<div><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/992347.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/992347.html</a></div>
<div>Excerpt:</div>
<div><<These examples clearly demonstrate that major trends in Jewish mysticism were based on repeatedly practicing techniques that led to experiences which challenged the habitual perception of the mystic's own body and self, such as seeing his "double" or disengaging from his body during "ascent of the soul." <br>
<br>The above mentioned techniques are not at all simple to perform, and require years of practice which do not always bear fruit. Why, therefore, did these prominent kabbalists invest so much time and effort in these practices? The kabbala saw in the "human soul" a "divine spark," "part of the divine above." Therefore, to understand God, the mystic could study the "divine spark" within by introspectively studying himself. Mystics and philosophers throughout the generations utilized ecstatic states to understand the "self" as well as the relationship between body and mind. Literally, the term "ex-stasis" means "standing outside" the body. Accordingly, ecstatic states include autoscopy (seeing one's body from outside); "ascent of the soul" (an out-of-body experience, mostly accompanied by paranormal encounters with celestial beings); "Maggid" or a "dybbuk" (possession of one's body by an external "personality"); and "uni-mystica" (the experience of mystical union with the divine). The "ascent of the soul" is therefore a state in which the "self" separates from the body and allows the mystic to look within each of these components in turn, attempting to understand their individual functions. The autoscopic experiences as described by Abulafia's circle also refers to another autoscopic body: Between that body and his own physical body, the mystic can "move" his sense of "self" and thus peruse even more closely the boundaries of the body, the "soul" and the "self." <br>
<br>A study of reports of patients suffering from lesions in the junction of the brain's temporal and parietal lobes (temporoparietal junction), as well as of people whose brains are electrically stimulated during surgical procedures, reveal experiences that challenge the ordinary perception of the body and the self, experiences that are similar to the reports of various mystics, research that were described. Increased activity in the temporoparietal junction was also found in experiments involving healthy subjects who practiced tasks similar to those cited by the abovementioned mystics. This brain mechanism was found to play a central role in the integration of various kinds of input from the body, as well as in higher cognitive functions involving the body and the self. <br>
<br>Such experiments may also explain the differences between various kabbalistic techniques and the experiences they evoke. In an experiment described in a recent edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, subjects were presented with schematic human figures in different positions. In one task, they were asked to imagine that the schematic figure was their own reflection in a mirror, and in another task, they were asked to imagine themselves in the position of the human figure - and from these points of view, to perform different judgment about the presented figure. Notably, in the first task, subjects saw themselves from their habitual point of view, embodied within their physical body, similar to descriptions of Abulafia's technique ("as if seeing himself in a mirror"). In the other task, subjects came "out" of their bodies (disembodiment), and looked at themselves and the world from that perspective - as did those who followed the teachings of the Lurianic kabbala and early Hasidism ("and he will imagine himself as if his soul has gone out and ascended"). <br>
<br><b>Activation of the brain </b><br><br>Electrical neuroimaging revealed that different brain activities correlate to these tasks. While in the first task (embodied self-location), activation was found in the left extrastriate body area (EBA) of the brain, the second task (disembodied self-location) was associated with activity in the right temporoparietal junction. These findings are compatible with the role of these brain mechanisms: extrastriate body area is involved with visualization and imagination of bodies and of body parts, and therefore it is active in an experience that is mainly visual, like autoscopy; the temporoparietal junction is involved in multisensory coding and higher processing of the human body and self, and thus involved in the sense of disembodiment. The special function of the right hemisphere, which allows people to imagine their body in numerous and sundry variations, including from outside of it, can also be seen here. The left hemisphere is more involved with the common visual basis of the phenomenon, as well as Abulafia's technique of letter combinations, since the mechanism involved in reading is located nearby. <br>
<br>Moreover, application of electrical neuroimaging on these two tasks while in supine or sitting positions revealed that body position influences the sense of embodiment. This is in keeping with the fact that neurological patients describe out-of-body experiences as occurring while they are reclining, while autoscopy occurs mostly in a sitting position. It also conforms to the fact that Abulafia's techniques as performed mainly in a sitting position, while those of the Lurianic kabbala and Hasidism were done in a supine position.>></div>
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<div>Kol tuv,</div>
<div>Moshe</div>