In the spiritual traditions of the East, the mind is in fact two minds, manas, the lower mind, a mind centred in ignorance and separation, and buddhi, the higher mind, the mind centred in wisdom and oneness. The single consciousness and its associated thoughts, emotions, feelings, memories, perceptions and imagination are expressed in two ways, through the manas that in a sense confines and deceives you, or the buddhi, which liberates or expands. Which of these two channels we choose is up to us. So are the consequences of those choices.

In our Western traditions of scientific empirical proofs and judeo-christian faith, concepts of manas and buddhi aren’t clear. Where, after all, is the physiological and psychological proof of samadhi? How can you quantify the blissful effects of meditation? We do, however, have a physiological/psychological reference in the field of neuroscience to two minds that seem to correspond in many respects to the manas/buddhi concept. That is the left and right cerebral cortexes of the brain. One brain, two hemispheres, communicating through a bundle of over a quarter of a million nerve fibres.

US neuroscientist Roger Sperry shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for his discoveries in the area of the split brain. I am neither a scientist nor a Nobel laureate though so couldn’t get too deep into it even if I wanted to. I am just really interested in the mind and the spirit and in finding ways to express esoteric concepts without sounding like a dreamer. I like to find the similarities between supposedly unrelated expressions that have meaning to me. Anyway, back to the brain...

Each hemisphere of the brain directs different things. The right brain is dominant for spatial abilities, face recognition, visual imagery and music, amongst other things. It is about the here and now. It is said that this is the hemisphere that puts artists, poets and musicians in touch with the heaven they express, sometimes without being aware of it. If there is a connection between the left/right hemispheres and the manas/buddhi theory, the right hemisphere seems to correspond to the buddhi, the higher mind of wisdom and clear perception that connects us to all good, all light, bliss and love, right here and now. And being aware, being in the present is a very wise thing to be. It is through the right hemisphere that we are in touch with this blissfulness. It prefers peace and quiet. It prefers calm and stillness. Through it, we see all others as part of ourselves, as though we are all one, big happy family. In that state, we don’t think bad thoughts and we are kind and loving.

Meanwhile, the left hemisphere seems more dominant for calculations, math and logical abilities. It thinks more methodically than the right. It needs things to be logical. It isn’t really ‘logical’ to us that we are a soul and have a body instead of the other way round. It isn’t logical that our true nature is light, energy, bliss and we are merely encased for a period in a physical shell called a body.

Whilst the right hemisphere likes to keep our mind in the present, the left hemisphere prefers to dwell in the past and the future. It keeps us busy with regrets of the mistakes we made yesterday and fears of what tomorrow will bring. It likes noise and busy-ness. It wants action, not stillness. The left brain seems to correspond to the manas, or lower, mind, ignorance.

Ignorance in the sense that it separates us from our true nature as one of the whole. It causes us to identify more with our self, our ego, me, mine. It differentiates, makes us feel you and I are not family. And that seems to be the cause of all our problems.

When the two halves are communicating smoothly, they both have their roles and they work together to act as one mind directing a single, balanced personality. Sperry (the Nobel Prize guy) called the brain, "Two separate realms of conscious awareness; two sensing, perceiving, thinking and remembering systems."

The whole subject is interesting to me in two areas: the effects/benefits of meditation and our sense of identification. What do we choose to identify with? Where do we choose to be? Dwelling in the past and future? or being conscious of the present moment?

In meditation, as you may know, the deeper one goes, the more blissful the experience is. Yoga is ultimately communion with God. And if we are ‘made in His image’, or are a part of His omnipresence, then that sense of identification switching from the narrow, ego-driven self in the body to the limitless sea of bliss and love that is you, me, everyone, everything, is both profound and empowering. It is moving the dominant consciousness from the manas to the buddhi, from ignorance to wisdom.

The yogis explain that this is because our true nature is bliss and so as we go deeper in meditation, we begin to shake off the narrow sense of being a separate individual in a body to experiencing, or tuning in, with our true nature as an all-expansive, all-encompassing, bundle of bliss and light and energy.

Like the Bible says, “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” When you meditate you draw the concentration to the single point in the forehead, the spiritual eye as it is called, and with deep concentration, the consciousness begins to identify with that light. And we become aware that our true nature is actually that: energy, or light. The energy that is me is the same energy that you and him and her and everyone. There is no conflict or separation.

Now what has all this got to do with left and right brain hemispheres? That is my whole point of relating the scientific, neurophysical understanding of the brain and the eastern concept of the manas/buddhi. When we are identifying with our little self, it is the left hemisphere being dominant and we express that through our lower mind, or manas. But when we feel the sense of blissful joy, most commonly in meditation but at other times too, we are identifying with our bliss-nature, our omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent soul, the right hemisphere is dominant and we are experiencing and expressing through our higher consciousness, or buddhi. And if we are experiencing a sense of omnipresence, it means that we are one with others, with all things. The energy which is me and the energy or light with is you and him and them is the same.

This leads me to question what it is in our training we are seeking exactly. It is one thing to train hard and win a tournament. But what are we winning and at what cost (or benefit) to our consciousness? If we allow the mind to come through the left hemisphere we are not aware, not present, full of fear and anticipation, we feel conflict and our technique does not flow naturally. We cannot “see” clearly. The key to mastery of the art of karate, therefore, would seem to be bringing the mind to an awareness of now, with the body and mind expressing through the right hemisphere as a natural, unaffected flow, unimpaired by our fears or misconceptions.

The breath is important here. It is the breath that connects it all so powerfully. Yogananda teaches that it is the breath that ties the soul to the body, so by knowing how to breathe right, we can learn to anchor our consciousness in the buddhi, the higher mind, the now, the right hemisphere. Conscious breath is the gateway to controlling the energies in and around us. It anchors us in the present moment, perhaps more than anything else. And when we are in the present, we are still. The mind is still, alive, aware, in tune. If we could be in the present moment all the time, our sense of reality would become one that is united with others, where we feel connected to others, not one where we are in a state of conflict, distrust, fear and apprehension.

Just think what a great world we would have if we all connected with each other as one, if we all related to each other with a sense of love and oneness and bliss. It is just a breath away. It is just a choice we make.

One thing is certain: this crazy, confused, misleading, left hemisphere state of affairs in Kyokushin today would instantly dissolve as we tune in, as we feel a sense of oneness, as we ALL come together as one big, happy family. We should all close out eyes and take a breath and feel the interconnectedness we have as brothers and sisters of the same, one Kyokushin family. Don’t accept the conflict, the divisions falsely created by a few for their own ego’s benefit. That breath may be the first step to truly bringing us all back together as one, single, happy family.

Osu.

CFQ

Note (May 5, 2009): Since posting this over a year ago, I found these interesting videos on YouTube. The second one is particularly profound. The speaker, neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor, had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: one morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. For a scientist in her field, that was like one of us waking up and suddenly being able to do karate like Matsui and observe ourselves as we experienced it. She describes her experience in a very profound way.