Understanding The Matter with Things Dialogues: Episode 2: Chapters 1 & 2

[@mmnuances]

I am well into the second book of "The Matter With Things". I am one of those whose life has been utterly awakened and transformed by Iain McGilchrist's teachings and this includes palpable enhancements of bodily awareness, energy and pure aliveness in the most universal and expansive way. I find this dialogue to be one of the most enlightening, interesting conversations I have ever witnessed. There is a grand synthesis here that is a marvel and a gift to this bedraggled species of hominids here on Earth. Thank you and I look forward to every installment.

[@waterkingdavid]

I just sent a message to a Zen Buddhist monk saying McGilchrist is surely a Zen master.

[@michaelnawrot9105]

Oh my goodness we need the dr to have a conversation with john vervaeke. I need that in my life.

[@_thenyounoticeyourethinking]

@@michaelnawrot9105 It happened at Curt Jaimungal's podcast: Iain McGilchrist Λ John Vervaeke on Reality, God, Meaning, Consciousness, and Being

[@_thenyounoticeyourethinking]

@@michaelnawrot9105 And at Rebel Wisdom: The Master, his Emissary & the Meaning Crisis, Iain McGilchrist & John Vervaeke

[@SennyMarshall]

Couldn’t have said it better. 😎

[@peterroselle7612]

Thanks again for doing these interviews about the book. They are very helpful, and the interaction between the two of you makes it easier for me to understand.

[@kateoneal4215]

I'm so grateful for you both as I listen to your discussions here.

[@cheri238]

With the deepest respect and appreciation for this enormous work of Dr. McGilchrist books. I thank you both for having this opportunity to listen and learn with these videos. These books will be a part of my library now.

[@pencilcase46]

As a westerner practising Buddha's teachings, I find these lectures deepen my understanding of eastern philosophies that my western conditioning has struggled to comprehend. Anumodana sadhu 🙏

[@waterkingdavid]

A few minutes ago I sent a message to a Czech Buddhist monk here in Korea saying McGilchrist is surely a Zen master 😀.

[@waterkingdavid]

I think "Eastern philosophy" could also be hugely complemented by his work too.

[@cheri238]

I agree

[@oakbellUK]

Tao Te Ching. The Tao that can be told of is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; The Named is the mother of all things.

[@FoundingStockNZ]

I'm an aspie, atheist by default unfortunately, but one of my expertise is high performance driving and motorcycle riding which is something that becomes more intuitive and imagined in a sense the better you get, I always said prediction is faster than reaction, you grow a spirit of oneness with the vehicle. I could go on forever when really i just came here to thank you for the videos!

[@enkor349]

Nice. Have you looked at John Verveake's resarch of of NASA Mars rover operators? He describes something very similar that the best operators develop a kind of oneness with the rover, which enables them to do so much more then what they could do previously.

[@dialsforstupid]

Founding stock nz is a very based username ~ do go on, discuss your favorite cars too, there may be a year's future separating, but a moment's present experience fills eternity!

[@inesw6784]

These conversations are really bringing a lot of my observations together. Fascinating and thank you.

[@jvb9553]

My copies of Dr. McGilchrist's books arrived this week. Wow! Beautiful books. Important books.

[@AnAlgernon]

My right eye wandered until, at age 4 or 5, an eye patch made my left eye blind for a few weeks. I now think of that event in terms of hemispheric brain and mind development. One part of my brain was engaged and curious and hyper-dominant, while the other... ?? I think this likely led to an atypical neural development pattern. It worked out fine except for impaired stereo vision and hence depth perception. With focus, under some conditions, I can witness the view from each eye without closing either -- and then "fuse" (whatever that is) the experience back to "one view". // Realizing that was like pulling back a curtain and seeing what I had experienced had been the product of many foregoing processes beyond my conscious awareness. // All of that is to say, I have always had a rather different understanding of perception. Your work has opened me to an even deeper conception of the whole matter. ;-). You have my undivided attention. Thank you both. 🙏

[@davidring13]

I am so enjoying these talks, and only recently discovered McGilchrist's work through his podcast with Jordan Peterson and am fascinated to look deeper into his work, starting with these excellent dialogues. So thank you both so very much. I do have one rather obvious question and I am sure someone can answer as I cannot be the first to wonder. I have never heard Peterson or McGilchrist mention the work of Ken Wilber and his own Integral model of consciousness and philosophy/ psychology. I am sure they cannot be unaware of his work, there seems to be a lot of overlap and validation across their work.

[@shelleyscloud3651]

This is such a brilliant idea and really helps me get the most from reading your incredible book. Thank you.

[@susanellison6581]

I am grateful for your work. I don't think I will ever take myself or others so seriously as I reflect on the function of the two hemispheres. All that I pulled from neurology, psychology, sociology, theology, and Buddhism, which I thought was helpful seems validated by your work. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

[@aspencrest]

When people engage in meditation by focusing on one particular "something" such as the breath, or attempting to, for several minutes, what would you say is happening there in relation to the two hemispheres? When thoughts arise in consciousness, do you think they are arising within the right and the practice of meditation is to acknowledge and move things back to the left? Is meditation an act of quieting the right by letting the left do it's focus thing?

[@aspencrest]

@@tunneling-nanotubes I agree that meditation can then turn into mindfulness, generally speaking, where we can bring greater attention to bear on internal and external events throughout our day. / Your comment has me thinking more about forced attention, generalized attention, and relaxed attention. Thank you. It may be hard to pinpoint specific hemispheric involvement, but just thinking through the idea is fascinating, at least to me. :-)

[@starxcrossed]

@@aspencrest I think forced attention meditation activates the Task Positive Network, where as rumination activates the DMN

[@Herfinnur]

I had no idea the book was out; congratulations!

[@Meejateacher]

The left is episodic perception. It modifies the constant perception of the right. It provides a beat. ❤Without both we don’t dance 🎉

[@sizzles48]

About 2years into the pandemic my confusion reached a peak. I could not understand why some people were behaving and believing things that to me were at best idiotic and at worst immoral. Some of these people were clearly intelligent and well educated, so I suddenly had the idea that both groups of people (for and against the management of the pandemic and vaccination) were actually seeing two totally different worlds and realities…literally. And McGilchrist provides a possible explanation as to why this could be.

[@rudivandereep310]

Finally jah I get to start listening to this, thank you

[@Bartisim0]

What a beautiful picture you are painting for us Iain.

[@aspencrest]

Where can I read more about how it helps to make a corresponding lesion on the opposite side?

[@aspencrest]

Could you speak to how this research and understanding informs addiction medicine?

[@gretamordue9139]

Is psychodynamic denial really a totally different phenomena to the denial described following right hemisphere damage? Is it possible that changing the balance between the functioning of the two hemispheres and focusing attention in a predominantly left brain style, is the underlying neural mechanism, for a wide range of phenomena? These might include eg hypnosis, mass formation psychosis and both neurotic and psychotic defence mechanisms and be caused by a variety of aetiological factors.

[@richardfeit8296]

From what I understand about quantum physics is we do not change outcomes using our attention, it is what we measure that makes the difference as to what we observe. I am not sure that makes a difference to the point Ian is making; We are engaged in what we attend to, but just to be clear the dance with reality creates our experience, but it does not create the matter upon which we tread.

[@marybarker4925]

Thank you! !Gracias!

[@aspencrest]

Ian would "over thinking" something, be rightly ascribed as a right hemisphere issue? / Likewise when we say "letting go" would you say that is normally the right, letting the left get on with it's business of executing the task at hand? Does the right sometimes attempt to micro-manage the left, producing unnecessary interference?

[@starxcrossed]

He does say right hem dominance can result in feelings of guilt, perhaps where there shouldn’t be, and depression (as a result of too much rumination) I hope that helps!

[@Fisticuffs1776]

I can't wait for the next part

[@aspencrest]

I can see that I'm going to have to get this book. In terms of the perception of time slowing down in certain instances I can or would offer my physiological explanation for why that occurs. It's quite simple though so I imagine you already have a firm grasp on that.

[@pencilcase46]

Hi friend👋 I'm one of those who hasn't got a firm grip on moments of slowing down or standstill. I've experienced it a few times, but I can't say I know how it comes to be. What is your explanation? 🙏

[@natalita1528]

I read The Master and his Emissary and enjoyed it very much. I haven,t read The Matter with Things, but I am listening to these lectures and I can,t find anything new. Are there really new ideas in this book?

[@starxcrossed]

Yes. Definitely. It would be impossible to summarize

[@roberthumphreys7977]

I think E.O. Wilson was making the same point in his book "Consilience". We need science, social science, history, philosophy, metaphysics, and the arts working together to fully understand what it means to be human. Unfortunately, we seem to be going in the opposite direction. Scientism seems to have the upper hand.

[@MusicalBasics]

Iain honestly spends way too much time discussing what happens to patients with only left brain functionality in regards to their visual spatial awareness. This is something most of us aren’t interested in. What we want to know is what happens to these peoples faculties of reasoning with regards to higher level problems and analysis? Do they view the world in a purely rationalistic manner? What are their views towards relationships and connections and divinity? These are the things that I think Iain should focus on when discussing patients with right hemisphere lesions, rather than the “ghost limbs” or losing half of the left side field of vision, which doesn’t have any larger moral implications.

[@margaretbooth384]

all this amazing free wisdom and knowledge presented in an accessible and simple way and you complain? Please go and take a good long hard look at yourself in a mirror

[@mehdibaghbadran3182]

Thanks regards

[@aspencrest]

When one is daydreaming while driving and doesn't remember driving the last distance home is that the left hemisphere getting us home?

[@ajlambe1340]

I wonder if Blake was onto this picture revealed by IM?

[@karunchen]

Yes. Try reading God of the Left Hemisphere by Rod Tweedy

[@haroonaverroes6537]

this man is good.

[@davidbates9358]

"The Motor Act is the Cradle of the Mind," - Sir Charles Sherrington. And as l watch 2 mind's engage with an abstract level of consciousness l'm struck by Alex's youthful nodding head & Iain's articulate sense of 'what' level information, as l wait for the 'how' level insights & understanding his subtitle seems to demand? Like, how Al behaviour including perceptual events are driven by the subconscious primacy of affect?

[@aspencrest]

I am very appreciative of Alex's ability to remain silent, allowing Ian to complete his remarks on a given topic.

[@davidbates9358]

@@aspencrest Of course, but do you appreciate the unspoken voice of the body & the undeniable truth that neither gentlemen can give a whole-life perspective on how their conscious mind developed from birth. Does our ability to remember the numbers & words of our spoken language make us truly conscious? Did Iain start his long journey on wrong foot, with the existential misconception "who are we?" Would the question "what are we" be a better conceptual framework?

[@oakbellUK]

Is the left-brain dominance of modern society the result of: Too much reading of fiction, watching soaps etc, writing of essays at uni etc? Not enough gardening, sewing, woodwork, cooking from scratch? Too much looking at 'art' and not enough looking out of the window? Too much taking of pictures in a beautiful landscape and not enough 'being in' the landscape?

[@rudivandereep310]

39, 17 minutes ....the transformative s that occure during a intense fight or flight scenario .yes ..from wholes to parts and impossibility to reverse back to a norm for that period of chaos, that causes a forever simultaneous shattering yet wider future expansion view of life

[@peterwilliams2537]

I hope Dr McGilchrist in future work can distill his wisdom down into some more accessible form. I love long deep books which require rereadings to suck the marrow out of them. But I'm not convinced most people are like this. This is a shame, as they are missing out. Rather like Jordan Peterson produced two best selling books distilling his Maps of Meaning book into a more narrative form, I think there is a need and an appetite for something similar to come out of The Matter with Things. Then maybe these ideas will get the attention they deserve, (and Dr McGilchrist a similar revenue stream!).

[@starxcrossed]

I haven’t found a single page that there wasn’t something I wouldn’t highlight as important. It would be very hard to condense this much research material. What really needs to be done is we need to convince key people that left hemisphere dominance (whether by chemical bombardment or by enhancement from institutions/schooling) is a problem we need to solve. Toxic pollution/plastics causing hormones imbalance (and consequently unhealthy brain development) + schooling methods are ruining people. The biggest problem is the bureaucrats are in control. How does one convince the left hemisphere there’s a problem.

[@aspencrest]

If my smart box is to be believed, 10% of the world is left-handed and prefers to reach for things with the left hand. What is going on there? What about those who are left eye dominant but right handed? (cross dominance)

[@mehdibaghbadran3182]

I’ll give you an example, about how the energies acting ! go and find the planks, tested, about how fotones acts , wave and particulars, if we understand the phenomenon, we noticed that, if we’re put a sensor, in front of the lights, then, fotones, acting differently, and knowing that it has been watching by something or someone, then depending on the circumstances, goes to the right, or left , and humans also acting at the same ways, depending on how they’re meditate, and clear they minds, when you are able to get to this stages, you’ll became much closer to the powers of the lights, and you choose randomly, which ways your journey continues, and your minds takes your body’s, in a different circumstances, different actions required by light 💡 some individuals able to be much closer to the lights, the microscopic words are not easy to explain but exists, and can be explained more at the same time with new science, our body’s and our brains, are the best labs, if we understand ourselves, we’re having brains 🧠 and memory, brains duty’s to catch all the information, left side and right side, and our memory chooses which information is reasonably understanding and keeping them in the files and deleted the unknown information which are not true,

[@mehdibaghbadran3182]

Love ❤️ is the positive energy, which doesn’t come with us from the birth, and during humans evolution’s, created in us by the nature’s, as the nature’s itself created it billions years ago.

[@herbkoplowitz9485]

They refer several times to philosophy vs. science. I understand what they mean by "science". Please, someone tell me what they mean by "philosophy". I cannot infer from their use of the word what they mean by it.

[@marybeatty-brooks3272]

I would say the philosophy is like the big picture or ideas or how things are thought of. Not a physical thing. What I’m getting is that philosophy is like the right hemisphere. Science is the left hemisphere- the physical, but narrow findings.

[@herbkoplowitz9485]

​@@marybeatty-brooks3272 Thank you for your response. From my background, I interpret your answer as something like philosophy is the discipline of development of paradigms. Not individual casual relations e.g. Aristotle's "Heavy objects fall because they are made of the element earth whose natural place is the ground" , but the Aristotelian paradigm of mechanics in physics. That probably works. I'll try it out. Thanks for your reply.

[@amywas1]

Interesting topic but I can always tell when a scientist is out of his depth, they start sprinkling the name Einstein all over the place like pixie dust.

[@jwhite8086]

Can you say a narcissist is more left brain?