Reflection Paper, on Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight, found on www.ted.com - Movie Review Example

Reflection Paper, on Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight In Jill Bolte’s ‘Stroke of insight’, she introduces the by telling why she wantedto study brain, and then depicts the experience of her having a real stroke and trying to understand that experience moment by moment in real time. Jill Bolte also explains the structure of our brain by bringing a real human brain on stage, and reveals the less-known fact that the left hemisphere of the brain and the right hemisphere of the brain are totally independent beings-the right hemisphere taking in all the sensations that we experience through our senses as a collage, an influx of energy, while the left hemisphere picking out details out of it, categorizing and defining them and expressing them through language (“Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight”).

She tells how she felt to be one with universe with the boundaries of her body merging with the environment when she had a stroke in her right brain hemisphere, and concludes her talk by saying how beautiful and peaceful she felt at that time and how we all should learn to internalize that message from our right hemisphere so that there is peace and happiness in the world (“Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight”). Bullet Points Comments The moment-by-moment description of stroke is valuable information for science.

How she interprets her experiences can be a matter of contest. It seems that Jill Bolte is exaggerating a little. Memory may distort the actual events. As a scientist, Jill Bolte could have dwelled more on the scientific aspects of her experiences. The scientific facts corresponding to each and every moment of stroke experience, if narrated, might have been more informative. Even a scientist with rational thinking capabilities is prone to be subjective, when analyzing one’s own very personal realm.

Purpose stated To make her experience a tool to expand our understanding of human body, mind and human existence Did she have another? To promote mutual love and compassion. To inspire about the mystery of our existence. To make us feel more one with humanity To give a deeper meaning to our existence Innacuracies The separateness of the left and right hemispheres that Jill Bolte stresses, is not as prominent as she says. The terms she uses, “consciousness,” “mind,” “energy,” and “life force power of the universe”-all are unscientific.

Human brain is more complex than the bicameral unity of it that Bolte proposes She says she experienced ‘Nirvana’ (“Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight”). Emotional pleas (not scientific) Jill Bolte makes an emotional appeal towards the end of her talk Emotional appeal in the talk might have arisen from the trauma that she went through. She says, “We are the life force power of the universe” (“Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight”). She says, every individual has the capability either to step into the consciousness of the left hemisphere and right hemisphere and ask us to get trained for that.

She asks everybody to feel one with the universe and humanity How does she build a case? She builds her case with the help of science, logic and passion A real human heart presented on stage to add credibility The separateness of left and right hemispheres of brain proved by showing the real brain The difference in the functioning of the two hemispheres convincingly explained Her personal experience linked to these scientific facts, logically The narration of first hand experience of a medical problem by the doctor itself, adds drama and imparts credibility Links the physical ailment experience with the spiritual, using an emotional swith over.

Traverses from personal to universal Her idea to become less reliant to logic She is less reliant on logic either because of her intellectual and emotional honesty or she is cooking up a story. There are many mysteries in the world that cannot yet be explained by science, and hence it is natural to be mystified by such experiences. Contradictions Jill Bolte had a stroke in her left hemisphere which was getting worse every moment but still her consciousness do not seem to get reduced in a progressing manner.

She starts her narrative with the logic of science but ends it with total reliance on faith and spirituality. She is not at all following the terminologies and concepts used by neuro-scientists. She says she is talking about science, but she is using the language of a spiritual leader Questions Is she justified in linking her delusions during stroke be linked to a spiritual experience? To what extent a human being can accurately remember his/her experiences during a stroke? Why does she try to impart dramatic elements to her narrative if her concern is science and objectivity Why is she always so certain about the meaning of all her experiences?

Why doesn’t she give space to a different kind of interpretation in her narrative? Works Cited “Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight.” www.ted.com.web. 22 March 2011. .