<p>As many of us move into the holiday season and slower days, I wanted to reshare this conversation with Iain McGilchrist. It’s a spacious, illuminating exploration of how we’ve come to live as we do — and a reminder that meaning and beauty are still available to us, even when solutions feel out of reach.</p><br><p>Dr Iain McGilchrist (neuroscientist, psychiatrist, polymath, author&nbsp;of <em>The Master and His Emissary</em>) devised a thesis that sets out how the two sides of our brains can affect the way we both interact and create the world. The left hemisphere is a narrow, extractive, problem-solving “machine” that divides and conquers things, fails to see our part in the world and to fathom beauty, awe and responsibility. Our civilisation, Iain says, has become ruled by a left-brain mentality, which is killing us and leaving us “wretched”; we need to put the right side back in charge!&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><br><p>Iain is an associate of Green Templeton College in Oxford and a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Society of Arts. His 2009 book&nbsp;<em>Master and his Emissary</em>&nbsp;became a cult read and the recent follow-up, <em>The Matter with Things</em>&nbsp;took him 12 years to write (and is 600,000 words long!).</p><br><p>In this chat, we cover why societies start out creative, happy and flourishing (right-brained!) but switch left and destructive as they expand; the secret to living a well and happy life and how to find meaning and beauty in a world we possibly can’t “fix” (in the left-brain sense of the word).&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>SHOW NOTES</strong></p><p>Learn more about Iain's work via his <a href="https://channelmcgilchrist.com/home/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">website</a> and watch his videos <a href="https://channelmcgilchrist.com/free-videos/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>Buy Master and his Emissary and The Matter with Things <a href="https://amzn.to/3TrqsnG" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>Listen to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/dr-jill-bolte-taylor-the-neuroscientist-shows-sarah/id1548626341?i=1000536178783" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's Wild episode</a>.</p><br><p>--</p><br><p>If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "<a href="http://www.sarahwilson.com/about" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">about</a>" page</p><p>For more such conversations, subscribe to my<a href="https://sarahwilson.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Substack newsletter</a>, it’s where I interact the most!</p><p>Get your copy of my book,<a href="https://amzn.to/3vs3tf2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> This One Wild and Precious Life</a></p><p>Let’s connect on<a href="http://www.instagram.com/_sarahwilson_" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Instagram</a> and <a href="https://click.weare8.com/zMp3/1qib7lyt" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WeAre8</a></p><p><br></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>