Balance: A Mystic Ideal

Last week, a friend of mine gave me a best-selling business book that forecast the rise of the right brain thinker and the demise of the left-brain thinker. Scientists have identified the right brain as the emotional, empathic, artistic side and the left-brain as the side of logic, intellect and language.

The essence of the author's argument is that we are moving from the age of information, which was dominated by computer programmers, MBAs and accountants, into a new conceptual age, which will be dominated by artists, caregivers and designers.

To many people with an interest in personal and spiritual growth, this is old news. A variety of tapes and CDs have been on the market since the early 1980s that were designed to influence brain rhythms, so that you can, in the words of one marketer, "meditate more deeply than a Zen monk."

What is remarkable is that the underlying mystic principles are now being accepted and transmitted to the general business public!

Albert Einstein once said, "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it."

While producing great technological advances, our reliance on left-brain thinking has not necessarily advanced our evolution as a species. From the mystic perspective, however, neither would switching to a world dominated by artists and caregivers.

In the world of the mystic all is one. This provides the answer as to which side of the brain we should use-both.

The overriding goal should be BALANCE. Those that will thrive in the emerging spiritual age will be whole-brainers. Using both sides of the brain in synchronization puts you in the proper state of mind so you can transcend it and attune with God. You will think more clearly and improve your coordination.

This is true no matter which side of your brain currently dominates. In the mystic's view, there is only one Creator. Your job as an artist is to attune with this One source of all creation and report back your "findings" via your work.

Similarly, the engineer will never design anything of transcendent value by only relying on logic. You are selling yourself short by only relying on one dominant hemisphere.

The Kabalistic Tree of Life illustrates this principle. Tifereth, the sephira of beauty, represents the ideal balance between justice and mercy. Lying in the middle column, it is also the most direct path to the highest aspect of God.

The most direct method of attaining balance is through meditation. Meditators are taught to "center themselves." But meditation is not the only way. Any activity in which you feel pure joy, in which you lose yourself so completely that time passes without your conscious awareness, is one in which you are in balance. This can happen while you are walking, swimming, singing, dancing, playing a sport, communing with nature or making love.

A simple way to tell if you are "in synch" is by looking at a stereogram. These posters consist of a collection of black and white or colored dots. When the proper focus is attained, you are able to see a hidden picture within a picture. People that are too dominant in either their left or right brain are unable to see the picture. When your brain is synchronized you can see it. To view a text-based stereogram with a hidden word visit:

http://www.MysticWarrior.us/newsletter_image.html

What's important is that in times of stress or fear, the brain will automatically return to its dominant side. Accountants will become more left brained and artists will become more right brained, neither of which is suitable if your goal is to attune with God and express your God given gifts. Neither will help you evolve spiritually.

So the next time you're feeling frazzled and tense, pursue an activity that involves your whole mind and helps you connect with God. Turn off the TV and go for a walk, play with your children, or take 15 minutes to meditate. The influx of spirit into your being will not only reduce your anxiety, it will make the world a better place, as well.