divided brain
It would be crazy to suppose that our brains were so perfectly constructed that they could understand and make us aware of everything in the universe.
from The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning by Iain McGilchrist
divided brain
McGilchrist notes:
Only the right hemisphere has a whole body image; the left hemisphere sees the body as an assemblage of parts, and as if it were an object in space alongside other objects, rather than a mode of existence. ...For the right hemisphere, we live the body; whereas for the left, we live in it, rather as we drive a car.
River Kenna • Solving McGilchrist's Big Problem
As Pascal wrote, ‘The ultimate achievement of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it. It is indeed feeble if it can't get as far as understanding that.’
Iain McGilchrist • The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning
In Chapter 1, we discussed how each human has two “minds”—the Primitive Mind with its fiery flame and the Higher Mind with his orb of clarity and consciousness. So when humans band together, they can generate a double emergence phenomenon.
Tim Urban • A Game of Giants — Wait but Why
But there are still other paths to the abandonment of truth – darker than those we have discussed. In a world dominated by left hemisphere modes of being, two important developments could be predicted to proliferate: administrative control – evident in the decline of every civilisation – and machine learning. Both depend on algorithmic paths that... See more
Iain McGilchrist • Moving on
McGilchrist brings up again and again that the right hemisphere is more deeply connected with the body than the left one, and that it specializes in broad, open awareness — so our obvious choices are open awareness meditation and somatic meditation .
The go-to options for learning about these are:
The go-to options for learning about these are:
- Reggie Ray
- Loch Kelly
- Judith Blackstone
- My Somatic
River Kenna • Solving McGilchrist's Big Problem
"Mind" is a tool invented by the universe to see itself; but it can never see all of itself, for much the same reason that you can’t see your own back (without mirrors).“
Robert Anton Wilson • Prometheus Rising
The book suggested drawing in ways that frustrate your usual LH habits — for example, trying to draw something upside down from how it looks in front of you. The logic here is that if you give the LH a task that it doesn't want to do, it goes away and refuses to do it, leaving only the RH to pick up the slack. I have no idea how realistic this is... See more
River Kenna • Solving McGilchrist's Big Problem
What do I mean by ‘betweenness'? Think about the nature of music. Music does not exist in one particular note – which is in itself meaningless; or in a lot of such single notes, each in itself meaningless. I am tempted to say it exists more in the spaces than in the notes: the spaces between successive notes in pitch that creates the melody, the
... See moreIain McGilchrist • The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning
betweenness