Why the Left Hemisphere is Ineluctably Drawn to Abstractions

The left hemisphere’s primary goal is to allow its host to survive. Practical considerations drive the left hemisphere.

You might think this means the left hemisphere isn’t much interested in abstractions or idealized notions. Such things, at first glance, aren’t practical. But the thing is, abstractions are highly practical. They allow people to function. Everyday life is filled with the need to break enormous complexity into a handful of principles that serve as guideposts, so the left hemisphere can better navigate life. They’re shortcuts, and the left hemisphere loves shortcuts (because it loves efficiency, which allows it to get more things done). The left hemisphere loves “black and white” principles, which make the course of action clear. All these things make the left hemisphere an “abstraction” machine. It relentlessly spins abstractions and uses them to weave through life.

Those abstractions are necessary. They’re practical.

But they’re incomplete and necessarily inaccurate. They aren’t true. They aren’t real.

And if the abstractions aren’t acknowledged for their severe limitations, they cause severe problems.