April 15th, 2020

edited 2020-04-15 · open in Roam

On a Rebel Wisdom call with Iain McGilchrist
- feeling a sense of resonance in just seeing lots of other people on the call wanting to connect with McGilchrist and his work
- Dan Crossey also interested in practicalities around learning etc
  - so he's potentially another someone here Say someone reads your book and is like "wow, I really see the value of having my right hemisphere holding my left... how do I learn that?" What training methodologies, spiritual practices, etc, do you think are most helpful here?
- Charley Lee
  - I listened to McGilchrist's lecture at the Blake society a few years ago, and he weaves together Blake's poetry with neuroscience really well
re covid
- McGilchrist is noting that the increased communitarian element wow
  - we all want to be caring
  - this isn't a change in how people are, but the expression of something that's naturally there
McGilchrist indicated that he's just finished writing his new book, which previous he was calling "There Are No Things" but
> "We tend to privilege the most conscious part of our minds, over and above the rest, and say 'that is me'"
Bea > Has it ever happened that anyone who is predominantly being overpowered by his/her left hemisphere reached out to you after reading your book and congratulated you?
- McGilchrist:
  - ~> Yes, exactly this. Several people have said "I've always been very left-hemisphere, and people would try to explain it to me but I couldn't get it" but after reading your book it made sense, and my job is going better, my marriage is better.
  - regarding the question of "can [people stuck in their left hemisphere] see their way out?" the answer is some can & some can't
RH education (& homeschooling)
- McG: A gardener can't make a flower grow. ...can only stop it from being thwarted
  - wisdom literature of east & west notes that sometimes what's required is getting out of the way... whereas our current culture thinks that always positive action is required
McG: somewhere between prayer & meditation
- 掌握 literally means "hand-grasp", which is one kind of understanding
- 悟 ~= "insight/understanding" translates more as "organize in your heart"
McG: ~ stop running around trying to keep track of hundreds of things
- LH isn't good with depth... tends to flatten
emotions
- anger, irritability, sometimes jocularity
zen saying "yes but"
Lukasz: safety, hemispheres, & polyvagal theory, and its effect on our communication
- and is safety necessary for wisdom to emerge out of a dialogue
- McG: yes but
  - a degree of safety
  - but an even bigger degree of vulnerability
  - < he makes a comment that's very similar to Carse's take on the difference between strength & power >
- The_Denial_of_Death
my Q
- McG
  - TCMS - similar effect as Wada, but less dangerous
  - Wada test by Canadian
  - Q: wanting to find out more about how analogical thinking takes place
  - I think people overvalue neuroimaging of the functional kind
- announcing