Enlightenment explained by brain functioning

To go to the beginning of this blog and an introduction to the Lifewave cult click here.

When I wrote in a previous post that enlightenment 'can be better explained by brain functioning than by Hindu philosophy' I wasn't thinking that it would be possible to locate the specific areas of the brain responsible. Now it seems we might be able to do that.

There are different ways of imaging the brain. One way is to track blood flow. The more active the neurons in a particular area, the greater the blood flow. When someone meditates some areas of the brain become more active. For example, the prefrontal cortex - seat of attention - becomes more active in meditation.

There are a couple of areas of the brain can become less active in meditation. Both of them are towards the top and back of the brain, one in the left hemisphere and one in the right. These are the Orientation Association Areas. They process information about space and time, and the orientation of the body in space. They determine where the body ends and the rest of the world begins. Specifically, the left orientation area creates the sensation of a physically delimited body; the right orientation area creates the sense of the physical space in which the body exists.

Shutting down the right OAA produces a sense of absolute spacelessness and infinite time. Shutting down the left OAA produces a sense of limitless or extinguished self. Going beyond form is explained very nicely by the shutting down of the right OAA. Enlightenment is explained very nicely by the shutting down of the left OAA.

There will be some people who will say that what goes on in the brain is the result of changes on other levels of reality. Our mind exists on a higher level of reality. They will say that enlightenment cannot be explained by changes in brain functioning, but I would not agree with them.

going beyond form

what is the nature of 'going beyond form' also known as 'Second Initiation'?

This is where there is a shift in consciousness during meditation and you suddenly seem to have entered a vast void. In my opinion it is the same as what Theravada Buddhists call the Sphere of Infinite Space. It is also called the 5th jhana, the first of the formless or arupa jhanas.

This is what Daniel M Ingram has written about the Sphere of Infinite Space in his book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha "When this state is really cultivated, all or most images and a sense of body are gone, and almost all that is left is vastness.".

I am not sure if it is necessary to go through the first four jhanas to get to the 5th. Perhaps it is just something can occur with some people who have an aptitude for meditation. It seems that people in Lifewave also got to the 6th jhana (the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness). I suspect that they never got to the 7th and 8th jhanas. The last two are not characterized by a sense of vastness.

Below I have quoted someone from a forum called iamthat (Malcolm) who was part of Lifewave and who wrote an account of his experience of going beyond form.

"Three of us were sitting down to go beyond form. The first two days passed fairly uneventfully; my mind became slower and slower, and I was getting more and more absorbed in meditation without having any clear idea of what I was meant to be doing. By the third day I was ready to surrender, and I was meditating on the light and sound with all the love and devotion I could manage. The inner light was very clear and bright, when suddenly it was as if some Being reached down and plucked me up into Itself. I found myself resting in a vast void, where all was silent. I don’t know how long I remained in this state, but gradually I returned to normal awareness. I then noticed something had changed. Previously my thoughts seemed to fill my awareness. Now my thoughts occurred only within a small bubble which was contained within my Being. My thoughts did not touch me – instead there was (and still is) a vast part of me which had no relation to thought. Later that evening while eating our rice and toast the three of us compared experiences, and we all seemed to have had similar experiences and realisations at the same time."