Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke Leads to God
June 2, 2008 by Tracee Sioux
Filed under Parenting
Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroscientist who found God. She experienced “The Light” or “Nirvana” spoken about by all the mystics of generations past.
She became a neuroscientist to figure out how her schizophrenic brother’s brain works.
Taylor had a stroke when she was in her mid 30s. Her right brian – the part of it that is logical and rational – shut down and she experienced a oneness with God. Yet, she remained aware enough to record her experience using her scientific knowledge about the brain.
Cool huh? She thought so too, even in the middle of her stroke. She’s a geek like that.
Even cooler is that now she knows where The Light is she spends time there and she tells us how to find it too. Clue: stop getting so wrapped up in the right brain experience.
You can watch her TED lecture about her experience (above).
Taylor was also interviewed by Oprah on her Soul Series and you can see four podcats of that.
She also wrote a book titled My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey
Who else thinks it’s pretty cool that many scientists are out to prove God exists and tell us how to get there?
This sounds really interesting..I’ll definately be reading/hearing it.
Sounds like her recovery was less than complete if she really now believes in old goddy-boy. Did the stroke help her find Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny as well?
Allan, I feel very sorry for you.
You feel sorry for me why?
Hi, I’ve had a massive stroke May 1,2006. I also was a schizophrenic. I say was because about 10% of schizophrenics who reach middle age for some unknown reason recover. I was one of the blessed 10%. How am I sure? Well my schizophrenia began to disappear when I was 45 ( I’m 53 now) and one of the very first things that I was finally able to do after 25 years of attempts was to get sober. You see I’m alcoholic as well but because of my schizophrenia I was never able to even get two years of sobriety. Now I’m coming up on 8 years. My schizophrenia lifted and I looked around and it was like Rip Van Winkle waking up. I had no work history. I had never worked at any one place for as long as six months. This was all brand new. I wasn’t homeless anymore and wasn’t going to be. I had been homeless at least 15 of those 25 years maybe more. I wasn’t sure how to approach this. First off, was it real? Well after five years of trying to put one foot carefully in front of the other I was ready to try and make a life with what time I had left. I picked out a small town to make my new start and took a bus there. I was in the motel over the weekend and on Monday I woke up early to have coffee and to get ready to go apartment hunting. And wham I had a massive stroke. It has been just over two years since my stroke. I hope you’re reading this because I’m typing it with one hand. I’m writing because my neurologist says the window for my recovery has closed. I think that’s bull pucky. I’ll tell you why. On May 1st of this year I could sometimes just barely touch my forehead with my left hand. And now I can not only touch it but run my hand from my forehead all the way over to the back of my head. Another reason. When I was in my twenties I met some guy outside the Y in Madison, WI. It was about 3 A.M. He told me the most amazing story. When he was a teenager, he and a group of friends had been out wildly carousing in a car. He was seated in the back seat on the right side and leaning halfway out the window. Suddenly the driver took a sharp right turn throwing him out even further. And his head left a groove in a parked car from the rear bumper up to the back door completely wiping away the entire left hemisphere of his brain. It took him twenty years but his right brain took over all the left brain functions that were now missing. I told my neurologist this and he tried to put me on anti-psychotics. I told him that I was in pain and he prescribed me anti-psychotics. I tried to fumble my way into a relationship and he tried to put me on anti-psychotics. I tried to explain to him that I was no longer schizophrenic and he tried to put me on anti-psychotics. Do you see a pattern here? Anyway back to the man with what I felt had an amazing story. I figured if this guy who had lost 50% of his brain could make a full recovery, well then no matter how much of my brain had died I could too. After all I have a slight advantage. I have or had a 165 I.Q. You can’t tell from my college or University records because I’d hit 4.0 or 3.8 one semester and hit 0.056 the very next. I never really let on that I was schizophrenic. Better to be a child molester. Society is more willing to be open to pedophiles than schizophrenics. I think a lot of that has to do with tv and movies portraying us as the psycho lurking just outside your bedroom window. No not to kill you but to kill and cannabalize you. There’s a reason I’m writing, though I have no idea of how to get this letter to you so I’m just going to blizzard it all over the web in the hope that you’ll run across one copy. I know I shouldn’t be doing that. Anyway your stroke sounds similar to mine yet you recovered after eight years. It took me a year and a half to learn how to tie my shoes. It took 5 months to learn how to rip open a packet of sugar. My voice is hoarsie to say the least. I think some people assume by the way that I talk that I’m mentally retarded. I’m not going to read your book. I have real problems reading as much as six pages. Will that get better? I used to read an average of 150 pages a day. I know this because I calculated that I read just over 16,000 pages in 3 and a half months one semester. So what can you tell me? I’m spiritual but I don’t want to lay that on you because it might be a little too much in an introduction. But I do know where the kingdom of heaven is and that’s better than 99.999% of christians maybe more. And I really know, this just isn’t talk. Write back. mikebar@att.net
Mike Barbano
Hi. My grandmother recently died of a massive stroke. I keep wondering if we did the right thing in letting her go. She was 72 years young. We had the option of brain surgery to stop the brain from bleeding further but the doctors said that she probably wouldn’t make it because of her age. We didn’t know what kind of life she would lead with the brain damage that she had already suffered. I still wonder if we should have tried the brain surgery. She was still responding at first and knew who we were. The left side of her body was paralyzed but she still had her language. I think thats what makes this so hard. We decided not to do the surgery because we thought perhaps the brain would heal itself but after the first couple of days she got worse and worse and two weeks later she passed. The doctor said this was a humane act and that he wished more people would handle it this well. I just still can’t help but wonder if we did the right thing. I feel like maybe we should’ve given her more of a chance. I now look back and wish we would have opted to do the surgery. I also still understand that it would’ve been hard to see her struggle with half a brain. She was always such a strong lady. I wish we would have been able to talk with her about this prior to the stroke I wonder what she would’ve wanted. We miss her so much. It hurts so bad sometimes. The question of did we did the right thing is always on our minds. When I hear these amazing stories I can’t help but to wonder even more.
Victoria – peace be with you. You did the right thing. The best choice at the time given your information. The euphoria that Jill Bolte Taylor experienced is now with your grandmother eternally.