Are You Left-Minded or Right-Minded?

How the Emergence of Right-Mindedness Unleashed Human Potential.

The profound dichotomy between left-brain and right-brain dominance and its implications carry significant weight in our everyday lives. The origins of the left mind can be traced back some 90 thousand years ago to a pivotal mutation in the visual cortex, which sparked the evolution of left-mindedness — the realm of the strategic-competitive mind.

As this mutation took hold, another mutation around the Renaissance took place. Right-mindedness flourished with the times. As we evolved being the dominant species, we began to relax, so to speak, and became more creative and receptive. We had been strategic and focused until that point.

It was not until the Renaissance (1500–1600) that a rebirth of humanism and creativity with a specific interest in individual potential, began to emerge. The Renaissance brought about a flourishing of the arts, science, philosophy, and literature. People began to celebrate human achievement and individual creativity. Artists, scientists, and thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Galileo pushed boundaries. People started exploring new worlds, both geographically and intellectually.

There was a significant movement toward humanism. People were seen as capable of shaping their destinies. They thought more about their aptitudes and individuality. It was reflected in art, literature, and scientific or philosophical inquiry. This period is where we first see a real intellectual emphasis on individual accomplishment. This shift is palpable in the explosion of creativity witnessed in the arts. In music, for instance, the works of composers like Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven exemplify the depth of human expression and emotional resonance that characterized this era. This impressive age rediscovered classical knowledge, evolving towards art, science, and personal exploration, which led to the Age of Enlightenment (1685–1815).

Sensitivity, empathy and awareness slowly began a journey of their own, away from reasoning, indifference and toughness.

Aware Empathy

Furthermore, this period of heightened right-mindedness coincided with significant progress in medicine and technology. In medicine, figures like Andreas Vesalius revolutionized anatomical understanding through meticulous dissections and anatomical illustrations, laying the groundwork for modern medical science. Technological innovations such as Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press, which emerged in the 15th century, facilitated the dissemination of knowledge on an unprecedented scale, catalyzing the spread of ideas and paving the way for the scientific revolution of the following centuries.

This blossoming of creativity and receptivity set the stage for the Industrial Age, which dawned in the 19th century. The technological innovations of this era, fueled by the fusion of scientific inquiry and entrepreneurial spirit, transformed the fabric of society and ushered in an era of unprecedented progress and industrialization. From the steam engine pioneered by James Watt to the telegraph developed by Samuel Morse, these advancements reshaped the landscape of human civilization and propelled humanity into a new era of prosperity and innovation.

The Effect of the Left Mind Versus the Right

Today, this evolutionary milestone is conceptualized as the distinction between the left and right hemispheres of the brain: one embodying focused, strategic seeing (left), and the other embracing all-encompassing, receptive seeing (right).

The evolution of focused seeing over millennia has conferred upon us considerable advantages, shaping the very fabric of our existence through traits like focus, concentration, and strategic survival instincts. However, it has also ushered in a realm fraught with negative connotations, characterized by cutthroat competition and the relentless pursuit of dominance over others — exemplified throughout history by figures like Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, and more recent dictators such as Stalin and Hitler.

But it goes back to the beginning of this mutation in the visual cortex, this mutation that leads to all-seeing (receptivity), which is what right orientation means. According to scientists, especially neurologists, approximately 50% of the world population carry rightness.

On this side of the dividing line are the all-seers: the receptives. They see more than the others as they are equipped to be all-encompassing. And on this side of the dividing line are the narrow seers: the strategic folks, very focused. It’s just the way that it is. It’s not about one is better than the other. It is about difference. The narrow-focused strategic mutation has been very beneficial for us for the last hundred thousand years. It gave us an enormous advantage over our predecessors the Neanderthal. It allowed us to manifest the world that we built through focus, strategies, and planning.

It also brought so many of the negatives that the strategic being brought. It brought the dog-eat-dog world. It brought the world that Lao Tzu hated so much, the world of narrow focus, the world in which the mind distorts and controls. He called it the end of the natural way. It’s so easy to see the dislike for what human beings carry within themselves.

There is a great sense of unfulfillment and a great sense of lack of triumph in the way in which most receptive beings feel about themselves in this world. They always feel secondary to the pressures of the strategic phenomena. It is something that bruises them in the end.

If you add to that the fact that so much of humanity feels a lack of self-worth. It hurts them, how they cannot compete with the strategic world and how the strategic world sets up the competition. All of this leads to a sense of failure, a sense of lack of worth, a sense of not being able to fit in, and a sense of being different in the most negative way. A huge psychological burden that is placed on them is that they’re constantly trying to find a way to turn their all-encompassing seeing into narrow seeing.

What About You?

In my long experience working with individuals and groups, a prevalent observation has emerged: there exists a multitude of right-minded individuals, inherently more receptive than calculating or strategic. Consider, for instance, the artist lost in the flow of creation, effortlessly tapping into their intuition to birth works that transcend the confines of rationality. Or the empathetic listener, attuned to the unspoken nuances of human emotion, who fosters genuine connections through their innate ability to understand and empathize with others’ experiences.

Moreover, the realm of innovation and entrepreneurship often thrives on the fertile soil of right-minded receptivity. Think of the visionary entrepreneur who, unencumbered by the constraints of conventional thinking, dares to defy the status quo and pioneer groundbreaking solutions to pressing societal challenges. Similarly, the scientist, driven by curiosity and wonder, delves into the mysteries of the universe with childlike fascination, unearthing profound insights that reshape our understanding of the cosmos.

Watch Out

For the predominantly right-minded child and individual, the relentless pressures exerted by the strategic left-minded paradigm can prove overwhelming. Attempting to navigate a world steeped in strategic maneuvering with tools rooted in competition can engender profound psychological suffering. It perpetually forces receptive and more sensitive individuals to contort their innate nature to fit into a mold that feels inherently harsh. They are simply not focused but it is an incredible gift!

Receptivity and sensitivity, with their built-in acceptance and openness, possess the transformative power to mold and shape reality into a more malleable and loving form — a process often accomplished with far greater efficacy than its adversarial counterpart. The strategic being is always concerned with “getting it done”, while the receptive will probe the unknown and wait for the right moment. Its motto is “do without doing and the doing gets done”. That’s the magic.

Resistance and Rejection

Resistance and pushing are left-minded phenomena. Whether physical, emotional, or mental, it represents a state of consciousness in opposition to anything that threatens its survival. Unfortunately, it is a commonplace ancestral habit deeply ingrained within our social fabric. While very powerful, the left-minded focus is narrow—it only sees what is in front of it or what it can infer from the past. Our entire civilization has been built from the strategic mind. Traditions, religions, institutions, political systems, moralities, mythologies, social constructs, and philosophies, all stem from left-mind activity. Even consciousness is believed to be the consciousness of the mind. All sorts of other pseudo-institutions like shame, guilt, responsibility, blame, and existential fears, came into existence.

Being right-minded means you see “all the focuses possible”. It’s a tremendous upgrade in relationship to the one-focus principle of the left-minded individual. A left-mind person “has to focus” or they retain nothing. Right means you take in all the focuses imaginable from an experience. The real difference is that you do not have access to what you take in, that would be strategic. A right-minded person is a gigantic sponge, while a left-minded person is a napkin.

The left people only remember what they focus on, while the right people take in everything but cannot access it themselves.

How to Understand What the Right Mind Feels

The right-minded person is like a deep well: it holds an immense reservoir of knowledge, emotions, and insights, but that reservoir is hidden beneath the surface. They cannot draw from it directly on their own, and so often feel powerless in the absence of external prompts or stimulation. The left-minded person, by contrast, is like a faucet — they can turn on their focus and retrieve information at will, channeling it in a clear, controlled stream. This leaves the right-minded individual feeling dependent on external “prompts” to bring their depths to the surface.

A Right-Mind is the Ocean, The Left-Mind a River

A right-minded individual is like the ocean and holds an expansive capacity to take in all flows, its depths containing multitudes of possibilities. It doesn’t need to focus on any single point. The river, however, is like the left mind — narrow and forceful, focused on its specific course, carving out its path in one direction. The river is about direct progress and purpose, while the ocean embodies vastness and receptivity, not immediately concerned with a specific outcome.

The right mind reflects everything, passively capturing all that it encounters. Like a mirror, it holds the totality of what’s before it without breaking it down. The left mind, on the other hand, uses a magnifying glass to inspect and analyze the details, focusing intently on one aspect while necessarily excluding the broader picture. The magnifying glass allows precision but misses the wholeness of reality.

The Brilliant but Quiet Student

In a classroom, there is always the brilliant student who absorbs everything like a sponge — right-minded by nature — but they sit in silence. They are filled with knowledge, but until the teacher calls on them, they cannot access it. When finally asked to contribute, they surprise everyone by sharing profound insights that seem to come out of nowhere. This illustrates the right-minded person’s struggle: they carry great wisdom, but feel unable to draw it out without someone else acting as a catalyst.

The Genius Artist:

Picture a right-minded painter who sits before a blank canvas. They are flooded with potential, filled with images and emotions, yet paralyzed by the inability to focus or harness it. It isn’t until a friend or colleague asks a simple question — “What’s on your mind?” — that they suddenly light up, and the floodgates open. The painting that emerges isn’t a result of planning, but of being invited to unlock the wellspring within. Left to their own devices, the artist might feel stuck, frustrated, and helpless without that spark of interaction.

Feelings of Helplessness

For right-minded people, this lack of access can feel like helplessness. They sense they hold a vast, internal universe, but without the right external interaction, it remains inaccessible. This can lead to frustration, as they are often misunderstood, and seen as passive or vague when in truth they possess incredible richness within. In contrast, left-minded individuals are perceived as confident and in control because their mode of thinking allows for immediate action, focus, and retrieval of information.

The Well and The Rope

Imagine a well without a rope. The water is there — plentiful, nourishing, and deep — but the person who owns the well cannot reach it without the help of someone else who can lower the rope and draw it up. Right-minded individuals often feel they have a vast reservoir of potential, but without someone to lower the “rope” (through interaction, questioning, or external engagement), that potential remains untapped. The left-minded person is the opposite: they don’t have as deep a well, but they have direct access to it, always equipped with their rope and bucket.

The Introverted Entrepreneur

Take the example of an introverted, right-minded entrepreneur. They are teeming with revolutionary ideas, but they can’t seem to articulate them or pitch them in board meetings. Then, in a casual conversation with a close friend, they are asked about their opinion about where the company should be headed. The friend acts as the “interference” that triggers their flow. In a structured, left-minded environment, this individual might feel helpless and trapped, but in the right relational context, their potential becomes limitless.

Embracing Receptivity and Acceptance

Relaxation opens the door to your receptivity and creativity. In its simplest form, it leads to a reduction of resistance. By embracing acceptance and receptivity, you become free of several important left-mind principles: Fear of survival, pressure to win at all costs, anxiety about your self-image, and one-track limited thinking. In my view, it becomes crucial early in our development, to realize that it is “senseless and purposeless competitive behaviors” that lead to dysfunction, anxiety, and depression. It also leads to unfounded jealousy, low self-esteem, and an absence of self-worth. Our ability to perform suffers greatly. Conversely, healthy competing, such as in sports speaks more of the joy in being receptive to test your limits rather than kill the opponent.

By allowing receptivity to reign supreme, one begins to perceive with greater clarity and depth. Confidence, then, emerges as the quintessential manifestation of right-minded receptivity. After all, why resort to strategic maneuvering when one possesses unwavering certainty? Thus, the phenomenon of the right “all-seeing” stands as a potent catalyst for nurturing confidence in all facets of life. Please remember, a right-minded individual cannot focus — it is unhealthy for them. The irony is that if they stay present, let’s say listening to a lecture, they take in all the focuses imaginable from the experience.

Practicing Receptivity

Take time to observe how you respond to different situations, particularly when you’re faced with creative or problem-solving tasks. Do you find yourself waiting for insight to “arrive” naturally, as if through intuition, or do you immediately start planning and strategizing?

If you tend to absorb information passively and wait for inspiration to surface, you may lean toward right-mindedness. If you’re more likely to break down problems methodically and follow structured steps, you’re probably more left-minded.

Experiment with activities that require flow and spontaneity, such as drawing, free writing, or improvising with music. Right-minded individuals often thrive when there are no strict rules or outcomes. Notice how comfortable or uncomfortable you feel letting go of control in these activities.

The right mind enjoys open-ended exploration without an agenda, while the left mind seeks to organize and create a plan. How do you feel when you release control versus when you focus on a specific goal?

Decision-Making

Think about how you typically make decisions. Do you rely on gut feelings and intuition, trusting the answers will come to you? Or do you prefer to analyze options logically, weigh pros and cons, and then choose? Right-minded people often “know” before they understand, while left-minded people require clear reasoning to move forward.