In this interview, I spoke with Dr Iain McGilchrist about how his hemispheric hypothesis may help to account for the widespread addiction in our society. Dr McGilchrist is a psychiatrist and writer, who is committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context. He is the author of several books, including the international bestseller: “The Master and His Emissary”, and most recently: “The Matter with Things”.

In this conversation, we discuss:

— The extent to which we may be entering into the third major decay of Western civilisation and how Dr McGilchrist’s hemisphere hypothesis may help to account for this

— The differences in how the two hemispheres attend to the world and how we are becoming an increasingly left-hemisphere dominated society

— The three most important ingredients for holistic human flourishing

— Dr McGilchrist’s views on the “sacred” and whether or not we can view values such as goodness and truth as being embedded into the structure of being itself.

And more.

You can learn more about Dr McGilchrist’s work by going to: [ Ссылка ].

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Dr Iain McGilchrist is a Psychiatrist and Writer, who lives on the Isle of Skye, off the coast of North West Scotland. He is committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context, that of the whole of our physical and spiritual existence, and of the wider human culture in which they arise – the culture which helps to mould, and in turn is moulded by, our minds and brains. He was formerly a Consultant Psychiatrist of the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Trust in London, where he was Clinical Director of their southern sector Acute Mental Health Services.

Dr McGilchrist has published original research and contributed chapters to books on a wide range of subjects, as well as original articles in papers and journals, including the British Journal of Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Telegraph and The Sunday Times. He has taken part in many radio and TV programmes, documentaries, and numerous podcasts, and interviews on YouTube, among them dialogues with Jordan Peterson, David Fuller of Rebel Wisdom, and philosopher Tim Freke. His books include Against Criticism, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning, and Ways of Attending. He published his latest book: The Matter With Things, a book of epistemology and metaphysics. You can keep up to date with his work at [ Ссылка ].

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Decline of Civilization's Roots
16:20 - Left Hemisphere's Impact on Society
24:17 - Spirituality and Meaning in Society
36:20 - Left Hemisphere's Grip: Addiction and Control
44:35 - Values, Beauty, and Mental Well-being
01:00:54 - Finding Hope in McGilchrist's Insights

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6 Books Dr McGilchrist Recommends Every Therapist Should Read:

— The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World - Dr Iain McGilchrist - [ Ссылка ]

— The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World - Dr Iain McGilchrist - [ Ссылка ]

— Madness and Modernism: Insanity in the light of modern art, literature, and thought - Louis Sass - [ Ссылка ]

— The Paradoxes of Delusion: Wittgenstein, Schreber, and the Schizophrenic Mind - Louis Sass - [ Ссылка ]

— The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics - Henri Bergson - [ Ссылка ]

— Lived Time: Phenomenological and Psychopathological Studies - Eugène Minkowski - [ Ссылка ]

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