right brain

To view the world compassionately, we need the undeveloped capacities of our right cerebral hemisphere
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To view the world compassionately, we need the undeveloped capacities of our right cerebral hemisphere

To my mind, one of the most paradigm-changing statements of the 20th century was from Nobel laureate and neuroscientist Roger Sperry: There appears to be two modes of thinking, verbal and nonverbal, represented separately in left and right hemispheres, respectively. Our educational system, and science in general, tends to neglect the nonverbal form of intellect….

The role of the imagination is to awaken us.
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The role of the imagination is to awaken us.

In her book, If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland wrote: When we ignore the imagination, we stop living from our center, from the creative fountain, and we live from the periphery, from externals. Imagination brings possibility. As educator Maxine Greene said, “The role of imagination is to awaken, to disclose the ordinarily unseen, unheard,…

To see the world compassionately, we need our right cerebral hemisphere.

To see the world compassionately, we need our right cerebral hemisphere.

In 1973, neurobiologist Roger Sperry stated:  “There appears to be two modes of thinking, verbal and nonverbal, represented separately in left and right hemispheres, respectively. Our educational system, and science in general, tends to neglect the nonverbal form of intellect. What it comes down to is that modern society discriminates against the right hemisphere.”   To…

check out my article in Medium: The power of thinking in shapes

check out my article in Medium: The power of thinking in shapes

There’s a reason bank buildings are square. There’s a reason that when we need rest we go to a large body of water… or the desert. There’s a reason web designers use lots of white space. (Space allows readers’ eyes — and brains! — to stay calm so they can absorb the material.) There’s a…

Our world needs the artist’s cognitive capacities
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Our world needs the artist’s cognitive capacities

The physicist Arthur Zajonc says that our culture needs the artist’s cognitive capacities. But what ARE those cognitive capacities?   Perhaps those capacities include the artist’s willingness to be confused, welcoming any unlikely connection that shows up. Perhaps it’s his or her sensitivity to nuance and qualities of beauty that others miss. Perhaps artists are more…

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