At least, that’s what it says on one of my T-shirts. Being left-handed, I would believe that wouldn’t I? Actually, behind the joke is some sound science.
You could well be aware already of the theory about the different functions performed by the different hemispheres of the brain. It seems that the left side is the one in which functions such as speech and logical reasoning is centred. Curiously, there is a privileged connection between this left side of the brain and the right hand. The right side of the brain is one in which more creative and imaginative aspects of thought are centred. There is a link between this side of the brain and the left hand. Hence my T-shirt slogan. A very high proportion of artistic people are left-handed (like me.)
Of course, it isn’t the case that we have two brains, the two hemispheres work in close coordination with each other, and nobody is completely devoid of both capacities. It certainly is the case, however, that for nearly everybody one side of the brain is dominant over the other.
It also seems to be true that our culture has come to be one in which left-brain thinking is privileged. Means-ends thinking, rational calculation and linguistic communication have eclipsed other aspects of human thinking and behaviour. We see this most clearly (at least in Britain) in the fact that the school curriculum concentrates very heavily in the junior years on basic language (in the sense of grammar) and mathematics, and the arts are coming to be increasingly marginalised. Throughout the school system activities concerned with expression and imagination are relatively ignored, usually on the (spurious) pretext that they are less important in getting and sustaining employment.
Reading about this theory of brain function has certainly cast light on one thing, upon which I commented in a recent blog. I remarked that I find it difficult to write and paint in the same period. At a time when I have been committed to giving talks or writing papers I have found that my painting has been totally marginalised. Putting it crudely, language has come to dominate over imagination. My guess is that the dominance of the right brain is relatively weak in my case. (I eat right-handedly, and use a golf club or cricket bat right-handedly, although I write with my left hand.) Under certain circumstances, therefore, it is possible for my left-brain (I hope on a temporary basis) to elbow the right-brain aside, and assert some kind of dominance.
At least, I hope it’s temporary.