[Rodney Marsh]

a few more points….

1. I can take nothing of my scant knowledge of the hemisphere hypothesis into my practice of silence and stillness. Like everything, it must be decreated, but since it is part of the flow of my life. Yet, what is ‘given up’ of our life is, however, restored in full, nothing is lost. Much more is gained that cannot be discovered without the first self being lost. This mystical insight is surely of cruicial importance in psychology.

2. Upon observing my meditation practices there are two other ‘hemispheric’ practices I use: – I rest my right (LH) open hand in my open left hand (RH) in representation that it is now time for the LH to rest and assure it that is being safely supported by the RH – I pay (not always, but often) attention to my breathing in a chiastic way: in breath with attention to the RHS of my body and LHS of my brain and in the out breath switch attention to the LHS of my body and the RHS of my brain. I tried the Yogic bi nostril breathing and without blocking one side of my nose with my finger (just using attention) – this goes: out (RHS) in (LHS) out (LHS) in (RHS) out (RHS) but I found it difficult and switched to my own version.

3. The relevance of neuroscience for psychological practice…. I remember reading pre- McGilchrist Marilynne Robinson in ‘The Givenness of Things’ in her chapter on Humanism of how a non-scientific neurology has removed the humanity from humanism. “Nothing can account for the reductionist tendencies among neuroscientists except a lack of rigor and consistency, a a loyalty to conclusions that a prior to evidence and argument, and an indifference to science as a while.”….. “One might reasonably suspect that the large and costly machines that do the imaging are very crude tools whose main virtue is that they provide the kind of data their uses desire and no more.” etc. etc. devastating critique!