The Brain, the Sacred and the Soul - Iain McGilchrist and Thomas Steininger of Evolve

With Iain McGilchrist and Thomas Steininger, editor of Evolve Magazine and Co-Founder of Emergent Dialogues.
The online-event took place on February 3rd 2023, from 18:00-21:00 CET.
As McGilchrist notes: “In The Matter With Things, I search out what it is we have lost sight of, all that is there for us to see, if only we were not blinded to it: an inexhaustibly, truly wondrous, creative, living universe, not a meaningless, moribund mechanism. By bringing to bear up-to-the-minute neuropsychology, physics, and philosophy, I show not only that these are in no way in conflict with one another, but that they all lead us, time and again, to the same insights. And that this is not in opposition to, but rather corroborates, the wisdom of the great spiritual traditions across the world.
“I have chosen to approach it here by directing our attention, as it might seem at first, to one side: on the soul. I will argue that the sacred exists not simply in this or that thing-an object, a place, or an act-but in the relationship between whatever it is beyond ourselves that we recognize as sacred and that part of our being that has been traditionally referred to as the soul.”
In this 3-hour event, Thomas Steininger of evolve Magazine engages in dialogue with Dr Iain McGilchrist about The Brain, The Sacred and The Soul. This dialogue was the opening for a larger dialogue that included the participants. The unique distinction of all evolve LIVE! events is that participants are invited to join in dialogue and to be part of a dialogical investigation of the topic with each other and with their guest.
To purchase The Matter with Things
Hardback internationally Amazon.com
Hardback UK only ChannelMcGilchrist.com , Amazon.co.uk and other booksellers nationwide
Kindle on www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com

[@frankwhite1816]

I could listen to Iain forever. :-) What a mind! Thank you for sharing this. Gratitude!

[@margaretbooth384]

Your mind is life changing for people such as myself who had a limited education but have educated myself as an adult. You are a National and international treasure. Kudos from my heart and soul

[@weerallinfluxanthazgood3456]

I met a lady at the swimming pool and we talked about Iain’s work and related themes that connect with our lives and creativity. For me, there is great company,solace and delight in such conversations. Thanks to Iain for all his thinking and doing!

[@jordanedgeley6601]

Surprising iain came up in a conversation 😮

[@D.E.Saccone-no4og]

Gurdjieff spoke of the robotization of the human being, especially since the industrial age - though automoton like behavior has always existed. The ancient mystery schools in various cultures sought to break people of habitual patterns of thinking...and above all, to percieve and think for themselves. The Soul has its own ideas, and we should attend more to that still, small voice. Gurdjieff's 'Meetings With Remarkable Men' would interest you, Iain. I also wonder if you are familiar with Rudolf Steiner's 'A Philosophy of Freedom'? He was, after all, curator for a time of the works of Geothe, who obviously influenced him tremendously. Thank you for your wisdom and influence Good Sir! Now, if we can just get those in Academic ivory towers to listen as well. I am reminded of Hesse's Glass Bead Game. Slainte, mon frere

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

Who cares about getting those in ivory towers to listen. They should listen of their own accord. And just cause they listen doesn't mean they have intentions to understand, or listen openly.

[@tomgreene1843]

Great to see / hear this discussion . ''left hemisphere overdrive'' ...an interesting phrase indeed.

[@ellengran6814]

I would argue it could also be called colonization or greed and arrogance.

[@CatholicWisdom]

I’m currently reading “The matter with things”, I basically had to take a mini-sabbatical from my job in order to make time 😂, but it’s a MASTERWORK that history will do the proper justice to in the future. In my last video on my yt channel, I extrapolate some concepts from the book and try to apply them to the atheism / faithful debate.

[@TheWorldTeacher]

I am not really concerned about what any particular person BELIEVES. You may believe that there is an old man with a white beard perched in the clouds, that the Ultimate Reality is a young blackish-blue Indian guy, that the universe is eternal, that Mother Mary was a certifiable virgin, or that gross physical matter is the foundation of existence. The ONLY thing that really matters is your meta-ethics, not your meta-physics. Do you consider any form of non-monarchical government (such as democracy or socialism) to be beneficial? Do you unnecessarily destroy the lives of poor, innocent animals and gorge on their bloody carcasses? Do you believe homosexuality and transvestism are moral? Do you consider feminist ideology to be righteous? If so, then you are objectively immoral and your so-called "enlightened/awakened" state is immaterial, since it does not benefit society in any way.

[@CatholicWisdom]

@@TheWorldTeacher What are you on about?

[@cameronidk2]

i have no one toi turn to .. high I'm Cameron I'm here as a student and admired of dr. McGilchrist .. After reading The master and the emissary i've come up with a hypothesis that maybe these anti drpesseats every on is on also might inhibit the rights hemsphere in some nuanced but significant way

[@northstar92]

Something that helps me: Every saint had a past and every sinner has a future. True wealth is faith.

[@D.E.Saccone-no4og]

Big time Cameron! Its hardly debateable at this point, yet coming off them is extremely dangerous if not done incrementally. Do see Dr Peter Breggins book, 'Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal'. The other issue is that people are often on Several of these drugs - and they have yet (!) to do any studies analizing the effects of these different drugs together. How do ya like Them apples?! Best of luck...help others

[@lilianarovegno4325]

In small dosification they help

[@TJ-kk5zf]

beautiful

[@cheri238]

I began early this morning listening to this again. May all be blessed with these dialogs with Dr. Iian McGilchrist books and and to all traveling with an inspiration to help guide our hearts outward with new inisghts in all fields connected. With the deepest appreciation and love to all of you on this path. 🙏❤️🌏🕊🎶🎵📚

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

30 minutes in. Ian is the most amazing man I have ever heard. ❤️

[@corlisscrabtree3647]

Thank you 🙏

[@deeaimetee]

Interestingly the left side of the body is linked to masculine and the characteristics of the left hemisphere are totally fitting this. Such an passionating talk🙏🙏🙏thanks so much for such qualitative food for the soul. Best greetings from France

[@dalibofurnell]

Well, this was vibrant ❤️‍🔥 thank you

[@dalibofurnell]

Bless your heart , Sir

[@bradrandel1408]

Love you all so much!…:-) 🦋🕊🌹

[@matthewsheek8306]

I just received Drawing On The Right Side of the Brain by Dr. Betty Edwards. If anyone is searching for away expand into your right hemisphere this book and it’s lessons are worthwhile

[@user-xu3wo1sf8b]

FriendlyFire: 1968 yr I got honorable discharge from the United States Army ("Summer-of-Love" ?). Dr. Timothy Leary, Dr. John Lilly, & Dr. Kubller-Ross all did serious work on consciousness & the soul. Conclusion: there is a "soul-consciousness" separate from the body in sleep & death the "soul-consciosness" is released from the body to go "who knows were?"

[@user-bh6qn1tq6k]

I was a patient of Dr John Cutting, in 1989.

[@stevebaldwin2374]

It's a very valuable book, and should be on every ones reading list.

[@andrewroddy3278]

God help us. We contrive and conspire to enfeeble ourselves.

[@asdf8asdf8asdf8asdf]

Has Doctor McGilchrist reviewed Stuart Kaufmann's work? "Reinventing The Sacred"? Highly recommended

[@treva31]

Great stuff!

[@TheWorldTeacher]

Great and lowly are RELATIVE. 😉 Incidentally, are you VEGAN? 🌱

[@vinm300]

"If you pay attention to one aspect you create a different reality" It reminded me of Nietzsche Apollonian eye (logic) Dionysian ear (intoxication) I'm being very crude with the definitions (I'm just chucking it in the mix) "Nietzsche used these two forces because, for him, the world of mind and order on one side, and passion and chaos on the other, formed principles that were fundamental to the Greek culture: the Apollonian a dreaming state, full of illusions; and Dionysian a state of intoxication, representing the liberations of instinct ..."

[@lilianarovegno4325]

I am Catholic and artist. I admire your gift to communicate your ideas and insights product of a lifelong rich work . Thank you Dr. Iain. knowing you love poetry I would like to send you one of my poems written in English. Where should I address you please?

[@TheWorldTeacher]

Are you a THEIST? 🤔 If so, what are the reasons for your BELIEF in God? 🤓

[@dannypaquette8146]

The whole universe is on spiral cycle and everything in it... We are going true time from left and right then left and right again true politcic and human brain...that is what make us evolution.... Thank you for your worm,very interesting

[@zumamaya2396]

Do I need to read 'The Master and his Emissary ' before reading 'The Matter of Things' - any opinions welcome?

[@davidkamaunu7887]

I could barely hear this introduction 0:54

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

"Note: The word Soul is not used in this book. Instead the word Spirit is used. The Soul is individualized Spirit, but since Souls can disconnect from God and still exist, He says He prefers to have the word Spirit used to indicate the needed connection to Him. " In response to 121:ish. This is the beginning of my Bible.

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

Not a Bible I wrote, but the Bible I read.

[@jamespercy8506]

getting back to the dynamics of scientific framing and inquiry in the context of an ever-emerging context, conjoined with extrapolated plausible coherent narratives

[@D.E.Saccone-no4og]

Will you pass the salt? I need to enliven this Word Salad. Talk about left brained gobbley gook. Get real, get Wise. Saying something insightful comes first and foremost from Inner Sight

[@finnmacdiarmid3250]

Dr. McGilchrist, I’ve always wondered, can and does the unconscious mind ever intentionally play tricks on or jokes with the conscious mind? And would that be a normal relationship as we view them outwardly, socially, or is it more antagonistic and unruly a connection?

[@TheWorldTeacher]

N.B. Before reading the following Glossary entry, it is absolutely imperative to understand that the term “mind” is being used according to the definition provided by the ancient Indian philosophical paradigm (in which it is called “manaḥ”, in Sanskrit), and NOT according to the manner in which the term is used in most all other systems (that is, as a broad synonym for “consciousness” - e.g. “The mind-body problem”). mind: Although the meaning of “mind” has already been provided in Chapter 05 of “A Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity”, it shall prove beneficial to further clarify that definition here in the Glossary. It is NOT implied that mind is the sum of the actual thoughts, the sensations, the memories, and the abstract images that inhabit the mental element (or the “space”) that those phenomena occupy, but the faculty itself. This mental space has two phases: the potential state (traditionally referred to as the “unconscious mind”), where there are no mental objects present (such as in deep sleep or during profound meditation), and the actualized state (usually referred to as the “conscious mind”), where the aforementioned abstract objects occupy one’s cognition (such as feelings of pain). Likewise, the intellect and the pseudo-ego are the containers (or the “receptacles”) that hold conceptual thoughts and the sense of self, respectively. It is important to understand that the aforementioned three subsets of consciousness (mind, intellect, and false- ego) are NOT gross, tangible objects. Rather, they are subtle, intangible objects, that is, objects that can be perceived solely by an observant subject. The three subsets of consciousness transpire from certain areas of the brain (a phenomenon known as “strong emergence”), yet, as stated above, are not themselves composed of gross matter. Only a handful of mammal species possess intelligence (that is, abstract, conceptual thought processes), whilst human beings alone have acquired the pseudo-ego (the I- thought, which develops in infancy, following the id stage). Cf. “matter, gross”, “matter, subtle”, “subject”, and “object”. In the ancient Indian systems of metaphysics known as “Vedānta” and “Sāṃkhya”, mind is considered the sixth sense, although the five so-called “EXTERNAL” senses are, nonetheless, nominally distinguished from the mind, which is called an “INTERNAL” sense. This seems to be quite logical, because, just as the five “outer” senses involve a triad of experience (the perceived, the perception, and the perceiver), so too does the mind comprise a triad of cognition (the known, the knowing, and the knower). See also Chapter 06. Nota Bene: There is much confusion (to put it EXTREMELY mildly) in both Western philosophy and in the so-called “Eastern” philosophical traditions, between the faculty of mind (“manaḥ”, in Sanskrit) and the intellect (“buddhiḥ”, in Sanskrit). Therefore, the following example of this distinction ought to help one to understand the difference between the two subtle material elements: When one observes a movie or television show on the screen of a device that one is holding in one’s hands, one is experiencing auditory, textural, and visual percepts, originating from external objects, which “penetrate” the senses of the body, just as is the case with any other mammal. This is the component of consciousness known as “mind” (at least according to the philosophical terminology of this treatise, which is founded on Vedānta, according to widely-accepted English translations of the Sanskrit terms). However, due to our intelligence, it is possible for we humans (and possibly a couple of other species of mammals, although to a far less-sophisticated degree) to construct conceptual thoughts on top of the purely sensory percepts. E.g. “Hey - look at that silly guy playing in the swimming pool!”, “I wonder what will happen next?”, or “I hate that the murderer has escaped from his prison cell!”. So, although a cat or a dog may be viewing the same movie on the screen of our electronic device, due to its relatively low level of intelligence, it is unable to conceptualize the audio-visual experience in the same manner as a primate, such as we humans. To provide an even more organic illustration of how the faculty of mind “blends” into the faculty of the intellect, consider the following example: When the feeling of hunger (or to be more precise, appetite) appears in one’s consciousness, that feeling is in the mind. When we have the thought, “I’m hungry”, that is a conceptual idea that is a manifestation of the intellect. So, as a general rule, as animals evolve, they develop an intellectual faculty, in which there is an increasingly greater perception of, or KNOWLEDGE of, the external world (and in the case of at least one species, knowledge of the inner world). In addition to these two faculties of mind and intellect, we humans possess the false-ego (“ahaṃkāraḥ”, in Sanskrit). See Chapter 10 of "F.I.S.H" regarding the notion of egoity.

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

133ish. (I stop and write, so am not sure what is to come). I think maybe AI love is love for the programming. How does programming factor into spontaneity.

[@vKarl71]

This video could use some editing.

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

I'm only 46 minutes in, but I have to disagree. I wouldn't want to miss a moment.

[@vantoosh]

The captions translate 'McGilchrist' as 'Milky Crisp' - a bit of right brain nudging mischief?!

[@elizabethmolnar4643]

In scripture , perhaps Genesis, God says- "If there is but one righteous man, I will not destroy the world.". We have found in Iain McGilchrist one righteous man amongst those in followeship with him, with many to follow . Thank you for not missing the Mark, and being our guide. With Gratitude to all.

[@TheWorldTeacher]

Good Girl! 👌 Incidentally, are you VEGAN? 🌱

[@luisr.comolli4828]

A comment for Iain, just in case this channel can pass it on to him. I think Iain is mistaken about how Noam Chomsky thinks or thought about language. I think that Iain has exactly the same ideas, the same concepts, about Language as Noam Chomsky has. I think Iain is wrong about Chomsky. Chomsky does not, never did, propose language as a sort of scaffold that is filled up in time, quite the contrary. For Noam, the capacity for language is analogous as the capacity for vision: the intereactions bring the senses, and language, to being. The neurological development necessitates the interactions with the external world. The development occurs through the mutual interactions.

[@DreamingOfABetterDay]

I deleted what I wrote earlier. After reading what you wrote it makes total sense to me. And I like how you said it. I had a couple glasses of wine yesterday, which I haven't done in a while because it makes my brain dim. And I lose common sense.

[@luisr.comolli4828]

No probelm at all , I am glad you got back to enjoying some glasses of wine.