Left-Sided, Right-Sided Thinking

[RMX]

A quick Google search lead me to this.   

(Please NOTE:   IMO, this information comes from a Left-Sided heavy perspective, most Western intellectual/academic/scientific expressions do.)  But, remember that the key here is balance.  We should strive for and develope balance.   

However, I must also note that most forms of spirituality are right-sided heavy and since predominant Western thought and culture has little to no experience in effective forms of spiritual development, **looks to the East for clarity and guidance** it is often not given proper justice when discussed.  Many times vague and misleading descriptions are given (left-sided activity)  for opposing right-sided activities due to a lack of right-sided, intuitive, insperience (as opposed to experience) by the communicator or medium of communication.   


http://www.web-us.com/brain/right_left_brain_characteristics.htm

It isnt a black or white thing, although most will agree that generally european thought is left-sided and afrikan thought is right-sided or leaning that way respectively.   

[t-t-t-toxic]

did i already post something about this? about a man dancing and you gotta identify what way its turning..

[RMX]

I don't know.  I don't think I have seen anything like that on the forum **checks both sides of brain**  No I don't believe I have.   

This thread is moreso for Gos who requested it.

[Bob]

RMX, do you got any academic or peer-reviewed sources?

I have never taken Neuro-Psychology [will next semester], but know that hemispheres do not correspond to these classification that clearly. For instance, the majority (90%) of us, language is specialized in the left, because that is where the Broca's and Wernicke's area are located. In contrast, the perception of non-speech sounds like coughing, crying, laughter, etc is localized in the right hemisphere.

At the moment, I haven't read of anything suggesting Africans and Europeans mindset clusters toward different hemispheres. If that is the case, do you have any academic (peer-review) sources suggest that?

From Wiki:

Broad generalizations are often made in popular psychology about certain function (eg. logic, creativity) being lateralised, that is, located in the right or left side of the brain. These ideas need to be treated carefully because the popular lateralizations are often distributed across both sides.[1] However, there is some division of mental processing. Probably most fundamental to brain lateralization is the fact that the lateral sulcus is generally longer in the left hemisphere than in the right hemisphere. Researchers have been investigating to what extent areas of the brain are specialized for certain functions. If a specific region of the brain is injured or destroyed, their functions can sometimes be recovered by neighboring brain regions - even opposite hemispheres. This depends more on the age and the damage occurred than anything else. Link

[t-t-t-toxic]

ok my bad. it was on another forum and i sent it to a lot of msn people. my mistake

[Bob]

This seems more like popular psychology to me. Is there any validity to the idea that African thinking is exclusively right-minded and Western is exclusively left-minded?

[Godfather of Soul]

No.  Because there is no single European way of thinking nor a single African way of thinking, but rather an amalgam of different traditions.  Itallian philosophy differs SIGNIFICANTLY from Scottish.  Descendants of the Akan think differently from a Somali. 

[Bob]

No.  Because there is no single European way of thinking nor a single African way of thinking, but rather an amalgam of different traditions.  Itallian philosophy differs SIGNIFICANTLY from Scottish.  Descendants of the Akan think differently from a Somali. 

Exactly.

[Sativa Indica]

what bout the thing from the hpstage negotiator is that true.

when we lie we look up and ot the right, the creative side of our brain. but if we tell the truth we look to the left, and acces our memory banks.

[kittenslayer]

I Saw dat on the movie with Samuel L Jackson

[Bob]

what bout the thing from the hpstage negotiator is that true.

when we lie we look up and ot the right, the creative side of our brain. but if we tell the truth we look to the left, and acces our memory banks.

Well that is highly generalized. We do both. Creativity isn't centralized. The language centres, whether its the San people in Africa, the Hans in Chinese or the Saami people in Northern Europe, is predominantly lateralized on the left side. I wouldn't want to suggest that the left side isn't creative as well. That includes body language, btw.

The ability to perceive and visualize spatial relationships is lateralized on the right hemisphere. In this case, the same could be said, creativity isn't exclusive left-sided either.

[RMX]

This seems more like popular psychology to me. Is there any validity to the idea that African thinking is exclusively right-minded and Western is exclusively left-minded?

Who said exclusively??  (Guys I think you are better than that) Everyone uses the L/R side however IN GENERAL people are usually leaning (or heavy ) to one side or the other.   That generality can be applied to a wider set, in this instance I am refering to European and Afrikan respectively.   

I am trying to find some online sources I can refer to you that I feel speak on this from right-sided leaning approach because IMO that will take into account key significant manifestations of right-sided thinking, specifically spirituality and the like which can be found as an integral component of everyday societal living throughtout Africa and many other eastern cultures but NOT limited exclusively to the mentioned regions or people.

This isn't a clear cut black or white (either it is or it isn't) concept but when one is left-sided heavy it makes it a bit more difficult to find the gray area in issues and thus resorts to extreme polarities such as it is or it isn't but most certainly it can NOT be both.   No. 

   
Posted on: December 04, 2007, 05:55:36 amI found this webpage which lists several different works from many sources, many of which are discussing the topic from a Eastern (right-sided heavy) perspective.   If you do a highlighted search, it would make it easier to pull out relevant information.   These are just excerpts from the actual works of the authors but enough are listed to give you a tatse (if you haven't had one already) of what these modes means and their application in everyday life.   

http://www.naturalgenesis.net/default.taf?_function=bib&ID=59


Also here is an article from Yale Daily News about a lecturer who discusses the diffrences between Eastern v. Western modes of thought.   In this instance, the Far East (Asia) is used to note the diffrences in the proposed two modes of thought.   

http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/15596?badlink=1   



Hopefully this suffices for now and lends support to what I have stated earlier.   
Again, let me point out that it isn't a black or white thing but seemingly environmental and the regional implications of the prevailing thoughts and attitudes of a particular region.   

[Godfather of Soul]

Backtracking are we...

http://www.naturalgenesis.net/default.taf?_function=chapter&ID=1

= LOL

http://www.web-us.com/binaural.htm

=LMAO

As for the Yale Daily News report:

"Professor Nisbett challenges us to be more skeptical of claims of universal laws and thought," Salovey said. "He shows us that culture plays out in more ways than social behavior."

But Stephanie Finnel '07 said she felt Nisbett's lecture did not sufficiently address more specific issues in the psychology of different nationalities.

"I wished he had discussed recent research on other populations rather than just a comparison of Eastern and Western modes of thought," she said. "While I admire [Nisbett's] research, I think that other dimensions of psychology could have been brought out more in the lecture."

But nice attempt at reducing the billions of people who compose those cultures into modes of thought based on 2 studies. 

As for the spiritual part...Yeah, Europeans and their descendants aren't spiritual at all; or not as spiritual as the descendants of Africans.  You live in Florida and have the audacity to make some sweeping generalization like that.

SMH.

[RMX]

Backtracking are we...

How so? 

Quote
"Professor Nisbett challenges us to be more skeptical of claims of universal laws and thought," Salovey said. "He shows us that culture plays out in more ways than social behavior."

But Stephanie Finnel '07 said she felt Nisbett's lecture did not sufficiently address more specific issues in the psychology of different nationalities.

"I wished he had discussed recent research on other populations rather than just a comparison of Eastern and Western modes of thought," she said. "While I admire [Nisbett's] research, I think that other dimensions of psychology could have been brought out more in the lecture."

What are you emphasizing here? 

But nice attempt at reducing the billions of people who compose those cultures into modes of thought based on 2 studies. 

These modes of thought are in a general sense yet applicable and hold true in most cases however they are not impervious and final.   Many factors are involved in this equation, many of which left-sided heavy persons and institutions wont even consider because it defies prevailing western logic, (in most instances confined to the 5 senses ONLY)   It is akin to when some westerners were exposed to ancients hieroglyphs and quickly reduced it down to a primitive  form of basic writing, period.   Hieroglyphs may appear to be simple symbols but their meanings and implications were/are profound and worked in more way than just one.  (Words alone did no justice to the real and actual meanings of these concepts, somethings there are no words for; Judaism shows this when G-d [YWH] is attempted to be written or spoken)This is something that the most intelligent of westerners still fail to 'see' because of a lack of balance and/or application of both hemispheres of the brain but specifically the right-side.   It can be viewed as the "I" vs. "We" mentality.  You tell me which side of the two just mentioned dominates prevailing thought and action in the West? ...hence trickling down into other aspects of society, i.e, schooling, medicine, private v. communal property, so on and so forth.   

As for the spiritual part...Yeah, Europeans and their descendants aren't spiritual at all; or not as spiritual as the descendants of Africans.  You live in Florida and have the audacity to make some sweeping generalization like that.

I didn't say Europeans aren't spiritual. I said--- (AND YOU OFTEN DO THIS--cleverly twist words up)

Western thought and culture has little to no experience in effective forms of spiritual development

which intentionally leaves room for those who exercise this activity and manifest it in their lives, (sorta like my white guru, remember him??) 

This is a reason why many people, especially westerners and the like, get caught up with 'literal' interpretations of spiritual stories which are meant to be allegorical in nature and appeal more so to the right-side of the brain.  They often thought and still think that there was actual a devil somewhere with a pitch fork in hand or that God is actually a man, a whiteman at that, but I digress...  The sheer number of atheist in Western culture is phenomenal (sp?) and it reflects this inability of many to even begin to grasp the concept of a universal, omnipresent creator, something that was considered normal and a part of daily life in prevailing eastern thought and cultures, i.e., the diverse forms of ancestorial and creator worship that africans and asians find themselves living with ubiquitously.   Consider the use of oracles, shamans, priests, offerings, and sacrifice to 'unseen' but real forces.   You don't acknowledge this, do you?   

And what does me living in Florida have anything to do with this?   Is it because this is a key spiritual hub in the west?   Maybe so but please make note of how and why this exists and from where it came from?   Surely not the slavemaster, who was busy trying to make literal sense of the Bible after it was tampered with and revised repeatedly by other Westerners, most notably King James.   

[Bob]

Wow RMX.

Did you know that South Europe is just an extension of Africa as much of the "Middle East"? Southern Europe received significant culture flow from Africa (agriculture, writing, religion, etc). The Northern Europeans adopted this culture. These cultures cluster closer to those in the Middle Kingdoms of China.

The usually crime of Eurocentrism is the constant disassociation with Black African culture. The second cultural wave from Africa to Europe and SW Asia, vice versa is actually the Abrahamic culture. The Hebrews who developed Judaism, which preceded in Egypt, and was written with a script (Hieroglyphs) and tongue (Semitic - Afroasiatic) that is African in origin.

Reverse-flow from Europe/SW Asia to Africa followed. This could include the high European matrilineal input North Africans which certainly was not culture-free (i.e. high female input in offspring culture), to the EurAsiatic powers that later influenced Africa (i.e. Greek, Italian, Turkish, to the English, French, etc). Both African and European culture have a strong relationship with each other for thousands of years and that remains today. 

This spirituality you speak likely clusters closer to European one. Why would it not? The two continents were constantly interaction with each other, more so than China, the Olmec Civilization, etc. In fact, the language and religion input from Africa was far greater than even Mesopotamia! Both African and European culture greatly overlap. Now that is how you make valid generalizations. It's clear that you're trying to cluster GoS toward to those "left-minded" to eliminate academic discourse.

For your information, such discipline is something the West does not even accept openly. Besides academic discourse that resembles peer-review, well-defined and standardized analysis, was independently developed and used in Africa, just as it was developed independently in China! Academic discourse and its symbiotic partner, scientific observation are natural. It has nothing to do with the West, but more so with progressive thinking. To provide ideas without substantiation is dogma, and has led to virtually all the errors in human interaction.

This isn't a clear cut black or white (either it is or it isn't) concept but when one is left-sided heavy it makes it a bit more difficult to find the gray area in issues and thus resorts to extreme polarities such as it is or it isn't but most certainly it can NOT be bot  N,o.

No one is left or right heavy. It varies per specific functions. Certain are left, while others are right. The vast majority (90%) of us have our language functions lateralized on our left-side. Our spatial perception and production is usually right-leaned.  Both hemisphere includes a significant source of our creativity.

[Godfather of Soul]

How so? 

Initially you said that white people used one side of their brain and now you are backtracking saying that it's not quite that universal.  That's backtracking.

What are you emphasizing here? 

"Professor Nisbett challenges us to be more skeptical of claims of universal laws and thought," Salovey said.

"I wished he had discussed recent research on other populations rather than just a comparison of Eastern and Western modes of thought," she said. "While I admire [Nisbett's] research, I think that other dimensions of psychology could have been brought out more in the lecture."

I didn't say Europeans aren't spiritual. I said--- (AND YOU OFTEN DO THIS--cleverly twist words up)
Quote
Western thought and culture has little to no experience in effective forms of spiritual development
which intentionally leaves room for those who exercise this activity and manifest it in their lives, (sorta like my white guru, remember him??)

SEMANTICS!

These modes of thought are in a general sense yet applicable and hold true in most cases however they are not impervious and final.   Many factors are involved in this equation, many of which left-sided heavy persons and institutions wont even consider because it defies prevailing western logic, (in most instances confined to the 5 senses ONLY)   It is akin to when some westerners were exposed to ancients hieroglyphs and quickly reduced it down to a primitive  form of basic writing, period.   Hieroglyphs may appear to be simple symbols but their meanings and implications were/are profound and worked in more way than just one.  (Words alone did no justice to the real and actual meanings of these concepts, somethings there are no words for; Judaism shows this when G-d [YWH] is attempted to be written or spoken)This is something that the most intelligent of westerners still fail to 'see' because of a lack of balance and/or application of both hemispheres of the brain but specifically the right-side.   It can be viewed as the "I" vs. "We" mentality.  You tell me which side of the two just mentioned dominates prevailing thought and action in the West? ...hence trickling down into other aspects of society, i.e, schooling, medicine, private v. communal property, so on and so forth.   

Yeah, communism and socialism totally fit in the I vs. We dynamic.  Man, your sweeping generalities are so easy to shoot MASSIVE holes in.

As for African thought, you don't know anything about contemporary African thought, just some made up historical thought.  You concede that you know very little about what is going on right now in Africa.  Sad really, but an admission that you made here on this site.  I can tell you that contemporary African thought is influenced by the likes of Amilcar Cabral, Steve Biko, CLR James and Frantz Fanon than you are aware of.  All of them were heavily influenced by SOCIALISM or COMMUNISM.  But they are just godless Africans or people of African descent who were/are materialists.

This is a reason why many people, especially westerners and the like, get caught up with 'literal' interpretations of spiritual stories which are meant to be allegorical in nature and appeal more so to the right-side of the brain.  They often thought and still think that there was actual a devil somewhere with a pitch fork in hand or that God is actually a man, a whiteman at that, but I digress...  The sheer number of atheist in Western culture is phenomenal (sp?) and it reflects this inability of many to even begin to grasp the concept of a universal, omnipresent creator, something that was considered normal and a part of daily life in prevailing eastern thought and cultures, i.e., the diverse forms of ancestorial and creator worship that africans and asians find themselves living with ubiquitously.   Consider the use of oracles, shamans, priests, offerings, and sacrifice to 'unseen' but real forces.   You don't acknowledge this, do you?

Or it reflects their ability to reject something for which there is no evidence.  You love the generalizations, but there are many, many Africans TODAY who don't sit around and pray and ask the spirits for intervention.  MOST of those who FOUGHT AND DIED in the anti-colonial struggles were committed to something that had NOTHING to do with what you claim their values are. 

Consider CHINA.  Consider JAPAN.  Two of the most SECULAR societies on the earth. 

I can acknowledge that people do a lot of things.  A lot of people believe in alien abductions and  can't identify places on a map.  That doesn't mean that they are RIGHT!

And what does me living in Florida have anything to do with this?   Is it because this is a key spiritual hub in the west?   Maybe so but please make note of how and why this exists and from where it came from?   Surely not the slavemaster, who was busy trying to make literal sense of the Bible after it was tampered with and revised repeatedly by other Westerners, most notably King James.

It was a comment about how you deny the spirituality or spiritual expressions of white people as being "ineffective".  You live in the bible belt and can see it for yourself.  I have no idea what the second part of that statement is in relation to.  But you imply that white people's spirituality is less authentic because it is "literal".  Hardly.  It is just as meaningless and worthless as yours.  You share the common thread of wasting a great deal of energy on "communing" with something that isn't there. 

*watches big group hug between RMX and white Christians"

 

[Drizzle]

What is RMX's religion?

[Bob]

^ Some Afro-Eurasian supra-religion.

In the end, it doesn't really matter, anyway, because they're all irrelevant. Secularism is the only way for progress. Evidence from the spiritual realm is null, instead evidence should be only from the objective academic realm where peer-review is supreme.

Now, I want to see how future threads goes.

[jameslporter]

it's not a product of what exact genetic composition, it's a product of social conditioning.

the more secular we become, the less race would be an issue when people consider with whom they should have children with.