本期Hidden Forces播客邀请了伊恩·麦吉尔克里斯特博士，他以著作《主人与使者》闻名，探讨了左右脑分工及其对现代世界的影响。麦吉尔克里斯特博士认为，我们对现实的理解存在偏差，因为我们过度依赖左脑，而忽略了右脑的贡献。左脑善于操控和控制世界，而右脑则更擅长理解和体验世界。他指出，左脑在简化世界以满足我们权力和控制的野心方面非常成功，但也成为了我们理解世界的障碍。这种失衡的现象在我们的生态系统、政府体系、经济体系以及社会结构中随处可见。

🧠 **左脑：操控与控制** 麦吉尔克里斯特博士认为，左脑擅长操控和控制世界，它将世界简化为可以理解和操作的模型，并依靠这些模型来预测和控制。这种操控能力让我们能够有效地应对日常生活，但同时也让我们忽视了世界的复杂性和多样性。左脑偏好线性思维、逻辑推理和语言表达，它试图将世界分解成一个个独立的单元，并建立起因果关系。这种思维方式让我们能够有效地管理和控制世界，但同时也让我们失去了对世界整体性的理解。 例如，我们使用语言来描述和理解世界，但语言本身是一种抽象的符号系统，它无法完全还原世界的真实面貌。左脑的操控能力让我们能够使用语言来交流和合作，但同时也让我们失去了对世界直接的感知和体验。

🧠 **右脑：理解与体验** 麦吉尔克里斯特博士认为，右脑更擅长理解和体验世界，它关注世界的整体性、复杂性和多样性。右脑更擅长直觉、想象力和创造力，它能够将不同的信息整合在一起，形成整体的理解。右脑能够感知到世界的微妙变化和细节，它让我们能够感受到世界的美好和神奇。 例如，当我们欣赏一幅画作时，左脑可能会关注画面的结构、颜色和构图，而右脑则能够感受到画作的情绪、意境和美感。右脑的理解能力让我们能够体验到世界的丰富性和多样性，它让我们能够感受到世界的真实和美好。

🧠 **左右脑失衡：现代世界的困境** 麦吉尔克里斯特博士认为，现代社会过度依赖左脑，而忽略了右脑的贡献。这种失衡导致了我们对世界的理解出现偏差，并引发了许多社会问题。例如，我们对物质财富的追求、对权力和控制的渴望、对效率和速度的追求等等，都是左脑思维方式的体现。 这种失衡也导致了我们对世界的理解变得片面和狭隘，我们无法真正理解世界的复杂性和多样性。我们无法真正理解人类的内心世界、我们无法真正理解自然界的奥秘、我们无法真正理解生命的意义。

🧠 **恢复平衡：重拾右脑的智慧** 麦吉尔克里斯特博士认为，我们应该努力恢复左右脑的平衡，重新重视右脑的智慧。我们可以通过冥想、瑜伽、艺术创作、音乐欣赏等等方式来激活右脑的功能。 通过恢复左右脑的平衡，我们可以获得更完整、更深刻、更丰富的对世界的理解。我们可以更好地理解自己、理解他人、理解世界，并最终找到生命的意义。

🧠 **结语** 本期Hidden Forces播客为我们提供了一个全新的视角，让我们重新思考我们对世界的理解。麦吉尔克里斯特博士的观点引发了我们对人类思维方式的反思，也让我们意识到，只有通过恢复左右脑的平衡，我们才能真正理解世界，并创造一个更加美好、更加和谐的未来。

In Episode 300 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Dr. Iain McGilchrist. Most people know Dr. McGilchrist for having authored “The Master and His Emissary” a book about what we popularly refer to as “the Divided Brain” and its role in the making of the modern world.

It is Dr. McGilchrist’s view that we have systematically misunderstood the nature of reality, because we have depended on the aspect of our brains that is most adept at manipulating the world in order to bend it to our purposes. It’s the same part of our brains that is most proficient at constructing models or representations of the world and doubling down on them even in the face of falsifying evidence.

In the conversation that follows you will learn how the brain is divided into two hemispheres: the left hemisphere, which is designed to help us apprehend the world and thus manipulate and control it, and the right hemisphere, which is designed to help us comprehend the world — to see it for all that it is in its richness, nuance, and glory.

The problem, according to McGilchrist, is that the very brain mechanisms which succeed in simplifying the world so as to make it more responsive to our ambitions for power and control have become the primary obstacles to our understanding of it. The consequences of this imbalance can be seen all around us in our ecosystems, our systems of government, our economies, and within the fabric of our very own societies. The rise of narcissism, paranoia, our obsession with categories and discrete identities, the rise in depression, the policing of language, and the panopticon of surveillance and control are all symptoms in Iain’s eyes of the tyranny of the left-hemisphere made manifest in the world around us.

The first hour of our conversation is devoted primarily to understanding the physiology of the divided brain and how to recognize each hemisphere’s contribution to the synthesized world-picture that we call reality. In the second hour, which is available to premium subscribers, we examine the various ways in which the dominance of the left-hemisphere is manifesting itself in society, as well as the deeper philosophical questions that have concerned humanity since time immemorial. We look at the ‘stuff’ of which the cosmos is made – time, space, motion, matter, and consciousness, – as well as why we might see it as divine in nature. We also explore its apparent paradoxical nature—a paradox that McGilchrist suggests has generally resulted from the clash between the ways in which the right and left hemispheres construe reality.

This was an absolutely wonderful conversation and despite some of the audio challenges that we dealt with on Demetri’s end of the microphone, we are confident that you will walk away from it with a sense of enlightenment, inspiration, and perhaps, even a new perspective on the world and our place in it.

You can subscribe to our premium content and gain access to our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports (or Key Takeaways) at HiddenForces.io/subscribe.

If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page. If you still have questions, feel free to email info@hiddenforces.io, and Demetri or someone else from our team will get right back to you.

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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

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Episode Recorded on 03/07/2023