Brain Integration
When developing the Creative Space Programme and working exclusively with children we always considered it our objective to see the child achieve brain integration. This is a state where communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain is seamless.
When integrated the brain operates as a single unit and in so doing accesses Information from all sources, neither over-rationalised by the left brain nor overwhelmed by the right brain. In this space performance in every area improves, time becomes malleable and the inter-connectedness of everything is obvious, yet at the same time individuation and function are still very evident.
This state is described by some as the zone and when not associated with performance can often be felt as a 'spiritual' experience, characterised by a detachment from whatever drama is going on and a lack of desire to change anything. This state generates little, if any, motivation to communicate the experience and even less ability to do so. This sense of clarity and ease holds a great depth of knowing and sense of well being, even wonder.
Who knows, perhaps brain integration is a sweet spot, the gateway to unity consciousness in an individuated state.
As cause and effect are blurred in this space, it is impossible to say whether the absence of stress creates brain integration or stress simply can't reside in that place. Whatever the causality, brain integration is notable by the total absence of stress. In any case in this state the questions of how and why are largely irrelevant as things are just "known". Ironically in a state of brain integration there is no interest in the state, it just is. (By contrast, in a state of stress there is an obsession with the sate or how to escape it)..
The desire to understand the hows and whys of this state is one of the ways to lose that integrated state of consciousness. This is the reason integrated people get stressed by the need for explanation. Their actions and choices are a timeless expression of consciousness as opposed to a reasoned methodology. The act of asking them to explain pulls them into a different level of consciousness, into the world of cause and effect, duality and separation. The brain hemispheres separate in the pursuit of rationalisation and suddenly there is the environment which supports (or creates) stress.
This a big part of the frustration for many moving in and out of brain integration. Within it the world is beautifully simple, dare I say perfect. But this cannot be processed by a mind not in that state, and even the act of trying to explain the experience means you are no longer in it!
We would commonly see children destroyed by a system that would mark their answers wrong if they couldn't be explained even though the answer was correct. "It just is" maybe a profound spiritual statement but not an acceptable answer from a brilliant child! Often these kids would "know" more than their teachers or would reject what they "feel" is incorrect (which is much of accepted science as taught in schools), and the resulting incoherence is painful to an integrated being.
There is nothing new in this "I got it I lost it" phenomenon and it is almost a rite of passage in the process of awakening, but traditionally the flashes of "I got it" were occasional and short lived relative to the more prevalent stressful everyday feeling of survival. In other words integration used to be the exception to the rule.
However we are witnessing an increasing number of people shifting, almost unnoticed, into a predominantly "I got it" orientation. This is great news until the "I lost it" returns. When the majority oftime is spent in an integrated state of being, the absence of that state feels horrible. Far less comfortable and definitely less bearable than it used to be.
Stress may simply be the absence of brain integration, without which we can only process from the perspective of separation. From separation there is an absence of knowing and a drive to understand. The motivation to understand is ultimately to control our lives/environment. We want to control our lives/environment so that we can remove stress. Its the perfect trap! Its like quicksand. Trying to move away from stress is stressful.
I saw this clearly whilst summarising a balance from the bio-resonance Programme this week, with a series of patterns saying I mend all energy drains in my Ego, Access your heart energy, I have the ability to 'know'. Roughly translated this suggests the ability to know lies beyond the ego and is accessed by the heart.
Perhaps brain integration allows us to think with our heart rather than our mind.
Who knows?
And from that space who cares?
Much love
Bill