The Master And His Emissary- Brain Hemispheric Specialization Flashcards
Which brain hemisphere is less in touch with the world, and lives within its own world as the ultimate truth?
The L brain hemisphere
What is the primary thing the L brain hemisphere is good for? What are some potential pitfalls of this?
Manipulating the world
This locks one into being more certain in things than reality entails, being too narrowly focused and myopic, and being concerned with what it finds to be the ultimate truth
What’s an example of an outcome in history where a L brain dominated thought process led to unwanted circumstances? How did this work out?
The financial collapse in the 2000’s. The algorithms that were established fooled folks at banks into thinking they could predict the outcomes of their actions, and the effect was catastrophic for the entire economy. This irrational certainty led to a separation from what would actually happen in the real world
How does the L brain interpret trust and what does it do with this belief?
The L brain doesn’t trust much, therefore it attempts to micro control what happens to the person.
How does a L brain centric view affect one’s ability to understand things in the world? How might this show?
The L brain convinces one that manipulation and processing is more important than understanding and meaning.
This would lead someone to seek objectifying things and using them for whatever gain they can get, rather than truly understanding something, which likely will be more beneficial for that person in the first place.
How has a L brain centric view affected happiness in today’s world?
Although access to material things is at an all time high, happiness is low, indicating that objectification doesn’t lead to an ultimate form of happiness. As people’s thinking becomes more and more narrow, their ability to find happiness shrinks as well.
What might be a factor that contributes to the L hemisphere’s dominance in seeing the world? How has Allah provided a cure against that, almost as if Allah knew this COULD happen and so he protected his creations from it?
A lack of safety may make one seek to control and manipulate, to the point where they are implementing anxiety driving tendencies that further makes their situation worse.
Allah’s name brings with it protection, a sense of safety, which should calm the L brain and prevent it from becoming the dominating contributor to reality interpretation. Knowing that one is protected by Allah inhibits the L brain’s irrational rationality, but only under conditions where one is able to experience that safety. They need worldly experiences that serve as references to attach Allah’s name to.
What are 3 reasons the L brain has become successful in dominating our interpretation of the world?
What external image in the world can reflect how the L brain works?
- The L brain gives people feelings of power, which is seductive and illusory to what brings one’s wellbeing. It provides people with a false sense of safety.
- It establishes simplicity, which fools people into thinking they know things. This reminds me of Jeff speaking to his golf coach about his R side not loading, after he and I briefly talked about it. He fooled himself into thinking he knew what he was talking about in order to control the situation with Ryan, was this his means for establishing safety?
- The political media controls the news to the people, and its view is L brain centric. It conveys to people what it believes to be true (Fox, CNN) and it constructs arguments to get people to believe those things.
What the industrial revolution brought along provides a nice image of how the L brain likes to work. Systematic, structured, routine, predictable.
Which brain hemisphere values happiness and pleasure? Why is the pursuit of these an empty endeavor?
The L brain hemisphere. True happiness however cannot be sought, because it is a byproduct of something bigger. True happiness comes from understanding things and finding their true meaning, not just their utility.
Where does each brain hemisphere direct its attention? How has this affected one’s ability to interpret meaning from the world?
The R hemisphere’s attention is directed outwards to the world, while the L is directed inwards.
This causes one to extract meaning from their life events in different ways, and the utility of meaning comes from being in the world, rather than solely abstracting individually about it
What is one of the challenges of the L hemisphere in regards to outlook/vision?
The L hemisphere’s vision is limited, and more concerningly so, it is not aware of that and therefore remains fixed within its micromanagement
How does the understanding of the language production apparatus in humans help us better understanding the purpose of language?
The language producing structures in humans consists of the L brain, but also the tongue, larynx and muscles of respiratory control. This allows one not only to speak BUT ALSO SING, which has been believed by anthropologists to be the reason humans have language.
This indicates that language isn’t just used for communication of words, but in particular, a certain way of expressing words (intonation, speed)
How do the 2 kinds of language differentiate from each other and what utility do they offer humans?
Denotative language is different from expressive language. One provides explicit and straight forward communication, while the other provides ambiguity and more opportunity for interpretation.
Is language necessary for thinking?
No, just for certain kinds of thinking
How does attention contribute to a human’s function in the world?
It determines not just the kind of relationships one has with the world, but also what it is that people come to have a relationship with.
