British philosopher, psychiatrist, and author Iain McGilchrist appeared recently on the Andrew Klavan Show to talk about the right and left hemispheres of the brain, their roles, and how materialism fails to describe the nature of reality.

McGilchrist believes that western culture has, for far too long, prioritized the left hemisphere of the brain, which deals with survival, acquisition, and self-preservation. The left side of the brain is concerned about the here and now. The right side of the brain, which McGilchrist calls “far more sophisticated,” is “concerned with the whole picture.”

McGilchrist uses the metaphor of maps to illustrate how these two hemispheres differ from one another. The left hemisphere offers a simplistic picture of the world that doesn’t allow for complexity and nuance. The right side, on the other hand, is designed to accommodate for complexity. Again, it strives to account for a bigger picture beyond mere survival, regarding the world as a harmony of relationships. However, we often mistake the map for the world itself, and as a result, find ourselves lost and unmoored in the modern world.

“The left hemisphere, left to itself, is deluded,” says McGilchrist. It lacks context. It will try to force things into its own purview.

Klavan and McGilchrist go on to talk about religion and spirituality, and how religion is perhaps the most important way we human beings try to deal with the “big picture.” The right side of the brain concerns itself with the overarching questions that have haunted humanity for generations; we ask questions, and have deep longings, for cosmic truth, beauty, goodness, and a sense of the sacred. If we disavow the right hemisphere of the brain, we lose touch, ultimately, with a sense of the transcendent.