About this episode
Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. He has been a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He has published original articles and research papers in a wide range of publications on topics in literature, philosophy, medicine, and psychiatry. He is the author of a number of books but is best known for The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, and is currently working on a book of epistemology and ontology. He lives on the Isle of Skye and has two daughters and a son. Websites: iainmcgilchrist.com channelmcgilchrist.com YouTube Channel Facebook Page Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Summary and transcript of this interview. Interview recorded August 22, 2020. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction and Background of Dr. Iain McGilchrist 00:03:31 - The Story of the Spiritual Master and the Emissary 00:06:45 - The Sacred and the Divine 00:09:56 - Understanding the World: Left Hemisphere and Right Hemisphere 00:13:10 - The Left and Right Hemisphere's Different Views of the World 00:16:29 - The Evolution of Spirituality in the Left and Right Hemispheres 00:20:00 - Harmonizing Contradictory Perspectives 00:23:26 - Focusing Sharply while Maintaining Broad Awareness 00:26:39 - The Right Hemisphere and Consciousness 00:29:49 - The Right Hemisphere's View of Subjectivity and Objectivity 00:33:10 - Restructuring the Brain through Subtle Focus 00:36:39 - Personal Experience with Psychedelics and Anomalies 00:40:02 - Shifting Paradigms in Science 00:43:37 - The Evolution of Western Culture 00:46:56 - Breaking down institutions and the future of civilization 00:50:22 - Concerns about the Destruction of History 00:53:40 - The Importance of Education in Developing Critical Thinking 00:57:05 - Nuanced Politics and Discerning Patterns 01:00:30 - Fundamentalist Certainty and Claims of Truth 01:03:56 - The Decline into Dogmatic Thinking and the Need for a Change 01:07:13 - The Rise of Young People's Enthusiasm for Change and Education Overhaul 01:10:40 - The Need for a Spiritual Revolution 01:14:04 - The Relationship Between Physics and Spirituality 01:17:23 - The Humbling Experience of Writing 01:20:47 - The Importance of Trust 01:24:24 - Taking Responsibility for Your Actions 01:27:37 - The Role of the Left Hemisphere in Psychotic Behavior 01:31:11 - Dawkins, the Renaissance, and Humor 01:34:29 - The Illusion of a Divided Consciousness 01:38:05 - The Nine-Dot Puzzle and Frontal Cortex Suppression 01:41:50 - Introduction to the New Venture