As I said goodbye to 2009, I realized that it was in fact the year of ascendancy for the right side of the brain and farewell to the left side of the brain, after decades of living in that domain. Daniel Pink predicted this in A Whole New Mind when he prophesied that the right-brainers will rule the future. It is a move from analysis to synthesis, from detail to the big picture.
How did I come to realize that the right brain is in the ascendancy? I realized that we no longer worship the scientists.
I grew up in the era of the left brain, when science challenged God. The household of my youth was that of a scientist, an engineer, where every idea, every emotion, was subjected to a form of scientific proof to authenticate its validity. Our world then was a world powered by scientists, held in awe for their triumphs that ended the second world war, relied upon for our country's safety and security in the decades of cold war, and worshiped for the technologies that revolutionized our lives. The left brain ruled. But no more.
Science is now declaring something we do not wish to believe, something that makes us uncomfortable, something that frightens us. With the same processes and proofs science now points to a future that is not hopeful and bright but dire and dangerous. And the only paths scientists can propose to avoid it are too confusing, too uncertain, too uncomfortable, and too late for us to accept.
The left brain, which is literal, sequential, logical, and analytical recognizes the danger that global warming (climate change) presents to humanity. The left brain is, so to speak, "in our face". It will not let us ignore the obvious conclusions presented by the facts. But the right brain is contextual, emotional, and global. The right brain presents an overview, a more distant perspective. It is here that we are finding comfort and taking refuge. The global position is a safer position; it allows us to view crisis from afar and to see an unchanging blue planet in the foreverness of space. The right brain allows us to believe the spin doctors, the lobbyists, and the false prophets. The right brain supplies hope but it does not stir us to action.
What is called for now is not only the hard unvarnished facts perceived by the left brain or just the distancing perspective of the right brain but a combination of the two. What is called for now is a literal understanding and acceptance of the current global situation from the left brain and the empathetic connectivity and a world-wide commonality of purpose driven by the right brain. It is in the balance of our spheres that our best future lies.
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