The human brain is a constantly evolving organ because it must constantly adapt to its surroundings which in turn change endlessly. Albert Einstein often referred to the intuitive mind and the rational mind when referring to the two hemispheres. Both play a decisive role in allowing man to interpret and coexist with the world around him. The functions of the two hemispheres are complementary and equally necessary for the development of man as a being in the universe.

LEFT HEMISPHERE

The left hemisphere is the engineer hemisphere, also called “mind” by the ancients. It is the brain of analysis, therefore it is the brain that divides, separates in order to distinguish one object from another or one characteristic from another. The word analysis means to split and divide. To distinguish the two human instincts, the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud used the mythical characters of Eros and Thanatos: Eros represents the drive for life and love, and Thanatos the death drive. In this case the left hemisphere would be represented by Thanatos or the drives of the dissolution of the unity of the organism. For the Chinese it would be the Yang or the solar and masculine hemisphere. When it creates, this hemisphere tends due to its rationality to generate angles, just observe our creations as human beings, our cities, the objects that surround us are angular (many times using 90° angles). It is the hemisphere of concentration and therefore of tension, it brings with it intelligence and thanks to it man has been able to make scientific and medical advancement.

Right Hemisphere

It is the artist hemisphere, called the heart by the ancients. It is the hemisphere of synthesis: synthesizing means uniting into one, incorporating for this reason the coordinating conjunction that characterizes it is the “and”. Returning to Freud, this hemisphere is represented by Eros, the drive towards life and love as well as sexuality. For the Chinese it is the Yin hemisphere or the feminine or lunar hemisphere. It is the hemisphere that generates curves, it is more linked to the natural world, therefore it manifests itself mainly in the midst of nature. The most eccentric artists have always drawn using many colors and curves (see the works of Gaudì and Dalì for example). It is also called the analog or non-thinking hemisphere, thanks to it we can feel and love! This is why it is called the irrational hemisphere. For example, entheogenic plants stimulate this hemisphere in a powerfull way, and it is good that our surroundings during this kind of experience are full of curves and not corners in order to avoid conflict on our brain.

As Einstein rightly says, our society has made the left hemisphere dominant and the right subordinate to it, which is why the world around us is dominated by separation which inevitably leads to conflict and aggression. Try to think now of our cities in which the right hemisphere predominates: our curved and colorful houses, as if they were designed by the mind of a child instead of gray and rectangular concrete blocks. Unfortunately, education, especially occidental, has given vital importance to analysis and logic, leaving aside synthesis and feeling. To best develop the left hemisphere, we create groups of people to have different minds available that cooperate through dialogue, discussion and study. The intuitive mind can be developed by being in nature or by carrying out an artistic activity. We must spend time in silence and with ourselves for this hemisphere to thrive.
Bringing the two hemispheres back to the right alignment is fundamental, which is why we need to learn to feel life more and think about it less. The distinction between the two hemispheres leads us to two key concepts for understanding meditation: contemplation (right hemisphere) and concentration (left hemisphere). Western man develops concentration during his school years, which however is often lost due to too many stimuli and too much information we receive. Contemplation, on the other hand, is not practiced and is not taught in any school (or almost none), at least in the West. Now the choice is yours: do you want to think or feel life? Do you want to analyze every situation you find yourself in or simply adapt to it and enjoy it without getting too stressed? The answer is more easy then you thought.