In terms of anatomy and
physiology, the structure and basic functions of the brain is same in all human
beings. Then what is the reason that some people become scientists, some
artists, writers or otherwise talented and some do nothing, some are
intelligent to the level of genius while some are dullards or booby? The
intellectuals and thinkers of all ages have addressed this issue.
Ms. Betty Edwards writes in her
book entitled 'Drawing on the Right Side of Brain' that - the side hemisphere
of the brain is found to be more active in the people who are endowed with
creative talents. As such the left and the right parts together constitute the
complete brain. However, the right side of the brain is found to be relatively
more developed and active in the people having investigative mind with sound
reasoning and insight.
It is beyond the capacity of
human skill to comprehend the amazing features of the brain or decipher why the
eternal creator had given special roles to the two halves of a single organ.
The brain-material, which looks like a jelly, brown substance - made up of
thousand billions neurons, is the main power generator in the 'factory' of
body. It is million times better than the super computers of the most advanced
generation. Its central processing unit (CPU) receives, recognizes and
processes several bio-electrical signals simultaneously in a matter of just few
micro seconds. Bio-electrical signals are processed continuously in an active
brain at a high speed of over thousands per second. They constitute the basis
for the recognition and processing as per the informational impulses received
from the sense organs. The brain automatically produces the energy required for
its own processing and continues to work efficiently without any rest
throughout the normal life of a human being.
The right hemisphere of the brain
has been of special interest to the neuroscientists and psychologists of the
modern age. Dr. Stanley Angeleben has written a thought-provoking article on this
topic in the July 1988 issue of Reader's Digest. In this article entitled 'Are
You Thinking Right?', he has described significant aspects of the unique role
of the right side of the human brain. He states - "Most of us do not
realize th immense potential inherent in our own self, we are not able to drive
our intellect righteously. This is the reason why we are deprived of those
qualities which most of the talented great personalities possess as natural
endowments. Although it is not necessary for people in general to know the
detailed structure of the brain or analyze the positions and processing of
special functional centers in it. It would however, be beneficial for all the
people to be aware of - how to make the best use of this precious organ to
refine and rouse the mental and intellectual talents."
The learned writer further
describes that - it is well known that the right hemisphere of the brain
controls the motor and sensoty activities of the left half of the body and the
left hemisphere does that for the right portion of the body. The right side
part of the brain is considered to be the functional center for artistic
talents, soft emotions and crativity and its left counterpart is thought to
govern talents, skilful activities and extraordinary memoty…. However, it is
not found to be so in our daily activities.
When we try to recollect where a
particular object was kept, recall a person whom we had met earlier, or perform
similar tasks of retrieving the memory, we make more use of the right brain as
compared to the left. In the awaken state of the body - that is, for about 16
hours of a day on an average, when the conscious mind is active, the 'shift to
right' process is carried out by the corpus calosom. This process requires
about 50 watts per hour in a normal person's thinking.
Noble laureate, Dr. Roger Sperry
and his associates at the California Institute of Technology had analyzed the
activities of epileptic patients before and after the brain-surgery. It was
found that the coordination or separation of the dual activities (of the two
halves) of the brain change pattern of the electrical sparks (impulses) in it.
A split brain syndrome was developed in the patients when the center connecting
the left and the right halves of the brain was cut during the surgical Operations. Characteristics of
dual personality were then observed in the subjects/patients. Moreover, because
of lack of mutual cooperation and systematic organization and fine-tuning of
the intellectual functions of the two hemispheres of the brain, such people
were unable to make use of the specific talents they possessed. Similar kinds
of observations made in several neurological research laboratories have led to
drastic change in the classical views, about the role of the two halves of the human
brain. Better understanding of the brain functions has raised hopes for
creative use of neurosurgical operations.
People in the Nepalese society by
and large; force their lefty children to use the right hand instead of the left
for most of the essential tasks including eating, writing, etc. This conviction
also exists in the western society. The conventional views about 'righteousness
of the right hands is rather misleading. In fact, the right side brain of a
person who naturally use the left for every activity - be that holding a pen
while writing of griping a cricket bat or tennis racket while playing etc. is
more active that that in those who normally use the right hand.
Forcing a 'lefty' child to use
the right hand triggers the harmful processing of shift to the left in his
brain, this disturb the harmony between the two parts of his brain and
suppresses proper mental development of the child. As a result, such children
often suffer indecisiveness, mental complexes and psychological abnormalities;
development of dual personality is a common phenomenon in such cases. According
to Dr. Judie Helms of Connecticut, the right brain's major role is converted
into a minor one because of a forced transformation of the lefty persons into
'normal' by social convention ones. This should be avoided by generating social
awareness about the importance of using the right brain.
Many psychologists and psychiatrists
also opine that people can be trained to use their right side brains and thus
develop the faculties of balanced thinking and sound reasoning. The oriental
philosophy and ancient science of human mind also emphasize that a human being
is a controller of his own development. He can rouse the dormant talents and
make best use of his mental faculties by realizing the potentials of his right
side brain. Negligence of this half of the brain or improper use of its
creativity is one of the major causes of the insignificant development of one's
personality. We must therefore learn to activate this core of creative talents
and intelligence and harmonize it with the left side brain with the help of
simple spiritual practices like Dhyan (meditation)
When one mentally concentrates on
specific objects and links it with contemplation of divine ideals during deep
meditation, his consciousness gets linked with the subtle world. Gradually his
'inner eyes' - the centers of latent intellect - are awakened. If one sincerely
performs such experiments at a regular pace in daily life, there is no reason
why one would not be able to refine his intellect and activate some portion of
the unused 93% of the real potential of his brain! It should always be beard in
mind that righteous thinking and integrity of character are the key factors in supporting the
elevation of intellect by any practice of conditioning and harmonizing the
activities of brain.
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