Heroes Not Zombies

I saw this illustration on the wall of a bookshop in Orleans. It immediately struck me as consistent with Iain McGilchrist’s hemispheres theory.

The right hemisphere allows us to engage with the world as a whole, using a broad, open attention which enables us to create relationships, subject to subject. We see a world of living creatures this way, of vital, vibrant organisms.

The left hemisphere allows us to engage with components of the whole, using a narrow, focused, analytical attention. It re-presents and re-cognises what it already knows. We see a world of parts, machines and mechanisms this way. A world to be manipulated and controlled.

You can see why it’s best to use the whole brain, can’t you?