The Great Brain Debate

As if we didn’t have enough ways to stereotype each other and separate ourselves like children on a playground, along comes The Great Brain Debate.

It’s not a new concept, classifying people according to which side of their brains they utilize more, and it’s fairly simple to determine which side you come down on…maybe even easier than picking a presidential candidate this year. In fact, the whole thing started with 1981 Nobel Prize Winner Roger Sperry’s "split-brain" experiments on patients suffering from seizures. Sperry concluded,

“The main theme to emerge... is that there appear to be two modes of thinking, verbal and nonverbal, represented rather separately in left and right hemispheres respectively and that our education system, as well as science in general, tends to neglect the nonverbal form of intellect. What it comes down to is that modern society discriminates against the right hemisphere.” ~ Roger Sperry (1973)

The brain is made up of two halves, with a front-to-back fold dividing it into two distinct sections. These two parts of the brain are connected to each other by a thick cable of nerves–corpus collosum–at the base of each side. One website I visited described it as, “… an Ethernet cable or network connection between two incredibly fast and immensely powerful computer processors, each running different programs from the same input.” You can certainly find more detailed and scientific explanations of how it all works, but because I’m right-brained, that's good enough for me. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Imagine a boxing ring: In the left corner, with plaid flannel boxers, is LEFT BRAIN–logical, detail oriented, factual, into math and science, reality-based, strategic, practical, and safe. And in the right corner, with polka-dotted silk boxers, is RIGHT BRAIN–imaginative, philosophic, impetuous, into symbols and images, fantasy, the “big picture,” and possibilities, definitely a risk taker.

Can you see it in your mind? Then you’re probably a right brainer (better than being a no brainer). But the truth is, it’s just not that simple. Many brain functions draw on both hemispheres, and most of us exhibit some of each side’s qualities. Still, we each tend to favor the right or left brain, and I’ll be the first to say it: I’m a right brain girl.

Even though language skills are attributed to the left brain, I sure don’t have any of the left brain math skills. My friend and co-worker Susan loves to work Soduko puzzles. I say a puzzle AND numbers? Count me out. I'm not a risk taker, but I enjoy working with a group of fantastically talented graphic designers and photographers. They are “creatives,” feeding off of each others’ energy. (It works best when it’s positive energy.) It’s just plain fun. I love music, books, and art, and recently confessed to a friend that there’s definitely a non-conformist vying for attention deep inside of me. It’s a good thing I was a mere child in the 60’s…


I’m also a visual learner. Give me concrete examples I can see; don’t assume I get it just because you said it. Maybe that’s why I can relate to my friend Teresa’s need for, “God with skin on.” I know He’s everywhere, and always with me. But sometimes I just need to see Him, touch Him, and curl up on His lap as I drift off to sleep at night… I even pictured Jesus riding shotgun with my teenagers when they started driving! And His “hedge of protection,” which I constantly pray for Him to place around them, is very real and tangible to me.

Now, you might say the need to see something to believe it is a left brain attribute, and you’d probably be correct. But remember, I said there’s a lot of crossover between the left brain and the right brain. And it’s not that I need to actually see it to believe it; it just feels more real to me when I use my imagination. But it seems to me that the bigger question is this: If faith is believing in things UNSEEN, what does that mean for us, whether we use our left or right brain?

To me, it means all of us “…walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) Left brain or right, “…we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

And that’s fine by me. If I had to depend only on the things I can see to fuel my faith, I’d be in bad shape. But when I lean on my faith, rather than on my own understanding, God’s imagination is my limit.