Placement of Chokmah and Binah Vs. the Brain's Hemispheres
© 2004
>> In Step 3 of the TMO-IHVH meditation it says:
"With the "Yod" you are to pull a beam of Kethric Light down, out of your "Ani" sphere, and create a luminous gray sphere at your left temple. This is your Chokmah, your innate Wisdom. With the first "Heh", you pull Light from your luminous gray sphere, over to your right temple and form there an obsidian black sphere. This is your Binah, your deepest Understanding."
However this seems to be the opposite of how the hemispheres of the brain are typically described. Except in rare cases, the left hemisphere is associated with the processes involved with logic, judgment, and verbal thought, which would seem to correspond to understanding, while the right hemisphere is associated with the processes involved with holistic/intuitive/nonverbal thinking, which would go along well with the idea of wisdom. Is this switch associated somehow with the way that each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body, or is it something else? <<
The primary reason for this positioning is to situate you *within* the Tree of Life. But the correlation between the hemispheres of the brain and the Sephirot is relevant.
However, the names "Wisdom" and "Understanding" merely symbolize these two Sephirot and cannot be taken entirely in their mundane sense. The definitions that you assert reflect an intellectual comprehension of the mundane meaning of these two words, but not an experiential comprehension of these two levels of awareness.
"Wisdom", in the Chokmah sense, is the ability to make choices that are in harmony with the Universe. This is about a discernment based upon an infinite degree of insight and the ability/power to decide which is the harmonious choice.
"Understanding", in the Binah sense, is about tapping into an infinite store of experience and drawing forth from that body of experience the most relevant and appropriate bit of information. This is an instantaneous (i.e., non-sequential) process which does not involve logic or thinking, etc.
My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
13 July 2004