Epiphany

Maybe most people already knew this and maybe I’m just catching up but Daniel Pink’s book has been a real insight for me.  What chance that I would take a picture of the labyrinth at Mt. Irenaeus, upload it with my Blackberry to Facebook an that it would invite a conversation that would lead me to read and listen to “A Whole New Mind.” If people like me will rule the future that’s great, but its less important to me than the fact that this book and some of the concepts in it help explain a lot about me that had puzzled me for years.

My brother is very left brained at least according to the book. He’s even got an MBA. I enrolled in an MBA program a couple of years ago and then un-enrolled before classes started because the whole idea of learning about what was being offered really didn’t appeal to me. I’ve always been the dreamer and the contemplative. I read Carlos Castaneda thirty-five years ago when few had heard of him. I remember reading Sri Chinmoy, Edgar Cayce and other mystics when I was serving in the US Navy.  It is simply amazing to have this book handed to me as it were as I’m ready to embark on more graduate learning. The program I’m entering would seem to be more left brain oriented but my own approach to learning and even educational leadership is decidedly right brained according to Daniel Pink. Whatever the outcome of my studies “A Whole New Mind” has set me on a path to look at myself and life itself with a whole new set of eyes.

Contralateral or what?

“A Whole New Mind,” has given me a lot of whole new thoughts which I find enjoyable. I like learning new things and being exposed to new ideas. One the terms that Dan Pink uses early on in the book is “contralateral” which means that functions on the left side of the body are controlled by the right brain and right side functions by the left part of the brain.  The left brain is more about analytical thinking and the right brain more about high touch.  Right brainers are more in touch with the feminine aspects of their personalities and left brainers are more into the masculine side.  Could it be that gay people are more in touch with the feminine side? I’m not gay, but I’m decidedly more right brained and I’m decidedly more accepting of gay people and gay culture than some of my friends. I’m not sure that my premise is valid, but it’s a thought I’ve had in the wake of reading the book.

One of Pink’s premises is that right brain oriented people are what our economy is looking for. It’s the left brainers, the MBAs who are the new blue collars. The “artsy-fartsy” people as Pink calls them are ascendant. If Dan Pink is correct then the future belongs to women and those men more in touch with their feminine side. The future belongs to gay folks or at least their sexual orientation might pre-suppose them for success. It’s just a thought.