Nearly two months ago I posted some thoughts, early in the life of this website blog. I called it, “Head or heart?” As I stated there, I continue to be a work-in-progress! I am still mulling all this over.
Our left brain deals with the logical, analytical, thought processes, figuring things out. The right brain deals more with intuition, creativity, sensing, mysticism, just knowing. As I walk my spiritual path, more and more I am depending on right brain sensing.
Some of my fellow travellers do not trust this right brain way of being. They encourage me to remain in line with the creeds and with the ancient writings. “How will you know if you wander off the path?” they wonder. What keeps me on the straight-and-narrow? How do I determine right from wrong? What is my standard, my criteria? This is very much left brain thinking.
More and more I am coming to see that when faith and religion become a matter of creeds and theology, God is silenced. By adhering to beliefs we silence God. We no longer need to hear God, to sense him, to intuit him. We have the scriptures and the creeds to inform our faith; we can figure him out, analyze the scriptures and know God this way. And our logical, linear way of thinking once again silences God’s true voice speaking to our inner being. We need to have both sides of the brain working in order to encounter God.
In the preface to a book I just began reading today, the author expresses the development of religion and faith, both through history, and in individual lives.
At different periods in history, spiritual search has been expressed in philosophies, psychologies, arts, and above all in religions; by these ways seekers have been called and helped in sustaining and deepening their quest. With time wayfarers and pilgrims are in general replaced by believers and officials prizing the security of their positions. Rather than the path leading to openness and vulnerability to truth, we find too many frozen statements and doctrines claiming to provide the answers. (“Whispers from the Other Shore”, Ravi Ravindra, p. ix)
Once again I thank the Divine for sending me wisdom I need right at this moment! I was mulling these thoughts over last evening, just beginning to think I should journal this on Urban Monk, when “Whispers…” arrived in the mail and was left on the table by my wife! The Universe truly works wonders in our lives. The Source of all wisdom synchronizes events in our existence to bring about teaching, learning and growth.
I suspect there will be a fuller review of this little gem of a book in the future. But for now, I hear Spirit telling me I’m on the right path. I am learning to trust my inner leading, my intuition, as much as I trust my mind. Both halves of the brain are given us by the Creator. Both are necessary to a full life. Neither are to be ignored in favour of the other. Right brain, left brain? Whole brain, no brain? Which is it to be?!!! Don’t you just love this journey?