Take a moment to glance around and notice what you are looking at. Now realize yourself looking at something. Where is your consciousness at this moment? Is your consciousness in the past or the future? Notice that you are feeling the moment and existing in the moment. This sense of being in the moment is a phenomenon that happens in your brain. The moment you realize the existence of your brain is the moment you awaken to your entire being and life. Because of this occurence I say that “enlightenment happens in the brain” so let us consider more about our brain.

What differentiates human beings

Of the organisms living on the earth, none exhibits a distinctive three-tiered structure and function of the brain to the extent that humans do. The human brain consists of three layers: the neocortex, or the ‘thinking brain,’ which controls memory, learning, and reason; the limbic system, or ‘emotional brain,’ which is in charge of emotional responses; and the brain stem, or ‘life brain,’ which performs automatic nervous system functions essential to survival such as respiration, circulation, and heart beat. Human beings have developed civilization using reason and intellect based on a neocortex more highly evolved than other animals.

So does the neocortex distinguish humans from animals? No. There is something else that makes human beings human—a yearning for spirituality or enlightenment expressed otherwise as questions about their true identity, such as, “Who am I?” No animal on earth other than human beings ask this question. Human beings seek to find themselves through the study of art, philosophy, and religion. These disciplines of study arose from mankind’s need to rationalize its existence and also satisfy a deep yearning within the heart to connect with some greater force in the universe. These creations of the human brain are driven by the need for enlightenment.

I believe that the greatest privilege humans can enjoy is to achieve spiritual completion. This is what differentiates humans from animals. Animals cannot achieve spiritual completion—only people can—by encountering, harnessing, and living according to great principles for completion. What makes it possible is the divinity that can be found in the human brain.

Along with the ChunBuKyung and the SamIlShinGo, another of Korea’s three great ancient scriptures, the Ja-seong-gu-ja Gang-jae-i-noe, mentions the brain and divinity. Its translation means: “Find the seed of divinity in your original nature within. It has already descended and dwells in your brain.” Written several millennia ago, this ancient text reveals that divinity not only has already descended from heaven and resides in your brain but also that it can be found if your consciousness reaches deep inside of your brain to one of its most primitive areas—the brain stem.

How to awaken divinity in the brain

How do you access the power of the brain stem? You cannot control the brain stem with your thoughts or emotions. To reach the life energy of there, your consciousness must break through barriers of doubt in your neocortex and fear in your limbic system.

The key to accessing the brain stem is by following the flow of energy. If you ride on the flow of energy with exercises such as Brain Wave Vibration and energy meditation, the doubts of the neocortex and the fears of the limbic system become quiet and you’ll be able to achieve a state of deep consciousness. Then you can feel the fundamental life energy of the brain stem. That fundamental life energy is your divine nature, your innate “divinity.”

When your divinity shines, you will feel a bright, radiant light in your brain. At this point you will be able to sense the cosmic energy that has come down into your brain, and you will be able to access the Information Field of the universe. When you develop resonance with this cosmic energy, you will awaken to your True Self. You will feel that you exist in the core of the universe, and you will hear the voice of your divinity. All of these phenomena happen in your brain as your consciousness develops.

The brain is like a black box containing all the secrets of humanity. It is not too much to say that your brain is you and you are your brain. My enlightenment resulted from a direct experience that occurred in my brain and, since then, I have tried to live my life with full awareness of my brain and have created Dahn Yoga and Brain Education to share those experiences. To know your brain is to know yourself, the principles of the universe, and the Tao. All answers to all questions are found in the brain.

— from a message by Ilchi Lee