Iain McGilchrist: "Wisdom, Nature and the Brain" | The Great Simplification #85
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ค. 2024
- On this episode, literary scholar and psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist joins Nate to discuss the way modern culture teaches and encourages us to use - and not use - the two lobes of our brains. While most functions require the use of both sides of our brains, each side is specially attuned to see and interact with the world in certain ways: the left side acts as a narrow problem solving executor, while the right side is a broadly open contextualizer. What happens when we humans - in aggregate - become imbalanced in our use of these two critical functions? Have we divided the Earth into pieces to be optimized rather than a whole (which we’re a part of) to be stewarded? Can we learn to bring these two components of our brains back into balance and in turn heal fractures in ourselves, and ultimately in our communities, Earth, and her ecosystems?
About Iain McGilchrist:
Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. He has been a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore and a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch. He has published original articles and research papers in a wide range of publications on topics in literature, philosophy, medicine and psychiatry. He is the author of a number of books, but is best-known for The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (2009); and his book on neuroscience, epistemology and ontology called The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World (2021).
For Show Notes and More visit: www.thegreatsimplification.co...
#natehagens #thegreatsimplification #philosophy #superorganism #psychology
A Renaissance Man. But what is so striking is how humble he is. We are so fortunate to be able to listen to him in our own homes, wherever we are.
Couldn't agree more. Articulate, precise, insightful, well-read, profoundly empathetic, and so accessible, not to mention that his views are revolutionary and deeply meaningful and fundamentally transformative. A gift beyond price.
Hi, everyone I have a secret for you reveal. The reason why the United States of America and the Vatican keep delayed time by playing the voting game between President Biden with President Trump even though they know their children is going to die for no reason because if the Tibet and India know Pope Francisco does not want to see Holy Dalai Lama but he sent a Vietnamese came to Tibet say Vatican and NATO will liberate the Tibet and India. In contrary; every time NATO visit any country, Pope Francisco will visit that country. They do know the Vatican had done with Tibet 's citizens, thus they don't even say sorry. Secondly; I hope the India' citizens please pay attention.
Don't you think this is disrespectful. Lastly; Pope Francisco told the whole world that he had a plan to make the world will be peace but I say from now to 10 years our economic will collapse and we will face the flood of the ocean that will drown alot of country such as Japan, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan etc later. Because Russia will fight with NATO in Europe at the west, and at the east, both of them fight at Alaska. When the iceberg break and melt, the sea level will be up. IF India doesn't allow NATO settle in their country. Unless Pope Francisco says sorry to them so this disaster will not happen. Otherwise; India might stop support the petroleum bought from Russia to provide to Europe and USA that means the gas prices will be more expensive. May be we will pay $10 per gallon in the future.
Please tell me your comments
Sincerely Thanks
@@zipperpillow😅its p❤p😊itiits
You’re in Sheol .
I agree a lot with what is talked about; however, I couldn't help but think this was a very long winded way to say "You kids slow down". And given his proclivity for out of the way places, "Stay off my lawn" should be in there as well. Not wrong, just harder to listen to by a young generation. Kids always want to go fast.
What a wonderful wise old man... We need so many more men like Dr. Iain Mcgilchrist .... What a beautiful soul.❤
Too bad there ain't almost any.
@@comes2mind797
humanety is finished
He’s not an old man. I certainly hope he’s going to live a very long time longer. I doubt I will want to be around in a world without him
He's only 70 years old.
As a mother, grandmother , greatgrandmother and a counsellor (for 30 yerars) it lifts mt heart to hear this man say, so eloquently, things that I have thought for years.
What does your gender have to do with this?
What a very strange vquestion @@onlypearls4651
Your work has changed my life, which isn’t that important. It impacts the way we all see and understand life in such a fundamental way. When you see, you can’t unsee who we’ve become. And I hope more people will read this lengthy work. It takes days and saves years.
Hi, everyone I have a secret for you reveal. The reason why the United States of America and the Vatican keep delayed time by playing the voting game between President Biden with President Trump even though they know their children is going to die for no reason because if the Tibet and India know Pope Francisco does not want to see Holy Dalai Lama but he sent a Vietnamese came to Tibet say Vatican and NATO will liberate the Tibet and India. In contrary; every time NATO visit any country, Pope Francisco will visit that country. They do know the Vatican had done with Tibet 's citizens, thus they don't even say sorry. Secondly; I hope the India' citizens please pay attention.
Don't you think this is disrespectful. Lastly; Pope Francisco told the whole world that he had a plan to make the world will be peace but I say from now to 10 years our economic will collapse and we will face the flood of the ocean that will drown alot of country such as Japan, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan etc later. Because Russia will fight with NATO in Europe at the west, and at the east, both of them fight at Alaska. When the iceberg break and melt, the sea level will be up. IF India doesn't allow NATO settle in their country. Unless Pope Francisco says sorry to them so this disaster will not happen. Otherwise; India might stop support the petroleum bought from Russia to provide to Europe and USA that means the gas prices will be more expensive. May be we will pay $10 per gallon in the future.
Please tell me your comments
Sincerely Thanks
This discussion is one of the best ones yet. Social, cerebral, spiritual, and financial circumstances of today are so toxic. Most people don't have the time or energy to even ponder reality and humanity and the interconnection with the world outside of their daily existence.
I got off the hamster wheel just over two years ago. The silence that I enjoy now living in nowhere New Mexico was something I craved my entire life. I work remotely as a contractor (forensic accounting) about 10 to 15 hours a week. I am building an off grid farm/sanctuary. The longer that I am here, the more I feel like a living being as opposed to a cog in a machine.
Ian talked about going to the city from his rural sanctuary. I, too, feel anxious and overwhelmed when I go to the city. Humanity has become so disconnected from the natural world. In the cities, there is a belief that we have tamed the natural world. Out where I live, we all live interconnected to the natural cycles and conditions.
When people panic about simplification and what they may lose, I can only think of the gains I enjoy now.
Thank you so much for this video.
Yes, the things that Iain expresses are incredibly important and relevant, and I am frequently disappointed in the lack of interest that people exhibit when I speak of such topics. People are too busy and occupied to know that life should be examined.
I had the life changing epiphanies after discovering Ian McGilchrist. I was becoming very jaded about science in general & I think he bridges spirituality & science beautifully. More importantly he has common sense and isn't trapped in political ideologies. Also he can explain complex things so a layperson can understand, which shows a generosity. Thanks for this interview! Great questions!
43:57 "The left hemisphere is always trying to close down on a certainty; the right hemisphere is always trying to open up to a possibility." Handy reference image!
Homo sapiens
Clever though not often wise
Be humble, love more
I connected to it when he says art is too intellectual and divorced from nature and visceral meaning. I'm dogpiled by trauma and mental health problems while being kept poor and restricted for almost 2 years now. I keep looking at my situation and my friends around me suffering addiction, health problems, their time and energy consumed by working so much. And i have to anchor myself to something meaningful i can do even if we're all stuck in The Matrix in a concrete jungle. Even if we are facing mass extinction as we get weaker and more lost in the labyrinth of modern society.
I thought about healing the soil and planting trees, plants, improving local ecosystems. No matter if it feels like the end, feels like i am on the fringe of society and subjected to its increasing dysfunction and my friends can't even survive it, maybe we can do something to be stewards of earth anyways. To spend our remaining time well.
😪Thanks for sharing yr personal experience, i feel yr pain and am going to a tough period as well, hating the industrial economy and the concrete jungle which i am aware of our predicament but being to fearfull to leave the matrix. I get your and yr friends struggle, this society is not for thriving healthy humans, you and i and our children are canon fodder for the commercial techno industrial economy and everyone of us is dispensable and thrown under the bus when the powers that be decide to do so
The only thing that brings me solace is art. Independent art outside of the mainstream "style with no substance" that is ubiquitous. There is great art still out there but you have to work to find it.
@@j85grim4 So many of us toil away with no one to view our work. For years I would have had to pay to show my work. If I sold art and charged what I charge to install crappy prefab cabinets in someone's crappy track home a painting would run into thousands of dollars. When we adapt to the economy the depth of art suffers.
My retirement and Covid allowed me to finely see where I could go with my art. Like most artist the work hangs in my garage. I'm lucky enough to have a gallery to show my work, so now much of the art sits in a back room of the gallery, hoping one day to make it to a wall.
I've fought my soul to make it ok to waste my time. Doubt and frustration is there every time I think of creating art in our sick culture. Then I head back to the easel and am amazed how much better this painting is compared to the last one. My greatest fantasy is to make minimum wage $7.60 an hour. I'll even pay for all the materials, rent, and electricity. Just because no matter what I need to honor the beauty of nature.
Try growing a spine .....instead of
whining ?
Great idea to connect with planting and being a good steward of the Earth!! Good luck 👍🍀 ❤
This is superb. Ian McGilchrists insights crossover with every single topic we could care about. Great to hear him on your podcast Nate.
Hi, everyone I have a secret for you reveal. The reason why the United States of America and the Vatican keep delayed time by playing the voting game between President Biden with President Trump even though they know their children is going to die for no reason because if the Tibet and India know Pope Francisco does not want to see Holy Dalai Lama but he sent a Vietnamese came to Tibet say Vatican and NATO will liberate the Tibet and India. In contrary; every time NATO visit any country, Pope Francisco will visit that country. They do know the Vatican had done with Tibet 's citizens, thus they don't even say sorry. Secondly; I hope the India' citizens please pay attention.
Don't you think this is disrespectful. Lastly; Pope Francisco told the whole world that he had a plan to make the world will be peace but I say from now to 10 years our economic will collapse and we will face the flood of the ocean that will drown alot of country such as Japan, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan etc later. Because Russia will fight with NATO in Europe at the west, and at the east, both of them fight at Alaska. When the iceberg break and melt, the sea level will be up. IF India doesn't allow NATO settle in their country. Unless Pope Francisco says sorry to them so this disaster will not happen. Otherwise; India might stop support the petroleum bought from Russia to provide to Europe and USA that means the gas prices will be more expensive. May be we will pay $10 per gallon in the future.
Please tell me your comments
Sincerely Thanks
Iain has done a hero's work in passing many laborous years developing the finest and most comprehensive depiction of our divided brain - and the really staggering cliff we are nearing as we relegate the right brain to a factotum and elevate the left brain to the role of a self-assured arbiter of its fixed and deadened viewpoint.
As a substitute teacher I 110% agree about the micromanaging. I’ve done long term subbing and the micromanaging has made me not want to go down that career route even though I have a passion for educating young minds. It feels like every enjoyable aspect of the profession has been stripped down and throw away so teachers either end up getting burnt out and quitting or becoming jaded and moving through the motions one day at a time. Actually being a substitute feels more engaging because of the variety and spontaneity of it. Every period is different and you can find a couple kids who want to learn and think about the material in deep holistic ways and working with them is rewarding. I really wish there were some adults in the room in government who could make education a legitimate career field again. Fantastic episode!! Thank you!!
Interesting, sad commentary. Thank you for the insight.
Virtually every statement made by
McGilchrist is either demonstrably
false or so vague as to be meaningless.. Rather worrying that supposedly intelligent individuals are taken in by him.?
Lamentable state of British education I suppose.?
@@2msvalkyrie529 The first sentence is followed by two periods, the second by a period and a comma, the third is missing a comma. Lamentable state of British education, I suppose.
Hi, everyone I have a secret for you reveal. The reason why the United States of America and the Vatican keep delayed time by playing the voting game between President Biden with President Trump even though they know their children is going to die for no reason because if the Tibet and India know Pope Francisco does not want to see Holy Dalai Lama but he sent a Vietnamese came to Tibet say Vatican and NATO will liberate the Tibet and India. In contrary; every time NATO visit any country, Pope Francisco will visit that country. They do know the Vatican had done with Tibet 's citizens, thus they don't even say sorry. Secondly; I hope the India' citizens please pay attention.
Don't you think this is disrespectful. Lastly; Pope Francisco told the whole world that he had a plan to make the world will be peace but I say from now to 10 years our economic will collapse and we will face the flood of the ocean that will drown alot of country such as Japan, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan etc later. Because Russia will fight with NATO in Europe at the west, and at the east, both of them fight at Alaska. When the iceberg break and melt, the sea level will be up. IF India doesn't allow NATO settle in their country. Unless Pope Francisco says sorry to them so this disaster will not happen. Otherwise; India might stop support the petroleum bought from Russia to provide to Europe and USA that means the gas prices will be more expensive. May be we will pay $10 per gallon in the future.
Please tell me your comments
Sincerely Thanks
As a suggestion, perhaps there is a private school nearby which would allow the conditions you seek?
O my God!!! Thanks so much for explaining so clear what it has been spinning in my heart so strong. Thanks so much to both of you for given us free access to Wisdom.
My profound thanks, respect, admiration and blessings.
Man's capacity to rationalize "evil" in pursuit of economic gains is the bedrock foundation of all our societal, economic and ecological ills. Simply put : greed is blind. It circumvents wisdom, kindness, rationality, and "life" itself. Tragically, most of those with the most wealth also have the most power. It is a terrifying moment when you realize that the very engine of the human enterprise is being driven by blind men who are perfectly capable of rationalizing their own greed.
And if they can't, there's a culture devoted to celebrating their greed and telling them they are the masters of the universe. Eventually, that message sinks in.
Well put!
Rationalization is just another form of make believe; it is a direct rebellion against the facts of reality;
and a refusal to face the responsibilities of ones own existence.
It is better to face one's own responsibilities than to point one's finger.
Exactly! Simply put... unbridled greed = unbalance both internally and externally = deterioration of wellbeing of individuals and mother earth. 🌎
The amazingly wise social oracle George Carlin said it well: "The planet will be fine... it'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas!" 😢
❤ Humanity desperately needs another worldwide renaissance to save itself. The sad thing is that there's too wide of a spectrum within humanity of knowledge, wisdom and intelligence - the ship is possibly too big to turn around in time. I hope not! 😢
So you want to punish people for making a profit in a business transaction? Who will decide when someone is being "too greedy"?
Evil is when you want to force people to do something through the threat of violence. Especially when you think you are doing good.
The road to the greatest human disasters are paved with good intentions.
I first tuned in here last night, I came back to finish, after my sister said she "has no time" for videos like this, she reads novels, not non-fiction. Took time this morning for a chapter "Patience" in "The Way of The Bodhisattva" and this poem fell out of me:
It is very dangerous
To tell yourself
I have no time
To be aware...
No time to stop and think,
Or pray, or meditate
Upon the wonder of your life
And what it means
To be here, now.
If.....You're just a reactor to any stimulus
And not choosing the better
Against the lesser
Is the loosest non-existence
In the instinctual, mammalian void
Of animistic, automatic traffic
And tragic cues of sensual, imaginary magic.
Thank you, Good Doctor!
Love that- the better vs the lesser.
1:22:00 - Lightning bolt moment for me. He doesn't want to be consoled by an AI mechanism because it lacked a body, emotions, social interaction, empathy, and suffering. "I want to know that the person I'm talking to is a fellow member of humanity, that has suffered as I've suffered, and knows that I know that I'm going to die." This captures for me the essence of the uniqueness of the Christian mythology in which the Creator enters Creation to become a human alongside us to experience these things firsthand and therefore fulfill the fundamental need spelled out here so eloquently by McGilchrist.
Well said, thank you so much.
Edit: But as Tolkien said, it is the myth that is true.
It could pause another question. If God can be born like you must he also die? This is what we are accustomed to when it comes to living organisms, even those that die to give life to another such as seeds that are buried, and in time they are seen shooting towards the light and continuing life in a different form. We could also ask whether 'love' gives the father the utmost power over his son to decide his fortune. These matters are overwhelmingly tricky to take at face value. We are sacrificing everything that we don't even own by assuming we know. The confusion now is not whether Jesus was crucified, we know that sacrificing has been a human thing and still is as gods keep demanding it, even before him, but whether he beat death and for what purpose? Sacrificing as we know did not demand life back as it was done t to appease the gods. So, it was not necessary that Jesus arose and went to heaven, and yet in heaven, Jesus had already made clear to his disciples does not support bodies as we have them on earth. These earthly bodies, breathing bodies are suitable for here and when the become of without breath belong to hades. So much 😢😤🤔😂😪.
But remember that he was killed, executed. And he still is there, nailed to the wooden cross of the world. His followers have done not much to liberate him and be a real exemple to persons, with a more clear inregrated form of acting and living, beyond a few symbolic expressions as fables or very vague general ideas about vague abstract simple concepts like "love", that nobody yet understands how it can be in practical everyday life, and allows wise guys to control huge groups of people and have very profitable busyness. Sorry to know, that western peoples have not benefited much from that in already more than 2,000 years. Maybe you should look in other ways around, in sncient cultures, almost destroyed by his followers.
My experience, even if I'm not actively interacting with a kindred spirit: there have been dark times where I'm having the human experience, and about a decade or so ago it occurred to me that I get some solace knowing that I'm not experiencing anything new. It's normal. Millions before me have experienced the same over the eons.
Obviously I've wished myself and them peace in our hearts, but living as a human, we don't always get that luxury. In the more lucid moments I can remember that that's ok.
Just love McGilchrists brilliance 🎉
When I did my first 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat many years ago now, the very first insight that bubbled up was the role of the speed of my life and its role in creating dis-ease .... Couple this speed with the indebtedness of everyone we can see the structural elements of our cultural dis-ease . Not new insights but the question is how we change? And unfortunately, as discussed a few times on this podcast , it'll need a great crash event to give the majority the space to begin making these changes.... And that scenario is extremely unpredictable.
exactly, because the majority ain't wise, but stupid.
Like Einstein said " 2 things are infinite, human stupidety and the universe "
Very warming to see Iain popping up in more different channels. Magnificent discussion, much appreciated!!
Iain, McGilchrist, although he’s dying of cancer, is on a full-time mission to control the monopoly on the divided brain topic because it’s complete bullshit. Both hemispheres are completely involved in everything we do. But what’s worse, is that only 10% of the brains neurons are located in either the left or right hemisphere. 80% of the brains neurons are located in the cerebellum. Ian McGilchrist has published 1900+ pages on the brain and mentions the cerebellum on only five of them briefly, and he sites miss information about what the function of the cerebellum even is. It’s a quantum computer compared to your stupid divided gray meet. Artificial intelligence is here. It’s a product of the cerebellum. The evolution of human consciousness will soon have no room for Hegelian dialectic from Anglo supremacist Oxbridge Cunts.
I have listened to this twice so far. Such wisdom and much needed insights. I shall listen again and buy his book for sure. Thanks
Ian said: “When you talk about Artificial Intelligence we are not talking about intelligence.” That’s exactly what I have been thinking all along. And it seems to me that people are in awe of these programs like it is a real conscious person talking to them.
Great conversation. My takeaway reflection:
We have too much technology enmeshed in our daily existence that exploits our vulnerabilities. This assortment of technologies in artefacts and systems bestow on us the *power* of comfort and convenience (alleviation of boredom [screen-based tech] and emancipation from menial task drudgery), privilege, choice, and a greater range of opportunities, mainly to consume resources.
However we suffer from not enough, or the absence of, embedded cultural practices for the *development* of critically important factors such as humility, gratitude, discipline, wisdom and meaningful connection with others for mutual benefit of these aspects for fruitful, purposeful and/or fulfilling lives. This deficiency, in turn, has made so many of us susceptibile to mind viruses of individualism, consumerism, self-indulgence, intolerance, arrogance and ignorance and indoctrination (bordering on stupidity and the dangerous mix of these becoming the essence of modern evil - but let's leave that there for now).
Therefore, it appears that the appropriate response to all this will be to *push back* against the decades of conditioning that have led us down the enchanting cul de sac of individualism and consumerism. Work less. Play a team sport at an organised social level. Volunteer to do something that is needed in the community. Develop a skill lost to specialisation to aid the production of something in a more sustainable way. Use screens less. Read and write more. The list goes on, and of course it's not prescriptive, but hopefully you get the idea.
Or as Junior out of the Oliver Stone film Platoon says, "Free your mind and your ass will follow." Though Iain McGilchrist might say that too.
wauw, you make great valid points
Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow was a 1970 Funkadelic album.
Hi, everyone I have a secret for you reveal. The reason why the United States of America and the Vatican keep delayed time by playing the voting game between President Biden with President Trump even though they know their children is going to die for no reason because if the Tibet and India know Pope Francisco does not want to see Holy Dalai Lama but he sent a Vietnamese came to Tibet say Vatican and NATO will liberate the Tibet and India. In contrary; every time NATO visit any country, Pope Francisco will visit that country. They do know the Vatican had done with Tibet 's citizens, thus they don't even say sorry. Secondly; I hope the India' citizens please pay attention.
Don't you think this is disrespectful. Lastly; Pope Francisco told the whole world that he had a plan to make the world will be peace but I say from now to 10 years our economic will collapse and we will face the flood of the ocean that will drown alot of country such as Japan, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan etc later. Because Russia will fight with NATO in Europe at the west, and at the east, both of them fight at Alaska. When the iceberg break and melt, the sea level will be up. IF India doesn't allow NATO settle in their country. Unless Pope Francisco says sorry to them so this disaster will not happen. Otherwise; India might stop support the petroleum bought from Russia to provide to Europe and USA that means the gas prices will be more expensive. May be we will pay $10 per gallon in the future.
Please tell me your comments
Sincerely Thanks
Your insightful summation is VERY appreciated.
@@comes2mind797 "individuals authority to manage their own responsibilities to oneself" needs to be socially ethical. Otherwise, tendencies of greed and pride will lead those individuals astray from contributing to the collective betterment of society.
Ian is a truly brilliant and generally wonderful man. I find listening to him not only incredibly insightful but reassuring, which especially in these times i couldn't value more. Kudos to Nate as well for being such a great contributor to the conversation as well. Truly one of the best talks i've ever listened to.
One of the most interesting polymaths on the planet today. His 2 hemisphere research is stunning - takes secondary research to the next level and then some.
Gentle sir....I am delighted to hear you speak....I am so on your page of being ...hoping others take up this quiet listening perspective
A wonderful voice in the mix... This in particular, was striking to hear McGilchrist say, "the various pathways to truth, and I say they are science, reason, and intuition and imagination, and that all four of these need to be brought to bear if we're going to function properly as a society and to understand who we are, what we are doing here, and how ..."
A just-right metaphorical mix for me of "head" (science & reason) and "heart" (intuition and imagination) seeking what is more wise and true. Reminds me of the stunning John Keats quote, “I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of Imagination- What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth...”
I didn't expect that I would be going to listen to a funny and at the same time instructive podcast. I am enjoying it. Thank you and greetings from Germany.
Hi Nate
I would like to add a topic, which seems fundamental to me, and I do not know in which hemisphere of the brain it is, but it is thousands of years ago and today we forget it, but we can see it.
I am a graduate in food technology, an artist, and mainly CURIOUS. This is why I came here and watch your podcasts and learn by listening to other opinions.
Just as we are blind to energy, many of us are blind to the cruelty of eating. Cruelty, not evil.
Careful! I'm not saying you have to go vegan, because I think 2/3 of humans eat what they can, not what they want. Food must be respected, that is essential, a third of it cannot be wasted throughout the supply chain, as is the case now.
I believe that for me there is a fundamental law in life, and the philosophers would have to take it.
"To be, one must kill another being"
Unless you eat fruit. Which is not recommended.
It is interesting because it is not said to kill an animal, for example, it is about "SACRIFICE" which is a very strong term and with an overwhelming load of meaning.
This act, killing another being, is a violent act, it is that simple. Those of us who have spent time in a field have experienced it.
In fact, the speeches for soldiers in war correspond to those we make to kill another being to eat it.
This is about dehumanizing it, you don't have to have any emotional relationship or at most a minimal relationship with the enemy or with the animal to be sacrificed.
If you have given a name to a chicken it is difficult for you to kill it, if you see common points in a war with the enemy it is more difficult to fight with him.
Today young people see nothing more than a small box with meat inside in a supermarket, they do not see when the animal is "sacrificed", sometimes they have no idea and do not associate the animal with the food they eat.
This makes me see that there is an intrinsic violence in us, ancient violence that has served us to survive, violence that is present and has its reason for being.
If we do not accept that we have this violence as part of us, we will not be able to have a clearer idea of the human being.
It is important to see how blindness gives us an umbrella but that it is very fragile.
There is a fearsome word that is HUNGER, I think this word changes our way of thinking very quickly, and probably if it reaches us we will be able to do anything.
The "hunger" takes the minotaur out of the labyrinth and he takes over the events furiously and without hesitation
This takes a long time but for now I have this time to write to you.
TLDR
This is a great topic to discuss, I’m sure it’s the result of left brain indulgence for niche tasks and problem solving without the balance of right brain big picture awareness and sense of the sacred. I would love to hear more thoughts on where in our western /first world evolution, and why, killing for survival snowballed into over-consumption and lifestyle greed/entitlement at the extreme personal cost of other beings .
"and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make" -- not quite st. paul but another beloved paul. This was inspiring and grounding, thank you!
This is a profound conversation.
Thank you for bringing it to us.
Amazing intellect, calming presence and lucid expression by the speaker Iain McGilchrist. Great & thoughtful questions from Nate. Overall a wonderful treat and a life changing talk. Thank you
Absolutely love Iain Gilchrist, his books enlighten the mind. Bravo Nate!
Only if you're rather stupid to begin
with. ?
I hope to one day grow up and be as wise as this man. I feel so fortunate to have had the privilege of listening to him.
Then read lots of books.
Thanks for this, Nate. I have come to recognize that every one of your Great Simplifications are a well-intentioned "gift" to anyone who will listen.
This conversation is close to perfection.
Intelligent, wise, and balanced.
There may be hope yet.
THIS is the contemplative direction to expand on.
No question in my mind.
Thankyou Iain.
The left and right brain combined only have 20% of the brains neurons. McGilchrist’s Hegel-Ian dialectic is tired and useless. The racist and misogynist undertones of TMAHE are obvious if you actually read it, but who does that?
Now one Googles the cerebellum and realizes the brain divide that matters is top and bottom - cerebrum/cerebellum- and 80% of the brains neurons are in an area of the brain 3600% faster than your dead grey meat. McGilchrist’s monopoly is suspect and points to the Anglo Supremacist control of academia- still.
Any and all academic still supporting the Darwinian nonsense is supporting viscously racist Anglo supremacist propaganda.
Sarah means princess
Bellum means war
There’s a war on. Moron
Rainer Maria Rilke said it well: "Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer." Very nice conversation here! Thanks.
I was fascinated by this interview with Ian McGilchrist and felt the warmth and compassion that emanates from him. He expressed so much of what I have felt for so long and put it in a context that gave it form. I struggled temporarily with the elitism of his educational path which coloured his responses to how young people might be better educated but in the end realised that there are numerous ways to achieve the balance he advocates. The core elements, as he said, are the freedom to exercise intuition, time to reflect, and to develop a sense of awe of the world we in. As all polymaths, he has this quiet assurance - not that he knows it all but but of being at peace with the enormity of life and the thrill of how much more there is to learn. For some, this will come from reading and higher education. In the past, this has come from a societal belief in some cultures of nature as spirit - the pan-theism he mentioned which I also find appealing. For many, and sadly an increasing number, the diminishing resources in education coupled with an ever-narrowing curriculum is closing the door on the ability of children to play and, in doing so, finding out about themselves and others. The same scarcity of resources is also increasing the fear of destitution and with it the parental discord and conflict which leads to so much childhood trauma. Survival is evermore the name of the game with the left hemisphere firmly in charge.
We are lucky to live in the world as Iain McGilchrist. He is the sort of thinker that history will be kind to and would be referenced in the same mode as great philosophers whose mission was to heal a people from the hysteria and misdirections of civilisation. I enjoyed this and Nate's curious questions.
Terrific ‼️Nate - thank you for having Iain McGilchrist 😍 yes he’s enhanced my thinking 100 fold.
“The people who really taught me anything were on fire with the things that inspire them” … says Iain - yet
Nate, this was the first podcast ( I’ve watched many ) that brought out the fire within this gifted Scholar - such a bonus to hear Iain’s intense passion. So. . . Thank You for that, too.
Yes, he got fired up for sure
Fascinating time & so wise time spent listening to you & your guest. Thank you 🇫🇷🇺🇸
Our lives are filled from top to bottom with material objects. We are absolutely immersed in a material world and that is very difficult to unwind. Most of us are not aware of the major implications of the fact. One could say we are embodied in a material world. Most people have neither the time nor the luxury to step out of this type of a world and into one operating at a different wavelength. Spending time in nature is one way to escape from the madness.
You find all kinship With wisdom and spirituality through art!! All arts. Its research, curiousity, and then the creating.
It takes time, deep connections and imagination and intuition.
And Thanks, a million. Love Mc Gilchrist, in any conversation ..❤
Enjoyed this conversation. McGilchrist's advice to young people in the final ten minutes is golden.
❤He’s brilliant and one of the most important public intellectuals but one of the coolest things about Iain is his uncanny resemblance to our beloved Captain Kangaroo 🦘
The sad thing is many people do not see what is around them, nature, hustle and bustle and the madness! I love this interview and i am thankful for this introduction to Dr Mcgilchrist. I am not an intellectual but do use my common sense and intuition.
Thanks Dr, Mcgilchrist, the badly wounded Planet needs more and more people like you before its too late.
Thank you Iain and Nate!
A wonderful philosophical conversation about life, consciousness, intelligence, the sacred, science and stupidity.
What a great way to bring the immense range of topics that affect our present world and distill it into simple ways of getting back to a healthy way of civil living.
I really enjoyed listening to some intuitive wisdom and reconnecting to what we already know but haven't been able to speak with another who can go this deeply and so easefully into these subjects.
It's great to see two of my favorite thinkers in conversation together! You made my day! ❤
If the left hemisphere is more like our current everyday computer, there’s no reason why we can’t aim at something more like the right hemisphere: embodied, non-linear, divergent, etc. The Renaissance, as great and balanced as we would like it to be, was the golden age of colonialism if only seen from a different vantage point.
Dr. Iain is undoubtedly one of the greatest minds of our time-a true polymath of Western science and philosophy. Unfortunately, to have seen it from one side only is not to have seen it at all.
Well done scraping the prepped questions and going with your gut and heart
Those questions he always asks at the end - if you had a magic wand... etc. - are still annoying though. The guests don't seem to like them either.
Just discovered your channel good sir and want to say thank you for being and doing. This was an amazing conversation from two beautiful human beings.
This conversation was just lovely. Thank you both very much! 😊😊
Iain McGilchrist is what our world needs now! Genius, God sent for our humanity, hope Nate learned a couple things from him.
"How you attend governs what you find.". Precious wisdom. How do you change how you attend? Practice, practice, practice. There is no magic pill, short cut or someone who can do it for you, but in my experience meditation definitely helps. Ive been doing it for over 50 years now. Still practising.
Absolutely loved this conversation. This talk affirms my personal direction in life so very much. I deeply appreciate it Nate and Iain. I have been trying to explain these ideas to my father for years now with little to no avail. I sent this talk to him and hope that he listens to it and it will help to bridge his generational mind frame and my own as a Millennial. Long Slow Deep Bow
The Master and His Emissary is an excellent book, and The Matter With Things is quite simply the greatest philosophical work of the 21st century. Not only do I deeply appreciate and admire Ian McGilchrist for his profound work, but I greatly appreciate how readable his works are without dumbing anything down.
Nate!!! How wonderful to see this giant of a man here!! Have just started watching but I'm over the moon to see him here! His book, the master and his emissary changed me in so many ways...wow...Thank you!! ❤
As a 70+ left handed who ever since learn of Dr McGilchrist works, have tried to educate others an get then to read his books, as a right hemisphere dominate I have been searching to understand why I am different in understanding life differently an find it very irritating when I have to work for right handed idiots, as someone who also understand science, climate change and how governments works, I try in my own way, however limited to educate others, I’ve been told I should write, but seen to lack the organizational skills needed to write effectively, sadly, but I want to thank you both for all your many valuable interviews which has further my own knowledge on so many important subjects, anyway, I’m also a retired 23 y navy veteran, an As always I’m in complete agreement with Ian, thank you..Peace
Hi Nate! This episode spoke more to my approach as a teacher (in school and in yoga) to the meta crisis and I really enjoyed it. If you want to dive more into the topics of wisdom and AI, I would LOVE to see you bring Dr. John Vervaeke from the University of Toronto. I think you guys could have an excellent discussion. I believe he's also worked with Daniel Schmactenberger in the past, and your episodes with him were some of my favorites. Thanks for your work!
Bertrand Russell would wipe the floor with both of them.!
Philosophical charlatans like McGilchrist couldn't last 5 minutes
in a discussion with Russell.
Ian brought spirituality into this, saying, "God is in everything, and everything is in God." He's not preaching about something out there you can pray to, such as a "sky god." I venture to say he is referring to something much grander.
Yep, he is not speaking to a god of religions, it's a much bigger 'god'.
Well spotted.
@@PeterTodd Yeah, not the one I was taught in Sunday School.
I do, very much, admire and respect Iain and Nate.
It was almost surprise to me that you both didn't meet till now. I watched you both before, and I am happy now with both of you. Thanks from Egypt، Cairo
I love this man.
In order to reach some of these same conclusions, I had to relinquish things of value, chose a type of poverty that just barely afforded nourishment in exchange for a resource of time to invest into personal growth. I would have little in my fridge, live without anything but a suitcase of clothes and let go of medical insurance. I grew up in the US without much parenting and without help. Reaching these same conclusion and now nearly 50, they came a great expense. Iain grew up in a different type of social culture, as he says - "a legacy" rather than an economic surplus and this is Extremely Important in the gravity of difference between the US and the UK (I'm in the UK now). Those who are our age and grew up in the UK/EU wouldn't have had to pay for university, they wouldn't start paying for medical insurance at 20, they wouldn't have a central credit system looming over them. They may have had access to sophisticated art and theatre, access to heritage and libraries. Even the poorest can afford a roof in proximity of a major city with opportunity. Iain, being older, could" seize the say". If you want to invest and become and create change in this way, and you do not come form the best of circumstances, it is heartbreaking, painful and difficult, but you can get there. Expect to never stop learning and learn that unreasonable expectations wait for you around every turn. Reject the capitalist 'this will do for the moment' and think long-term. Eventually it gets better. Not easier, but better in many different and unexpected ways.
Ian McGilchrist, great guest Nate. Explaining psychological and philosophical traits of our thinking when caught in a meta-crisis. Ian’s mention of William James and his quote brought this to mind:
“Our science is a drop, our ignorance a sea. Whatever else be certain, this at least is certain that the world of our present natural knowledge is enveloped in a larger world of some sort whose residual properties, we at present can frame no positive idea.” - William James🤔
What a beautiful soul. Loved this conversation.
Thank you, profound wisdom. I have realized my addiction to listening to exceptional material like this and am finding my own silent Saturdays, or tech free Sabbaths very difficult to adhere to. Appreciate the encouragement towards a celebration of silence, I need to find my way back there. And very interested in the psychotic arts book. Thank you both.
Beautifully explained dear Iain 🕊🌏❤️
Lol. Did you see what Nate did at 13:35? After listening to Ian, Nate admitted to having 14 (pre-programmed, rational, analytical, LEFT BRAIN) questions for the interview, but then decided to jettison those for a more RIGHT BRAIN, in-the-moment interview process. A perfect case of wisdom overpowering rationality!
Sapolsky, McGilchrist… you’re KILLIN IT, Nate! 🙌🏽
My two favorites and in my opinion the best, communicators having a discussion. Thank you so much for posting this. Are you familiar with Carl Safina, Beyond Words, What Animals Think and Feel? Thanks for all you do!
Most left-handed people tend to be right-hemisphere dominant.
"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards, Ph.D is a fantastic tool for developing spatial reasoning and creative skills in our left-hemisphere dominant dogmatic culture.
Thanks Nate What a wonderful soul Iain is navigating. It was a pure pleasure listening to his wisdom. As for the magic wand, make meditating mainstream or even compulsory in schools around the world. Love you all
You must not have listened to McGilchrist. The essence of meditation will be perverted if made into a standardized curriculum
It won't be standard by far. More like a window of time when all souls come together in harmony and peace, guided by man with a free spirit, who is skilled in the art of balance and depolarization. This is fundamental to usher in the new paradigm forthcoming. @@abbasalchemist
I started listening to this while taking a walk in nature yesterday. I decided to start again from the beginning, but I keep getting flashbacks to the exact place I was in yesterday whilst listening to specific bits. It happens to me a lot and I find it weird!
Wow! I have been looking forward to this one! I have both his books, and find his observations amazing. I still haven't finished "the Matter with Things"
As an aside, in Canada, there is a long-running science show called "The Nature of Things"
amazing! so happy you're happy mcgilchrist on the show!! thank you!!!
Hold...I'm stepping out to shock my brain with our electric fence. Be right back.
It's a community service we provide at our farm
Lol❤
🤣
@@xikano8573
Lol ❤️
❤😂
The Professional Managerial Class is now the dominant class.
I am also a Renaissance mind with very broad interests. I've never regretted learning about any topic. Great discussion!
Thanks a lot to you both. I found this interview quite personal and moving as well as very prescient and informative. Like many I was already of the view that opening up to a broader, more honest, more challenging psychological understanding of whatever is going on with us will be key to realigning our priorities if we are to successfully meet our future. However bleak at times our chances may appear, his enormous contributions make the path and choices clearer and our agency in relationship seem more possible, which is often all the difference in the world.
A real spot-on episode as it seems.. thnx @Nate and @Ian
One of the markers of wisdom is the ability to communicate ideas without the sale of a boogieman. Now it is important to oppose the tyrannical and abhorrent. Yet if we find ourselves shipwrecked on a secluded island, drawing fangs on a coconut will not suffice.
💎 Iain Mc Gilchrist has represented himself well in this interview. 💎
What a wonderful conversation. Living a rich life, enjoying the beauty and abundance in nature is so fulfilling and rewarding on every level.
Nate, I love love love your channel! Just found it and it’s a gem. Such wonderful speakers. I’m in my mid-40s, engineer and IT guy, previously nearly 100% left hemisphere oriented, now trying to make sense of this crazy world at a deeper level. Thank you.
Thank you both so much! This brought me to tears at the end.
This discussion was most inspiring. Thank you both. 🙏
Iaen McGilchrist is mostly a philosopher. This is a lovely conversation 😊 💕 ❤️
Thanks Iain and Nate, this is just great! Many perspectives on our human inbuilt evaluation bias.
Civilization has always been based on energy surplus. Once we started farming grains, which were storable and appropriable, then we could leverage manpower to amass energy in the form of granaries.
But this required more and reaching and exploitation, as grains deplete the soil.
Against the Grain by James C Scott makes a great case for barbarism.
Plowing depletes the soil (microorganisms) and oxidizes carbon into the atmosphere, the grass family is a good soil organic matter builder, which reduces (via microorganisms) carbon into the soil. "tree crops" by J. Russell Smith available free online...it's when land values push farmers onto hillsides and tillage then erosion changes the hydrosphere and the city goes away when the water dries up, leaving goats and rock and poor people and wars. Thanks for the book reference.
@@projectmalus
Poacea might build organic matter well, but only in integration with diverse forbs/broadleaves and ruminant herds.
Even without tillage, when we routinely plant hungry annuals it depletes the soil's capacity. Otherwise we would not have seen the rise and fall of so many empires.
The alternative to monocropping in the modern context is agroecology, which the barbarians and hill people developed.
I recently read Against the Grain it was a very enlightening read highly recommend more people to read it
I agree somewhat since grass will self suffocate from it's own vigor (the thatch) and needs to be kept healthy by ruminants punching this thatch down with their hooves and weight.
The deer herd following the grass is kept healthy by the wolf pack, which is kept healthy by chasing the herd.
I think the rise and fall of civilizations is connected to the dark triadic behavior that is humans entering into this symbiosis, without those health benefits.
When the civilization becomes more efficient at producing such food and labor saving devices prevent a compensatory action, the negative traits vibrate the civilization apart, an emotional move towards freedom from suffocation.
Which is more powerful, science or culture?
Iain is a very wise man
Wonderful podcast. Thank you!
Iain's work is well referenced in my forthcoming book, "How We Choose To Show Up". 20 years of research reveals we "Just" Show Up. In Iain's words, "We're too ready to jump in." The art of pondering, silence, appreciating the broader span is lost... amongst deadlines, dates and deliverables. Please be in touch. Much to discuss regarding nature's model of how we're designed to Show Up... to thrive! Marcy
Best guest yet, and that’s saying a lot.Thank you.
Excellent. This is very helpful. It demonstrates the value of providing support to wise and intelligent people and allowing them to follow their own intuition and purpose.
great discussion. I've always been interested in the historical reasons for success in ancient Greece, early roman republic leading to imperialism and the early Renaissance, why these periods had an explosion in arts, science, humanites such as Cicero, Plato, Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, William Turner and so on. And why by the time of Humboldt etc the world was changing to or had changed to one of empires, material wealth. Some great insights from Dr Gilchrist. While not an American, I fear people like Ron Desantis and others need to acquire some wisdom soon
This is fantastic! Thanks so much for your work. Both of you
Gratitude to you both for such a moving and important conversation. The situation is likely grim but as you say the show must go on in whatever way it can. One has to trust in there being justice in creation and act in deference to that.
Love the idea of A BOOK TO MY YOUNGER SELF. Thank you both great pondering for ALL SPACE CADETS of the noosphere - real virtual university school.
Such a beautiful soul. 💙
Encouraging and beautiful wisdom
Thank you
Taking on a long walk🌿🍁🌿
Ist time I listened to Ian I did not understand very much But today it makes more sense and what an inspiring conversation. Thank you and sure look forwarded to understanding better. Thank you