right vs left brain. which lends to a better, clearer view of life? to greater happiness and satisfaction? creativity or logic? to be clear, the idea of a dominant hemisphere determining your personality is completely unscientific (guess that shows which side i use

). but the two approaches to life are undeniably real and often lead people to vastly different perspectives on life. but which works better?

obligatory disclaimer about "betterness": wkwisgawib

life goals

first we have to decide what we want out of life. what everyone wants out of life, assuming there's a general rule. and that's hard to do when everyone is so different. some people want money and fame; others want a simple life in the mountains; and still others want everything in between. some people live only for themselves while others live lives of selfless service.

but i would suggest that we do live our lives in this one similar way: we always do what we want (within the constraints of our abilities–-no bending spoons with your mind). some people take issue with this idea:

i don't want to [pay my taxes / mow the lawn / change my kid's diaper], but that's life. sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do.

and that's a totally fair point! we do do things we don't want to do, no argument there. but that's only because some of our wants are in conflict. i want to keep my money, but i don't want the irs to arrest me. so i do the thing i want the most–-i preserve my freedom by paying the tax man.

it's important to note here that this brings the idea of selflessness into question, if you define it as the complete lack of selfish motivation. when doing something for others, you're still doing it for yourself on some level. people who volunteer at soup kitchens are often doing it, at worst, out of a sense of obligaton or, at best, because it makes them feel good. either way, they're ultimately doing it for themselves. and that's okay. whether we label it "selfish" or "selfless" ultimately doesn't change the reality of the act, and the reality is that it helps others regardless of the label you use. ultimately it just means we probably ought to think of "selflessness" as "actions that benefit others and give us little reward other than a warm fuzzy feeling." but i emphasize this because it's important not to let labels like "selfless" get in the way of understanding that, ultimately, we all do what we most want.

so how does "want" tie into left vs right brain? i'm going to simplify the jump by suggesting that "want" can be broken down into two parts:

1. decreasing suffering
2. increasing happiness

everything that we "want" can be boiled down to satisfying one of those two conditions. so there we have it: not just one, but two general rules for how everyone lives their lives!

left brain

yeah, i'm gonna use the incorrect nomenclature. these people are strong logical thinkers. e.g. math, science, engineering…

for myself in particular, i love programming. i enjoy analyzing a complex problem, breaking it into pieces, and finding the most efficient, elegant solution my modicum of skill can muster. what's beautiful is, after doing this for a while, you can begin to see patterns emerge from various situations. and if you're lucky, you can zoom out to see how separate patterns relate to each other. and the more you do this, the more you discover this beautifully complex, interconnected system of… frankly, everything if you zoom out far enough.

that's logic. it breaks everything down and analyzes it. when i'm coding, i can sometimes see 100 different possible ways to solve a problem, and then i just have to pick the best path.

right brain

people who are right brain dominant typically exude stronger creativity. e.g. art, expression, emotion…

for myself (screw it, i already decided everyone's a selfish sob, so i'm just gonna talk about myself some more

), i adore writing. i've often described my process as non-thinking: it feels like i'm channeling the words more than thinking about what i'm writing (for better or worse ). and when simple words fall short of capturing the heart, poetry–-with its beautiful rhyme, imagery, and rhythm–-is better equipped to express that which simple words cannot.

it's all about heart–-creativity and expression. getting in touch with you, and then using that to further connect with the world.

les deux

what's interesting to note is that you can see patterns start to emerge from creative expression just as you can with logical processes. sonnets all follow a certain structure, and though some despise this in art as "limiting", i'm not sure many would argue that shakespeare's many works were inartistic, uncreative, or lacking in beauty.

believe it or not, most art–-whether you're throwing paint at a canvas or drawing a nature scene–-tends to follow a certain pattern in regards to its colors. you can use something called a "fourier analysis" of the colors and produce a simple chart that, for most pictures, has a line going from the top left to the bottom right:

fourier analysis of image colors^[1]

what's super interesting here, is that artists with various mental disorders actually end up unconsciously expressing that in their art! for schizophrenia, the typically linear fourier anlysis instead shows a much steeper beginning, a plateu with a spike, and a much steeper dropoff. you would never be able to tell just by looking at their art, but careful analysis reveals that patterns underlie everything.

what this should tell us is that left brain and right brain–-creativity and logic–-are not so different. they aren't completely at a head. i think the above example shows quite nicely how they can complement each other and, together, give us an ever broadening understanding of ourselves and this reality.

it also shows us just how pervasive patterns are, whether we're logical or creative. but it's logic that shows us those patterns. this means that a fuller understanding and mastery of creativity would benefit from a little bit of logic and pattern recognition. but i think it's also fair to say that, in the quest to "maximize happiness", you have to know what it is that makes you happy–-what stirs your heart? for this you need… well… to be in touch with your heart

you need both.

logic reveals the many paths that lie before you*. listening to the heart reveals which one is right for you.

*it's worth pointing out that this is another case of logic-heart synergy. by using logic to analyze many paths, you gain a greater ability to see life from others' perspectives, which can ultimately lend to greater empathy and understanding.

mythos

and that's why the left vs right brain myth is actually somewhat dangerous. the article linked at the beginning explains this succinctly: your belief regarding your limits and your abilities helps to shape them. when you declare someone "right brained" or "left brained"–-and they believe it–-many people tend to stop believing that they can excel in one or the other. and while it might be true that many people naturally lean towards one or the other, no one is stuck where they're at. everyone's lives would benefit from practicing, strengthening, and balancing both.

fin

if we all want to maximize happiness, we need to know what makes us happy. if we want to minimize suffering, we need to know what causes our suffering. this requires logic for reflection and self analysis. to see the patterns in our behaviors and the connection between various events in our lives. to see the many paths that we might take. but it also requires a deep connection with our heart to really understand what we want, what we don't want, and which of those paths is right for us.

let logic light the the paths that lie before. let your heart be your guide.

@shitchell –- february 21, 2021

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1. world science festival
   madness redefined: creativity, intelligence and the dark side of the mind
   https://youtu.be/sPiah-8pCQk?t=796 ↩︎