Iain McGilchrist: The Coincidence of Opposites

Many students are frightened that truth might not conform to their theoretical model and demand protection from critical discussion; teachers collude in this 'serious dereliction of duty' rather than insisting on rigorous examination.

“many students are in any case so frightened that the truth might turn out not to conform to their theoretical model that they demand to be protected from discussions that threaten to examine the model critically and their teachers who should know better in a serious dereliction of duty collude”

The individual and general, temporal and eternal, embodied and disembodied can be understood not as exclusive pairings but as simultaneously present in one another; the general is found in the individual, the eternal in the temporal, the spiritual in the embodied.

“thus we're used to thinking of the individual and the general the temporal and the eternal the embodied and the disembodied as exclusive pairings but it was possibly goethe's greatest insight to see that they're present simultaneously in one another they're found not by turning one's back on the supposed opposite but by going more deeply into it thus the general is found in the individual the eternal in the temporal the spiritual in the embodied”

Only a part of reality can be perceived at any one time. Objectivity is not the absence of the human but rather seeing as many points of view on something as possible. The Japanese term 'tamba-kan' means someone who carries a board on their shoulder, seeing only with one half of their field of vision.

“true also only a a part of the picture is possible and i say that not because as it we might be able to get around this if we had some other way of doing things intrinsically it is possible only to take in one part of a reality at a time and what i conceive objectivity to be is not to affect some kind of mind in which there is nothing human that would be very strange a way of looking at things that wouldn't be um particularly rich in its ability to reveal the nature of the thing but to instead see as many points of view on something as you possibly can and and that's part of what whitehead meant talking about uh half truths”

Humanities education is misconceived as utilitarian 'for value for money,' rendering it pointless and wasteful; improving education by dictating curricula and focusing on exam results discourages free thinking, which is an overarching goal of true education.

“we grossly misconceive the nature of study in the humanities as utilitarian in order to get value for money and thus render it pointless and in this form certainly a waste of resource we improve education by dictating curricula and focusing on exam results to the point where free thinking arguably an overarching goal of true education is discouraged in our universities”

In Biosphere 2, trees in a sheltered optimal environment rarely reached maturity before falling over; stressful winds are extremely important for growth and survival, producing stress wood which is the core strength of the tree.

“some scientists were rather puzzled when they were trying to account for what happened in an experimental environment called biosphere 2 which is a very large covered sheltered environment in which plants and trees are given what are seen as an optimal environment in which to flourish and it was discovered that trees rarely reached maturity before they fell over why was this well it turns out that actually being subject to stressful winds is extremely important for the growth and survival of a tree it produces something called stress wood which is the core strength of it”

The union of one with itself as many is a circular, not linear process, and depends on proper inter-hemispheric functioning.

“the conjunction of one and many is a very important topic and and this process may sound as though it is linear but it's not it is a circular process and this depends on an inter-hemispheric relationship functioning properly”

Three factors are crucial for human flourishing: (1) social cohesion and belonging, (2) connection to nature, (3) spirituality and religious community practice.

“what has very much struck me... the effect of social cohesion so belonging to a cohesive social group... the second is belonging in nature... and the third one surprise surprise is spirituality is believing in a spiritual world and um preferably being actively involved in a community that worship together”

Economists model and monitor financial markets to prevent crashes, yet the crashes occur anyway; scientific research has become so focused on positive findings that it has become less adventurous and discovers less of true significance.

“economists carefully model and monitor the financial markets in order to avoid any future crash they promptly crash we're so eager that all scientific research results in positive findings that has become progressively less adventurous and more predictable and therefore discovers less and less that is a truly significant advance in scientific thinking”

We are witnessing the triumph of rationalist know-how and yet confronted with emptiness, aesthetic void, a desert of uniformity, criminal sterility, loss of creative power; we have become impotent and unable to create.

“today we are witnessing the triumph of rationalist know-how and yet at the same time we find ourselves confronted with emptiness an aesthetic void a desert of uniformity criminal sterility loss of creative power even creativity is prefabricated we have become impotent we are no longer able to create that is our real illiteracy”

All is one, but all is also many—neither truth is lesser than the other. The cosmos unfolds through endless individuation out of union, not to sunder or fragment but to enrich the whole. The drive of the cosmos is distinction without separation.

“you often hear people of a spiritual bent saying all is one and it sounds wonderful doesn't it it sounds so calming it sounds so deep all is one and it's true but so is it that all is many and now what neither of these truths is a lesser truth than the other indeed one of the ways of looking at the whole creative cosmos is of the continuing unfolding the endless unfolding of individuation out of union not so as to sunder or fragment but so as to enrich that whole so i would say the very drive of the cosmos is about distinction without separation”

McGilchrist doesn't deny the existence of evil; if there is good, there is evil. Jesus himself prayed for 'deliverance from evil,' which means evil exists and needs to be counterbalanced. But there is an asymmetry: love triumphs and grounds the cosmos in the end.

“i don't duck the question of the existence of evil because i think it's it's really having your cake and eat it to say there is good but there is no evil i mean if there's a conjunction of opposites then there will be and no religion tells you that everything is just fine and everything is good and there is no suffering and and so on and and jesus himself didn't pray that we should all um just not be quite as bad but played for deliverance from evil i mean that those are the very words of the lord's prayer if they mean anything it means that there is some counterbalancing force i i personally believe that but i also believe in the same spirit that i've said everything tonight that there is an asymmetry and i argue about that much greater length of course in a very long chapter in the book which is like a short book itself on the sense of the sacred but there i would say that in the end it is love that triumphs it is love that holds the day and it is love that grounds the cosmos”

Jung's warning to a Pueblo chief: the white man is doomed because he 'looks only at one point excluding all other aspects.' A successful industrialist confirmed this, saying his success came from being 'able to concentrate on only one point excluding all other aspects.'

“a member of the swiss parliament lucas fiat who is a founding member of the green party in switzerland who recalled a meeting as a boy with his neighbor carl gustav jung and in the course of conversation jung told us says lucas fierce about his encounter with the pueblo chief whose name was mountain lake the chief told him that the white man was doomed when asked why the chief took both hands before his eyes and jung imitating the gesture moved the outstretched index fingers convergingly towards one point before him saying because the white man looks only at one point excluding all other aspects many years later dr fitz who's a physician recalls that a significant adversary of the green party movement was a successful industrialist and self-made billionaire i asked him what in his view was the reason for his incredible entrepreneurial and political success he took both hands before his eyes and moved the outstretched index fingers convergingly towards one point before him saying because i am able to concentrate on only one point excluding all other aspects”

We lose ourselves and consequently find ourselves in music, dance, or contemplation. There is an innocence on the other side of experience and knowledge, and a wisdom on the other side of folly that is not really its opposite.

“everything flows from the pairing we as we say lose ourselves and consequently find ourselves in music dance or contemplation of a beautiful painting or landscape there is an innocence the other side of experience and knowledge the other side of knowing a wisdom the other side of folly which is not really its opposite”

Education should teach people how to think by having students argue forcibly for any point of view, then immediately turn around and argue more convincingly for the opposite. This develops the ability to see from multiple perspectives.

“i think first of all very obviously that education needs to be much more concerned with things like philosophy teaching people how to think which is not done by shoving information in and then seeing whether they've retained it that is the opposite of teaching people how to think one exercise that every school child every school child should do regularly and shouldn't be allowed to be to leave school without knowing how to do this is to take any point of view argue forcibly for it and then immediately turn around and argue more emphatically for the opposite point of view because every point of view has its prose and its cons”

Inhibition releases and creates; delimitation defines a thing into being. Friction opposes movement but is necessary for movement. Resistance can put brakes on or cause motion; it prevents or causes change.

“often inhibition releases and creates often delimitation is what makes a thing come into being indeed that is what defines anything and friction is an interesting example of something that is in a way in opposition to movement but in its absence movement becomes impossible the it's the very constraint isn't it on movement friction but it's also what makes movement possible at all”

To turn one's back on the parts that the left hemisphere brings forward and accept only the whole that the right hemisphere gives is not to achieve wholeness, because the whole is never an annihilation but a subsumption of the parts. True wholeness exists in the tension between parts and apparent whole.

“for example to turn one's back on the parts the work that the left hemisphere brings forward for us and accept only the whole the work that the right hemisphere gives us is not to get back to wholeness because the whole is never an annihilation but rather a subsumption of the parts the true whole exists precisely in this relationship the tension between parts and an apparent whole”

The Zen garden Ryoan-ji has 15 rocks arranged so there is no place from which all rocks can be seen. At most, one can see 14 rocks at a time. This illustrates that wholeness requires the unseen.

“another japanese image comes to mind that i love one of the greatest of all the zen gardens ryanji has i think 15 rocks in it but it is so constructed that there is no place in the garden from which you can see all of the rocks the most you can see at any one point would be 14.”

Everything has its dark side. There is nothing so good that it cannot have negative consequences, and nothing so bad that it cannot occasionally give rise to good. Neglecting this leads to extremism.

“there is nothing so good that it cannot have negative consequences and indeed there is nothing so bad that it cannot occasionally give rise to good neglecting this unfortunately leads to extremism”

The Russian word 'drugoy' (other/different) has the same etymological root as 'drug' (friend). This suggests that the other is not truly alien but a friend we have not yet recognized.

“anyway i'm going to just wrap up in some final words so i've argued that at the origin of everything that lies uh con a coincidence or conjunction of opposites that is profoundly generative indeed necessary for creation gives rise to all that we know and this coincidence of opposites is by no means contrary to reason i've stressed that we must not be tempted left hemisphere fashion to resolve the necessary tension by pretending one of the pairs of opposites can safely be dispensed with or is not real denying the concealed opposite is dangerous the coincidence of opposites does not compromise their nature as opposites rather they fulfill themselves through one another the foundation of everything is this opposition recognized from empedocles to goethe between love and strife we need the union of division and union the union of multiplicity and unity the left hemisphere needs ultimately to act as servant to the right hemisphere since unbridled the left hemisphere is capable of destroying the world which i believe it is engaged in doing now and was foretold in the iroquois legend moreover what we think of as good may conceal much harm and what we consider harmful may bring something of great value i've suggested two geometrical images we should be wary of linear models in our attempts to understand the world except at the most minutely local level and replace straight lines with helices which incorporate an acknowledgement of the coincidence of opposites with the idea that there's always change and growth not mere repetition as the image of the circle risks suggesting and just as there's an asymmetry in the relationship of the hemispheres there's an asymmetry in the coincidencia opposition we need not difference in union but the union of the two we need not non-duality but the non-duality of duality and non-duality there's also an asymmetry between symmetry and asymmetry not just an asymmetry of quality which the obviously is but an inequality of value asymmetry is more important than symmetry actual occurrence of anything involves the breaking of what is considered in the abstract symmetrical small imbalances differences among sameness at all levels in nature make it work starting with the initial inequality of matter and antimatter i'm told by physicists that if there had not been a small inequality between mata and antimatter at the very beginning of things with the big bang there would have been nothing at all and this is nicely referred to by two great late 19th century french scientists one a biologist the other a physicist already in the 1870s louis pasteur was writing sentences that would have anguished his enlightenment forebears the universe as a whole he wrote is asymmetrical and i've come to believe that life as it is manifest to us is a function of the asymmetry of the universe without any doubt i repeat of the basic principles of life are asymmetrical it is because asymmetrical forces of the cosmos preside over their unfolding life is dominated by the effects of asymmetrical forces whose enveloping cosmic existence we sense intuitively i would even say that living species are primordially in their structure in their external forms functions of the cosmic asymmetry and here is the physicist pierre kuri writing in 1894 certain elements of symmetry may coexist with certain phenomena but they are not necessary what is necessary is that certain elements of symmetry do not exist it is asymmetry which creates the phenomenon and he adds the effects produced may be more symmetrical than their causes in terms of the hemispheres it's once more not a symmetrical but an asymmetrical arrangement not just between two dispositions that of the left hemisphere and that of the right towards the world but between the disposition that sees the two dispositions as an antagonism that must ultimately lead to the triumph of one and the annihilation of the other that's the left hemispheres take on their relation and a disposition that of the right that sees they need to be preserved together neither being allowed to extinguish the other even though they're not of equal value one the disposition of the right overarches and takes into account the other much as he grasps the sky with both hands not just protects flint but enables the fulfillment of flint's contribution here there's an interesting reflection of william james who i think again is one of the great philosophers of the last hundred years and more looking back on my own experiences they all converge towards a kind of insight to which i cannot help ascribing some metaphysical significance the key note of it is invariably a reconciliation it is as if the opposites of the world whose contradictoriness and conflict make all our difficulties and troubles were melted into unity not only do they as contrasted species belong to one and the same genus but one of the species the nobler and better one is itself the genus and so soaks up and absorbs its opposite into itself now we mentioned sisterly and diastole and on this nature of asymmetry and irregularity being more important than symmetry and and regularity uh i just want to mention something about the movement and rhythm of biological processes these are necessarily not entirely rhythmical they have a kind of flexibility built into them which for those of you who are musicians you will recognize as rubato music that is played entirely mechanically loses its soul and it is the ability to make very small differences in the length of notes that makes a great musical performance you may not even be aware of them in fact you're not necessarily aware of them at all but they are what give life and i was very struck when i was a medical student and i was learning obstetrics on the obstrecting ward when learned that the trace of the fetal heart when it became regular this was a medical emergency and you called the team urgently the when the fetus is thriving the heartbeat has a flexibility and irregularity that also the adult human heart has if it's functioning properly and this is something also like half rhyme the sort of yes and no at the same time i i'd like to write a book called yes and no or in a zen saying not always so and i can't resist just quoting because i'm about to conclude that wonderful poem by wilfred owen who used half rhymes so effectively a visionary spine-chilling poem called strange meeting in which he imagines encountering the german soldier that he's killed the other that is not really an other at all and the poem famously ends with the dead soldier's words to owen i am the enemy you killed my friend i knew you in this dark for so you frowned yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed i parried but my hands were loath and cold let us sleep now those lines couldn't be so great if they had had full rhymes instead of half rhymes it's interesting by the way that the russian word for other or different drugoy has the same etymological root as the word drug which means a friend”

The relationship between the hemispheres depends on an inter-hemispheric relationship functioning properly, modeled on the two brothers (Flint and Sky-Holder) in the Onondagan myth: Flint represents the left hemisphere (bow, arrow, speech, manipulation) and must be kept in service to Sky-Holder (right hemisphere) who has greater wisdom.

“and this process may sound as though it is linear but it's not it is a circular process and this depends on an inter-hemispheric relationship functioning properly in which like the two brothers in the onondagan myth um flint uh the left hemisphere representative who actually in the story this was before neuroscience could have prompted this um has the arrow and speech and the two great things about manipulation using the the right hand to grasp things and to use language to pin them down that are the most i suppose aspects of left hemisphere these were flint's characteristics”

The Kabbala describes human faculties as a tree with right and left sides: Wisdom (right) receives the gestalt of a situation in a single flash; Understanding/Bina (left) builds it up step-by-step. They are two friends who never part. Their integration produces Daat (like Aristotle's phronesis)—an embodied, intuitive capacity to know what the situation calls for.

“in the cabala a great corpus of jewish mystical literature the structure of human faculties takes the form of a tree with a right hand side and a left hand side very interesting to me humanity's task is to integrate them both laterally and vertically specifically it's held that the mind is made up of two faculties wisdom on the right which receives the gestalt of a situation in a single flash and understanding bina opposite it on the left which builds them up in a replicable step-by-step way this is the distinction between the right and left hemisphere at least one way of looking at it are considered two friends who never part because you cannot have one without the other gives rise to a force for loving fusion with the other while bainer gives rise to judgment which is responsible for setting boundaries and limits their integration is another faculty called dart which is a bit like aristotle's phronesis or even sofia and embodied overarching intuitive capacity to know what the situation calls for and to do it”

In Wilfred Owen's 'Strange Meeting,' the use of half-rhymes rather than full rhymes is essential to the poem's power. The opening of opposites (angel/devil in half-rhyme) expresses the poem's theme more powerfully than full reconciliation would.

“i can't resist just quoting because i'm about to conclude that wonderful poem by wilfred owen who used half rhymes so effectively a visionary spine-chilling poem called strange meeting in which he imagines encountering the german soldier that he's killed the other that is not really an other at all and the poem famously ends with the dead soldier's words to owen i am the enemy you killed my friend i knew you in this dark for so you frowned yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed i parried but my hands were loath and cold let us sleep now those lines couldn't be so great if they had had full rhymes instead of half rhymes”

Education must also be rigorous. Children need to be challenged; they need to learn difficult things like ancient languages and mathematics. Science should be taught as an adventure, not as a killingly boring subject.

“i also think it's very important for education to be rigorous children like to be challenged and they do actually need to learn things that are difficult you know perhaps an ancient language certainly mathematics they do need to understand good science imaginative science science doesn't have to be killingly boring in the way that it's so often taught science is a is an adventure and if science is not taught as an adventure the teachers need to be sacked because it is it's a wonderful exciting adventure just as exciting as learning poetry and music”

Meaning is not invented but discovered. Beauty, complexity, purpose, and value are there in reality. Our task is to respond to them, see them, and incorporate them. When we do, life becomes rich and society flourishes. When we don't, the opposite occurs.

“all right they're there but it is our task to respond to them to see them and to incorporate them and when we do life becomes rich we start to flourish society starts to flourish when we don't the opposite of all those things is the case and what has very much struck me and i referred to one of these in the end of the mastering chemistry is the effect of social cohesion so belonging to a cohesive social group which is not just a group of people a bubble sphere on the internet that just happen to share opinions but a living group of people who are able hard at the moment i know but to share their lives”

A couple that are opposites (distinct beings) and also part of one something through their coming together should maintain a healthful distance like two heavenly bodies orbiting one another—not so alien they fly off into space, nor so fused their orbits collapse into collision.

“and you've said a couple are a kind of opposites and i know what you're getting at but of course they're not really opposites in a bad way that they're individually separate beings but they're also part of one something which is the coming together of them and uh there i suppose the image that i would leave people with it's like two heavenly bodies that are orbiting one another and what you don't want is them to be so alien that they fly off into space but what you don't want either is for them to be so sucked into one another's gravity gravitation that their orbits collapse and they crash together and there are couples who become as we say in the trade fused and this is usually not a good sign and relationship rarely survives there needs to be a healthful distance but that distance doesn't mean alienation just as distinction doesn't mean separation”

The creative nature of resistance: 'The heart's wave would never have risen up so beautifully in its cloud of spray and become spirit where it not for the grim old cliff of destiny standing in its way' (Hölderlin). Nothing can be created or come into being without resistance.

“from the german romantic poet friedrich the heart's wave would never have risen up so beautifully in its cloud of spray and become spirit where it not for the grim old cliff of destiny standing in its way another theme that's very important in my work is that of the creative nature of resistance in fact nothing can be created nothing can come into being without resistance”

The sophists showed that any position is partial and insufficient, but then concluded there is no truth at all. This is a fallacy. Rather, the partiality of perspectives shows that truth is discovered through the movement between and above opposites, not that truth does not exist.

“is there is no there is no coherence to reality uh itself there is no truth beyond the insufficiency of the particulars and so what i'm what i'm wanting to ask you is this is what does all this mean that truth is that rather than the insufficiency of the particular showing that there is no truth and certainly today the claim is that truth itself is just a a mechanism or construct of the will to power that rather than that that precisely in these particularities in the movement between the opposites is revealed uncovered made real made manifest uh something larger deeper more sovereign than the insufficiency of the particulars might initially have us believe”

Jacob Needleman: 'Stay with the contradiction. If you stay, you will see that there's always something more than two opposing truths. The whole truth always includes a third part, which is the reconciliation.'

“the philosopher jacob needleman wrote stay with the contradiction if you stay you will see that there's always something more than two opposing truths the whole truth always includes a third part which is the reconciliation”

As a psychiatrist, one of the hardest things to deal with is a person who believes they should be perfect and denies their imperfections. These people become very stressed, anxious, and unhappy, and spread anxiety and unhappiness around them in their families.

“as a psychiatrist one of the hardest things to deal with is a person who believes they should be perfect and are therefore in denial about their imperfections these people become very stressed anxious and unhappy and actually spread anxiety and unhappiness around them in their families trying to control everything for good instead of realizing that actually they can't do that and that they would be better to exercise a wise ability to move flexibly with the flow”

According to Jung, the grand plan on which the unconscious life of the psyche is constructed is so inaccessible to our understanding that we can never know what evil may not be necessary to produce good (enantiodromia—things changing into their opposites).

“according to jung the grand plan on which the unconscious life of the psyche is constructed is so inaccessible to our understanding that we can never know what evil way not evil may not be necessary in order to produce good by what he called enantiodromia which basically means the tendency of things to change into their opposites and what good may very possibly lead to evil”

Rabbi Jonathan Sax told a story: a holy man reads that Rabbi X says a certain thing is the case, then reads that another equally revered rabbi says the opposite. In spiritual turmoil, he prays to God which is right. God answers 'both are right,' and when the man protests they can't both be right, God replies 'all three of you are right.'

“a holy man is reading the talmud and he reads that rabbi x says that a certain thing is the case and he reads further and he finds that another equally revered rabbi says that x is absolutely not the case in a sort of spiritual turmoil he does what any spiritual man would do he prays to god which of them is right and god answers both of them are right somewhat exasperated the man says but what do you mean they can't both be right to which god replies all three of you are right”

We over-sanitize and cause vulnerability to infection; we overuse antibiotics, leading to super bacteria that no antibiotic can kill; we make drugs illegal to protect society but create fertile fields for crime instead; we protect children so they cannot cope with or relish uncertainty or risk, leaving them vulnerable.

“we over sanitize and cause vulnerability to infection we overuse antibiotics leading to super bacteria that no antibiotic can kill we make drugs illegal to protect society and while failing comprehensively to control the use of drugs we create a fertile field for crime we protect children in such a way that they cannot cope with let alone relish uncertainty or risk and are rendered vulnerable”

Friedensreich Hundertwasser: 'The straight line leads to the downfall of mankind.' The straight line is atheistic, immoral, cowardly, and sterile. It does not exist in nature. Straight lines breed criminal sterility and loss of creative power.

“frieden's right wrote in 1953 i realized that the straight line leads to the downfall of mankind but the straight line has become an absolute tyranny the straight line is something cowardly drawn with a rule without thought or feeling it is a line which does not exist in nature and that line is the rotten foundation of our doomed civilization the straight line is atheistic and immoral it is the only sterile line the only line which does not suit man as the image of god”

If you wanted to make a totally miserable world, you would: (1) take people as far from nature as possible, surround them with machines and virtuality; (2) disrupt society, set individuals against each other, and say everyone has a right to do whatever they want regardless of communal well-being; (3) tell people religion is rot and the world is meaningless.

“if you really wanted to make a totally miserable world what you do is take people as far away from the natural world as possible and surround them by by machines and virtuality you would disrupt society set individual against individual and say that everybody has a right to do whatever they want to do quite regardless of what might be good for the well-being of a community in a society and you tell people that religion was all rot and that essentially they didn't mean anything the world didn't mean anything and the sooner it was over the better if you do that you'll make a very very unhappy world and the evidence is that we are”

Reality is not a thing out there (rot) nor made up entirely by ourselves (mumbo), but is a reverberative relationship between my consciousness and the conscious cosmos outside my consciousness (which is distinct but never ultimately separate).

“what i'm really emphasizing is that it is neither a thing in here nor a thing out there but is a a relationship a reverberative relationship between whatever it is i mean by my consciousness and the conscious cosmos outside of what i consider my consciousness and it's in that coming together of my internal sense of myself with whatever it is that exists that is apart from me at least never ultimately separate from me but utterly distinct from me um it's in that coming together that we embark on the process of reality of discovering reality”

Contemporary Western society is beset by paradoxes that arise from the left hemisphere's linear, reductionist thinking: we pursue happiness and become less happy; we privilege autonomy and end up bound by rules we never assented to and more surveilled than ever; we pursue leisure and work longer hours; we have more means to our ends yet less sense of what our ends should be.

“but you know in our society we are beset aren't we by what we call paradoxes we pursue happiness and become measurably less happy over time we privilege autonomy and end up bound by rules to which we never assented and more spied on than any people since the beginning of time we pursue leisure through technology and discover that the average working day is longer than ever and that we have less time than we had before the means to our ends are ever more available while we have less sense of what our end should be”

The string of a lyre depends on pulling in opposite directions: 'The ends of a liar string are pulled apart, effort is put into toughening that string...if you pull in opposite directions...the string goes slack...there is no note that comes forth.'

“the ends of a liar string are pulled apart effort is put into toughening that string and you might think why pull in opposite directions why not just simplify and not pull at all but then the string goes to slack it's no longer taught and there is no note that comes forth from the string of the lie there is no arrow that comes forth from the string of the bow”

Many people struggle with a deep alienation and sense that they are not loved and have no connection to a transcendent whole. Something deep in the nature of things does not have their back, undermining their sense of meaning and worth.

“and yet i i think one thing that many people struggle with uh the alienation the the sense of of sadness of of loneliness somehow at a deep level psychologically that's giving up on belief that that they that they are loved that they have in themselves a abiding hole that they are they're connected with a trend called a transcendent whole that is manifest in themselves but that something very deep in the nature of things has their back”

When you analyze the greatness of a great literary figure into component parts, you end up with things that appear to be imperfections, yet together they do not account for the greatness. This paradox applies to figures like Samuel Johnson, Laurence Stern, and William Wordsworth.

“in a way a description of a strange phenomenon why it is that when you start taking apart the qualities of analyzing the greatness of a great literary figure you end up with a handful of things that are in themselves imperfections and yet they put them together they do not in any way account for the greatness of the individual i wrote about three of them in that book in particular one the essayist and general philosopher and thinker sam johnson then the novelist lauren stern and then the poet william wordsworth”

Joseph Campbell: three states of being—innocent expression of nature, analytical thinking, and a return to nature with competence, control, and flexibility. This summarizes the proper relationship between hemispheres.

“joseph campbell writes i think there are three states of being one is the innocent expression of nature another is when you pause analyze think about it then having analyzed becomes a state in which you're able to live as nature again but with more competence more control more flexibility that to me summarizes the proper relationship between the right and the left hemisphere”

Rather than a linear model, prefer a model of circularity or spiral. A circle is static; a spiral constantly moves and changes. Each loop brings you to a cognate point at a higher level, where you understand what you thought you knew before but do not yet anticipate what you will know at the next loop.

“instead of a um a linear model i would prefer one of circularity or to modify that of a spiral the circle simply comes back to the same place and is static a spiral is constantly moving and changing and as you come back round a loop of the spiral you seem to be at the same place you were before but you're not actually you're above it and you see what it was you thought you knew when you were there before but you don't yet anticipate what you will know when you go on yet another loop of the spiral and come back to the cognate point again on a higher loop”

The humanities should not be studied with an imposed grid of current preconceptions but should allow students to encounter other ways of thinking. We know nothing about our history except through filtered caricatures of current ideology.

“one exercise that every school child every school child should do regularly and shouldn't be allowed to be to leave school without knowing how to do this is to take any point of view argue forcibly for it and then immediately turn around and argue more emphatically for the opposite point of view because every point of view has its prose and its cons and i think that yes things like poetry music and so on and history in fact the humanities in general how do we understand ourselves we know nothing about our history and not just a caricature version of history through a filter that happens to be a a set of conceptions and preconceptions we have now but more broadly as broadly and generously as we can um one of the things about the humanities is not um imposing on it a grid of your own but trying to come to it and see another way of thinking that other people before you had that may be very different from your own but was by no means stupid and may conceal values that you yourself don't see”

Forgiveness is the overcoming of apparent opposition—discovering in a relationship and in the other a beauty and unity that abides even through suffering, division, difficulty, or hardness of life.

“we have a questioner who is asking about love does love show away and if i can try to put this together what i want to ask is first you know love in our own personal you know in our lives you know the lives in which we we encounter love this does have to do with the unity of the opposites you know we that's what forgiveness is is the overcoming in a way of of an opposite it's the the the holding on to someone to to discover in that relationship and in them and for them to discover in themselves a a beauty a unity that abides and that perhaps becomes more beautiful in and through the the the suffering or division or difficulty or hardness of life”

Stephen Blackwood asks whether reason must change to grasp the unity of opposites; McGilchrist responds that there are different meanings of reason and distinguishes between trans-rational/supra-rational realms and different kinds of reason (logical procedure vs. the capacity to be reasonable).

“there are different meanings the word reason and in the book i have three chapters on the nature of reason... we need to make a distinction between things that are beyond the grasp of um what people commonly conceive of as reason and things that are within its grasp and the other distinction is between kinds of reason... a realm which is trans rational or supra rational and that is i think a concept we need to take back into our lives much that we value in in nature in art in music in human life in um approach to the sacred is not irrational just because it cannot be um stated purely in logical terms”

In traditional Chinese houses, the last three tiles are always left off the roof because the saying is 'even heaven is not perfect.' In oriental rug making, there is a deliberate 'imperfect stitch.'

“perfection can constitute a floor in traditional chinese houses the last three tiles always left off the roof because the saying is even heaven is not perfect and in oriental rug making there is something called the imperfect stitch which is deliberately lacking”

Patrick Offals' 'Immoderate Greatness' (80 pages) explains why all civilizations fail: three environmental reasons (resource depletion) and three behavioral reasons (bad thinking and acting). One key failure is inability to think and act the way you need to think and act to defend a civilization.

“there's a wonderful book um called um immoderate greatness by patrick offals it's only 80 pages long and it's considerably the best 80 pages in terms of bang for buck that you could ever read and it's why all civilizations fail eventually and often quite quickly and it has six reasons three of them are sort of more or less environmental ones and to do with the resource issues and the other three are to do with the way we stop behaving and to stop thinking and in amongst them is this inability to think the way you need to think and act the way you need to act if you're going to defend a civilization”

Complementarity is foundational in nature, foundational in modern physics, foundational in morality, and foundational in spirituality.

“this idea of complementarity is foundational in nature it's foundational certainly in everything in modern physics i would say in morality and i would say in spirituality”

Morally, every angel has his devil—the virtues and vices are not separable. M.C. Escher's 'Circle Limit Four' (angels and devils) beautifully illustrates that what we call good and evil are intertwined.

“moreover morally speaking every angel has his devil and i wish i could show you but for copyright reasons i don't dare show you a wonderful image by m.c escher called circle limit four often called angels and devils if you look that up perhaps later i hope um you will see why it is a particularly beautiful illustration of what i'm talking about”

Changing context completely changes what can be said to be true, so something can come to mean its opposite. Example: in America, 'jumbo' means very large, 'economy' means large, 'family' means medium, 'large' means small.

“changing of context completely changes what can be said to be true so that something can come to mean its opposite uh there are many profound examples of this from religious text and from poetry but one i rather like just because it's so everyday is the sizes of cereal packets you know i think in america there are four sizes of cereal packets there's one called jumbo which means very large then there's one called economy which means large then there's one called family which means medium and finally there's one called large which means small”

The first volume of McGilchrist's book is called 'The Ways to Truth' (suggesting an ongoing journey), and the second is 'What Then is True?' (an open question). Part 1 is neuroscience, Part 2 is epistemology (reason, science, intuition, imagination), Part 3 is metaphysics.

“the first volume my books in two volumes the first volume is called the ways to truth so not a suggestion that it is a journey that may never actually be achieved but it's still an important journey and the second volume is called what then is true an open question but effectively what i'm doing in the first part of the book is saying what can we take as a guide on our journey towards truth i think knowing more about what the brain is telling us can help that's part one neuroscience and i think epistemology the business of studying the values of reason science um intuition and imagination their strengths and values that can tell us when we take those together and look at the cosmos what do we find and what i suggest in part three which is metaphysics”