2011년 11월 19일 토요일
How to use our 'divided' brain
The brain has always been a 'deep sea' to people. Somewhere which is fascinating, cryptic, and 'pristine'. A lot of facts are found, but still, it is way to go. Unless people are interested in neuroscience, most people have a provincial, obscure view about the brain.
To introduce the provocative matter related to the brain, Iain McGilchrist did a lecture about the 'divided brain', two hemispheres in the brain.
To briefly explain, there are two hemispheres in the brain, the left and the right. And those two hemispheres are linked with the part called 'corpus callosum'. (So, it resembles a walnut.)
Both of them are quite disparate in their roles. Left hemisphere can be described as 'narrow', 'sharply focused', and 'attention to detail'. On the other hand, the right one can be described as 'sustained', 'broad', 'open', 'vigilant', and 'alertness'.
Yes. Most people are already aware to this extent. So what?
Iain says that the divided brain is not just the matter of two sides having different roles. It is the matter of 'inhibiting' each other. People use both sides of the brain while doing something. Left side of the brain tells one to focus, while right side of the brain tells one to step back. But as we cannot see anything if we are too close, and we cannot read if we are too far, we have to make an appropriate 'distance'. This 'distance', in the case of using a brain, can be the mediation of two sides of the brain.
In history, people used the left side a lot when grasping things and making tools. People also usually used the left side when pinning things down and using a language. That is, when we already know something important and want things to be precise and elaborate, we have to use left side of the brain. (This doesn't mean that we use 'only' left hemisphere while we are reasoning or we use 'only' right hemisphere to imagine. We use both hemispheres, but it is just the matter of 'emphasis')
Obviously, it is time to balance the use of both brain. Of course, it seems like our society puts priority on 'virtual' than 'real', but in reality, technology and all the pragmatic, tangible things are becoming more important. Ironic, isn't it?
The important thing we have to remember is that, like Einstein said, the intuitive, novel mind(right hemisphere) is a sacred gift, and the rational, 'scrutinizing' mind is a diligent servant. And our society is doing the opposite. While we are acclaiming the 'compliant' one for being lucid and acute, we are deterring our gift for being abstract, elusive, and too hypothetical. That is kind of a 'blasphemy'.
피드 구독하기:
댓글 (Atom)
Good, but it would look better if you embedded the video within the post. Just copy and paste the html code into the html tab.
답글삭제