In a captivating conversation, visionary philosopher Marc Gafni and psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist dive into the sacred power of storytelling. They explore how narratives shape our reality and values, blending ancient wisdom with modern neuroscience. The duo discusses the brain's hemispheres and their roles in narrative comprehension, alongside themes of identity, interconnectedness, and the cosmic journey of transformation. They emphasize how personal stories can heal society’s fragmentation, revealing the beauty in our brokenness and the divine potential within.
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insights INSIGHT
Story as Ontology of Reality
Story is the very ontology of reality, entwined with value and intimacy.
Story isn't just a human construct but a foundational cosmic structure that shapes existence.
insights INSIGHT
Sacred and Meaning in Story
Meaning is embedded within story; the right hemisphere recognizes this narrative structure.
The sacred blends intimate connection with mysterious depth, needing both in balance.
insights INSIGHT
Plot Line: Desire for Value
Story contains threaded action with causal relationships upholding finitude's dignity.
Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World
Iain Mcgilchrist
In 'The Matter with Things', Iain McGilchrist delves into the neuroscience, epistemology, and metaphysics of the brain's hemispheres and their impact on human perception and understanding. The book is divided into two volumes: 'The Ways to Truth' and 'What Then is True?'. McGilchrist argues that the left hemisphere's dominance has led to a skewed perception of the world, neglecting the vital role of the right hemisphere in integrating science, reason, intuition, and imagination. He explores topics such as attention, perception, judgement, and the nature of reality, including concepts like time, space, consciousness, and the sacred. The book is a call to re-enchant the world and ourselves by recognizing the deeper, more holistic understanding provided by the right hemisphere[1][3][4].
The master and his emissary
The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
Iain McGilchrist
This book argues that the division of the brain into two hemispheres is essential to human existence, allowing for two incompatible versions of the world. The left hemisphere is detail-oriented, prefers mechanisms to living things, and is inclined to self-interest, while the right hemisphere has greater breadth, flexibility, and generosity. McGilchrist takes the reader on a journey through the history of Western culture, illustrating the tension between these two worlds as revealed in the thought and belief of thinkers and artists from ancient to modern times. He argues that the increasing dominance of the left hemisphere in today’s world has potentially disastrous consequences.
Zak Stein moderates an intense and wide-ranging conversation between Dr. Iain McGilchrist. and Dr. Marc Gafni and The dialogue spans the sacred nature of story, the loss of value and eros, the nature of evil, and the deep structures shaping culture today.Iain McGilchrist is a British psychiatrist, literary scholar, and one of the most important philosophical voices of our time. He is best known for The Master and His Emissary and The Matter With Things, where he argues that the left and right hemispheres of the brain attend to the world in fundamentally different ways, with massive consequences for civilization. His work bridges neuroscience, philosophy, art, and depth psychology, offering a vision of human consciousness grounded in attention, embodiment, and reverence.Dr. Marc Gafni is a visionary philosopher, spiritual teacher, and social theorist. A former Orthodox rabbi with a doctorate from Oxford University, he is the co-founder of the Center for World Philosophy and Religion and a leading voice in the articulation of “cosmo-erotic humanism.” His books include Your Unique Self, A Return to Eros, and Radical Kabbalah. Gafni’s work fuses Jewish mysticism, integral theory, and Western philosophy to explore the nature of self, eros, and value at the evolutionary edge of human identity and spirituality.Zak Stein is a Harvard-trained education and transformation philosopher known for his work on developmental ethics, meta-crisis, and the future of human learning.#IainMcGilchrist #MarcGafni #ZakStein #Eros #Story #MeaningCrisis #IntegralPhilosophy #TheMasterAndHisEmissary #CosmoEroticHumanism
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