Iain McGilchrist: How Your Brain's Two Halves Shape Consciousness

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Curt Jaimungal

Physics, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2024

⏱️ 169 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Curt Jaimungal talks with Iain McGilchrist about how the brain’s hemispheric differences shape consciousness, wisdom, and our experience of reality. The conversation weaves Eastern and Western philosophical perspectives into a discussion of ethics, language, and the sacred.- 00:00 - Introduction- 03:47 - "The Matter with Things"- 16:07 - Matter, Consciousness, and Creation- 21:05 - From Analysis to Wholeness- 31:06 - Perspectives on Truth- 47:45 - Certainty, Simplicity, and Organicism vs. Reductionism- 54:04 - Ethics and Morality- 1:01:26 - Language and the Brain- 1:11:08 - "The Master and His Emissary"- 1:18:15 - Hemispheric Roles in Mental Health- 1:28:03 - Personal Experiences with Psychosis- 1:34:10 - The Cosmos and the Sacred- 1:45:47 - Personal Practices- 1:54:06 - Moral Intelligence, Wisdom, and the Nature of Love- 2:00:03 - Eastern Philosophy- 2:08:13 - Religious Perspectives- 2:15:02 - Prayer, Meditation, and Death- 2:28:03 - The Importance of Endings in Life and Art- 2:32:11 - The Role of Relationships- 2:36:02 - Listening to the Divine- 2:44:44 - Concluding RemarksSPONSORS:- I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOERESOURCES:- Enjoy TOE on Spotify! https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE- Become a YouTube Member Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join- Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!)- Iain McGilchrist’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DrIainMcGilchrist/videos- Iain and John Vervaeke on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzT4tcC-aag- Iain’s previous appearance on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-SgOwc6Pe4- The Master and His Emissary (book): https://amzn.to/3Zpa8Yc- The Matter With Things (book): https://amzn.to/4g8JUid- Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (book): https://amzn.to/4eMT8iL- Scott Aaronson on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZpGCQoL2Rk- Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (book): https://amzn.to/4fKTtDV- Daniel Dennett on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH553zzjQlI- Curt’s Substack article on the brain: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/yin-and-yang-mills- Chris Langan on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-bRM1kYuNA- Seven Types of Ambiguity (book): https://amzn.to/3Z1qCnQ- Awakenings (book): https://amzn.to/3B3hvuT- Anand Vaidya on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BPLcuHnS_A- Wolfgang Smith on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M_uFQNDlvI- Rupert Sheldrake on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Y5dRyX4mM- Living in Wonder (book): https://amzn.to/49cP4ar- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs- iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802- Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Olivia Culpo here to tell you all about the launch of the new Abercrombie spring denim collection,
0:05.5	made the way denim should feel. Their denim has always been a staple in my wardrobe and has a wide range of fits,
0:11.4	styles, and washes. Every jean is available in both their classic fit and viral curve love.
0:17.5	Shop in the app, online, and in stores.
0:30.5	Ian McGilchrist, it's been years.
0:32.1	It's been years since we last spoke.
0:34.7	I've been looking forward to this for three years.
0:37.0	In some ways, I've been prepping for three years.
0:37.9	So welcome. Thank you very much. It been prepping for three years. So welcome.
0:41.2	Thank you very much. It's a delight to be back. Thank you.
0:47.2	You have many interests. Anyone who's called a polymath has disparate interests. However,
0:52.3	there has to be some core driver that runs along it or that runs through it.
0:58.0	So what would you say is the unifying principle behind your Veltan Shaul, your worldview? Unifying principle, I mean, is the one thing behind all of it? I don't think so. It's grown very organically. I've always been interested in ideas, basically.
1:11.4	They've always been the things that have the most excitement for me.
1:15.3	And I was in therapy for a while, and I discovered that actually ideas have an almost erotic
1:22.7	charge for me.
1:24.0	They're not just abstract things.
1:31.4	They actually have life. And so I've always followed those.
1:41.0	And there's been a continuous path through my early days at school. My days in Oxford, the first book I wrote against criticism through to the master in his emissary
1:44.8	and finally the matter with things.
1:48.3	It's been a seamlessly evolving organic process that is concerned with resonance, the resonance between what is me, my consciousness and the world.
2:12.5	It's also the very obvious point that when holes are broken down into their parts, a good deal is lost.
	...

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