split-brain research – something which has been superbly covered in many of Colin Wilson’s books like Beyond the Occult and Frankenstein’s Castle: The Right Brain Door to Wisdom.

In these books Colin Wilson mentions the Left and Right hemispheres of the brain and the functions of each. Of course he has mentioned this many times in many other written works that have each concentrated on different themes – i.e., the criminal mind, consciousness, the paranormal and the occult.

It is now well known that human beings have two brains – or rather, “the brain is double” as Wilson writes, “as if a mirror had been placed down the middle so that one half reflects the other.”

Using Wilson’s description, if we were to lift off the top of the skull and look down at the brain, we would see something that looks like a walnut with two wrinkled halves. The thick outer layering that we mostly see regarding these two halves of the brain is called the cerebral cortex. The fine bridge between both halves of the brain is called the corpus callosum or commissure and consists of a mass of nerve fibres that link the two halves together.

Wilson informs us that in the 1930s, brain surgeons wondered if they could prevent epileptic attacks by severing the Corpus Callosum: “ . . . so preventing the electrical storm from one hemisphere to the other.” Well after experimenting on cats and monkeys and noting that these creatures didn’t seem to show any harm done to them by the severing of their commissure, the brain surgeons then went ahead and severed the commissure of a human patient. Surprisingly, they noted that the patient suffered no real ill effects from this drastic kind of surgery and also noted that the epileptic fits were greatly reduced. Wilson tells us that one scientist had remarked that the only purpose of the commissure that he could see was to actually transmit epileptic seizures. As Wilson says, the commissure seems to prevent one half of the brain knowing or learning what the other half knows.  People who had their commissure severed were known as ‘split-brain patients,’ and they each displayed the same bizarre behaviour. As we know and is currently being debated, the left half of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right half of the brain controls the left side. It was observed that a split-brain patient could read with his right eye and not with his left. Apparently, it had been known since the nineteenth century that the left and right hemispheres held different functions: In short, the left hemisphere deals with language and the right hemisphere deals with patterns and recognition. It was noted, so Wilson informs us, that ‘people who had damage to the right cerebral hemisphere were unable to recognise simple patterns or enjoy music, but they could read or speak normally. Conversely, people with left-brain damage were able to recognise patterns but their speech was impaired.’

In his book, Frankenstein’s Castle, Wilson writes:

‘ . . . I realise more clearly than ever that my life has been dominated by a single obsession: a search for what I call ‘the other mode of consciousness.’

And . . .

‘The ‘Romantic Outsiders’ – Rousseau, Shelley, Hoffmann, Hölderlin, Berlioz, Wagner, Dostoevsky, Van Gogh, Nietszche – were always experiencing flashes of the other mode of consciousness, with its tantalising hint of a new kind of perception, in which distant realities are as real as the present moment.’

This ‘mode of consciousness’ that Wilson was searching for is again, the ‘neutral point’ or ‘third force’ in consciousness – the ‘midpoint,’ which is related to the ‘hypnagogic trance state’ familiar to the Shaman and the Kundalini enlightenment phenomenon.

I then went back to what I had read in these books, as Wilson’s own emphasis on the left and right brain with regard to man’s paranormal and mystical experiences surely now held some significance in what we had seen so far.

Wilson’s own hypothesis at the time of writing these books was that this ‘other mode of consciousness’ (which he was certain was the mode of consciousness also associated with man’s paranormal powers) comes from, or through, the right hemisphere of the brain. From my own understanding, this would be correct because the left-brain deals with the external world “out there” – i.e. the material, physical realm, and the right brain deals with the internal world – the mental or psychical realm.

Again, from my own understanding, I would say that one’s life-force energy comes through the ‘midpoint’ which would be somewhere between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, or something that represents the ‘midpoint’ between these two hemispheres.

As said, throughout his books Wilson associates these powers with one’s unconsciousness, which he says is an energy that is being regulated and controlled by the right brain, and also suggests, that in appropriate circumstances, when one’s consciousness is within certain parameters, one’s right brain will release enough of this unconscious energy so that the individual will experience what Wilson calls a ‘Peak Experience’ (a term coined by writer Abram Maslow) or his own, ‘Faculty X’ – Wilson’s name for this ‘other mode’ of consciousness.

I would redefine this and say that this energy comes from the ‘superconscious’ – for want of a better term – i.e., the source-centre, as conceptualised by the ancients. However the ‘superconscious’ would indeed be referred to as the “unconscious” – as Wilson says, because we are mostly experientially ‘unconscious’ of, ignorant of, and oblivious to it.

And again, I would say that far from this energy being regulated by the right brain, this energy is being regulated by the ‘midpoint’ in consciousness – a point that must have its physical counterpart somewhere within the physical brain.

Even though in his books, Wilson gives more emphasis to the right hemisphere and seems to be caught again in the elevation of one opposite over the other, what Wilson had to say about these two hemispheres was often insightful and seemed to fit very well with what we were now discovering about this ‘third force’ in consciousness:

‘The two halves need to combine their functions. When this happens, the result is far greater than either could achieve individually. In The Dam Busters, Paul Brickhill describes how the planes that bombed the Moener dam maintained an exact height above the water; a powerful light was placed in the nose and tail of each aeroplane, so the two beams crossed at the necessary height.

'All the pilot had to do was to reach the height at which there was only one circle of light on the water instead of two, then release his bombs. In the same way, the faculties of the right and left hemispheres, of insight and logic, can be focused together at a single point. When this happens, the result is a sense of actuality, as if the mind had suddenly ‘got the distance’ between itself and the real world. For this sense of actuality I have suggested the term ‘Faculty X.’’

In my view, the above analogy of the two beams would be correct – except I would say that insight itself is the result of the fusion between the two hemispheres, and not a faculty of the right alone.

It seems more right to say that imagination, and our ability to think in abstract terms, are faculties of the right hemisphere. And so the fusion between logic – which reveals many impossibilities because our logic is derived from the precept laws of our reality – and our abstract imagination, where anything is possible – is insight – i.e., insight into the true reality, where one is able to perceive the connections between things.

The ‘X’ in Wilson’s ‘Faculty X’ poetically marks the zero-point spot, as in the central crossover point within the brain and the two sides of the body.

From what I have now discovered for myself and through my own experiences, I would further say that the seat of this experience lies somewhere in-between the left and right hemispheres – i.e. at the centre of both, and that the inducement of Wilson’s ‘Faculty X’ again stems from the fusion of the frequencies of energy associated with these two hemispheres.

In physical terms, this ‘X’ region would be the central thalamus of the brain and the ‘ancients’ – and rather, the advanced ‘Shining Ones’ in antiquity, understood this. To them the thalamus was the ‘third eye’ – often wrongly attributed to the pineal gland alone – although the pineal is related to the activation of this ‘third eye’, which is the thalamus. We can see more clearly just what the Occult and alchemists believed regarding the pineal with this commentary from Comte De Gabalis by Abbe N. de Montfaucon de Villars:

“A ganglion of the sympathetic nervous system, known as the pineal gland, is situated in the brain directly posterior to the extremity of the third ventricle. “From its broad anterior end two white bands pass forward, one on the inner side of each optic thalamus.” When through the use of the Holy Catholic Medecine (government of Solar Force) the pineal gland is regenerated, it endows man with superphysical or seer vision.”

For those readers who already understand the implications of ‘zero-point energy’, what physicist’s call ‘zero-point energy’ is really the pure energy of consciousness, and this is what one is tapping into when one is somehow able to fuse the two energies or two sides of oneself. One is in fact tapping into a kind of central point where all the sub-atomic or quantum energy information of the whole universe is stored at one place and yet everywhere.

Now if zero-point energy is the pure consciousness energy of what the eastern mystics say is the ‘Absolute’ or ‘source-centre’ – i.e., what Wilson calls the source of paranormal and mystical powers – then would it be absurd to suggest that this crossover point is where one is able to tap the zero-point energy of one’s consciousness?

We are all tapping this energy all the time anyway but unconsciously. It would seem then, that one’s ‘conscious’ tapping of this pure energy by ‘awakening’ to this ‘midpoint’ in consciousness is experienced as the ‘Kundalini/energy phenomenon.’  

In brief, the ‘life-force’ energy that gives a person his or her existence in a physical reality actually comes from a point that exists somewhere in-between the two hemispheres. This energy is being tapped from this point, being released by a momentary pulse of fused consciousness, which is going on all the time and twice during every brain cycle.    

The brain, like everything else, is oscillating in waves and we call these oscillations ‘brain cycles.’ We can only measure the frequency of one’s present state of consciousness by the oscillations of sweeping energy within the brain. A change in frequency regarding the brain oscillations means that there is a change in one’s state of consciousness.

This fusion happens every time energy and information is being transferred between the right to the left and then between the left to the right again. It is this ‘midpoint’ in consciousness that is regulating the flow of this energy and information from one side to the other. 

Every time a wave of energy crosses the dividing line or zero null-line between each, there is a momentary fusion of opposites . . . but one is usually unconscious at this very brief moment of ‘crossover.’ Think of a pendulum swinging from left to right and back again; we note that it always crosses the midpoint of balance - where the pendulum would rest if it was silent and still.

Using the wave-particle duality of subatomic particles, we can now say that the reason why we see energy in a ‘condensed material state’ and interact with it as such (i.e. physically) could be due to the particle-oriented left-brain.

Of course, the more rarefied energy – as in waves – could only then be associated with the right brain. And of course the paranormal – which always seems to elude any physical evidence – would seem to be associated with a rarefied energy that cannot be called physical . . . in the sense that we cannot harness it, control it, weigh it nor measure it - yet.

But the thing is, when one is actually going through a paranormal experience, it is also a measured and ‘sensed event’ even though it may be only happening in the mind, or the personal “reality-bubble” of the individual. To the individual, such an event seems real. But for those who hadn’t experienced this paranormal event, the event would seem unreal. This consensus opinion would confuse the individual, whereby he or she would have to also consider the experience to be something ‘unreal.’

This contradiction sets up a stressful ‘conflict’ situation for the individual whereby the individual would then have to consider the possibility that he or she may have some kind of psychological fault or even some kind of brain defect and eventually the individual denies the existence of the effect. In some individuals this could lead from mild to extreme neurosis, which is really a widening of one’s consciousness whereby one becomes even more divided. This of course is in ironic contrast to the balance and fusion of one’s ‘dual-consciousness,’ which had given the individual the experience in the first place.

In essence, what the ancient Shaman was striving for is the simple balance of these opposites and he recognised that this balance came from the ‘mid-point’ or ‘centre’ within the brain. He then over time created the physical manifestations of this belief in the great monuments of the globe, by placing the Great Pyramid at the centre of the Earth’s landmass for instance.

All our emotional problems stem from having a divided perception because we perceive or ‘receive’ the world through either one hemisphere or the other, and so we can only understand it from either one side or the other.

Each hemisphere acts like a filter, through which the images and meaning of our reality is received and interpreted. But not only do we perceive and receive this information about our reality through either of these filters, we also create our reality through either one of these hemispheres or filters. Each one of these two hemispheres is associated with the way we create and perceive the world during every moment.

The world is usually seen in a number of ways, but they can all be reduced down to two configurations; ‘two forces’ that seem to be opposed to each other, but also attracted to each other. It is this constant friction between opposition and attraction, which creates the flux associated with the fluctuating images of an objective and subjective reality. In other words, the objective world and everything in it – i.e., all its varied multifarious forms – are all expressions or aspects of the same two opposites. In the same way, the subjective world of our thoughts and the mental images therein are again, expressions or aspects of the two opposites.

We mould and shape the world around us according to what hemisphere is predominant (taking the physical configuration,) or what state of mind is predominant, (taking the mental configuration – as in conscious or subconscious – objectivity or subjectivity.)

This seems to be the main reason why we have friction and conflict in the world, because all conflict stems from our perception and experience of things that seem to have an opposite nature to them.

We like and give us pleasure, and reject those things we don’t like, or even fear. It seems that while we adhere ourselves to one set of perceptions we are rejecting quite a lot of information and data – mostly that which is associated with the other set, and so what we have left is the reality we experience.

We often cannot see that pleasure also turns to pain, and that what we dislike, hate or fear can be an unexpected visitor to our reality at any moment. This is because we have caused an imbalance by loading ourselves with only those things that we like and give us pleasure. And again, in each of us one hemisphere and all things associated with it seem to be predominant in what gives us this pleasure and also our view of the world.

To illustrate this point, I have since been drawn to a quote made by the celebrated physicist and cosmologist, Stephen Hawking. The quote in question was made during a conversation he had with American philosopher, Renee Weber, which she recorded for her book Dialogues With Scientists And Sages – a book we would strongly recommend to anyone interested in these subjects:

Weber:  “You’re drawing a contrast between using the mind and shedding it. I’ve read that you consider the current attempt in some quarters to relate physics to eastern philosophy as nonsense, and I’m interested in your reasons.”

Hawking: “It comes back to my dislike of mysticism.”    

Hawking’s admittance to his pet-dislike, sums up the general view of scientists and physicists in regard to mysticism, metaphysics and the subject of consciousness. Our tendency to ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ something is really associated with our irrational emotions – something that the positivist voice of science says is something that should be avoided at all costs – especially when one is assessing so-called scientific data.

This means that Stephen Hawking’s view of the universe, which is applauded by science and which the media is always shoving down the throats of the public as “gospel,” is really his own personal view based on his own personal likes or dislikes. This clearly shows that much of the data related to man’s experience of the universe is largely ignored by Stephen Hawking’s assessment of the universe, and all because of his personal dislike of mysticism. The altered states of consciousness related to what we call ‘mysticism’ are of course fundamental parts of the human experience. This means that Stephen Hawking, for all his worth, has not opened himself up to these kinds of experiences and so he is largely ignorant regarding the nature of man’s consciousness – the medium through which the universe is perceived and experienced. 

This is dangerous because the consensus voice of our society redeem him as a genius; a truly remarkable man who has all the answers as to “how it is,” while his explanations and answers are really being based on his personal likes or dislikes.

Isn’t this irrational? . . Something, which is frowned upon by those who are required to keep to the so-called “rational” methods of science? How can a true assessment of reality be made, when one decides to leave out a certain amount of data, just because he or she dislikes it?   

Regarding opposites, if we believe in these opposites by giving preference to one set over another, then we will try to push the pendulum to our favourite end, and we will spend a lot of our energy in trying to keep it there . . . but one day it is going to have to swing back to the other end . . . backlash.

This is why, even though we enjoy some of what we call 'good times', we also have our fair share of 'bad times', and the intensity of these “good” and “bad” experiences depends on the extremity of the opposites within us – i.e., how far we have tried to push the pendulum to one end. What we perceive and experience – as in “good” or “bad” – is really a projection of these opposites within us. But Truth does not lay in either of these opposites; it exists in their unity . . . their fusion – which Hawking seems to have overlooked.

I then thought that this tendency of ours to always perceive the world in opposites revealed how our reality could also be an illusion – especially when we take into account that this is exactly what the eastern philosophies and religions have been saying all along – i.e., the material world is Maya . . . illusion.

It now seems certain to me that one’s ‘dual perception’ is the primary cause regarding one’s creation of this “illusion,” and that this dual perception is expressed in the physical as the two hemispheres of the brain.

It then seemed right for me to assume that one’s ‘Real’ or ‘True’ perception of reality, really comes from the fusion of both hemispheres – meaning that both hemispheres would be used at the same time creating a balance of perception and experience.

Therefore one would be able to perceive an insight into the Truth behind the illusion.

Furthermore I would suggest that ‘insight’ is a consequence of this fusion, and that what we call genius is also attributed to this fusion. Someone as eclectic as Leonardo da Vinci, is a living embodiment of this fusion in consciousness, and is a perfect example. As we know, not only was he an artist, a sculptor, an inventor, a scientist, a physician and a philosopher, he was also a practising alchemist and a mystic, who understood esoteric knowledge and had preserved this knowledge – in the form of symbolic codes – in most of his famous paintings. He did not allow his personal beliefs to get in the way of truth – as our so-called modern day da Vinci’s do.

Metaphorically speaking, this would mean that a clearer perception of reality seems to come from the point in between the two hemispheres – i.e., where the two opposite energies associated with the two hemispheres are both cancelled out by their superimposition. In other words our energies then become fused as one again (neutral) and through sustaining this neutrality, we also remain indifferent to the opposites around us and do not let them sway us from our source-centre.

We could then see that the balance of one’s energies at this centre actually allows us to contain our energy and focus it like a laser beam. One then has enough energy to transcend the normal perceptions of reality, and remain immune from both positive and negative influences, each of which leads to the other. This is where the saying “being centred” comes from.

To summarise: Intuition and insight does not arrive through the right-hemisphere of the brain . . . it arrives through the synthesis and fusion of both the left and the right hemispheres. In other words, intuition and insight come to us when both hemispheres are working together in unison – and even for a very short period of time. This is the ‘lightning flash associated with insight’ that comes to us in a split second because both the hemispheres and their faculties have fused together in that moment capturing the ‘Now’ or ‘Eternal Present.’  

There is some evidence that the ancient Egyptians actually understood this about the two hemispheres of the brain – i.e., that they were associated with the male and female principles and also all the corresponding opposites – as in positive and negative. This is evident in the ancient Egyptian depictions of Akhenaton and his wife, Queen Nefertiti. In the statue of Akhenaton, his right eye is missing its pupil. This would have been possibly overlooked as a mistake until we discover that in the famous bust of his wife, Queen, Nefertiti, her left eye is missing its pupil.

 Bust of Queen Nefertiti missing her left pupil.                        Bust of Akhenaton missing his right pupil

 Egyptologists have been puzzled over these pupil omissions, which were obviously intentional. Well in the light of what has been discussed so far, it’s indeed possible that the ancient Egyptians had already known about the left and right hemispheres of the brain and their traits. We can see that both the bust of Nefertiti and the statue of Akhenaton give emphasis to the brain hemisphere most dominant in regard to their own genders. We could interpret that Akhenaton understood that this duality is neutralised in the one god, ‘The Aten.’

I would say that Akhenaton’s revolutionary monotheistic religion was actually based on the ‘neutral point’ – the third force between the opposites – the ‘source-centre’ – the ‘inner sun’, which Akhenaton saw as being reflected in the life-giving rays of the physical sun.

The Aten as 'Neutral Point' between the male and female opposites