BW: In the book you write, “It was clear to me that this body functioned like a portal through which the energy of who I am can be beamed into three dimensional space.” What is the nature of that energy — would you liken it to a soul?
JBT: Different people use different language to define that which is indefinable. Some people may call that energy the soul, while others may call it chi. I prefer to call it the life-force power, but the language is not significant to me.
BW: Do you think that energy will persist after your body is gone?
JBT: My energy will change its form when I die. I have no opinion beyond what I have experienced. I do believe that we have to have this three-dimensional brain to have any relationship with this three-dimensional world, and when the brain is no longer performing its function, then the information can no longer be processed and our consciousness shifts entirely.
BW: In your stroke recovery, you invoke “the great spirit of the universe.”
JBT: It’s the life-force power of the universe. I see it as something that I dissolve back into. I dissolve back into all that is.
BW: Do you think of this spirit as personal, or universal?
JBT: I see the energy as the consciousness of the universal flow. It exists as it is, regardless of our state of being or awareness.
BW: In the book, you describe the study by Drs. Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’ Aquili about the neuroanatomy underlying spiritual experience. What makes you confident that the sense of oneness is not just a brain state, instead of a true perception of a universal force originating outside the mind?
JBT: I speak to the circuitry in our brains. We have the ability to experience everything because we have cells that perform that function. We can now show this using science. The brain is the instrument for us to speak or move our finger. Lose those cells and you lose the function. Many people with right hemisphere damage report that they have lost the ability to find God, or hear holistically. This speaks to the biological basis of our wiring.
BW: You lament that when you were younger, you had no idea of the 90-second duration of a spontaneous negative emotion. You now know that you can wait it out and then decide whether to act on it. If you could go back through time and tell your younger self the most important things you now know, what would they be?
JBT: One, I am neurocircuitry. Two, I have cognitive circuitry, emotional circuitry and physiological circuitry. I can pay attention to which circuits I am running at any moment in time and I can watch my emotional circuitry from the moment it is triggered to the time it is completely flushed out of my body. I have the power to observe this circuitry rather than engage with it and it takes less than 90 seconds for those emotional circuits to complete their cycle.
BW: Near the end of your book, you write, “Unfortunately, as a society, we do not teach our children that they need to tend carefully the garden of their minds.” How would you like to see that change?
JBT: I would like everyone to read my book with an open heart and an open mind so they can discover their own freedom as cognitive, emotional living beings.
BW: You also say your right hemisphere consciousness is eager for us to “take the next giant leap for mankind and step to the right so we can evolve this planet into the peaceful and loving place we yearn for it to be.” Can you sketch out what you think that planet would look like?
JBT: We would see our similarities rather than our differences. We would live our lives as the magnificent life-force power of the universe, honoring the life-force power of others. We would approach each other with compassion, curiosity and celebration. We would manifest our dreams in positive ways and work together to evolve ourselves into our human potential.
BW: What do you think is the first step to getting there?
JBT: Recognize that we are wired for a peaceful spirit and take the steps we need to exercise that circuitry.
This article is updated from its initial publication in Brain World Magazine’s Spring 2009 issue.
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