Pink Monkey Farm: The Blog

Experiencing our collective nature

In this remarkable talk at TED, Jill Bolte Taylor describes the phenomenology of a stroke.  She gives a very moving and spirited account of what it felt like for her to suffer a major stroke which essentially knocked out the left half of her brain.  The experience was essentially mystical for her.  I find it remarkable that as she tries to talk about this (which is difficult) she wrestles visibly with the use of personal pronouns.  She has seen something about our collective nature, and she contrasts that direct knowledge with the silly notion that she, Jill, is a discrete individual.  This just makes sense to me.