[MD] Fwd: Bolte-Taylor: My stroke of insight

[david buchanan]

Dan asked:
I'm new to the discussions, and I'm curious about how participants view the similarities and differences between Jill Bolte-Taylor, Pirsig and Eckhart Tolle.  All are Westerners who seem to have had sudden enlightenment experiences that pulled them into a permanent MOQ-type view of the universe.

dmb says:
I don't know about Tolle, but I take Taylor's report to be one of many, many such reports. The idea that people from all times and places have had an experience of this type and that this experience is the impetus behind all the world's great religions is called "the perennial philosophy". In this view, all religions have an esoteric core in common despite the cultural differences between them. Aldous Huxley made the phrase famous with a book by that title. 

There is a very, very readable book titled "Rational Mysticism". The author is a journalist rather than an academic professional and so its written for any intelligent reader.

  
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