My body has two legs and two feet that carry its weight, they walk, they run, they climb. My body has two arms and two hands that manipulate and make all manner of things, they can heal or kill. My body has two ears – they hear silence, voices, music, birds, wind, rain, thunder and explosions. My body has two eyes – they see beauty, wonder and horrible happenings. My body has two brain hemispheres, left and right, each controlling the opposite side of this amazing human abode.
Ian MCGilchrist suggests that our culture, as many before, tends to be dominated by the functions of the left hemisphere … focussing on linear time, growth, progress, taking things apart, analysing, and grabbing opportunities for power, as it were, with the right hand.
The right side of the brain hemisphere has a different agenda. From there the perspective is vast, sensing the whole beyond parts, seeing beauty also in decay, avoids being fixed by a piercing stare, though catching the gentle glance of those who experience life as cyclic and eternal.
At best, the two different parts of the brain work together, though mostly one side dominates. In this asymmetry each hemisphere takes on a different function. One energises the linear and rational scientific tendency of the mind, which favours action, pragmatic goals and consciousness …
The other invites the dreamers, the artist open to intuition, receptive to the moods of weather and atmospheres, myth, metaphors, the imagination. We are deeply nourished by this larger gestalt of reality, the enormously vaster sphere of the unconscious psyche, beyond time and space.
So when I tune into my body, the different parts – legs, feet, arms, hands, ears, eyes, brain spheres, the asymmetric dynamic keeps me alert and curious. More often than not, and not always to my benefit, I like to ignore the constantly urgent rational mode our daily necessities require, and escape into the wild. Though ideally I wish for a balance of Yin and Yang energies.
At times I use my left hand to do tasks, shrug off reason, put my left foot forward, risk mistakes and imperfection, welcome the unknown, discern creatures in clouds, listen to birds, the hum of my blood, enjoy twilight, gaze at the waxing and waning moon, the twinkling stars, or simply get lost in a dream rich dark night.
The themes of my two novels (see books page) include asymmetry.
Then again, apart from wishing my novels to be read … I don’t have any stakes in the stock market to keep track of.
Further material to explore …
http://systemspedia.bcsss.org/?title=ASYMMETRY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Bateson Gregory Bateson
Course of Mirrors 
In baseball, switch-hitters have an advantage, being able to bat right handed when facing left handed pitchers and bat left handed when facing right handed pitchers. The advantage is that they can see the ball better as it leaves the pitcher’s hand and arm angle. Not all players are able to switch-hit though, and youth baseball clinics now are increasingly encouraging batters to use only their dominant side, rather than spend time trying to improve their weaker side (as colleges are now emphasizing STEM over Humanities). Only about 10% of major league players now regularly switch-hit. Similarly, the artist must deal with the business side of projects. The most successful artists would seem to be ambidextrous, though the Latin root reminds us that the right side has always mistrusted the left side – “Zwei linke Hände haben,” one risks of missing the right created agenda altogether. Buckminster Fuller was ambidextrous.
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Yeah, it’s a shame that humanity subjects are sidelined these days, at great expense to young people.
Business, I just haven’t got a gene for that.
Just recall a quote, can’t remember the source, maybe Bucky … :
“The talented hits the target noone else can hit.’
The genius hits the target noone else can see,,’
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Business acumen may only be necessary if the artist wants to market their work. Not all do. Art as a hobbby, or integrating art into everyday life in a free way.
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It’s my hobby. And yours :)
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I think it is the two sides of our brains that make us what we are. I’m more of the one side than the other, but the other side can function when necessary (and let’s be honest, we have to use both sides). ~Nan
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Yes Nan, the different functions are complementary … and
turning left or right
or maybe move up and down
we go round and round
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Exactly, Ashen.
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Interesting post. I’ve always been fascinated by asymmetry, as it makes the world more interesting. I am right handed, yet left ear dominant. It’s not a matter of hearing loss on the right—as my hearing is the same in both ears. Rather, it’s a matter of the information feeling oddly scrambled when I hold a phone receiver to my right ear, or listen to someone on my right side speak. i’ve done some reading on mixed dominance, and it’s not as unusual as I thought. B
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Thanks for responding, Barbara. Never thought about it, but I usually hold the telephone receiver to my left ear. Must try the right ear and check for a difference. Then there’s the eyes. My right eye is fine for far sight but needs adjustment for reading. My left eye sees the world like an impressionist painting … Slight cataract. Maybe part of me doesn’t like to see the world too sharply :)
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I want more left side now I am retired. Tonight I will make time to feel the solar eclipse.
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