Eric Scheske

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The Hemisphere Hypothesis

The Hemisphere Hypothesis

Iain McGilchrist explains how our left hemispheres have gone rogue. The left hemisphere is meant to serve the right hemisphere, but it has usurped its master's position. This usurpation is the essence of modernity. It cripples society and each one of us individually because it disconnects people from full reality: only the right hemisphere connects to the Tao and the full spectrum of reality that it leads to. "[T]he god who got things done bore the name of Moloch." GKC

Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735-1813): Left-Hemispheric

Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735-1813): Left-Hemispheric

McGilchrist writes about the left hemisphere's love for abstraction. Because it is the hemisphere of action ("it's tasked with tasks," is my (oh-so-clever) way of putting it), it prefers abstract ideas that give it guideposts for action. It keeps things simple, which makes things

Hemispheres in the Garden

Hemispheres in the Garden

The left hemisphere plans, incidentally. The right hemisphere flows. Carol Deppe draws an autobiographical distinction in The Tao of Vegetable Gardening between "Planning Carol" and "Doing Carol." PC lays out elaborate plans that DC later disregards as she gardens. I can relate . . . big-time. Deppe's

Google and the Hemispheres

Google and the Hemispheres

The Industrial Revolution had been churning for a hundred years. Results were impressive. Standards of living were climbing. Sure, urban slums were miserable, but many historians believe they beat the squalor in rural villages. But industrialization was messy and not just from a pollution standpoint. Labor itself was messy. There

The Cell Phone is a Monkey Trap for the Left Hemisphere

The Cell Phone is a Monkey Trap for the Left Hemisphere

The Left Hemisphere Thwarts Focus: On Art Appreciation

The Left Hemisphere Thwarts Focus: On Art Appreciation

Attention, attention, attention. Everyone is starved for it . . . their own, not others. People want to be able to focus again. Madison Avenue purposefully kills it: The legal scholar Tim Wu, in his book “The Attention Merchants,” notes, “Without express consent, most of us have passively opened ourselves up to the

The Defecated Rationality of the Left Hemisphere in Action. Right Before Our Eyes.

The Defecated Rationality of the Left Hemisphere in Action. Right Before Our Eyes.

The question: How can people who make the smallest carbon footprint be responsible for making the largest carbon footprint? The answer: They can't. Except in the mental world of our brain's left hemisphere. This is a real-life (real-time) example from Tanzania and the plight of the

Against Human Flourishing?

Against Human Flourishing?

A few notes about a difficult essay

Pragmatism and the Saints

Pragmatism and the Saints

"Pragmatism" and "practicality" aren't the same things. When a person says, "I'm just being practical," he's probably being highly impractical. It normally means he's just thinking rationally: with the certitude of his left hemisphere, which excludes

Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences by Diana Pasulka

Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences by Diana Pasulka

Why Curb Your Enthusiasm is Funny

Why Curb Your Enthusiasm is Funny

Good-Bye, CurbThe last Curb Your Enthusiasm aired Sunday. It will be sorely missed, even if I think this last season hasn’t been as good as the previous ones. Britannica has a great entry about Curb basics. I don’t think you’ll need a subscription to access it. Two