Iain McGilchrist, 'We Need to Act'

Iain McGilchrist has been outlining for many years that a fundamental problem in the way we are perceiving the world is likely to lead us into trouble. Now in 2022 he believes the situation is reaching a crucial turning point and we need to wake up urgently.
In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about how our current culture's domination by a 'left brain', reductionistic, materialist and literalist perspective had reached crisis point.
He explains how this is manifesting as a 'war on reality', and a series of attacks on free speech.
Iain's work can be found here: channelmcgilch...

[@flisscook8934]

Whenever I listen to Iain McGilchrist, I feel I have returned home to safety and sanity. This is a nugget of an interview teeming with enlivened information, speaking right to the heart of the sickness in our society today! What a relief. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@tapyouout100]

Please also listen to Daniel Schmactenberger

[@flisscook8934]

Thank you. I will do that. 🙏🏼✨

[@shiracohenyoga3492]

Agree fully, home and honest!

[@jamesfleming6805]

If someone as sensible and gentle as Dr McGilchrist is sounding the alarm on the direction of civilization then we really are in peril

[@CoopAssembly]

And I've got a right-brained idea. It involves local interaction, and national networking. It is political, but it is nonpartisan. It's what man lost, and can maybe get back again. I want Dr. McGilchrist to see this... The Two Sides of Everything, and Complete Introduction To Building Communities, at Breaking Ground.

[@mmnuances]

I have been a student of Dr.McGilchrist for many years, starting with an in depth study, reading and rereading, "The Master and His Emissary'", and now a many months examination of "The Matter with Things." The current global context, with catastrophic loss of planetary habitability, rising totalitarian impulses in the political realm, and huge disparities in the economic realm to name just a few of our problems urgently asks these questions; "Who are we and why are we behaving in this globally self-destructive way?" My opinion is that Dr. McGilchrist could well be the most relevant and greatest teacher of our age regarding the much needed answers to these questions. Just watching this video for the last hour has shifted my awareness to an expansive realm where many of the most helpful insights into the way in which humans inhabit their worlds are connected and pointing to a possible transformation, or rebalancing of human potential to mitigate our global free-fall into the abyss of self-destructive ignorance.

[@kbeetles]

Just as Iain McGilchrist recommends- we need to be nourished by our roots. To find answers to your questions, maybe you need to go back to the story of Genesis and God's love affair with humankind in spite our fallen nature. Listen to some Orthodox scholars, mystics - add some lectures from Jordan Peterson, be generous in your approach..... the Bible is not this moth-eaten, irrelevant fairytale nonsense that the modern and progressive world of the Machine has been feeding us to believe.

[@mmnuances]

@@kbeetles Thank you for your beautiful reply. I have watched some lectures from Jordan. My mother was a Lutheran minister's daughter and I was highly conditioned by a brutal machine like version of Christianity all through my childhood. "Man is by nature, sinful and unclean." was the message that accreted the obstructions around the inherent goodness that is at the core of all of us. I think Dr. McGilchrists message is not that the part of us that is "sinful" needs to be eliminated. It plays an important role in survival and adaptation; rather, we need to rebalance those ways of inhabiting the world associated with the left hemisphere with the right hemispheric modes that open to the widest possible, most expansive, connected views of the Universe. This possibility is inherent in every healthy human brain... but needs to be uncovered as human capacities are rebalanced. Further, I would say that the so called "answers to questions" come as felt senses in the body as much as words or religious belief.... Having said that, I have nothing but the greatest respect for those who are trying to reclaim Christianity's key value to our current human predicament. For instance, I have a Christian friend who runs a weekly study group that looks at all the ways that some versions of Christianity, like the current evangelical movement in America that votes for Trump, have turned into totalitarian, machine like systems that takes away the Freedom that Ian talks about at the beginning.

[@neurojitsu]

I agree that there is great potential for change to (in time) come from the turmoil of our times. I'm currently about have way through Dr McGilchrist's latest book the Matter with Things, having read his first book shortly after it first came out. His writing has been and continues to be some of the most impactful on my own thinking and study over the last 10 years. A true deep thinker. Another neuroscientist Beau Lotto at UCL, who studies how the brain learns, once said in a talk that, "the brain hates uncertainty" and went on to explain how it enters into a sort of tunnel vision, holding onto (grasping, ie left hemisphere) "what it knows". One of his insights that chimes with this talk, is that "play" is the only human activity whose purpose is the activity itself. There would be no point, as he says, to play a game whose outcome was known. He also advocates play for children, as well as adults: the play state is the state in which we embrace change... I think what your comments mean to me, is that we need better teachers - in every sense, I'm not referring to the job title, but the activity of teaching. Religious teachers have traditionally been some of the most insightful in all cultures that embrace open inquiry and learning. In today's secular worlds, teaching seems undervalued. The common saying is even "those than can't (do), teach"... I really appreciate McGilchrist's wisdom, and I hope his ideas spread.

[@OmicronFra]

Wonderful comments by all, I agree that religion is often depicted as something outdated yet I think we need to recall at lest some of the core values that unite humanity as one (not inferring that a religion is better than another), we need to have a renewed moral construction of society thus the desperate need to educate the younger minds because for most of the people change is far more difficult especially with age. A great lecture is Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari. I’m sure that if we find a common root for humanity we can aim for higher goals while recognising our intrinsic differences. Right now we’re just plummeting into an abyss of instant gratification that daily shorten our long term view.

[@cshelley5658]

Well done, keep at it stranger! 👏

[@robtleroux]

“Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.” ~ Plato

[@abbasalchemist]

Said the man who banished poets from his Republic. ;)

[@spiralsun1]

History is like poetry to me. Likewise politics. It is definitely more symbolic than actual to my mind.

[@HAZMOLZ]

@@abbasalchemist That's exactly what I was thinking!

[@cshelley5658]

@@abbasalchemist 🤣 good spot Although perhaps it was the context of Plato having earlier "banished poets" earlier in his life that gave Plato that regret- wider whole and all! :) ...

[@sotirissavvas9673]

Can you remind me where plato said this quote? Thanks . Love & light

[@evakrider]

A profound and timely warning from the wisdom and brilliance of Iain McGilchrist.

[@semqueixas]

The horrific true of this world's moment is that even those who sees clearly what's the problem is, can't see a way out of it. We may need to go through a chaotic and convoluted time to somewhere in the future find a new balance.

[@StimParavane]

Do not despair.

[@semqueixas]

@@StimParavane there's no despair, on the contrary, when we study human history is clear that all situations resolve themselves on the long run. But, to shift paths, the usual human way is war and chaos, and there's no way to foresee the new balance derived from this.

[@mattmyers2624]

​@@semqueixas There are those of us who see the path that will limit undue suffering, it takes time though. People like Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson are beacons of light to bring hope and inspiration.

[@slic_papa2671]

Peace on earth could be had today, this instant, but it will take those of us who have a say in the matter to choose it, and that goes for each and everyone one of us.

[@workhorse7134]

@@mattmyers2624 I think Jordan Peterson's usefulness has ended. Now he just preaches to the choir when he was most effective fighting publicly in his TV interviews with the state approved journalists. His open 'letters' to the likes of Twitter are cringeworthy. They know what they are doing and no amount of reason will stop their evil plans.

[@williamkoscielniak7871]

McGilchrist is a bonafide genius. 'The Matter With Things' is the greatest work of philosophy of the 21st century imo, and 'The Master and His Emissary' is also an absolutely excellent book and extremely accessible to the layman. He and Ken Wilber are the only two thinkers I've read in modern times that have been able to show a way out of scientific materialism, postmodern relativism, and other nihilistic modern ideologies without recourse to some long, forgotten golden age. Not that I don't sympathize with traditionalists who want to go back to some golden age, as the modern world is insane. But I think the way out of this clusterfuck of a civilization is through, not back.

[@Nonconceptuality]

Here is the fundamental matter with "things" kzbin.info/www/bejne/raevfHysZdqUh5Y kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGbKh2yQad2ld5o I understand ALL at the most fundamental level. I honestly do.

[@christinearmington]

I have friends who are Koscielnys. Brilliant musicians.

[@socialista1421]

I agree!

[@annelawton6783]

Yes. We need to be able to hold the mess/state if where we are and sort through it

[@daviddrew7852]

Agreed, I think his work represents a major breakthrough. Those who can understand it may be able to offer some hope for the future, contrary to the clusterf**k approach of the WEF and so on.

[@jordanthornton]

Caution with calling synchronicities easily, but I was only this morning debating if I should purchase Ian's McGilchrist's new book 'The Matter with Things'. Excited to listen to this conversation, and it looks like I found my book-buying answer - excellent mind, important voice. Thank you.

[@justinlaporte9414]

I very much wanted to dive into his books dealing with an updated view of the human experience..... the 🧠, perception... so amazing! Unfortunately I'm too broke to spend money on myself

[@jordanthornton]

@@justinlaporte9414 Always invest in yourself first, my friend! Excellent books are some of the cheapest sources of quick gains.

[@bartholomewtott3812]

K'ching

[@Eric-tj3tg]

Recognized the name, but this is the first time I've been exposed to his thoughts. Impressed, and will also be purchasing his most recent book.

[@Eric-tj3tg]

@@jordanthornton Especially, I believe, books which engender imagination and, as he discusses, right-brain activity versus left-brain intellectuallization.

[@jo2joyful]

Iain is clearly a prophet and a guide. Extremely grateful for his passion, wisdom, and love of humans and life. Ways we can rebalance: Nature immersion: this is the right brain context in which humans have always existed, and in which the left brain grew and flourished. And in it's absence, the left brain has overrun not only the right brain but the emotions and the body as well. Play: doing things for the sheer delight of the experience. Elicits our child-like capacities. Includes spontaneous self-expression, especially authentic movement when dancing, which is a way to fully embody being free, and is also great authenticity training. Having a deep time perspective about the evolutionary nature of universe and the Earth, that is the context of Existence. Humility naturally arises, as well as a deep connection to our magnificence as a part of this glorious Creation. Profound gratitude for all our ancestors and earlier life forms that have provided an unbroken chain of life that has made our existence possible.

[@OmicronFra]

Great answer, I think any form of art has that element of play and freedom which activate our brain as a whole: input, output, remembering, changing, creating, sharing etc. Human needs sensory experiences to flourish, anything that is imposed is inevitably going to contaminate this growth. If we take a look at the most advanced civilisation in human history there was always a theme of questioning our reality, finding a meaning, debating to create a fertile narrative.

[@juliehorsley48]

Yes to rewilding ourselves and embracing our untamed wild, soft animal body. To reparenting ourselves and much, much more playfulness.

[@graememorrison1380]

How do we spread this message? Surely it needs to be done at local / grass roots levels? How do you help people see the importance of this?

[@mythosandlogos]

Beautiful ideas for action, thank you for sharing.

[@coursedesign8312]

I read something relevant to this in an old book: “If you cannot be like one of these children, you will never get into my Father’s Mansion.” Seems as relevant today as ever.

[@margaretwinson402]

I fully agree. We used to learn clear thinking at school for our awareness of the dangers of language, and debating and argumentative essays to develop our own oral and written persuasive skills. These lessons gave me an awe for the power of communication and the difference between information/facts and the various ways in which information is presented. Such training conveyed an understanding of the possibility of being fooled and manipulated. We learned to search for the truth by recognising faulty logic and emotional appeals, and read between the lines. It seems few people are trying to assess claims for BS, these days. Are thinking and speaking skills out of vogue, or discernment itself?

[@rocketpig1914]

That quickly goes by the wayside when critical thinking threatens social relationships, social standing, or ability to get on in an employment

[@SP-ny1fk]

School can't teach the necessary skills - only experience can. We can teach kids techniques to quieten their minds, and to learn how to listen to their own experiences, but it is hit-or-miss if the kids choose to employ these.

[@ricos1497]

Are you sure you learned that at school? Because when you say "we", it sounds like it was a standard thing. Certainly when I was at school it wasn't. We did some argumentative essays later in school, but it was only open to those who did English (mainly) at a higher (I don't mean the qualification) level. There were many, probably a majority who weren't exposed to that type of education at all. Remember, too, that it's people of our generations (older people who might have been taught critical thinking) that have laid the path for this malaise. The "last ten years" that Iain mentions in the video has been a long time in the making. Almost inevitable. Obviously magnified by the dirtiness of social media of course.

[@spiralsun1]

Excellent points. Critical thinking skills can be taught, and it’s sobering to know that actual objective thinkers who are intelligent enough to actually think objectively-even about themselves-are extremely rare as a personality and IQ combination type. Like 1% of the population. Clearly, 1% is not doing all the talking…. And perhaps more importantly when it comes to algorithms, clearly the 1% is not doing all the listening either. Keeping this in mind should really help us with our perspective. Thanks 🙏🏻 ❤️‍🔥👍🏻

[@SP-ny1fk]

@@spiralsun1 Critical thinking is specifically the problem

[@TriggerIreland]

McGilchrists ability to calmly and crisply illuminate the darkness he sees is inspiring. Perhaps however one needs distribute the 'blame' beyond the 'we' that is legally referred to as a "natural person" and to deeply question the status of the "corporate person" (company). Corporate Persons have many human rights plus privelages not available to the natural person and most powerfully exercised via scale and legal shielding, with special additional legal shielding for companies that are banks and in particular central banks (and some transnational entities). Although corporate persons are peopled by humans-with two hemispheres-the behaviour of corporate persons often looks like the behaviour of a natural person with right hemisphere damage. And it is these behaviours whose impact dominates our world.

[@daddycool228]

He makes it sound like common sense. Mayhe because it is....or should be.

[@mythosandlogos]

What a great conversation. I especially enjoy Dr. McGilchrist’s points on the importance of the nature, myth, and traditions in we have lived for thousands of years as as rebalancing tool. Time in forest or mountains, time listening to the best stories, time understanding how others have lived, can really help to reveal the patterns of the greater reality around us; patterns that the left hemisphere can’t grasp on its own.

[@Ianbolton]

Such a fantastic discussion - as always. McGilchrist is a fascinating human being. Thanks for bringing discussions of hope, compassion and deep understanding.

[@IK_1980]

When iain speaks out, you know you are required to carefully listen.

[@TennesseeJed]

Amen!

[@Wamagirii]

Absolutely.... We need to pay very careful attention

[@TennesseeJed]

Watching again!

[@workhorse7134]

To be brutally honest if you haven't worked out we are quickly heading into a post truth world and you need to watch a video to discover this you've been living under a rock.

[@lynnroots7556]

ABSOLUTELY TRUE 💕

[@LS-qu7yc]

I love Iain. I hope more people pay attention to what he’s saying.

[@Nerdthropic]

I've held a strong feeling from an early age that people should try to live in one place for MOST of their lives. The connection to place and belonging builds a sense of responsibility and continuity with a part of the planet, a nation, a state, a city, a suburb a street and a home. The novelty of nomadic vagrancy and constant movement is a contributor to our disconnect from place and desire to assert change on each location we move to. With burgeoning population, it has become difficult to remain in place and not be enticed to other places by profit or novel motivations.

[@threethrushes]

What if that one place doesn't appreciate your talents? What if it is ravaged by war or persecution? What if society is profoundly sick? As a native Londoner, I've lived in several countries for work, and I've settled in central Europe because I've been able to flower here.

[@thebigredwagon]

I live just outside London and I’m slowly watching the degeneracy eat my little village as Londoners are pushed out of the city. All crime in our sleepy village has sky rocketed to the point the council has installed stab kits in the town centre.

[@hunterfoxen]

Rebel Wisdom will never die ♥️✌️

[@ClassPunkOnRumbleAndSubstack]

I thought they were going to end the channel.

[@kriddz]

@@ClassPunkOnRumbleAndSubstack fantastic publicity stunt, they know how to manipulate us.

[@sheilaeisele8490]

Two of my favourite people!💖Talking about things that matter.

[@PFJung]

It's very heartening to see explicitly identifying the regressive behavior that people on the political extremes are engaging in. The more that reasonable and compassionate individuals speak out, the greater the likelihood that everyday people will unify around a higher set of principles like the ones Iain Identifies as sacred and transcendent.

[@martinst8764]

Nice one David, getting Iain back on. I find myself effortlessly resonating with what Iain says. Regards what to do about the path we are on, Iain's response of, 'firstly, just be aware where we are heading' reminds me of the Buddha's 1st noble truth (fully know dukkha (suffering)). Also, acknowledging sin (sin meaning, missing the mark/point of life) in Christianity. Basically, raising awareness encourages better resolution than frantically going after problems like a bull to a red rag. Hence not losing site of our wisdom traditions! With tremendous clarity and precision after years of pioneering research, Iain's work, for me, reveals the importance and depth of our wisdom traditions and their paramount importance for our times.

[@Irisphotojournal]

We are on a collision course and have been for some time. Each time I speak to people about the way things are going I hit a brick wall, It's like the younger generations feel a sense of hopelesness and feel powerless to do anything to change things for the better. Poor education and conditioning has left the masses unable to think properly, reliable ways of old have been rejected in an attempt to prove to themselves they can fix things, but pride always comes before a fall and I think it may be to late already.

[@cjayroughgarden1520]

what are we supposed to do? Boomers have all the money and they're heavily invested in things continuing exactly as they are. Nobody looked out for my generation to consider if we would have an education appropriate to the world we were growing in to, or that there would be jobs for us. Or homes. Or healthcare.

[@coursedesign8312]

The younger generations have always wondered why the older generations are referred to as “grown-ups.”

[@carolenash3234]

Let us push back against tide of global/political/economic direction & recover our human dignity & purpose as embodied participants in evolution.

[@aleksandrl6740]

Thank you for having easily one of the the most important thinkers back again to propound a very urgent call. McGilchrist's hypothesis is prescient and a case in point. HIs work is critical to our survival and restoring our bearings.

[@zootsoot2006]

We need a return to Romanticism, the integration of the poetic and the scientific. The German Idealists had it right back in the 18th Century. Pure calculative rationality can never lead to human flourishing and can only leave us shrivelled husks of human beings.

[@aleksandrl6740]

@@zootsoot2006 Absolutely. Too many aspects vital to life cannot be contained or forced into the Procrustean bed of an indurate purely linear analytical calculus. Pure rationality alone is itself irrational. Juggernauts like Wittgenstein and Heidegger turned to embrace more poetry in their later years.

[@zootsoot2006]

@@aleksandrl6740 At a certain point of thought you realise everything you need to know is right in front of you as it is and to wrap it in conceptual bindings is merely a turning a way from truth and the will to keep on dreaming.

[@JoseMariaOliveira]

Great video, superb interview. Will share it like crazy. Thank you.

[@tomlabooks3263]

I love his work so much, but in this video he says: “we need to wake up” but there are no actionable suggestions. “We need to eradicate this way of thinking”. How? I’m catholic and I’m doing that for myself with faith and prayer, but what about people who don’t like religion?

[@hughdennison3013]

To combat the worst of the world, we must recognise it in ourselves first.

[@robinhampshire8923]

Some sanity here, but why the combat? Recognition will suffice.

[@reinerwilhelms-tricarico344]

What's left of the humanities has been taken over by social engineers , and more and more of the research in the humanities gets only funded if it can somehow appear as if it was a domain of computer science. This started already by the end of the 20th century, when in sociology and anthropology, and even in linguistics, in order to appear more "scientific", the use of statistics proliferated, and building so-called quantitative models became almost a requirement to be taken seriously.

[@danieldanielides]

During the discussion, Daniel Schmachtenberger's concept (about the third factor) and J. Krishnamurti’s ideas (about how we should observe ourselves and the world) came to my mind as a "solution", and how we can contribute/act in a more positive direction as individuals. I would love to know your opinion about that and again, thanks for your work on this channel.

[@PlumGustave]

Except Krishnamurti was extremely frustrated because people just didn’t get it..

[@weltraumaffe4155]

Schmactenberger's search for a third attractor as a way out of multipolar traps encourages me because it sees beyond the silliness of the cultural wars and doesn't seem to give a shit about it. The issues he is concerned about seem so much more tangible and the solutions more brave.

[@DrPeterMarsh]

Nice point

[@Tayyla007]

@@weltraumaffe4155 Thank you for that reminder about Schmachtenberger. Though must say that me, a mother of 4 age 60 living in Finland. Things are looking dire.

[@OmicronFra]

@@weltraumaffe4155 good point, I think a third “actor” is necessary as in multiple scenarios: science double blinded studies, psychology counseling, law decision etc. Could this be a way of creating our free will ?

[@neurojitsu]

That power is not the purpose of life, really hits the nail on the head for me. I agree that the utilitarian mindset dominates everything in our culture; it sucks the joy out of life. On anger and discourse, I am reminded of the work of David Bohm on dialogue. In one interview, he was asked what are the conditions required for deep dialogue to flourish. His answer was "attention and care" by which he meant that any dialogue requires both parties to listen with exquisite attention to each other, but also to care... to break past the baggage that we all bring to a conversation, we have to connect at that most basic level of speaking and connecting with another human being. It seems to me that we are all finding it difficult in the current climate of discourse to show care to our fellow human beings. For quite some time I was struggling myself with anger, and I've had to work diligently to nurture my own sense of compassion and connection with those whom I am in opposition with politically or in terms of thought. So I would advocate for a caveat on McGilchrist's suggestion that we have to challenge ideas, and "push back". We must do so whilst showing compassion and care for "the other" and avoid the tendency (which surfaces in this conversation too at times) to refer to "they" and other forms of generalisation, that de-personalise and thus dehumanise.

[@12th-House]

Completely agree with the wise Ian McGilchrist. Been following Ian for some time, also reading his books ( you need time) and the more you understand this the more we can balance the scales. These are the real first principle fundamentals at work and we need to understand them before it is too late. Excellent podcast.

[@robertsmuggles6871]

I am finding M&E a challenge & would strongly recommend 'The Twilight of American Culture' by Berman (2001) as a companion to M&E. It arrives at the same conclusion from a totally different perspective - the two books are complementary in a quite shocking way. Berman quotes Francis Bacon from The Parasceve in 1620 as follows "For the world is not to be narrowed till it will go into the understanding (which has been done hitherto), but the understanding is to be expanded and opened till it can take in the image of the world".

[@aidanmclaughlin2507]

I work in a marketing department in a multinational and the entire department is being reduced to a large spreadsheet with budgets attached. It’s a perfect illustration of the the left hemisphere’s dominance on the way we see the world.

[@sagebrushnv]

Outstanding! and love how he rephrased Ephesians 4:14. Thank you for an illuminating talk ❤️

[@GreenMorningDragonProductions]

Thank you for the allusion to Ephesians 4 which I just read, and wow, yes, what a call to action it is for each and every soul.

[@Steve-ul8qb]

+1. That’s the solution in a nut shell.

[@kevinfox6097]

Long time since I watched this channel.....but Iain is ahead of the rest.

[@RichInk]

Wonderful, wonderful! Don't stop taking interviews.

[@angelotuteao6758]

An exceptional human being - what an extraordinary contribution he’s made to the world of ideas - thank you 🙏

[@iantodoyle5074]

in the 70s at junior school, every week our class had a debate.... we were given a viewpoint to defend. and taught how to discuss things in a civil way. just saying

[@rocketpig1914]

Think is, independently thinking loses you friends and jobs these days.

[@triciamears7338]

Wow!!! I have heard Ian talk to other youtube channels before and was interested in what he had to say, but this conversation is just so on point! I need to be doing better. Thank You Ian.

[@bradbear]

This is so great! Straight to the point. Unfortunately just like his example of diagnosing the problem and then telling the patient who does not then listen until they find the answer themselves, many will not hear these words and self reflect on them. Classic left brain. 🤦‍♂️

[@kbeetles]

Let those who have ears hear it - said Jesus. He faced the same blindness and deafness.....but his words are still with us, although he had only 3 years teaching us.

[@willmv4139]

Being a fan of the channel and just having listned to the first 2 minutes; I sincerly hope the conversation about the (abstract) left brain dominance will be unpacked in very relatable and concrete action... fingers crossed... Oke a (technocratic) tirany is what we need to be afraid of... (like Mattias Desmet, I concur)

[@109ARIANA]

Your channel is a treasure …and so is Iain.

[@MrBallynally2]

It is pretty clear that Jordan P hasnt taken Ian's messages on board although they had a really interesting conversation. He is increasingly angry and preaching fr the pulpit. We need more of Ian's thoughts coming to the public sphere.

[@kevbro2]

@@sekeetaheliastraatmans8190 its pretty clear you have not taken Ian's message on board as well.

[@ezreality]

Good video Great wisdom Thank you...

[@RobertJohnson-gj3cl]

It is satisfying to get the feeling that Iain is getting closer to revealing the human condition, there is of course the great but which is the realization that the real split is the mind body split and a dysfunctional brain is a consequence. Our situation is the mind over reality as our true individuated nature is reality over mind which is the experience of psychic wholeness embodied gnosis.

[@7Phoenix1]

Such a sensible voice of reason.

[@the_artisan]

More of this please Rebel Wisdom.

[@ambientideas1]

“I don’t think we’ve explored fully the awfulness of where we’re going….” I will add that the deeper we go into this abyss, the more mired we become, the harder a full exploration becomes on a scale required for real change. I sometimes wonder if we’ve reached a sort of ‘peak species’ or ‘peak civilization’ and are on our slow but certain descent toward extinction, guided along by social media tech.

[@memoryhero]

It's a small but significant point. Inwardly I often suspect that the internet has shoved humanity over a cliff - that the mere connectivity, this sudden, endless connectivity with every corner of the world is itself something we were neither evolved to experience nor can healthfully manage. Social media as a sub-phenomenon of the internet is of course easier to identify as rankly deranging, but truly, I more and more wonder if the mere scope of the connectivity inherent to the net full stop is simply more rife with drawbacks to the human mind than is given credit. Anyone beyond a certain age (myself included) remembers life before the net, before the phones, before the connectivity. I both realize that the net's arrival is an inevitable chapter in human history, and simultaneously, I'd happily, regretlessly wave it all away.

[@mythosandlogos]

I think the question of technology’s influence on the human parallels the hemispheric relationship of the brain. We must absolutely make technology the emissary, not the master.

[@ayadelphi6850]

Interesting Ian McGilchrist at the beginning of this conversation reflected on how he described our human predicament, as being sleep walkers who are approaching the abyss. Later he reformulates our current human predicament as being zombies who are walking towards the abyss. Sleep walkers still have the hope of awakening. Can the same be said about zombies? Nietzsche reminds us that (only) those who stare into the abyss long enough will see the abyss staring back at them. To avoid stepping off the abyss needs an awakening to the real byss or ground of being, for only it can offer firm ground for pathfinders.

[@kbeetles]

Iain said he would like to discuss more in-depth where the zombie shuffling, now rushing headlong on this path will take us exactly. This means that he is alarmed and quite desperate to give his warnings out to the world. Of course, he could not say one sentence about it in mainstream media which could reach a much-much wider audience. It is up to us to act as loudspeakers for him. His 2-volume book is pretty heavy, pricey and challenging for the average reader so it will never get to the majority of society especially with no popularising of it anywhere. He remains a hidden treasure for most people.

[@VenusLover17]

Beautiful ❤❤❤

[@petebaumbach7944]

well said Iain ... a great mind articulating wise words

[@KosmicKitchen]

Our schools share a lot of responsibility for this state of affairs. Kids are given bits of texts immediately followed by exercises and memorisation. The primary aim of all this is to pass the next test. There is always the next hurdle to ‘overcome’, we are formatted that way and carry such unfortunate mindset into the ‘adult’ life.

[@merlepatterson]

Mark my words, detailed brain scans of neuro-synaptic triggering patterns will become mandatory law before too long as well as a prerequisite to receive medical care or certain (all?) employment, just as fingerprints were during the Hoover era.

[@cynthiaford6976]

We so badly need these erudite' passionate voices like Iain's to name this urgency that we all feel either subconsciously or consciously. Martin Shaw, in Cinderbiter, describes the bardic training schools for Irish bards in the Middle Ages, which involved many hours of lying on wooden plank beds in the dark in cells composing. The intent was to teach poetic technique, cultivate imagination and strengthen memory. The most avid would lie on rock floors with a stone on their bellies. We all feel that stone on our bellies, but there is no school. Perhaps we need a gathering in which those seeking the way forward, sit in solitude, then come together in music and community, perhaps fasting, listening to the sounds of the night or daybreak, out in the woods, listening to ancient legends and stories, returning to the tent cold and hungry, to see what right hemispheres resonating together might imaginatively and intuitively come up with, sort of Kekule falling asleep on the double decker bus, but not drowsy or comfortable. We will not imagine a future in our disembodied left brain screen world of theology and idea shopping, we just won't. The crossroads, sacred to Hermes and Robert Johnson, are where the robbers and the devil wait, but one of the roads is Dylan's "highway of diamonds with nobody on it" Otherwise, black will be continue being the color and none will be forever the number.

[@montypalmer4556]

Progress always follows a two step process. 1 better thinking 2 effective cooperation. This IS accessible and COULD BE fantastically wonderful. I've been working on this.

[@graphguy]

He is being kind. He knows the darker truth that is upon us.

[@clairbear1234]

What do you believe that darker truth is?

[@christiansgrignoli3351]

A discussion between Ian and Daniel schmactenburger would be A1!! Make it happen rebel wisdom

[@levitation25]

Great insights into modern thinking.

[@MaskedUfologistShow]

A commercial just broke the flow...it screamed "Cut the Clutter!!" I'm against advertising.

[@nicholasheilig5747]

What I like about this man is that he always makes me think, thank you sir

[@vKarl71]

McGilchrist's book, The Master and his Emissary, is a terrific book. I'm not sure how much he actually knows about the details of political trends & ideas but I think he understands that the impulse to control what others think & say occurs across the political "spectrum" He may not understand how deeply hemmed-in young non-wealthy people are by an increasingly brutal economic system, though he has deep insights into how the right-brain-dominant culture of grabbing & getting has created & keeps perfecting this cruel structure of unbridled greed. And I don't know how much he has thought about the extent to which the liberal white culture that he grew up in was built on the backs of people who have been deliberately and cruelly repressed by empires that created such fine educational systems for themselves. But his thinking covers a lot of ground & he has deep insight. Read his books!

[@Zee-ru7do]

You nailed it. May you and the generations after you be great! IYN.

[@anialiandr]

Very interesting. thank you. We need to provide a counter method or narrative.

[@youtubecanal]

Thank you for sharing!

[@AcmePotatoPackingPocatello]

Iain McGichrist has written a great book. The Master and His Emissary. When I read the book ....I read and reread paragraphs, grabbed a pencil and made notes, told anyone who would listen about the book. Atten. Span (LH), precludes those that need this knowledge from reading. Movies of the 1950s and 60s have the remnants of Right Hemisphere balanced brain characteristics....the storyline, conversation and laid back mannerisms vs. todays simpleton characters.

[@tyebo2010]

William Morris said “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” - which appears to correspond to the primary needs of the the 2 hemispheres.

[@winifredlangeard6800]

I have not read Iain's book "The matter with things' (yet?) and his critic of a mechanistic worldview fully resonates with me. However, I am uneasy about his theory of the two brain hemispheres working in such different ways, each one closed off in his own domain. Isn't it well documented now that the two hemispheres work in collaboration, that there is constant communication between them trough the "corpus callosum", this nerve structure that allows continuous signaling between the two? I am not a neurologist and I submit this commentary in all humility...

[@evanblackie7510]

This presentation uses the metaphor of being in a culturally left-brain moment and is quite coarse grained. But in The Master and his Emissary, Iain emphasises that it's not a simple left-right divide, that both sides are always involved in everything, eg language has a strong left-brain locus, but the right brain also has a language role. The hypothesis, that there might be multiple components of consciousness across the brain giving rise to experience and that we might experience a hemisphere bias phenomenologically and ultimately culturally is treated more speculatively, albeit with a comprehensive argument drawn from science, philosophy and the arts.

[@winifredlangeard6800]

@@evanblackie7510 thank you for this enlightening comment: culturally we certainly are left hemisphere biased.

[@GreenMorningDragonProductions]

30:45 "We are not machines, we are men!" (Chaplin, 1940).

[@bertiballermann5812]

How much are the different hemispheres susceptible to manipulation from external influence?

[@zeno2501]

McGilchrist is world class.

[@AnarchicFolk]

If the left hemisphere sees the world as a 2D image, could we have trained our minds to see the world in 2D by increasing use of screens, TV, phones etc?

[@kbeetles]

Good point....

[@042Ghostmaker]

I'm not sure thats the type of 2D he means. I believe what he is referring to is the get/target/objective function of the left hemi. Very simplistic, and acquisitive, and not looking at all 'dimensions'

[@parrotshootist3004]

@@042Ghostmaker Theres a lot of cross over, between figurative and literal 2d, there.

[@perprerp]

We do not require training to see in 2D. We already see in 2D.

[@hanktheblesseddeejay]

This is quite a 2D view of 2D thinking

[@MybridWonderful]

It never ceases to amaze that people who are well versed in criticism and identifying problems can't see their way to a solution. I have action plans for society and I'm nowhere near as deft of analyzing its depth of self-destruction.

[@worldwidehappiness]

They always stop digging too soon. For example, Daniel Schmachtenberger seems to have stopped at game theory. The way to dig deeper is to ask another "Why?" question. For example: Why do people submit to game theory? It's because they think they are trapped by it. But why do they think they are trapped? It's because they think they are dependent on the benefits of continuing the game. Why do thy think think they are dependent? It's because they were trained to think that way by society. Why does society train us that way? Etcetera. We can apply the same line of questioning to Iain's Left Hemisphere hypothesis. Why is the left hemisphere dominant? That question instantly takes us past Iain's premature conclusion.

[@richardc861]

Yes and what is even more concerning is that I find when truth is mentioned online or in the political sphere it gets no more recognition than fake new or disinformation. It’s a gut feeling as well that even if we did have the answers, nobody acts on them. I see stagnation and moral decay continuing to take place in society. Can only speak for the west where I live.

[@mikefoster5277]

Simple - because there's always a bigger picture. Your so called 'action plans' might appear, on the surface, to be a viable solution to humanities problems, but you'll find that there are always factors you haven't taken into account in your original plans. So then, rather than being the solution, your plan of action merely becomes another part of the overall problem.

[@robertsmuggles6871]

Freedom means the freedom to be wrong. Freedom, from 'official' belief, also means the freedom to believe. It is the freedom of conscience - something young people do not even realise they possess. But those that would possess them know this - of this you can be certain.

[@daviddrew7852]

I can't help but think of Just Stop Oil at 37 minutes.

[@philippvonwallenberg9249]

Hello there, I usually use Apple Podcast, but that stopped working ... so I use KZbin as a fix ... any idea why Apple Podcast stopped working ?

[@SanjuroSan]

Right brain here first.

[@martingifford5415]

No actionable solution was given, so let’s give it a try. David asked, “How do we rebalance?” There might appear to be two solutions: 1) reduce the left hemisphere, 2) increase the right hemisphere. Since there’s nothing wrong with human beings (which Iain also suggested), I don’t think we need to increase anything. Instead, I’d suggest that we relax the left hemisphere by finding the causes of its dominance. If we dig deep, we will find that the causes are dependence and judgement. The left hemisphere simplifies and narrows reality and then feels dependent on things to fill the subsequent sense of lack. Then it judges itself or others as enemies who are in the way of achieving that goal. So the solution is to undermine dependence and judgement. For example, we can ask, “We are a highly advanced species, so why should we feel dependent and why should we judge ourselves and others? Shouldn’t life be easy for us?” You might think this analysis comes from the left hemisphere, and that we need more nuance, etc. But the left hemisphere might just be adding ideas like nuance to its tool belt to continue its dominance, e.g. the galaxy brain tendency of endlessly devouring information. Regardless, the right-hemisphere will naturally be activated in the process of undermining dependence and judgement.

[@Optimus6128]

That was great, I haven't heard this speaker before and his analysis made me change perspective on the whole left/right brain hemisphere. I've heard of the distinction of the two hemispheres before and how they relate to logic and intuition before. But somehow I never got really into it or attracted with such theories so I forgot about them and considered naively that the left is logic and right is emotion so I would think back then that logic is what we need and emotion/not thinking is what got us into this state. But now listening to this podcast and giving it more thought, it twisted my view and it starts making more sense with many things that makes me want to revisit the whole left-right subject more (by buying this guy's book and then go rewatch some uberboyo :). I had this moment when he explained how the left brain, while it looks like it forms all the logic and that should be great isn't it? But it also ends becoming absolute in it's logic, freezing it into existence, after formalizing the logic it fixates in the idea that this is now the absolute truth and gets angry and defensive if it's questioned. It's the right brain that has the intuition or the looking things under different perspectives that revolts to this fixation of the left brain. I would have never thought that in the past, I would think right brain is the emotional so it has to be the fanatical one. But now it makes me things about how we think about things, how I respond reactionary to some social media posts, how this ties maybe with the frantic ways things move, and how to use your intuition you have to pause, to lay back and give yourself time to reflect. Anyway,. I am now full of new thoughts after this podcast and I want to learn more of the Iain's work.

[@jaymysterio4197]

Every single person concerned about what to do must become embodied, this is the answer.

[@jaymysterio4197]

Even putting out video upon video of just conversation becomes unhelpful after a point. The title of the video is we need to act, yet contains no action just more intellectualising

[@jaymysterio4197]

long form conversation is left brain activity if I’m not mistaken (as is commenting underneath the video I’m aware of the irony).. An Iain McGilchrist Novel for example would be the next book I'd like to read next. How about we all become artists

[@jaymysterio4197]

The shift from talking to action isn't a simple nothing to all process, I’m sure it exists on a spectrum and those who will inspire others and make change are probably battling with deep uncertainty, unworthiness, highly introverted.. so videos like this surely turn the dial that little bit further

[@ClassPunkOnRumbleAndSubstack]

With enough CBD you can become embodied jello. My personal recommendation.

[@carbon1479]

I don't know how much strictly 'waking people up' would do unless there are some really strong and helpful defenses such as sane laws and even better high quality ridicule of bad ideas to impose tax on them.

[@Eric-tj3tg]

I think that much of the left-right brain difficulties we are experiencing collectively, is a result of our cultural child-rearing practices. Specifically, the findings in the field of Interpersonal Neurobiology, illustrated well by Dr. Allan Schore, in "The First 1000 Days" (on YT), which describes, especially related to the primacy of right-brain development during the first 6-months of life. This hemisphere develops with a nervous system-regulator; a "regulated", empathic, bonded caregiver. This is largely presently absent, and "changes the structure of the brain", structures fail to develop as they would/will with a primary caregiver who is themselves, not struggling with their own activated (Sympathetically dominated- fight/flight) nervous system, in which case the infant is also stuck in this Cortisol and Adrenalized state. Too many caregivers are in this place (to varying degrees), and it's a Intergenerational problem, so, as Ian says, no quick fix. Nature cannot be conquered, and this folly quest continues. For two full years after birth, an infant must be with the mother, and she must be supported (community as village) to, as Winnicot put it, "survive the onslaught of her infant's raw emotion without abandoning nor retaliating". This would assist in the development of healthy right hemisphere for integration with its "lefter" brother. A deceased mystic said many years past that, as Ian says, were we not a left-brain culture, the number of persons who were right vs. left hand dominant would be 50-50, rather than the strongly right-dominant world we in which we reside. Also, a Doctor whose name eludes me, in a Tao Te Ching foreward, states that part of our evolution is a more connected left-right brain, via what is now considered to be THE connecting Corpus Callosum. Makes me wonder, as with Polyvagal findings, we won't find, throughout the body, many a mechanism? And are seizures part of the early evolution towards such a connectedness, as when a radio signal (predigitally), was becoming dialed in?

[@kbeetles]

I think your explanation with disrupted or inadequate mother-child bonding is important but it does not explain the deeper, broader question which is not the "how" but the "why". Why are we so easily enticed by the trinkets of technology and the idea of progress towards more and more power over everything?

[@Eric-tj3tg]

@@kbeetles I think that the ramifications of my previous comment provides a clue. If we never felt/feel powerful enough, we must always seek more. The feeling of powerlessness early, create what have been called Core Unconscious beliefs, in this case, if I can become more powerful, the helplessness I felt will go away, or at least it may allay the possibility of feeling helpless because others hold more power. These Core Unconscious Beliefs lead to Adaptive behaviors, which are always compensatory, thus adopted as a way to ward off being overpowered, again feeling the helplessness, which is actually as incorrect as feeling inflatedly strong. We were helpless, are less helpless now, but life is tenuous and fragile. Tough to uncover our unconscious motives, but it is a form of re-covering, re-membering, and reawakening.

[@Eric-tj3tg]

@@kbeetles And.....we are continuously providing and finding ways to run away from ourselves, to be distracted from meeting our inner reality. Technology continues to expand the options for distraction.

[@Eric-tj3tg]

@@wachenroder1959 Agreed.

[@mainstreet3023]

John Vervaeke is all over the place, and it’s sad cos I’m interested. But Mr McGilchrist is sublime. Very good questions. Very good answers.

[@lbb7543]

glad he is speaking up

[@richardmahoney3667]

“the awfulness of where we’re going…” It cannot be put better than that, and there’s no getting out of it on our own.

[@TennesseeJed]

Love Iain! (misspelled edit)

[@tracyhealey8312]

Brilliant The type of mind that should be leading us to sanity and beauty and peace

[@CraigTalbert]

With social media being bad and all - why is this only on KZbin and not on your podcast feed?

[@ainisbu2555]

What Iain is saying alligns very well with what was sought to be comprehended by the notion of the Heidegerrian "Enframing" ("das Gestell") and also by the thinkers of the Frankfurt School who noted the shift from earlier forms to "instrumental" reason in Europe during the Enlightment period.

[@JimmyDubyah]

Education and meditative practices can/should be used to reestablish hemispheric balance. Awhile back I developed a visual device that has been scientifically studied and confirmed to activate the right brain hemisphere. It likely "strengthens" the RH in the process. Here's a short video about the device: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGjapoaqd9V6pbs

[@InfoSopher]

1:00 The left brain right brain idea has long been discredited...

[@StephanieMoDavis]

It feels in me like this is missing 2 components. What’s being shared from my understanding is the movement into deeper shadow left hemisphere with the comparison of the integrated right. What about their opposites, feels important to clarify.

[@iandonnelly522]

There’s not much I can add to the overall point but he’s right.....Ian’s nailed it! Heidegger makes very similar observations but in a different way, but the outcome is similar to what Dr McGilchrist describes.....what a genuinely lovely man and humanitarian....🙏🏻

[@danx1216]

YES! Huge fan of Heidegger. We are Human BEINGS in TIME

[@iandonnelly522]

@@danx1216 Absolutely Dan! Heidegger is fantastic! Dr McGilchrist puts across the incredibly complex in an accessible and amiable way....he is in my mind probably the greatest living philosopher and he is now one of my hero’s! 💪

[@alanyoung3012]

I love that Iain McG, in his own calm way is concerned for our kids mental health. Our kids are told there is an infinite number of genders and they can change them as we wish and also told they need to irrversible surgical and medical interventions if they like the idea of being a different gender - Schitzophrenia.

[@hippopotamusrex2175]

How much of this left hemisphere contempt/rage might be activated by suspicion? I've been thinking over and over about Vervaeke mentioning hermeneutics of suspicion and trying to plug it into different problem spots to see if it accounts for something. I get the feeling that if the left hemisphere wants everything to be accounted for it might activate this hermeneutic where once the right hemisphere is 'flagged' as suspicious than every new bit of feedback that loops back to the left is met with increasing and increasing contempt and concern. Like a trojan horse. Perhaps massaging the left hemisphere and dialing it back has an answer that lies somewhere in disarming the hermeneutic of suspicion? However that may happen?

[@mikefoster5277]

Suspicion appears to be an increasingly prevalent feature of modern human society. It is rooted in the very way we live and think and breathe. But I suspect the problem has no human solutions.

[@dutchtim8206]

This is a really interesting discussion - McGilchrist makes some fascinating points. I would love to know what (if anything) he makes of Donald Hoffmans ideas recently about the nature of consciousness and reality and if he considers they are both on a similar page. 🤔

[@CastleClique]

This man is very wise.

[@mikefoster5277]

Yes, and what a shame his wisdom is so rare.

[@mountee]

Amazing interview. He’s like a calm English Jordan Peterson.

[@JinanKB]

The real catch is the way we 'understand' and the nature of input that decide which hemisphere will function. Linguistic information is bound to enter in the left hemisphere and using reason to comprehend further enhance the left brain activity. Unless understanding takes place in the way we are biologically equipped to do so we will remain fragmented and 'rational' in the mechanical way. Unless we explore the impact of literacy on the formation of modern mindset in an experiential way we will be continously trapped by the fragmented mind. Modern understanding of embodiment is nothing but another trap laid by the mind.

[@PaulCarr1]

Iain is unlike many of the (left brained?) big thinkers that you host on this channel in that his ideas are relatively simple to grasp yet contain profound insights that can be clearly used in multiple contexts. On an intuitive level I, for one, feel they reveal something fundamentally true about the nature of existence. When I read Master and his Emissary it was almost like a lighbulb going on, page after page in which his (relatively) simple insight could be brought to bear on aspects of culture, human existence and experience again and again. So many other "big thinkers" come up with obscure systems of thought, or maps of being, which they then lay on top of human experience. Systems which would require humanity, already divided falling apart, to come together and adopt these new paradigms. Their ideas are often examples of what Iain would see as "Left Brain solutions" to problems, requiring abstraction, cutting apart, rebuilding. They seem to me to be almost like societal engineers, believing a new programme, if uploaded correctly, could fix the bugs in the system.

[@spiralsun1]

Ian should not be talking about traditional differences between males and females and in the same talk pointing out the importance of science. I took a standardized psychological test and it confirmed what I already knew as a transgender person. I have a “more female” brain than most females-what Jordan Peterson would call my being “prepared for exploitation” by children. I am higher on trait agreeableness than 95% of women, and it is the one trait where men and women massively differ - more than a standard deviation. My point is not anything to do with being transgender but that all biological constraints, all dichotomies, all differences in people should be transcended. I am massively more comfortable as female. It fits my personality and the things I like to do-everything. We would Do well to look beyond the things which bother us personally and understand that someone else can be very different. This coming from someone who counts Jordan Peterson as a long time friend and someone I LOVE. I absolutely love what Ian McGilchrist normally does too. He’s a great spokesman for something I have long thought was a deadly problem in psychology. It’s just that he has not transcended himself. I’m not singling him out either. People in general have these issues too. Always we see someone finding a problem in one place, and forgetting that reality is whole. Ironically I feel like Ian is a left-brained person who understands what he himself struggles with. I hope he reads this and it helps him. And other people understand him. He misses the point of technology completely. This is why I have spent so long trying to get people to listen to me because I actually understand these things and how the frontal cortex is actually much more important in the things he is talking about-because it is the gatekeeper of dominance and motivations of the hemispheres. Motives count far more and personality too. Anyway, I wanted to actually try to contribute. To be positive, I LOVE LOVE LOVE ❤️ WHAT HE SAID ABOUT A SENSE OF HUMOR!!!! If you cannot be silly and mirthful, there is something wrong. 😊🙏🏻🥸 Thanks so much for this and I am extremely grateful for Ian McGilchrist ❤️‍🔥👍🏻📚 In some ways, like when he talks about saying directly what the problem is, he is speaking my life. I spent decades saying things and no one listens, then later it becomes a “new” school of thought or someone like Christopher Langan writes a theory paralleling what I said years before, or like Julio Tononi and the Phi concept which I talked about in my first book a few years before. It happens so much I don’t like to point out specific people…. But it makes the point. Thanks again ❤

[@j.mcdonald3225]

When was the national curriculum established.? When it was introduced in Scotland our standard of education fell.... The teachers and head mistresses/masters spend far too much time filling in forms in an attempt to constantly monitor children, and the objectives are wrong.....we are breeding people who are not taught to question, or even how to.... That curriculum needs upgrading, to bring back what we have lost.! Thank you....great interview. :)

[@mdav30]

It's very hard not to contradict yourself on these matters. 10 minutes in he attacks anyone who "attacks" "science and reason" as an "enemy" of civilization. Wait, wasn't he saying how we need free speech? Well, what happens then to people who would try to attack science and reason - aren't those too fair game for all types of criticism? When you label some viewpoint as the "enemy" you will create the conditions for the suppression of their speech. This is totally obvious but he walked right into it anyway.

[@stephenl9463]

Yep. You found the illogic in his seemingly logical argument. He goes around in circles. IM: 'We need to Act.' Interviewer: 'What should we do?' IM: 'I don't know. Because if I did I'd be wrong. I do know that we need to change our mindset.' Interviewer: 'Change it to what?' IM: 'Life is glorious.' Interviewer: 'Oh.'