For some time now I’ve been engrossed in Iain McGilchrist’s book The Master and his Emissary about the “working methods” of our two brain hemispheres, and his even more substantive follow-up book The Matter with Things.
I personally do not find his very thorough books pleasant to read, but fortunately his idea (or Hemisphere Theory, as he calls it), is a bit easier to absorb via YouTube in a growing number of interviews and presentations or through a nice cartoon. In those conversations he emphasizes, among other things, that his approach has nothing to do with the popular story at the time that the left hemisphere ‘does’ rationality and the right hemisphere ‘does’ emotions. Decades of neurological research later, the picture appears to be radically different and much more interesting.
I think his approach is certainly enlightening and supportive for XIPs, whether they prefer imaginal thinking or verbal thinking.
Perhaps another warning is appropriate at this point: “You’ll only see it when you understand it” as the Dutch football player Johan Cruyff once said. Together with Mechel Ensing-Wijn, I have been working for quite some time now to fully understand what there, actually, is to see.
This blog is just a short interlude. Because it appears there’s a lot to be seen.
Our split brains
Our brains are split into a left and right halve or hemisphere, which cross-operate our right and left body halves. The so-called corpus callosum (or callosal commissure) is the connection between the two halves. In sensorimotor tasks (where senses and muscles respond to each other’s information) there is a lot of information exchange between left and right. Think of a piano player who makes music with both hands, hearing simultaneously with both ears whether everything is going well.
But the hemispheres have also acquired their specializations throughout our evolution: For example, our right hemisphere is in contact with our physical environment or -more abstractly- with reality through our senses and is alert to everything that happens there.
Our left hemisphere is focused on the realization of the goals we set ourselves to. It uses a kind of concise excerpt of the acquired sensory information from the right hemisphere. This creates a simplified model of reality. Consider for example that if you want to go to a village that is further away than you can see, a map may suffice to understand how to get there. And consider also that when you are walking you may want different information from such a map than when you take the car or train.
Because some specializations work better if one hemisphere is not influenced by the other hemisphere, an important task of that connecting corpus callosum appears to be to selectively block the information exchange between the two hemispheres. In practice, the left hemisphere appears to block information from the right hemisphere more often than the other way around, because the left hemisphere only wants to be involved with its own job.
Two worldviews
The specializations mean that the “world view” of the right hemisphere mode is determined by what is sensorially perceptible around the owner, continuously monitored with vigilance. The “world view” of the left hemisphere mode is determined by what the owner has put into his/her model to achieve a stated goal most efficiently and effectively and on which he/she therefore directs concentrated attention.
McGilchrist uses a bird as an illustration (because not only mammals have such a split brain): With its left hemisphere it is able to focus attention on finding the right food amidst all kinds of ‘noise’ on the ground and to get it properly into its beak. With its right hemisphere, it remains vigilant all the time to not become food itself and to notice in time when there are potential partner birds in the area.
It is therefore very practical that these are two completely different specializations. You really need both to be receptive to your physical reality, including all kinds of surprises, and to achieve certain self-chosen goals as conveniently as possible. But that also implies that you live with two worlds within your head, that sometimes may turn out to be incompatible or contradictory. And then what happens?
Why is this interesting? Three aspects:
While I gradually gained knowledge of this story, it only became exciting for me when I began to understand the following. I will first briefly mention three aspects below and then elaborate on each of them:
1.- The right hemisphere is aware of the existence of the left hemisphere and ‘associated’ right half of the body, but that is not the case the other way around: the left hemisphere is not aware of the existence of the right hemisphere and is also not aware of the coupled left body half.
2.- In the world view of the right hemisphere mode, everything in the world is connected and cannot be split without losing something essential. In essence, the world is too complex to fully understand. You can get to know the world better by interacting with it.
From the left hemisphere perspective, the world consists of combinations of separate elements. You can understand and control the world by analyzing such a combination more and more deeply, in other words by chopping it into smaller and smaller pieces.
3.- It appears that for various reasons some people develop a preference to live predominantly from and within the ‘world view’ of one of the two hemisphere modes. This means, for example, that they (“from the left hemisphere”) prefer their own model of reality to what their senses may tell them.
Or that they (“from the right hemisphere”) have great difficulty using a model if it does not match their sensory experiences. While in terms of intelligence they are technically capable of understanding models.
Elaboration of those three aspects
Ad 1: “Left hemisphere is not aware of right hemisphere”
Being aware or unaware of the left half of your body is already amazing, but this characteristic goes even further:
Much of this theory comes from brain research involving people where one of the hemispheres is not functioning properly. It turns out that people with specific damage to their left hemisphere cannot move their right arm properly, but they are very clearly aware (through their working right hemisphere) that both their arms belong to their body.
While people with specific damage to their right hemisphere are not only unable to move their left arm properly, but (through their working left hemisphere) have no awareness that their left arm belongs to their body. For example, they will ask the doctor: “Who has put that arm in my bed?” Or they will explain that it is most definitely the arm of a family member. That’s amazing!
But it also means that in left hemisphere mode you actually have no awareness of the existence of that ‘right hemispheric worldview’, while such an awareness does exist when the situation is the other way around. And you can take that ‘no awareness of the existence’ literally: If, while in left hemisphere mode, something is not included in the currently operational model of reality, it plays no role in any consideration while in that mode. Because in that worldview it simply does not exist.
Ad 2. ‘Everything is connected versus everything is divisible’
For example, a connected whole versus a combination of parts makes a big difference in your worldview about your own body:
In the world of the right hemisphere mode, your body is a coherent whole, where processes that take place somewhere in your body also influence the processes at many other places in your body. Hence the preference for a so-called holistic approach to attend to physical discomfort.
In the world of the left hemisphere mode, your body is an assembly of body parts that can, in principle, be studied, understood and treated individually by a relevant specialist.
But this aspect also makes a big difference, for example, in your views on how a society of people should function. Are they all individuals or are they inextricably linked? What is self-evident: self-interest or community interest?
Ad 3. ‘Western society prefers left hemispheric world view’
Our Western society often favors the worldview befitting our left hemisphere mode, and that only seems to be increasing. What’s that like for you?
For example: Do you still take a jacket with you if the rain radar does not predict rain, but you do see a somewhat dark sky outside. Or do you not (or no longer) look at the sky at all for information about the weather?
Do you only drive more carefully if hazardous circumstances have been announced, or do you try to see and experience how the road currently is and adjust your behavior accordingly?
Or: What does it mean that many people in public transport are focused only on their smartphone, preferably with headphones on. What must be happening around them for them to notice and even appreciate unexpected interaction with their environment?
Or: What does ‘preferring to live in your own bubble’ mean, whereby you only want to be in a ‘colored’ extract (a model) of reality and you close yourself off to ‘differently colored’ information about the physical reality that you could collect through the use of your right hemisphere?
What does this have to do with recognizing and handling your Xi?
The fifth characteristic in the description of extra intelligence on this website is: “Imbalance between emotional and intellectual self-confidence, one is considerably higher than the other.”
Described from the perspective of the left hemisphere mode, this translates into: “Sometimes shaky self-confidence due to relatively high intellectual ability and low ability to interact.”
According to previous experiences while using your right hemisphere mode, this sounds like: “I am sometimes unsure about the validity of my own solutions or actions because I am just doing something without a real plan”.
My question is: Do you recognize yourself in that fifth characteristic (because you don’t have to) and if so, which of the two descriptions appeals to you the most?
In our experience so far, this would refer to a preference for one of the two hemisphere modes in relation to that characteristic. Which may also occur in similar situations.
Mechel and I have also created alternative formulations for the other four characteristics of Xi. In our experience with clients, the preference can vary by characteristic and clarify something about the ability to differentiate or switch between hemispheres. In any case, it sheds new light on the client’s question about whether they are Xi and how they are Xi.
It also provides fresh context about their preferences for imaginal thinking or verbal thinking mode, which can be surprising.
When changes occur in your phase of life, or if there are other sources of unrest, it is attractive and perhaps also high time to take the next step in the development of all your possibilities. We see the Hemisphere theory as an extraordinary instrument for discovering and reflecting on your own preferences. You may want to reconsider what you have learned at school, or not learned at school, as the ‘best’ or ‘only’ worldview. This can create space and opportunity to find a new balance in your current situation and your immediate future.