The Split Brain
Resisting the Split
I like poetry and science. I love spreadsheets and art. Not only is that ok, but I believe we are all wired in nuanced ways where simple “this vs that” ways of categorizing people and their experiences fall short.
For too long, my love of and training in science had me pigeon-holed as someone who only sees data, facts, and a purely logical way of processing. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve been able to rekindle the love of fantasy, world-building, and poetry in which I was once immersed.
Along this journey, I’ve learned to resist the categories that so quickly drop us into a bucket. These categories, or “false dichotomies,” really limit the beauty of the image of God stamped in unique ways into each of us.
The False Dichotomies
Here are some of the most common false dichotomies:
Left brain vs right brain is among the most common, leveraging simplistic brain science terminology to limit how people process the world.
Creative vs analytical, as if creatives can’t think critically and analytical minds can’t have spontaneous or reflective insights.
To the most extreme, this becomes beauty vs facts. Raw information says little of something’s value or purpose and appreciating something from a completely subjective point of view often distorts what is true and real. We must hunger for both to function day to day and savor each moment.
In more corporate settings, the language centers on logical vs lateral thinking. The idea here is that some of us think only in a very methodical, logical, “one thing leads to another” pattern. Others take their thinking laterally, in new directions with “outside the box” thinking. But the most logical thinkers in history had moments of lateral brainstorming to invent or discover the greatest inventions or discoveries that we take for granted. Meanwhile, the most laterally minded thinkers need those moments of lucidity and logical thinking to solve day-to-day problems and complete regular tasks.
Brought all together, this kind of language creates tensions between what we might describe as dreamers vs grounded people. The dreamers are the idealists and the optimists, thinking of tomorrow and what could be. The grounded ones are the realists, cynics, and potentially the pessimists.
I’m painting with broad strokes, but these buckets really promote the idea that some of us are living our lives and others are not (and I’ll leave it up to you and your own personal bent to discern which you think is doing what).
Now don’t hear me wrong. We are all wired with predispositions in how we approach the world and experience it. And those are strengths. We want to celebrate this and enjoy every lens through which humanity can understand and celebrate God’s glory is declared through the world around us. We want to celebrate and enjoy every creative expression as we reflect the image of the Creator and Builder of all things.
A New Way: The Both And
It’s only in the last year that I’ve been able to see the unique ways my particular style of creativity really serves as a blending of all of these buckets. I’ve been able to enjoy the details of life at every level of creation, and to bring those details into poetry and prose that express in ways a chart cannot.
I avoid the buckets and the split thinking, choosing instead to embrace the spectrums of “both sides of the brain” and all that they bring to the full picture of beauty. But these buckets are based in realities that we can see, so we must account for them in how we approach our art and science.
So what is a better way? I propose that a better framework is to see our engagement in the tension of creativity and curiosity.
Creativity asks the question, "How do I understand?" We look at how we express our feelings. We wonder about the purposes behind our experiences and what we've already explored.
Curiosity asks the question, "What is there to understand?" We challenge what we already know. We wonder about the boundaries of our experience and understanding.
To live life with only creativity is to create art that is limited in scope and imagination. There is no willingness to ask questions, to question what is, to try something new, or to explore the boundaries.
To live life with only curiosity is to seek to know but never process. Without purpose, meaning, and the beauty of expression, you’ll run out of reasons to ask those questions in the first place.
We all lean one way or the other, but the real challenge is to invite whichever is less natural for you.
Do you lean toward creativity? Take a few minutes to learn something you didn’t know before.
Step outside and find a tree, insect, or plant and spend a few minutes trying to identify and learn more about it.
Go to the front page of Wikipedia and find three topics you know nothing about and read about them.
Visit your local library. Pick one book at random in each aisle to bring home. Spend a few minutes browsing and reading each one and find the one that spurs on your curiosity the most. Learn!
Take what you’ve learned and reflect. Put it to song, write a poem, or compose a new story to muse about what you’ve learned.
Do you lean toward curiosity? Take a few minutes to process what you’ve seen, learned, and know.
Find a notebook and write about what you find most interesting right now and why you are drawn to it. Ask how it makes you feel and how you tend to respond.
Step outside and find a quiet spot to think and to listen. Take note of each sound, whether a bird song or rustle of the leaves, and find something else in another realm of life to compare it to (e.g. that bird sounds like the alarm on my phone).
Start a daily journal where you record something you learned that day and what you will do with that information. How is the world better, more beautiful, or more interesting because you know this new thing?
Make a little space for both creativity and curiosity. They'll grow together more than they would have apart.
What do you need to do today to pursue both creativity and curiosity in your life?
