Thanks again for this great conversation. Could it be possible that with awareness and insight practices, people would move their brain assymetry from the extreme to the center of the normal curve?
For some reasons, I think that all these meditation practices have changed some of my reactions and personality...? As a matter of fact, I have become less and less reactive (which makes sense with awareness practices) and nowadays I appreciate much more solitude, which I hated when I was young. Some other characteristics have not changed though (curiosity, taste for laughing and having fun!).
Looking forward to listening the next episode. And thanks for having the full written script.
So good to hear and see you again – and what a topic! Thank you for the clarity and honor you give to each person’s uniqueness just as surely as you have done this for our common inheritances. As a twin and teacher among young children, my joy has been discovering what each person uniquely brings to life, and what we share as a community. As you have said we observe and grow everyday into more of ourselves. What surprised and delighted me about the bell curve and how an individual’s left/right activations held, was my own realization that it can be very easy to carry an unconscious template of expectation which can lead to some needless self judgement…no, I will never desire to jump out of an airplane or express my creativity through business models. But that is not an insufficiency. There is room for everyone, and that’s the beauty and preciousness of each life, which you so wonderfully acknowledged here. Thank you – you have helped me be more today.
Thanks guys! Wonderful and deeply illuminating as always. Although you may have already discussed this previously and in detail, I am wondering.. just as regarding the differences between right and left-handed individuals, what does the science show in general about the differences between male and female individuals?
Another great conversation from you guys. I am so grateful that you two take the time to generously share this wisdom. I was thinking about the 85% adults who are right handed might be misleading. I am 68 years old and in grade school I could write with either hand. My memory is that we were all forced to write with our right hand. Do this day I do not easily or quickly identify left or right. I am a weirdo right? Anyway, I don’t know what is happening in schools these days with writing. I wonder about what will shift in our collective evolution as we move away from forcing people to be right handed.
“Thank you for another fascinating conversation from both of you, each time you generously pour so much out for us. I was left with the question of whether meditation can create some change, and of course with a desire to hear more in depth about the topic of meta-awareness “stepping out of the river.”
Thank you, for all of this, and the sustained effort and joy these discussions so clearly reflect.
I’m struck, if I heard right, by there being greater structure-function asymmetries in novice meditators, which may decrease over time. Wondering if this contributed to Mingyur Rinpoche seeming to have become ‘more like himself’ after the long absence and retreat. Might this be a crystallization of certain (symmetry-related) traits that endure and even hypertrophy in the expert teacher, which become more evident, especially as other asymmetries decrease (shifting of the signal to noise ratio): the expert becoming more different (than population mean asymmetries) in some ways, and less so in other ways (more similar to us). Might the expert regress towards mean asymmetry over time but retain certain unique, even functionally essential (for them) asymmetries?
One might envision this as neuroplastic change towards greater empathy with ‘common humanity’, increased capacity for empathy and resonance with students, while also retaining certain unique traits definitive of their personal journeys and ‘superpowers’? Might it be that the asymmetries that are discarded may be associated with afflictive capacities or imbalances, which training downregulates thru disuse while dharma-aligned wholesome asymmetries unique that that teacher/sentient being are allowed to endure, and even hypertrophy… a great teacher become similar enough to us all, in some ways, but importantly different from us in other ways, as reflected in these neuroplastic changes in symmetry.
One could imagine this capacity as aligned with dharmic values, such as the importance of having many teachings and many teacher-types, this being a mechanism, a sort of biological, neuroplastic path to ensure variety of brain-mind types and hence teaching styles to better serve various student types.
It would be wonderful to have such variety to ensure teacher-student compatibility. I recall teachings where the historical Buddha is said to have cautioned students (or, encouraged them) that there are as many teachings and methods as there are leaves on a vast tree in a vast forest that goes on forever.
I know in my own experience, each teacher I’ve encountered has brought something uniquely valuable, much of which was nonspecific, implicit… just ways-of-being factors, and not simply clarity or adept use of conscious teaching strategies. It was a way of being that resonated uniquely between us, so much so that a different teacher using the same words might have had very different effects on my understanding, motivation, and on those many other layers within that resonate and matter, but seem to elude capture by words alone.
If the simple metric of asymmetry doesn’t quite account for these shifts in expert teacher brains, perhaps other mechanisms do, as a teacher’s developmental arc renders them both ‘more like us’ and ‘more like their themselves’ to the benefit of us all.
Thanks again for this great conversation. Could it be possible that with awareness and insight practices, people would move their brain assymetry from the extreme to the center of the normal curve?
For some reasons, I think that all these meditation practices have changed some of my reactions and personality...? As a matter of fact, I have become less and less reactive (which makes sense with awareness practices) and nowadays I appreciate much more solitude, which I hated when I was young. Some other characteristics have not changed though (curiosity, taste for laughing and having fun!).
Looking forward to listening the next episode. And thanks for having the full written script.
We will add to the next AMA Edith
Thank you very much. I will listen to the recording of the next AMA because I am not available on the June 30th.
So good to hear and see you again – and what a topic! Thank you for the clarity and honor you give to each person’s uniqueness just as surely as you have done this for our common inheritances. As a twin and teacher among young children, my joy has been discovering what each person uniquely brings to life, and what we share as a community. As you have said we observe and grow everyday into more of ourselves. What surprised and delighted me about the bell curve and how an individual’s left/right activations held, was my own realization that it can be very easy to carry an unconscious template of expectation which can lead to some needless self judgement…no, I will never desire to jump out of an airplane or express my creativity through business models. But that is not an insufficiency. There is room for everyone, and that’s the beauty and preciousness of each life, which you so wonderfully acknowledged here. Thank you – you have helped me be more today.
Thank you Victoria!
Thank you. I would like to learn & explore more about Meta Awareness! ♥️
Good call
Thanks guys! Wonderful and deeply illuminating as always. Although you may have already discussed this previously and in detail, I am wondering.. just as regarding the differences between right and left-handed individuals, what does the science show in general about the differences between male and female individuals?
Always great to spend time with you.
Another great conversation from you guys. I am so grateful that you two take the time to generously share this wisdom. I was thinking about the 85% adults who are right handed might be misleading. I am 68 years old and in grade school I could write with either hand. My memory is that we were all forced to write with our right hand. Do this day I do not easily or quickly identify left or right. I am a weirdo right? Anyway, I don’t know what is happening in schools these days with writing. I wonder about what will shift in our collective evolution as we move away from forcing people to be right handed.
“Thank you for another fascinating conversation from both of you, each time you generously pour so much out for us. I was left with the question of whether meditation can create some change, and of course with a desire to hear more in depth about the topic of meta-awareness “stepping out of the river.”
Thank you for your support! Noted on Meta awareness
Thank you, for all of this, and the sustained effort and joy these discussions so clearly reflect.
I’m struck, if I heard right, by there being greater structure-function asymmetries in novice meditators, which may decrease over time. Wondering if this contributed to Mingyur Rinpoche seeming to have become ‘more like himself’ after the long absence and retreat. Might this be a crystallization of certain (symmetry-related) traits that endure and even hypertrophy in the expert teacher, which become more evident, especially as other asymmetries decrease (shifting of the signal to noise ratio): the expert becoming more different (than population mean asymmetries) in some ways, and less so in other ways (more similar to us). Might the expert regress towards mean asymmetry over time but retain certain unique, even functionally essential (for them) asymmetries?
One might envision this as neuroplastic change towards greater empathy with ‘common humanity’, increased capacity for empathy and resonance with students, while also retaining certain unique traits definitive of their personal journeys and ‘superpowers’? Might it be that the asymmetries that are discarded may be associated with afflictive capacities or imbalances, which training downregulates thru disuse while dharma-aligned wholesome asymmetries unique that that teacher/sentient being are allowed to endure, and even hypertrophy… a great teacher become similar enough to us all, in some ways, but importantly different from us in other ways, as reflected in these neuroplastic changes in symmetry.
One could imagine this capacity as aligned with dharmic values, such as the importance of having many teachings and many teacher-types, this being a mechanism, a sort of biological, neuroplastic path to ensure variety of brain-mind types and hence teaching styles to better serve various student types.
It would be wonderful to have such variety to ensure teacher-student compatibility. I recall teachings where the historical Buddha is said to have cautioned students (or, encouraged them) that there are as many teachings and methods as there are leaves on a vast tree in a vast forest that goes on forever.
I know in my own experience, each teacher I’ve encountered has brought something uniquely valuable, much of which was nonspecific, implicit… just ways-of-being factors, and not simply clarity or adept use of conscious teaching strategies. It was a way of being that resonated uniquely between us, so much so that a different teacher using the same words might have had very different effects on my understanding, motivation, and on those many other layers within that resonate and matter, but seem to elude capture by words alone.
If the simple metric of asymmetry doesn’t quite account for these shifts in expert teacher brains, perhaps other mechanisms do, as a teacher’s developmental arc renders them both ‘more like us’ and ‘more like their themselves’ to the benefit of us all.