The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
-Albert Einstein
As preposterous as this may sound, each of us are in fact two. The presence of this division of human experience may become one of the greatest psychological discoveries of our time.
The pop-psych understanding that one part of our brain handles "reason" while the other part handles "emotion," is not entirely accurate to reality, but it is pretty damn close. For simplicity's sake, let's call reason the "left side" and emotion, the "right side." Again, remember that these labels are oversimplifications of the truth. Allow me to add a little more meat to the bones of reason and emotion.
The "left side" is characterized by thinking, imagining, hierarchizing, details, rationalizing, categorizing, analyzing, past/future, reward, status, reputation, intelligence, adult-like, focus on differences, etc.
Associated career choices: medicine, law, business, engineering, science
The "right side" is characterized by feeling, intuition, abstract, the big picture, interconnectedness, emotion, present moment, wisdom, love, harmony, acceptance, child-like, focus on similarities, etc.
Associated career choices: philosophy, music, dance, art, religion
Mentally, we have access to both sides, but due to society's tremendous overvaluation of the left side, we have become conditioned to viewing the world and ourselves through the left. It is grossly overdeveloped due to this obsessive preference. Thus when we do access the right side, it tends to be "by accident," poorly, or clumsily at best.
The balanced functioning of both sides is critical to our well-being and sense of fulfillment as human beings. The imbalance between these two sides, with the overemphasis on the left, may be the primary reason why we, members of modern society, are doomed to unhappiness. It is the reason why the majority of our relationships fail. It is also the reason for most or all of our mental afflictions. The feelings of pain, sorrow, disappointment, shame, guilt, blame, low self-worth, etc., that we feel after losing our job, losing a loved one, breaking off a relationship, suffering a blow to our reputation, failing to find meaning in life, etc., are all attributable to the lack of attention given to our right sides. The list goes on. The grave paradigms of greed on Wall Street, apathy towards the environment, lack of nurturing given to our children/partners/ourselves, and general feelings of hopelessness are also byproducts of the same phenomenon.
Truth is, the right side speaks a different language. In fact, it is not a language at all, but rather an entirely different form of communication altogether. It communicates via feelings, intuitions, visceral pullings and pushings, and the 5 senses - hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste. We have collectively distanced ourselves from our right sides to such a degree, that this communication has become practically undecipherable. It is, in many ways, alien to us.
I posit life to be lacking in richness, in beauty, in clarity, in meaning, and therefore in happiness due to this imbalance. The pursuit of happiness therefore, is a left-sided concept. Our right side knows that the pursuit of happiness is unnecessary because happiness is already here.
What do you mean in the last paragraph? Seems to me there's some dissonance with regard to the definitions you provided above.
ReplyDeleteWhich idea in the last paragraph caused dissonance? The "pursuit of happiness" being a left-sided concept perhaps?
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Could your statement be extrapolated to infer the pursuit of anything is left-sided? Seems like the pursuit is a present participle.
ReplyDeleteIt has to do with attention. The "pursuit" of anything implies that the present moment is, somehow, deficient, so our attention shifts from the present to the future, from the concrete process to the conceptual goal. In pursuing, we are also evaluating different options for the future - "is everything ok as it is now, or could it be better?" This differentiation is a left-sided function as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/200806/secrets-psychotherapy-part-one-rediscovering-the-inner-child Close?
ReplyDeleteYes, very close I'd say. The concept of the "inner child" as defined in psychology is an interpretation of our right hemisphere. However, I think it is a very limiting interpretation. I think the right hemisphere is more active in our infancy. While we shift focus to the left during our teenage years and adulthood, the right hemisphere does not simply vanish... it is still there, functioning as usual - but sorely misunderstood. Therefore, we always have the "child" inside of us.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts on this. The way you uniquely articulate a common concept extends my energy for pursuing ways of serving others holistically/sustainably and affirming their need for a very simple sort of peace.
ReplyDeleteBest, R
"Peace is this moment without thinking that it should be some other way
That you should feel some other thing
That your life should unfold according to your plans.
Peace is this moment without judgement."
Dorothy Hunt