Making Sense of the Chaos

Chapter 9 MOVING TO A NEW AGE – THE CONCEPTUAL AGE In 2005, Daniel H. Pink wrote A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. He starts the Introduction of his book with these words. “The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind – computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind.” He also states that his book describes a seismic, though undetected shift now under way in much of the developed world. He says, “We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computer-like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, emphatic, big-picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age”. When I heard Daniel Pink being interviewed on CNN some time ago, I was delighted with his understanding of what is happening in the world. He explained it in terms of left brain and right brain functioning. I agreed that this is a perfect metaphor for describing where we find ourselves in the evolutionary process of our growth today. We now know that consciousness is not just in the brain, it is everywhere, but this seems like a good metaphor for talking about the two aspects of ourselves. It is actually a way to talk about our inner and our outer worlds. As illustrated above, the left brain is responsible for linear thinking, reason and logic, analysis, memory, beliefs and verbal communication. Our everyday functioning, for the most part, is a result of our reliance on left brain activity. Most of our educational system has been designed to develop these abilities, and most people have been unaware of the fact that a more expanded awareness is possible. We have been so busy living in our left brain world that few people dared to ask whether there wasn’t something more. Abraham Maslow asked this all important question, and dared to pursue it. He found all of the right brain abilities described above clearly demonstrated in the self-actualized people that he studied. Right brain capabilities include intuition, creativity, receptivity and inventiveness. Also included in right brain abilities is the ability to see the big picture and understand complex systems. It is being able to spontaneously experience an awareness of how parts of the whole fit together and affect each other. Most of us have been aware that some people seemed to be more intuitive, but we as a society, have given very little credence to intuition. Since our left brain cannot grasp the concept, we have virtually ignored right brain abilities until recently. Now, however, people are searching for more fulfilling ways to live their lives and many have discovered that these abilities do indeed exist. These resources are within each of us and we can develop them. Right brain abilities are developed in a totally different way than left brain abilities. The left brain can be taught. It responds and expands on the information that is delivered to it. The left brain, however, is limited to what it has been taught or experienced. The right brain, on the other hand is unlimited. Therefore, in order to reach optimal health and functioning we must develop our right brain abilities. Developing our right brain makes a huge difference in how we see the world and function in it. In fact, right brain development opens up a whole new world for us, one we were not capable of even imagining in the past. The right brain cannot be taught, it expands through personal discovery. Therefore, in order to discover our right brain abilities we must remove ourselves from experiences that keep the left brain in control. The left brain is an outer functioning system designed for exploring and interacting in the outer material world. The right brain is an internal functioning system which allows us to be in touch with our deep inner resources. Our left brain defines us by the experiences in our lives. Our right brain knows that we are much more than what we experience. Left brain activities allow us to do what we DO in the material world. Right brain activities give us access to the Source of creativity, the capabilities of genius and infinite possibilities. If we do not develop our right brain functioning, we can get lost in the experience of living our lives. When we have not developed our right brain abilities we believe that life “just happens” and all we can do is react to external circumstances. Our left brain is too limited to understand how life works; consequently we simply buy into other peoples’ beliefs. Only intuitively can we see the big picture and how all the parts fit together. Only intuitively can we understand the laws of nature that govern all aspects of the material world. Only intuitively can we know how to work in harmony with these principles and create the lives we dream of living. Since intuition is something that our “left brained” society is beginning to accept, we find people trying to teach intuition, which is impossible. There is no way that the limited left brain can fathom unlimited intuitive knowledge. We develop our right brain by removing ourselves from external functioning and focusing our attention within ourselves. We train the mind to become quiet and still and allow the space to receive intuitive understanding. We need a well-developed left brain and right brain to be fully functioning people. We want to be whole brained. Verbal communication is the domain of the left brain. The mode of communication in the right brain is intuition. Intuition allows us to see and understand huge amounts of knowledge, but we are unable to communicate that knowledge until we have been able to make the connection between the left and right brain.