- What I think so far
- It turns out that the two hemispheres of the human brain process information differently. One hemisphere processes “analytically,” whereas the other processes “holistically.” (7)
- (Typically, the left hemisphere (LH) is analytic, whereas the right hemisphere (RH) is holistic – but not always. (But, when I say “LH,” I’ll be referring to the analytic hemisphere; and, when I say “RH,” I’ll be referring to the holistic hemisphere.)
- In other words, it would seem that we humans have two different ways of looking at, or thinking about, the world…
- And then, it turns out that our “senses” of “non-physicality” and of “a-rationality” originate in our right hemisphere. Our RH is responsible for religious experience and a sense of transcendence. The LH has little or no “truck” with such things.
- In other words, it appears that our “magical” beliefs originate in the RH.
- (And by the way, we now have a new science called “Neurotheology” – reasonably enough, it studies the neurology of religious experience… (9))
- And, either our LH is magic/transcendence blind, or our RH hallucinates.
- (And in truth, this kind of hallucinating would make sense in terms of evolutionary theory or natural selection.)
- But anyway, many of the “things” that we think we know, or that we otherwise “believe in,” come through our RH and do not really fit with our naturalistic (physical/analytic) worldview… For instance
- While consciousness may be the result of purely physical causes, consciousness, itself, would not seem to be physical… (1)
- Most of us sense, or at least imagine, a non-physical dimension, of reality that we call “transcendence” — if we call it anything. If we think that life has “meaning,” or if we believe in right and wrong, or “true love, “we are believing in something transcendent (perhaps, unwittingly) and implicitly believe in an ethical, non-physical, magical, aspect to reality. (2)
Then, if one believes in free will, one believes in magic — analytically speaking, free will is impossible. (3)
It turns out that existence itself doesn’t really make sense. Now if there was nothing, that actually would make sense. But, once there is something, we have an unsolvable analytic conundrum. (4)
And then, there’s the fact that life in general depends upon numerous physical constants being exactly what they are. If, for instance, the force of universal gravity was just slightly less than it is, the universe would be all gas. Quite a coincidence…
And finally, our own personal awareness is a statistical miracle. It is non-physical, as well as mathematically impossible. (5)
Then, note that each of these concepts is either not physical or not rational – or, not either. It is in those senses that they are “magical.”
We just don’t tend to notice their “magicalness.” We look right through it. We take them for granted.
And then, as a chicken’s understanding of reality is to human understanding of reality, human understanding of reality could be to perfect understanding…
Is there some reason to think that our different cognitive abilities include all the cognitive abilities possible?
Is there some reason to think that we are not making some big, crucial, mistakes, or that we’re not missing a lot of critical facts?
How much could we be missing, or getting wrong?
How far do our seemingly exceptional brains take us?
Could we humans trying to understand reality be like worms trying to understand calculus?
So, it could be that with greater cognitive abilities, we wouldn’t “see” non-physical or “irrational” concepts as being magical. And, in other words, what are in current understanding non-physical or irrational are still real and true. Quantum mechanics, in fact, seems to be revising the definition of “magical.” (6)
Moving right along…
It turns out that we each tend to be dominated by one hemisphere or the other (especially us men) — and therefore, by one way of thinking.
And humans dominated by their LH’s tend to have little appreciation for religion.
Then, it turns out that public education in the “west” (or at least the U.S.) teaches towards the LH.
And, Kids who excel in U.S. schools tend to be dominated by their LH’s, and become more so dominated as they progress.
But, we still don’t know whether the LH is transcendence-blind or the RH is hallucinating.
But then, if you think about it, what we call “reasoning” is analytic — whereas … reality, itself, must be holistic… (8)
And, trying to understand reality using (ordinary) reasoning must be like trying to solve a calculus problem using algebra. Or like trying to understand a black hole in terms of classical physics or Euclidian Geometry. Or like, trying to divide up a round pizza using a rectangular pastry cutter. The whole being greater than the sum of its parts, something is intrinsically lost in translation, something is missing. (Consider the square root of two and Zeno’s Paradox.)
In other words, it must be that we cannot fully understand reality using reasoning — and reality will be “magical” in that sense. Part of reality will not make analytic sense.
In still other words, if we listen carefully, the analytic hemisphere is “telling on itself.” It is telling us that it cannot fully account for, or describe, reality… (We are getting this from the proverbial horse’s mouth…)
And, we are justified in suspecting that this is from where the “magic” comes, and why we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it.
So, analytically speaking, parts of reality are “a-rational” and in that sense magical.
And, the RH is let off the hook. We still can’t be sure that the RH is not hallucinating, but the main reason for thinking that it is has been eliminated, and the “magicalness” of religion has a potential, if not likely, savior.
And noting that the well-educated tend to dismiss the magical Jesus story takes on a whole new slant.
And then, our holistic conclusions are not well conveyed by our usual rationalistic prose.
They seem best conveyed by a kind of “osmosis” – they are best conveyed by such things as poetry, art, music, nature and stories.
And, with that in mind, it is easy to think of Jesus as bringing us a whole different, holistic, holy, magical way of thinking.
Bringing us a way to think more holistically and to better sense magic, transcendence, G-d.
In other words, Christianity involves a whole “other” way of thinking.
(Other religions do also.)
This whole other way is “HOLISM.” (http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/holism.html.)
Holism allows for “Magic” — and what Christians call “Grace.”
And also, a way to rise above the pain of our existence.
Jesus brings us to a, or THE, rabbit hole, or looking glass.
It would appear that life really is magical, and if nothing else, Jesus has brought us a way to fully appreciate the magic.
There would seem to be a loving side to reality – a side that makes it all worthwhile.
If nothing else, Jesus helps us to experience that side.
Jesus can transport us up the rabbit hole.
That’s the Good News — and there’s no Bad News to follow.
This whole other way is “Holism.” (http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/holism.html.)
Holism allows for “Magic” — and what Christians call “Grace.”
The world (reality, existence, the Universe) is holistic. (Think about it.)
Our ANALYTIC model of the world loses a lot in its translation – like a rectangular pastry cutter slicing up a round pizza, or like using algebra to solve a calculus problem.
Being holistic, the world is “free” (as in “free will”), “alive,” “personal” and “transcendent.”
Existence includes a transcendent (non-physical, a-rational?) dimension.
This dimension is clearly “magical” to the analytic model. “
In other words, analytically speaking, the world is magical.
The world is not the deterministic machine that the well-educated tend to unwittingly believe.
It turns out that the left hemisphere (LH) of the human brain is analytic; the right hemisphere (RH) is holistic.
Our LH cannot deal with transcendence or religion; our RH can.
Either the LH is transcendence blind — or the RH is hallucinating.
My money is on the former.
A whole other world; a whole other way of thinking.
The RH learns through a kind of “osmosis.”
STORIES teach through this kind of osmosis.
We humans have these two ways of processing information – analytically and holistically.
One hemisphere of the brain is dedicated to analytic processing, while the other is dedicated to holistic processing.
Typically, the left hemisphere processes analytically while the right processes holistically.
We each, especially we men, tend to be dominated by one hemisphere or the other.
The holistic hemisphere perceives (or imagines) “transcendence,” religion.
(And by the way, we now have a new science called “Neurotheology” – reasonably enough, it studies the neurology of “religious experience”… (Link to follow))
The analytic hemisphere does not.
And humans dominated by their LH’s tend to have little appreciation for transcendence or religion. (Link to follow)
So, either the analytic hemisphere is transcendence blind, or the holistic hemisphere hallucinates.
(And in truth, this kind of hallucinating makes sense in terms of evolutionary theory or natural selection.)
Then, it turns out that public education in the “west” (or at least the U.S.) teaches towards the LH. (Link to follow)
And, Kids who excel in U.S. schools tend to be dominated by their LH’s — and become more dominated as they progress. (Link to follow)
But, we still don’t know whether the LH is transcendence-blind or the RH is hallucinating.
But then, if you think about it, what we call “reasoning” is analytic
Whereas, reality itself must be holistic…
And, greater than the sum of its parts.
And consequently, trying to understand reality using (ordinary) reasoning must be like trying to solve a calculus problem using algebra. Or like trying to understand black holes in terms of classical physics or Euclidian Geometry. Or like, trying to slice up a round pizza using a rectangular pastry cutter. The whole being greater than the sum of its parts, something is intrinsically lost in translation, something is missing. (Consider the square root of two and Zeno’s Paradox.)
In other words, it must be that we cannot fully understand reality using reasoning — and reality will be “magical” in that sense. Part of reality must not make analytic sense.
In still other words, if we listen carefully, the analytic hemisphere is “telling on itself.” It is telling us that it cannot fully account for, or describe, reality… (We are getting this from the proverbial horse’s mouth…)
And, we are justified in suspecting that this is from where the “magic” we’re talking about comes, and why we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it.
So, analytically speaking, it appears that parts of reality are “irrational” and in that sense magical.
And, the RH is let off the hook. We still can’t be sure that the RH is not hallucinating, but the main reason for thinking that it is has been eliminated — and the magicalness of religion has a potential, if not likely, savior.
And noting that the well-educated tend to dismiss the magical Jesus story takes on a whole new slant.
And then, it turns out that our holistic conclusions are not well conveyed by our usual rationalistic prose. (Link to follow)
They seem best conveyed by a kind of “osmosis” – they are best conveyed by such things as poetry, art, music, nature and stories. (Link to follow)
And, with that in mind, it is easy to think of Jesus as stimulating this whole “other,” holistic, holy, magical, way of thinking in his story and stories.
There is a reason for its form – the story of one man. Osmosis.
That’s what it’s all about.
Thereby teaching us to think more holistically and to better sense magic, transcendence, meaning, love and G-d.
And also, bringing us a way to rise above the pain of our worldly existence…
Jesus takes us up the rabbit hole.
It would appear that life really is magical, and if nothing else, Jesus has brought us a way to fully appreciate the magic of it all.
And, to rise above the pain.
There would seem to be a living and loving side to, level of, reality – a side or level that makes it all worthwhile.
If nothing else, Jesus helps us to experience that side.
That is, at least, part of the “Good News” (and, there is no “bad news” to follow.)
Hallelujah!