Hemispheres

The brain is divided into two hemispheres, the left and the right. The two hemispheres are connected by a tract of approximately 200 million fibers called the corpus callosum. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left side. The right hemisphere is better at holistic perception and creative processing. The left hemisphere is more attuned to logic and language processing in most people. It is a mistake to think that the left side of the brain is for logic and the right side is for creativity. Many studies have shown that both sides of the brain participate in all mental processes. Author Iain McGilchrist advocates in his The Master and His Emissary that for society to flourish short sided abstraction needs to be integrated with a larger holistic perspective. Parts must be integrated with the whole just as abstract logic needs to be integrated with our incarnated reality.