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JBT: Actually, I’ve been contacted by numerous neuroscientists who have gone into neuroscience so they could better understand their own experiences in their own brains. I think curious people are curious, and are open to possibilities. And closed-minded people are close-minded, and are closed to possibilities. But there are neuroscientists who are very interested in studying populations of people who have had this experience. It’s been absolutely fascinating for me because I’m receiving over a hundred emails a day, and many of these are from individuals who say, “I’ve had this experience,” or “I’m one of those people who can go back and forth between my right and left hemispheres.” If there are only a couple hundred people on the planet who are very well trained in doing that themselves, wouldn’t it be amazing if I could get twenty of them in an fMRI machine and see them do what they do and figure out how they can do that—instead of just looking at all these people and saying, “No, this isn’t real”? It’s been an eye-opening experience for me, and I have been celebrating the level of openness people are coming forward with. That certainly doesn’t mean that everybody is supportive.
There is nothing I’ve said that is scientifically new. Roger Sperry, who received the Nobel Prize in ’84 for the split-brain work that he did, showed repeatedly that when you cut the corpus callosum, there are two very different characters inside of the individual. So much so, that he cites a great example of a man who, with one hand is trying to strangle his wife and with the other hand is trying to protect his wife from the hand that is trying to strangle her. So, there are these two characters. What happens when the brain is connected normally is, there is generally a major inhibition of one of these characters. But that doesn’t mean that they’re both not there. For me, when I had the hemorrhage and lost the left hemisphere character and she lifted that inhibition off of the right hemisphere, then I simply shifted into right hemisphere-dominant. And then as I became better, I got to watch that process of, OK, I’m willing to let that left hemisphere redevelop because I need it, I need its tools, but it’s not going to rule my cranium any more.
SOM: Did the stroke change what you felt your purpose in life was?
JBT: I don’t know what my purpose in life was before the stroke. I’m more clear what my purpose is now, but …
SOM: What is your purpose in life?
JBT: I was hoping you weren’t going to ask that. (Laughs) I think that my purpose in life is to help people realize that deep inner peace is right there in their right hemisphere. And that it’s a choice. I think a lot of people don’t realize, A, that it is there, and B, that they can choose that.
SOM: I think that’s a pretty good purpose.
JBT: I think so, too. I can live with that one.
SOM: You make the statement in the book, that “we are unconsciously making choices about how we respond all the time.” Is there anything you’d like to say about conscious and unconscious choices?
JBT: It’s about simply paying attention to our lives and what we are attracting and what the language is inside. How do we feel about ourselves? At some point, sit on a rock somewhere and say, “How does it feel to be inside of my skin? Do I like it in here? Do I like the world I’ve created? Is this a place I want to be? What is my purpose? How am I serving the bigger whole of humanity? Where is the meaning in my life?” I think it’s important that we all ask ourselves those questions, and then pay attention to the answers and realize we can create different answers if we’re willing to pay attention to the thoughts we’re thinking and how we’re living our life. I just think we are this absolutely, incredibly magnificent living entity, and we’re not tapping into our ability. There’s that old myth that we use only ten percent of our brain if we’re lucky. I don’t think that’s the case, being a neuroanatomist. If it’s alive and it’s in your head, you’re using it. But I think that we’re only tapping into a small percentage of our ability to manifest what we want through the use of what we are as a living entity.
SOM: Did the stroke change what you felt your purpose in life was?
JBT: I don’t know what my purpose in life was before the stroke. I’m more clear what my purpose is now, but …
SOM: What is your purpose in life?
JBT: I was hoping you weren’t going to ask that. (Laughs) I think that my purpose in life is to help people realize that deep inner peace is right there in their right hemisphere. And that it’s a choice. I think a lot of people don’t realize, A, that it is there, and B, that they can choose that.
SOM: I think that’s a pretty good purpose.
JBT: I think so, too. I can live with that one.
SOM: You make the statement in the book, that “we are unconsciously making choices about how we respond all the time.” Is there anything you’d like to say about conscious and unconscious choices?
JBT: It’s about simply paying attention to our lives and what we are attracting and what the language is inside. How do we feel about ourselves? At some point, sit on a rock somewhere and say, “How does it feel to be inside of my skin? Do I like it in here? Do I like the world I’ve created? Is this a place I want to be? What is my purpose? How am I serving the bigger whole of humanity? Where is the meaning in my life?” I think it’s important that we all ask ourselves those questions, and then pay attention to the answers and realize we can create different answers if we’re willing to pay attention to the thoughts we’re thinking and how we’re living our life. I just think we are this absolutely, incredibly magnificent living entity, and we’re not tapping into our ability. There’s that old myth that we use only ten percent of our brain if we’re lucky. I don’t think that’s the case, being a neuroanatomist. If it’s alive and it’s in your head, you’re using it. But I think that we’re only tapping into a small percentage of our ability to manifest what we want through the use of what we are as a living entity.
My bottom line is, we have this absolutely beautiful organ inside of our heads. I think the more we learn about it, about how to give good nourishment to it, to give good protection and care and sleep to it, and the more consciously we live our lives in relationship with it, then the overall better health we will have as individuals. And that will translate into an overall higher level of mental health in our society.
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