catman

Every human being has exactly two brains in their head—a left and a right brain. The left brain is the civilized logic seeking brain; whereas the right brain is the savage beast that works via patterns largely emerging, or diverging, from a yes/no (or she loves me/she loves me not) pattern (a binary pattern, exactly like what is used in computers). The brain can be divided further to frontal and rear brains (or frontal and occipital lobes). The frontal lobes think in the first-person and are the planning parts of the brain. It is where the antennae would go to relay information and to identify ourselves to others who we are and what we are about. The rear of the brain is for the senses and motor movement. Enough said about the front and the back parts of the brains. Let us now turn our attention completely to understanding the left and the right brains.

The two hemispheres of the brain are connected primarily by the corpus callosum. It is a membrane that sets in the middle and lower part of the brain that allows information from one side to go to the other. Or, better said, it allows information to go from one brain to the other brain. The two brains are entirely different from one another. The right brain tends to absorb everything; whereas the left brain does all of the filtering. The so-called conscious resides in the left brain. Highly intelligent people are folks who have healthy brains with weak filtering systems.

Understanding how the two brains operate is fundamental to understanding the behavior and intellect of humans.

The right brain is responsible for our dreaming. The left brain tends to interact with dreams as being the omnipresent observer of dreams. The right brain is where our vivid imagination is. Our right brain likes the stimulation of music. Our left brain allows for us to learn to play that music in a logical fashion using a musical instrument. However, it is the right brain that seeks out patterns and will help us most in learning how to play the music well. So much does the right brain seek patterns to go by, that it will often create a pattern where none exists—such as finding a departed loved one in someone else, or seeing a shape in the clouds that no one else can detect. When we play games, such as chess, our right brain wants to make the moves—it knows the rules very well and just wants to start moving things around in patterns it has seen in previous games. Our left brain tries to halt our right brain from making a ridiculous blunder—and this often times can cause yet another blunder to take place for the overanxious and inexperienced player.

Another perspective is that the right brain is all-emotional. It is held in check for the most part by the left brain. Whereas an intellect needs a healthy, less filtered left brain; a vicious criminal would be a person possessing a damaged left brain that would be even worse at filtering. Or, whereas most people’s left brain is dominant; a criminal would possess a very dominant right brain. Certainly memory geniuses like Mozart would have great need of an exceptionally well-developed right brain along with a very absorbing left brain.

If we took a look at the fictional character of Spock in Star Trek, a character who is devoid of emotions and is highly intelligent, we would have to say we have a person here who essentially has two left brains. Such is not logically possible because memory itself is dependent upon the depth of emotional imprint made on neuron cells. But it is possible to have a highly subdued, introverted, emotional mentality that is inhibited rather greatly by the left brain. Nevertheless, it should not be surprising that the greatest criminal minds are also emotional geniuses that often in later life let their emotions get the best of them. Where the character Spock must have two left brains, think of a vicious criminal mind of having two right brains.

Because the imagination is a right brain function, it follows that artists of great renown often have dominant or very powerful right brain capabilities. When an artist wants to use their imagination, it is very important that the left brain does little or nothing to interfere. Many brain damaged people and people with downs syndrome end up being exceptional artists.

People who listen to a lot of music and get involved with drugs are doing whatever they can to diminish the left brains ability to reason and function. They do not rely much on the left brain for their behavior. If they start out this way early on in childhood, and continue it well into adulthood, it should not come as a surprise that such a person will develop a criminal mind.

Because the right brain contains our emotions, all human relationships begin with the right brain. Infatuation is a beastly emotion that can play tricks on the brightest among us. Unfortunately, most people govern their entire relationship with others primarily by using the right brain which is almost entirely devoid of logic. The expression “what comes around goes around” only in fact goes around if left brain thinking has a chance to take place. Here is where the right brain relies on the left brain reacting to circumstances. The right brain will even set circumstances up so that these circular patterns can take place once the left brain takes over. Oftentimes we will have one thought while indoors; and another thought entirely different just as soon as we take a step outdoors on the same subject matter. This often happens because the particular subject was thought about primarily by the right brain, and the leaving of the scene by going outdoors prompted the left brain to take over the thinking. If one is hallucinating, however, then thoughts tend to remain in the right brain and the moving to room to room or going outdoors only prompts the right brain for a different hallucination. Whenever a person becomes disgruntled they do so because a certain pattern of ideas got destroyed or distorted in some way and the right brain is taking charge of looking things over and is unable to logically deal with the situation. It is important, then, to purposely make yourself not disgruntled so that the left brain can put the emotional circumstance aside and deal with the problem.

Ideally, to control a person’s thinking you will appeal first to the person’s right brain and then to his left brain. If you were to want a subordinate to clean a room, you would first compliment him, if at all possible; get the worker to like himself and his environment; and then you would suggest that the room needs cleaning. By doing this, you skip the yes/no pattern that is always in the right brain, and slip the suggestion for the cleaning of the room into the worker’s left brain. Without any emotion at this point, the worker needs to make a rational decision. If cleaning the room is part of the worker’s job description, then he is most apt to start cleaning right away without any more prompting. If it, however, is not a part of the worker’s job description, then he is still most likely to clean the room anyway. Appealing to the right brain is essential in dealing with people and getting them to do the most rational thing (such as work), or to do a beastly thing (such as to fight or have sexual intercourse). Getting a person to commit to doing what you want them to do before rewarding them is also very important—again you are taking control by eliminating the yes/no pattern. If, for instance, you pay a person for a job before they have done it, you would be relying solely on their left brain’s conscious to overwhelm the right brain, which would be automatically telling the person NOT to do any work and just to move on. In such a battle of the brains, the right brain is usually going to win even if the left brain being dealt with first. If the job is done at all, it most likely will be done poorly or left unfinished. The probability of a worker doing an outstanding job having been paid beforehand is very much like hoping for a miracle. In other words, to get a person to do what you would have them to do, do not first appeal to the left brain or to a person’s conscious and trust. You must first appeal to the right brain in human relationships and hopefully have a method of getting them to do what you want by withholding rewards or threatening punishment, or both.

Timing is an important aspect to getting anyone to comply to your wishes. Most people need their right brains stimulated in the manner of seeing, hearing, and feeling. People are visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learners. If for instance a person is a visual learner, they have to see that something is right before they will comply. They will then only comply if there is an urgency to skip auditory and kinesthetic learning. Repetition into a person’s learning strength will also speed up the process. Each person, for whatever reason, greatly favors one of the three styles of learning greatly over the other two. Ideally, to get a person to comply with your wishes, you will use all three learning styles and be repetitious on the favored learning style of that particular person. You will either suggest to the person that which you want done (maybe offering a reward), or you will spell it out for them (with a promise of a reward at the end or with a threat of punishment if they do not do as told). If all these thing are considered for getting your wishes granted, it will be nigh impossible for the person to refuse you. If they, however, refuse you, you have no other choice but to walk away. You have strongly entertained their right brain to get what you want; so, by leaving the matter you give them a chance to think more rationally with their left brain. If the person you are dealing with still won’t comply after, say, a period of a month of backing away, then you may need to re-educate them such as with the case of family feuds. Important to realize is that you cannot break through a no pattern until the pattern actually becomes breakable. The minimum time of withdrawal on profound matters should be no less than 2 weeks. The maximum needed time to withdraw may be as great as 3 months to a year and a half. Some people just do not have a great mental capacity for rational thought, particularly if they are right-brained and right-brain religious, as opposed to philosophically religious.

The brain can be divided in many numerous ways. I have already made mention of the frontal and occipital lobes. There is also the temporal and parietal lobes. We can also look at the brain with regard to its depth and include a discussion about the r-complex, limbic system, and neocortex. There is no need to bother with any of this because I am only interested in how the two brains process. To go any further would be to get into how the brain determines and controls body functions. How the brains processes thought might be a tad bit more complicated than how I am presenting it here, but to present it as such would be better left for those professionals who delve in brain surgery. From a psychological and psychoanalytical point of view, the way that I am analyzing the brains here is very sound and more than enough for laymen. Again, only those who need to teach or perform brain surgery—or make medicines—would have any interest of a more detailed way of mapping the brain.

The reader also needs to be aware that I am making my observations here based mainly on two articles I have read and my own experiences. There is next to no information to be had about this matter in a public library at the time of this writing. All of this information being put forth here is pretty much new from what I can tell. Indeed, I have evaded going into any detail about the two articles I have read—so let me say something about them now.

But before I do, let me go over again some differences involving the right and left brains.

If we look at the story of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, we have a perfect brain split. Jekyl is primarily left-brained and Hyde is primarily right-brained. We have rhythm in our right brain, and no sense of rhythm in our left brain. Running is mainly a right brain function. But if a runner plans and plots to win a difficult race, he will take himself out of contention by using too much of his left brain. Le me quote here something I found on a message board about running:

that’s just it the big races play a big role mentally. Like if you go in there going for the win and put all kinds of pressure on yourself you might crack when race time comes! but if you go in there to have fun and whatever not really caring how you do just that you got there all the stress is gone and you can run an awesome race!

The interesting comment here is in reference to the mind cracking. Let me say what actually happens in another way: If you go in there for the win and put all kinds of pressure on yourself, what rhythm you have for the race in your right brain will be shattered. This happens due to all the pressure you put on the rhythm to win the big race from your over usage of your left brain. But if you go in there to have fun letting your right brain take complete control, then you can run an awesome race! Make sense? Any time your rhythm gets shattered—repairing it is no simple matter and it will take time. A lot of people who get upset in relationships cannot just turn on the power of their left brain and forget about the matter. They insist upon the right rhythm being repaired. Again, the shortest time for the right rhythm can be fully repaired is 2 weeks—it will repair with respect to the lunar cycle. One month is the next shortest time that the rhythm can be repaired—a doubled lunar or menstrual cycle. Three months is the next—which is obviously a seasonal cycle and not as important in tropical climates. The next is a solar year. The next is a solar cycle and one month—the one month here being a menstrual cycle effecting married couples primarily. The next is one year and three months—a solar plus a seasonal cycle. And the longest being one year and 6 months—a solar cycle with a doubled seasonal cycle. Anything beyond one seasonal cycle has to be in the case of two males not getting along or for married couples. In the case of a big race—the shortest time needed to peak rhythm-wise is two weeks. It is impossible to be capable of running well if one has to perform well in two meets separated by only one week. But there is such a thing of getting out of rhythm if there is too long of a break between races. Hence, ideally there will be no more than a separation of one month between two big meets. Anything beyond one month will take an athlete completely out of racing performance rhythm. I have here contemplated right-brain rhythm with regard to both mental relationships and physical performances.

When I first learned about this two brain phenomenon, I was reading about a pair of sunglasses mentioned on <a href="http://www.viewzone.com/VIEW.ZONE.html." target="_blank">http://www.viewzone.com/VIEW.ZONE.html.</a> The link regarding these glasses can be viewed at <a href="http://www.viewzone.com/nuvu.html." target="_blank">http://www.viewzone.com/nuvu.html.</a> From the article on the sunglasses is a link to an article regarding the differences of the two brains: <a href="http://www.viewzone.com/bicam.html." target="_blank">http://www.viewzone.com/bicam.html.</a> At the time I was having difficulty with my family. So much so that the cops were tapping my phone and following me just about everywhere. I became a threat. My right rhythm had been shattered and I was doing all I could do to try to get my family to listen to me and try to resolve matters. They would not and played games and laughed at me behind my back making all sort of nasty theories regarding me sexually. The argument centered on their jealousy of my getting along with a very popular person, my 15 year old niece. The details of the battle are unimportant. What is important is that no matter how hard I tried, I could not get any of them to reason with me even after taking a step back and allowing for one lunar cycle on two different occasions and one monthly cycle on another occasion.

Upon reading about the sunglasses, I learned how different the two brains functioned and how independently from one another that each reasoned things out. With these glasses that surrounded the eyes, there are two small flaps, one at each end, that allows the wearer to flip open and allow in some sunlight. If you open the flap of the right, you allowed your mind to focus on beastly motives and rhythm. If you flipped open the left, it allows the wearer to contemplate intellectually very profoundly.

In trying to deal with my family problems I was only using my shattered right brain to try to resolve matters. Those that I was arguing with were demanding that I drop the matter and give things time to heal. I could not see the reasoning behind this on account that the right brain is so irrational to begin with. When I did step back I stayed in touch with my mom and she kept reporting to others everything I was saying and then some and trying to get them to be either neutral or to be even more against me than they already were. In other words, in a subtle manner my mother was destroying almost any chance for things to get resolved and kept me in the forefront of others’ minds. She did this because she was the person most jealous of me getting along with my niece and other members of the family. Whenever I was out of the picture, she got the most attention from others and she really didn’t want things to improve or change in any way. If she had been exclusively and highly critical of me throughout, she could not have done more damage.

What is most important to note here is that I erred in not giving things a chance to heal by not backing out entirely. It maybe would not have helped in this case for it seems that things had to hit rock bottom. Had I to do it over again, I would have taken my emotions and my right brain out of the scenario as soon as possible and saved myself a hell of a lot of grief. Things might not have gotten resolved, but I would have felt a lot better. The right brain is just not very well adept to resolving anything beyond something very minor. It is very easy for it to get out of time and make things worse than they already are. Once the right rhythm is shattered or cracked, it is best to switch over to the left brain as soon as possible and abandon the right brain as completely as possible.

Returning back to our Dr. Jykyl and Mr. Hyde analogy. It has been shown that the left brain is optimistic whereas the right brain is pessimistic. Hence, if during positive circumstance a person responds negatively (with his right brain) then his words will be out of harmony. On the other hand, if he responds positive under trying circumstances, he will appear as a fruit or an idiot. I know of a person who must have a poorly developed—or maybe nonexistent—corpus callosum. He is into ventriloquism and he almost always responds positive during negative circumstances and negative during positive circumstances. Needless to say, this person is a loner, but he probably prefers to be a loner since his two brains are always conflicting with one another. The brains aren’t just connected by the corpus callosum, but it is the main connector for our purposes of understanding the thinking process. Actually it is the main connector no matter how you want to look at it. We know so much about how the two brains function because surgeons have often split the corpus callosum for patients who experience grand mal seizures. Cutting the corpus callosum for such patients stops the electrical bombardment that causes these seizures. As a result of these operations, the difference between the two hemispheres is easily observable and documented. The difference is so great and the two hemisphere function so independently, that it is why I have refer to the two hemispheres as simply being two brains. Life can become very complicated for a person with a poorly developed or split corpus callosum. It is such that the right brain and even the right body can and often do respond far too independently of the left brain and the left body. Motor skills will still be normal but reaction and comprehension to events will often be obscured to say the least. There is just about no limit to how foul things can get and how easily turmoil can be created.

According to the articles I have read, the left brain in most people is the dominant one. Maybe in most circumstances this is true, however, it seems like the right brain always wants a piece of the action no matter what the person is doing. If you move to a new place, it may take a while to learn your way around. The left brain is picking up pieces of information and trying to memorize the layout and the routes. Once a route has been thoroughly learned, the right brain takes over making the trip automatic and absorbs it into the subconscious. The left brain acts as the conscious; and the right brain acts as the subconscious. It can get a bit more complicated and involved than that, but that is the gist of what takes place.

The left brain is often described as rational; whereas the right brain is called intuitive. Intuitive is too simplistic of s description for the right brain. It can, after all, make rational judgments on a simplistic level. It can be described as intuitive for always wanting to recall things automatically—but it does rely on patterns. Scientist and the like refer to the r-complex (reptilian complex) as being the area of the brain where our beastly urges reside, but in fact our beastly thoughts are processed from the right brain. The r-complex, which resides in the lower center part of the brain and is very small, has more to do with bodily function and physical development than it has to do with any thought processing. Our left brain is without rhythm; but it can rhyme. Our right brain finds language and rhyming too complex; but it has all the rhythm. Our left brain is highly analytical and rational. The right brain is just as analytical, but it is not nearly as rational. During arguments the right brain often takes over and dominates the left brain: unfortunately, here is where things tend to get out of hand. Our left brain is optimistic and our right brain is extremely pessimistic as it tries to warn us of all potential dangers—and if panic has not stricken, then the left brain will do a good job of rationalizing out all these fears. If, however, some sort of panic or great fear takes over, then the right brain will take over and attempt to dominate the situation. During dreams, a primarily right brain function, few words are exchanged and even less are names spoken. Only after awakening can we take a look at a dream and give names and words to describe what has happened (for the most part). Because our subconscious mind had the dream, our conscious mind tends to forget about it completely. A dream however can haunt us later on in life if a sort of reenactment of the dream starts to take place. This very well may be where the deja vu occurs for the right brain, in its constant search for patterns, will even try to reenact a past dream or nightmare unbeknownst to the conscious mind. I had this happen to me as a result of the aforementioned family argument of my search for my previously deceased brother in trying to resolve the conflict. It was a pattern of me trying to see in others a replacement for my brother. As eerie as this may sound, it was just that eerie to me when I finally realized just what my right brain was up to—and, in fact, has tried to do in almost every relationship I have ever had.

The left brain has no rhythm or sense of timing. The so-called internal clock that awakes people in time to go to work is in the right brain. Marijuana has the ability to make this clock go in slow motion and make a few hours seem like days. When we are panicked stricken, such as during an automobile accident, our ability to reason is speeded up and once again the internal clock seems to slow down. Although our left brain is dominate most of the time to help us reason and stay out of trouble, the right brain is anxious to get involved as often as it can. It wants to be dominant and will dominate during crisis or highly emotional situations. It is almost as if it takes its cue from the left brain when the calm of the left brain doesn’t seem rational enough. Once it goes into action it is hard to subdue. Sometimes it is impossible to subdue and creating another crisis situation is inevitable. If we were to control our emotions, we would just get rid of our right brain once and for all. We would then, unfortunately, become almost impossible to motivate, but we would have no problem staying out of trouble or falling into the trap of making a bad situation worse than it already is. A person who is suffering from obsessive-compulsive behavior is said to have an underdeveloped right brain—but they could also have an over developed right brain as well. People who tend to rely on their feelings, rhythm, timing, music and strain themselves to always look fashionable will be the type that relies heavily on their right brain. They are also the type of people who end up getting locked up because they have such a hard time controlling their obsessive behavior. The intellectual types, on the other hand, may not have as swinging of a life style, but they will have the right brain subdued enough to almost always stay out of trouble.

[ December 18, 2002: Message edited by: catman ]

[ December 18, 2002: Message edited by: catman ]

[ December 18, 2002: Message edited by: catman ]</p>

Philosoft

I am certain the, um, passage posted above is entertaining and insightful, but I don't suppose you would consider paragraphs for the rest of us?

catman

Ok, I fixed it--thanks for the tip, Philosoft.

catman

I still need people to critique what I wrote in the first post. How does it compare to Julian Jaynes, for those who have read him?

NialScorva

This will probably get a better response in Sci/Skepticism