The Master and His Emissary: Rooting For My Right Brain to Succeed
From Bozo the Clown to brain hemispheres: why we need to flip the script on logic vs. creativity
Come on!! You’ve Got This Right Brain!
It is probably very apparent, but I’ve wanted to be an artist in some shape or form for my entire life. I tried my hand at drawing as a kid. I wasn’t very good, but I shipped off a few masterpieces to Bozo The Clown, Oopsy The Clown, and Sir Graves Ghastly in hopes of on-air fame. I also had hopes of becoming a writer, which were derailed early on by an Eastern Michigan University creative writing professor who suggested I might want to find another way to make a living. Hell, I even tried my hand at the music business. I may not have become the next Randy Rhoads, but I had a great time writing my own tunes and still very much enjoy playing guitar.
So you may be asking, “Why am I bringing all this up?” As the Talking Heads have crept into my head, you may also be asking yourself…“Well, how did I get here?”
These thoughts on my artist life quest came to the forefront of my mind thanks to The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist. I’ve been listening to (and recently purchased a hard copy) this book since I last mentioned it in my previous Sunday Sip.
The book takes its title from a fable. The fable goes something like this. There is a wise Master who oversees a domain with their trusted Emissary. The Master is all about the big picture, which allows them to act with wisdom and humility. The Emissary is very skilled, but has a narrow perspective on the world. As time goes by, the Emissary gets the notion that they know better than the Master. The Emissary then starts to take control of the kingdom and seeks to lock the Master away. Of course, this leads to the kingdom’s decline under tyranny due to the Emissary’s lack of vision and empathy.
McGilchrist uses the metaphor of the Master and his Emissary to illustrate the hemispheres of our brains. The right hemisphere (the Master) sees the whole. Its view is broad and open. It attends to our world with sustained vigilance. This open approach provides understanding of metaphor and humor. The right is where we obtain empathy and feel the flow of ourselves and all other living things in the natural world. It is the seat of the implicit and intuition. It is also our primary source for imagination and music.
Our left hemisphere (the Emissary) is what I think of as the calculator or the computer. This is the seat of our narrow, sharp, and focused attention. It is responsible for grasping, manipulating, categorizing, and abstracting. The left is concerned with the mechanical, non-living, explicit, and the known.
As McGilchrist relays, in a happy, normal brain function, the right sees the big picture, the left processes that picture to help define the pieces, and then the right re-integrates those pieces to provide us with a full, living picture. It provides the context of ourselves living within the world. This reciprocal relationship gives us an understanding of who we are and how we are part of something larger. It is a state where we know many things, but we also can’t completely comprehend it all, as the flow of life is ever-changing.
The problem comes about when the left hemisphere takes control. McGilchrist argues that this is what is happening (has been happening for quite some time) in Western culture. The focus is on the pieces, analytics, reasoning, and deterministic logic. With the left hemisphere in control, we lose the holistic view of ourselves within the world, we discount or ignore intuition, and we become obsessed with ourselves.
Hopefully, at this point, you aren’t mumbling to yourself and thinking, “Christ, is he going to make a point here or just keep rambling on?” Hang in there, I’m getting to it! When I first started reading this book, I only knew the typical pop-psychology view that the left side of the brain is for logic, and the right side for creativity and emotion. Of course, being right-handed, I figured I was doomed to be less creative. Basically, my handedness meant I would never truly be an artist. But McGilchrist flips that script.
What this book has revealed is that while it is true your left hand/eye is integrated with the right hemisphere and vice versa, this doesn’t mean that we right-handers are doomed to miss out on what it means to be a creative person. If anything, it shines a ray of hope. With an understanding of how the hemispheres work both independently and together, each of us can reflect and optimize the balance we need to be as awesome as possible. This new information won’t completely eliminate my bouts with imposter syndrome, but it sure does help.
This book also underlines something that I’ve been noticing on my own for quite some time. I’m sure many of you feel and see this too, particularly in light of recent events. That is the dominance of left hemisphere processes that appear to coalesce in my country. It feels like a heightened level of selfishness, a lack of empathy, an inability to appreciate metaphor, a rigidity of thought, and a belief in absolute truths. It isn’t 100%, clearly, as I seriously doubt you’d be reading this if you weren’t empathetic, tuned to metaphor (and screwball humor), and open-minded. But doesn’t it seem like those short-sighted traits are more prevalent?
Since getting into The Master and His Emissary, I find myself musing over the state of affairs and noticing the amount of left-brained modes of thinking. I wonder if it is the slow progression of our society away from empathy and intuition, or has it been amplified with laser focus thanks to social media and AI? My gut says yes and yes.
I find myself absolutely perplexed at the need for some to think only in black and white, to think in absolutes. I’m also confused by the ability to see people and other living things in our world as objects. Not alive, but things to manipulate, study, and probe. It seems unnatural to me, and in my heart it feels wrong.
One thing that drives me mad is reading about an issue without the author offering one damn thing to try to remedy the issue. Plus, I don’t want to leave you on a bum note. My offering is a take on improv (yep, still doing improv classes).
I think if you can do these things every day (or damn near), we reinforce our right brain’s insightful and holistic attributes and, in the process, unify our hemispheres, which translates into a better world for all of us.
So here is the script from improv (like the paradox there? :)
Say Yes - Build off the thoughts and words of others. Receive their gift and run with it.
Listen Deeply - Stop listening to yourself (left brain) and listen to your partners
Acceptance - Don’t think, do. Be present, be yourself, and trust your instincts.
Have Your Partner’s Back - Or, using another metaphor: A rising tide lifts all boats. You thrive with your group.
Have Fun - Be silly and embrace that kid inside that finds wonder in the world.
Thank you so much for reading my ramblings. Now let’s get on with this newsletter :)
Upcoming Events You Won’t Want to Miss
Our events calendar on Life In Michigan is a treasure trove of events we’ve scoured the interwebs to bring to you. There are a ton of great events coming up. From that list, here are a few highlights:
Lethal Lucha Wrestling Presents: SKATE OR FLY at GR Skate and Event Center in Kentwood on Jan 18
For something completely different, why not some big-time wrestling in Grand Rapids this Sunday!!
Adult Coloring at Ogma Brewing in Jackson on Jan 20
Enjoy some excellent beer and food while embracing your creativity in a coloring book!!
The soulful sounds of Jennifer Westwood and Dylan Dunbar, presented by our friends at Sounds Of The Zoo
Jeff Fest 5 at Papa Pete’s in Kalamazoo on Jan 24th
A night of heavy music celebrating the amazing Jeff’s birthday
In Other News
It is a slow story season for us at Life In Michigan. However, we have some news from GIG - The Art of Michigan Music Foundation, as it will be part of the Chelsea Sounds & Sights festival on Friday, July 24, and Saturday, July 25!!
In case you missed it, I went out to experience the retro vibes of Bowlero Lounge in Royal Oak, as well as seriously awesome riffs thanks to Winds Of Neptune and Angel Of Mars
In keeping with our winter wonderland in Michigan, Amy Eckert has a great story on the Copper Country Curling Club up in Calumet for Michigan Blue magazine.
During GIG - The Art of Michigan Music last year at Art 634, we sat down with Mitten Music to talk about art and music. Check it out!!
Mitten Music also spent some time with the visual artists who are the stars of GIG. This episode features the photographers.
Life In Michigan Podcast
Jeff and Ryan from the Mitten Music podcast are just the best. They were kind enough to spend some time with us talking about their craft and spreading the word on Michigan music.
Substack Restack Attack
Substack is where it’s at. Check out these other superb publications:
Juliette Mansour and Adam Perler share thoughts on photography that brings them to practice and performance. Interesting take.
I was oblivious to Hatch Art in Hamtramck until this story by Kim Fay on REAL ART DETROIT
Thanks, Chuck Palahniuk for turning me on to Levi Polzin
Adventures Yet To Print
We’ve sort of been slackers so far this year :) But we are putting the pedal to the metal. Ok, maybe we aren’t burning rubber, but we’ve been busy this week at the Michigan Great Beer State Conference in Kalamazoo and our current hangout in Jacksonville, Fl where Brenda is hooking like crazy. Next week, we stop in Saint Augustine and then go home next Friday.
What Are You Spinning?
A little while ago, I received an email from Gregory Curvey (Curvey for short) about new music from his band, Custard Flux. I popped over to Bandcamp to check out their new release called Enter Xenon. A few minutes in, and I was hooked.
The album opens with a spacey retro synth intro before bouncing into the track called “Winter”. This song sets the stage for an album packed with lush and vivid compositions. The guitars shimmer with interstellar wonder, with tasty solos that act as songs within songs. The keyboards and synths provide a myriad of melodic and harmonic textures. Driving each song is the vibrant drums, elevating each song into another dimension of time and space. Curvey’s vocals fit the musical scenes like a glove with a nod to the great Peter Gabriel in tone and timbre.
Custard Flux is an amazing progressive rock band whose music will intrigue fans of Genesis, Porcupine Tree, and Yes. I had the good fortune to talk with Curvey about his band and Enter Xenon. Be sure to check that out when it drops on Fans With Bands. In the meantime, head over to Bandcamp to secure your copy of this fabulous album today!
That’s A Wrap
As my buddy Sturgill once said:
“Keep your head out of the clouds
And remember to be kind
And just stay in school
Stay off the drugs
And keep between the lines.”
Thank you for reading. I hope your week is awesome! Don’t forget to kick out the jams!
Now, here is your moment of zen:
Loved this Chuck. Thanks, just ordered the book. Your post, whether you meant to or not, is a great example of a balanced approach. Great writing, great photography - but all organized for ease of consumption. Perfect left/right brain balance. The struggle is real for all of us. Your commitment shines through.
You had me sold on this book when you mentioned it last week… this deep dive? Now I might just have to abandon my current read in favor. You’ve officially made it nonnegotiable. ❤️🔥