Enlarging Thinking

The wave of recent books about the dominance of the brain’s left hemisphere over the right has led me to think we have much greater capacity of mind than we realize. We have been limited by twentieth century models of reality that focused on what could be labeled, categorized ,and analyzed without the input of perceptual intelligence and the overview that underlies wisdom. In his powerful book “The Master and His Emissary” neuroscientist Iain McGilchrest traces the history of world cultures through the lens of which hemisphere of the brain seemed to dominate in each era. Not as simple as the verbal side and the image side, in addition to words and symbols, the left analyzes what’s material and concrete, while the right hemisphere starts with the perceptual reality that sees the whole of where we are. He sees the intensifying domination of the left hemisphere as a dangerous trend that overlooks important situational qualities. The ecology of the world needs the overview to understand the complexity of the relationships between pressing issues. What’s brought our planet to such crisis today is a habit of thinking that only concentrates on parts of a situation. This attitude grew from thinking of the world and universe like a machine. This suited the dominant left hemisphere which sought to handle everything with what it could identify, classify, count, and fix. By the late twentieth century several philosophers suggested it was an untenable model and that we should be thinking in more organic terms, the way one thing affects other things from human industry to nature and weather, the whole inter-related organism of being. As part of the organism model of reality, everything is interdependent. Reality is greater than just what we can identify and grasp. Our model should include the intricate web of relationships within an always unfolding state of being, from the individual to the universal level. Looking at art builds awareness of this crucial property of consciousness. Now that the science behind visual intelligence is available, we can better integrate the powers of the right hemisphere with the left for a more comprehensive understanding of our situation. Teamwork between hemispheres can balance our approach to the serious problems of our time. Spending time with art is always a dialogue between hemispheres. The right hemisphere responds which initiates thought in the left strengthening the communication between them. The left hemisphere tends to disregard the emotions, but neuroscience had found that emotions coordinate cognition. Aware of the overall meaning of a situation emotions initiate thought in relation to the response. By beginning with the sensation and feeling which stimulate the thoughts that connect to them, art strengthens the link between hemispheres.