RIGHT BRAIN VERSUS LEFT BRAIN

In 1981 Roger Sperry received the Nobel Prize in Physiology "for his discoveries concerning the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres".  Sperry performed the first 'split brain operation' and is credited with some of the most important insights we have of the physiology of the brain. He found that the left side of the brain is concerned with language, words, analysis and figures.  The right side is concerned with patterns, relationships, art and music.

The left brain is the clever.  It's so clever that if we're not careful it will kill us off.  It is the part that has developed the nuclear bomb.  It's the part of the brain that's always scheming, it never stops.  It's the side that wakes you up in the middle of the night with this wonderful idea, that in the morning never looks quite so good. This part of our brain is like a bossy manager who needs to be in control, demands to be heard and thinks he is the only one with any ideas. The left brain is a straight line calculator that deals in words and numbers, likes things in sequence and has a need to always be in control.   It needs to be right and it needs to be 100 percent right.  If something is only slightly wrong, the left brain is inclined to reject the whole notion, rather than work with it to see what can be extracted from the good parts.

Most religions are at least partly based on trying to slow down and control the left brain.  This is the purpose of prayer and meditation.  The act of creativity is largely based on practices which are designed to fool the left brain into slowing down or turning off.  The right brain, on the other hand, has no need to be in control.  It is an image processor; it deals with pictures and emotions, feelings and relationships.  It is creative, intuitive, trusting.  It is far better connected to the enormous power of the subconscious than the left brain. Compared with the subconscious, the conscious mind is very limited and yet this is where most of us try to solve our problems.


I might suggest that using the right side of the brain frequently is where God wants us to be mentally. 

"The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit" Proverbs 12:5.

The Bible says, "Woe to the idle shepherd who leaves the flock.  The sword will be upon his arm and upon his right eye and his arm (strength) will be dried up (weak), and his right eye will be utterly darkened (evil)" Zechariah 11:17. 

Why such significance placed on the right eye?  Well, the right side of the brain apparently controls emotions, feelings and relationships.  Without such feelings and emotions, one would be what the Word of God refers to as “reprobate,” without a conscience.  God knows what the right and left sides of the brain do and He made it clear that a minister who leaves his calling, leaving God's "sheep," and who follows after sin and the world, will be reprobate, without a conscience, and his "right eye will be darkened" – unless he repents, of course.  It also seems, he would still be able to see out of the left eye, but through corrupted vision. 

Throughout history and to this very day, we refer to the liberals as being on the left; but those with a conscience for life, abhorring abortion, for upholding the liberties and the Constitution of the United States, for conservative ways and means, are always on the right. 

The Word of God also tells us that on the day of judgment, He will separate the sheep from the goats, placing His "sheep" on the right, but the goats on the left.  A symbol of satan today in the occult is the head of a “goat." 

If you are not a servant of the Most High God, by default, you are a servant of satan, whether you wish to acknowledge that or not.  "Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience to righteousness" Romans 6:16. 

If you are primarily on the left, would you like to be on the right?  If so, that decision is only a prayer away.  Please visit the How Can I Be Saved page for more information about God's way of thinking.