Thread: Right-minded or Left-minded... which are you, and why?

Last night while dreaming, I was meditating on the thought of dreamers and rationalists and why they are constantly at odds with each other, and how they differ. I saw an image similar to the two above in my mind which made it pretty clear to me where I stand and why. The image was showing a dreamer creating an intricate and detailed outward dreamscape which the rationalist was frantically trying to figure out through analytical observation. The dreamer seemed to be using less effort than the rationalist who was stuck focusing on the small outward objects created by the dreamer.

Besides the obvious difference of rationalists being more aligned in the left mind, and dreamers being more aligned in the right mind, what is it that keeps some rationalists from being imaginative or open-minded, or keep some dreamers from caring too much about the breakdowns, semantics, and terminology of scientific observation?

I naturally strongly lean more to the right-mind, and have my reasons which I'll explain more in-depth once this discussion is underway...

In essence, I think that the dreamer creates the dreams that the rationalists single-mindedly observe. Without that form of escapism or thinking outside the box, no innovation would have ever been had. I would even argue it being largely responsible for our level of outer understanding.

Originally Posted by SolSkye

The dispute between rationalism and empiricism concerns the extent to which we are dependent upon sense experience in our effort to gain knowledge. Rationalists claim that there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience.

Im a bit confused . Can you give an example in which our concepts and knowledge are gained dindependentl of sense expereince? Is that even posisble without using the senses?

Originally Posted by dragonoverlord

Im a bit confused . Can you give an example in which our concepts and knowledge are gained dindependentl of sense expereince? Is that even posisble without using the senses?

2 + 2 = 4 (sense experience), therefore 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 4 + 4 (rational analysis)

oh ok in that sense. I thought they meant it in a different way...

I am far more of the imaginative sort, though fully able to apply rationality and reason when required. I don't like it though, and I don't like what I tend to become when life's requirements force me to go there.

I just spent three WEEKS there because of a legal situation. We prevailed - it went down on Monday. Monday evening, I was so looking forward to getting together with the band and just relaxing and falling back into that state of mind I am most comfortable in... but I couldn't do it. I was still stuck in reason. The evening was frustrating and nothing magical came out of it. I left there feeling like I had forgotten how to play.

It's coming back to me now, but the striking thing was recognizing just how fully I had locked into that mode for the day and how difficult it was for me to switch back out of it. It doesn't seem like it should be an "either/or" scenario, but in extreme situations it does become that for me.

Anyway, I'm right-brained by preference and nature. It is where I gravitate to.

I am right-handed therefore I am left-minded. But I think I am at least slightly right-minded, too, cuz I like all the spiritual and dream stuff. Left-minded looks cooler, but I cant help myself.

From my experience it seems the idea of this division is usually spread by people that then love to shout how they're right sided, different, cool etc.

As for me, I stand in the middle, both are used equally and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I'm sure we all use both sides. You'd need to, in order to function in every day life.

However, I would think that one would tend to excel in one area more than others, or from their disposition or outlook on life be inclined to lean in one direction more, as gnome demonstrated and UM showed us.

Originally Posted by Solskye

I guess I'm living in la-la land alongside nina (dream come true, mind you)

So...when are you going to propose? *taps foot*

*gets down on one knee and opens a box which should've had a ring in it, but instead has some hits of acid and ecstasy*


You and me babe, and strawberry fields forever... Candy flip, and marry me?

Awh...swing and a miss.

Originally Posted by pj

No matter what the physiology may or may not be, there is clearly, (to me, based on my lifetime of observation,) a continuum with hard rationality on one end and emotive on the other.

I do agree with that. I mean, the very existence of the terms 'hard rationality' and 'emotive' means there must be some basis for them in human behaviors. I'm not saying this continuum doesn't exist, just that it's probably mediated by a much more complex mechanism than 'which side of your head works better'.

Originally Posted by Howie

We have two hemispheres and each hemisphere has shown proficiency or dominance in certain areas. This can be seen through brain scans and tests, it is not just a rational guess.
Why would some people be left or right handed, just happenstance?

Why wouldn't an individual be more proficient at some tasks than others?

The left-handed right-handed thing is indeed an example of tasks being largely assigned to one side or the other. However, we're already pretty certain that different parts of the brain have different functions. This doesn't imply that

1) One entire side of the brain should work 'better' than the other
2) Either side can be generally associated with the qualities of 'hard rationalists' or 'emotive people'.

I mean, you could say people are 'compassionate' and 'not compassionate', but this doesn't mean that the traits belong to different sides of the brain. As the SciAm article discussed,

In most of us, the left hemisphere is specialized for most aspects of language, whereas the right hemisphere is specialized for most visuospatial skills. Yet even these differences are only relative; for example, the right hemisphere tends to play a larger role than the left does in interpreting the vocal tone of spoken language.

The distinctions are not all that clear to begin with.

Originally Posted by Oneiro

It was really simple.. if the ball bounced in front of you, you had to say out loud the word "bounce".. when you hit the ball, you had to say "hit", unless you were at the net, in which case you had to say "touch".. so you just had three words to learn to say.

Hmm, interesting... is that all there is to it? I'm trying out for tennis this season, so I'll definitely try it out. Can't hurt

Don't mean to brag or be snobby, but people I know think I'm both. I improvise on jazz piano, make games (creativity, right brain), yet succeed in math and similar. Although I am more right brain then left. My right brain skills aren't comparable to those that are truly right brained.

Originally Posted by SolSkye

I'm sure we all use both sides. You'd need to, in order to function in every day life.

However, I would think that one would tend to excel in one area more than others, or from their disposition or outlook on life be inclined to lean in one direction more, as gnome demonstrated and UM showed us.

When I said sides, I really meant the characteristics associated with them as in the initial post.