Unlocking deep intelligence: The power of metaphor & right-brain thinking

“The experience of Nirvana exists in the consciousness of our right hemisphere, and at any moment, we can choose to hook into that part of our brain.” ~ Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Neuroanatomist

With the exception of the arts, our culture largely neglects and dismisses metaphoric and symbolic knowing. The field of depth psychology has attempted to rectify this, along with all those who champion the arts.

The key to accessing deeper intelligence lies in engaging the right hemisphere of the brain, which operates through metaphoric and symbolic knowing. Unlike the analytical left hemisphere, the right brain connects us to fields of creative energy and profound insight. This mode of understanding, often dismissed by modern culture outside of the arts, holds the potential to unlock transformative ways of thinking and being. By embracing metaphor, we tap into a wisdom that transcends logic and rationality, allowing us to engage with the world on a more intuitive and meaningful level.

Physics has demonstrated that we are not mere isolated bodies in the world. We operate within a field of creative energy. Our brain has different parts. Because of the way it is designed, the left hemisphere of our brain can’t detect these fields of creative energy. Aesthetic feeling can only be known through right brain processes.

In other words, deep intelligence lies beyond our thinking minds, but we can’t access it through rational or purely physically sensory ways of knowing.

We must engage the language of the right hemisphere, which is metaphor.

from Deep Knowing: Entering the Realm of Non-Ordinary Intelligence by Kim Hermanson