It is interesting to reflect on what initially attracted me to The Master and his Emissary. I first became aware of the book in the latter half of 2011; a research colleague sent a friend a link to the RSA animate video, who then sent it on to me. At the time the three of us were researching the very first massive open online course (MOOC) on Connectivism and Connective Knowledge (CCK08). We were able to see parallels between the ideas of openness and connectedness being promoted in the MOOC, and the views of the world of the left and right hemispheres being discussed by Iain McGilchrist. We set up a wiki, and two of us have continued to discuss The Master and his Emissary on this site ever since, i.e. for more than nine years.

Looking back I can see that in those early days I recognised the struggle/conflict between the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere in my own life. Here is a quote from our wiki dated 18^th Dec 2012:

I am very struck by this idea of the asymmetry of the two hemispheres and the fact that although each

hemisphere is in one way or another involved in everything we do, there is a power struggle between them.

I think I have felt/experienced this power struggle between the left hemisphere's focus on language and

the right hemisphere's focus on visual imagery, in my own life. Is that possible?

It is an interesting exercise to track this battle between the two hemispheres in your own life, noting times when perhaps for years your world view has focussed on detailed abstractions and the parts, and other times when perhaps searching for meaning, creativity and embodiment have been at the forefront. This is how it has been for me.

In 2015 I attended a four day course where McGilchrist’s work on The Divided Brain was the focus. He spoke to us for an hour and a half at the beginning and end of each day, presenting some of the key ideas from his book. On that course very few people had actually read his book. Many of the participants were attending because their organisations required them to do a certain number of hours of CPD and this was a way of clocking up a lot of hours in a short space of time. Nevertheless, by the end of the four days, he definitely had everyone’s attention.   My interest has always been in how McGilchrist’s book can inform our approaches to education, so in the final question and answer session I asked him about this. His response was that we should focus on teaching ‘thinking and being’. There’s a lot to unpack there.

But there was also a bombshell of a question from another participant, who asked how McGilchrist could be sure that he had his metaphor the right way round. Is it conceivable, the participant asked, that it is indeed the left hemisphere who is the Master and the right hemisphere who is the Emissary?  This is a reminder that not everyone agrees with McGilchrist. There have been many criticisms of his work.

I intend to revisit all of the chapters in The Master and his Emissary, reminding myself of outstanding questions and continuing to reflect on what I have learned from this long, long engagement with his ideas. I see this as timely. My understanding is that a new book, The Matter with Things, will be published at the end of the year. 

Continue to:

• Chapter 1: Asymmetry and the Brain 

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