Dear Tom. Thank you for penning an interesting and thoughtful read. Some disparate points before sharing my opinion: you probably are aware but I have to shout him out. Rupert Sheldrake has spent decades on the topic of everyday telepathic experiences. Denying that they exist is as baffling as suggesting your left arm isn't yours but someone else's (there's a hint here!). I urge your readers to familiarise themselves with his tireless efforts to bring fringe phenomena into scientific discourse.
On your non verbal autist / savant section: McGilchrist's work candidly suggests that autism resembles a right hemisphere deficient experience of the world. The number of people with severely autistic children who wrote to him after the publication of The Matter With Things in particular I believe, sharing their thanks that he brought this information to light and agreeing in the veracity of his works' claims is telling. What isn't clear, and McGilchrist goes to pains to state this, is whether autism is a result of the hemispheres being too siloed or too connected - it isn't clear. He does speculate in his podcast (which is a must listen if you enjoy his work) whether the key to understanding these conditions better might lie in exploring the corpus callosum specifically (for the reason mentioned previously).
My own opinion is that I respectfully disagree that an awakening is underway or around the corner. This isn't to suggest that I am writing it off entirely because I believe parents especially have an outsized role to play in re-engaging the future adults of the world to the tethering and fulfilling consequences of community, connectedness to nature, and a respect for the sacred/divine. It is more a critique on the deeply pervasive, entrenched and narrowly focused, quantitative manipulation that the left hemisphere affords us. Instagram is a denial of time as flow (insta is the tell), Facebook is a denial of the locality of community etc. AI pursuits in their present forms resemble the epitome of the left hemisphere (LLMs, data gathering, power requirements) including the signature extra digit error in renderings of human hands.
There is a great deal more to say and I apologise if the length of the comment is unwanted. Thanks once again and I look forward to reading more of your work.
I love this response thanks! I was confused in encountering the savant/non-verbal left hemisphere hypothesis: as in The Matter With Things I thought it was the opposite. But then I did some superficial, non-expert digging this week and there does seem like there's evidence (footnoted) that this specific kind of autism is LH deficient. I asked Dr McG over email and await an update! Like I said: this is all WILDLY SPECULATIVE. If it proves to be wrong on a macro level, I am not overly concerned as the personal benefits of taking this approach to life are their own reward.
Sheldrake is also fantastic and featured once again in episode 6 of the Telepathy Tapes, which I suspect you'll enjoy! Thanks again.
Nice bunch of synchronicities here, with meeting other people recently who have read The Matter with Things, and then listening to a contemporary (not religious) philosopher who was meeting semi-secretly on a boat with a group of AI / indigenous / healer / basically cool people who implied that they all believe a genuine paradigm shift is going to happen rather abruptly, and relatively soon, ie, the disruptive surprise to the left-dominated people is not the recent election result, but something far bigger and more impactful that we simply do not have the language to express. Said the grace of DJT's clear mandate is we have more time to prepare to live/love differently without, I guess, having to deal with more chaos on this level first. My antennae are certinaly up. Love talking / reading/ experiencing this stuff so thank you very much for your post. Feel less crazy already :)
Thank you! I feel like New Agey people are continuously talking about paradigm shifts, and scientific people basically never. So there has to be a senseible middle ground! TBH though, I simply FEEL it coming. Not scientific at all, but hey.
What a great article in so many ways for me. I work in the quantumn field and it’s so good the way you have delicately with respect to all things weaved it into a beautiful piece of work . I love it so thank you .
I love what you're doing! Thank you! Ah, synchronicity — today I read that specific chapter of the Tao Te Ching :D
Also, thank you for sharing The Telepathy Tapes on X. Incredible accounts! Definitely gave a boost to my faith in the whole. It'll probably make me invincible if I ever encounter this phenomenon myself aha! I do have some experiments in mind... :)
I have just been learning about the quantum field, and diving into all the everything (and all the nothing) and this read helped me with understanding more. Thank you.
Just restacked a quote from the article, but wanted to post this comment here too (still figuring out the best way to engage):
I’m new to Substack and this article resonates so deeply with where I’m currently at in life and what I recently wrote about that I was honestly confused about which of the following was true:
a) the Substack algorithm is insanely effective, capable of immediately connecting me with hyper-likeminded individuals
b) the universe is communicating with me through a powerful form of synchronicity
c) the resurgence of right-hemisphere worldviews (in the McGilchrist sense) is rapidly accelerating in ways that I was previously unaware of - in other words, perhaps my interests and perspectives aren’t that fringe
My hope is that all of the above are true. So delighted to come across this content as it is exactly where my mind has been circling in recent weeks/months: complex systems, McGilchrist’s hemisphere theory, Taoism. If you’re interested in these themes, you might like the first post I made a few weeks ago on “entering the path of effortless action”.
I've found that you can reach different interpretations of what you're saying here w.r.t Taoism from Christianity, Advaita Vedanta and Vajrayana Buddhism.
w.r.t the circular chains of causation that might be helping folks be more intuitive about their world, you might also like this framing from Alex Komoroske's blog. Instead of left/right hemispheres, he uses metaphors from Lord of the Rings.
Fascinating read Tom. IFS is game changing. Integrating all the parts of ourselves to exist whole. Feel like I need to read this one a few times to really let the wisdom integrate!!
Thought provoking writing. Im going to start listening to that podcast immediately. FYI I recently started listening to podcasts on the topic of terminal lucidity and they really challenged my thinking on consciousness in much the same way you describe about the telepathy podcasts…
Dear Tom. Thank you for penning an interesting and thoughtful read. Some disparate points before sharing my opinion: you probably are aware but I have to shout him out. Rupert Sheldrake has spent decades on the topic of everyday telepathic experiences. Denying that they exist is as baffling as suggesting your left arm isn't yours but someone else's (there's a hint here!). I urge your readers to familiarise themselves with his tireless efforts to bring fringe phenomena into scientific discourse.
On your non verbal autist / savant section: McGilchrist's work candidly suggests that autism resembles a right hemisphere deficient experience of the world. The number of people with severely autistic children who wrote to him after the publication of The Matter With Things in particular I believe, sharing their thanks that he brought this information to light and agreeing in the veracity of his works' claims is telling. What isn't clear, and McGilchrist goes to pains to state this, is whether autism is a result of the hemispheres being too siloed or too connected - it isn't clear. He does speculate in his podcast (which is a must listen if you enjoy his work) whether the key to understanding these conditions better might lie in exploring the corpus callosum specifically (for the reason mentioned previously).
My own opinion is that I respectfully disagree that an awakening is underway or around the corner. This isn't to suggest that I am writing it off entirely because I believe parents especially have an outsized role to play in re-engaging the future adults of the world to the tethering and fulfilling consequences of community, connectedness to nature, and a respect for the sacred/divine. It is more a critique on the deeply pervasive, entrenched and narrowly focused, quantitative manipulation that the left hemisphere affords us. Instagram is a denial of time as flow (insta is the tell), Facebook is a denial of the locality of community etc. AI pursuits in their present forms resemble the epitome of the left hemisphere (LLMs, data gathering, power requirements) including the signature extra digit error in renderings of human hands.
There is a great deal more to say and I apologise if the length of the comment is unwanted. Thanks once again and I look forward to reading more of your work.
I love this response thanks! I was confused in encountering the savant/non-verbal left hemisphere hypothesis: as in The Matter With Things I thought it was the opposite. But then I did some superficial, non-expert digging this week and there does seem like there's evidence (footnoted) that this specific kind of autism is LH deficient. I asked Dr McG over email and await an update! Like I said: this is all WILDLY SPECULATIVE. If it proves to be wrong on a macro level, I am not overly concerned as the personal benefits of taking this approach to life are their own reward.
Sheldrake is also fantastic and featured once again in episode 6 of the Telepathy Tapes, which I suspect you'll enjoy! Thanks again.
Has your right integrated with your left? If so, how much? If not, why not? Or is this the wrong question.
I think so: mostly because I let my curiosity tell my intellect what to focus on next, and with more faith.
Yess dropping in the ground of your being… the dance begins
If telepathy is your thing, and pushing the envelope of consciousness of interest, then The Testimony of Light is essential reading.
https://alanheeks.com/testimony-of-light-by-helen-greaves/
Nice bunch of synchronicities here, with meeting other people recently who have read The Matter with Things, and then listening to a contemporary (not religious) philosopher who was meeting semi-secretly on a boat with a group of AI / indigenous / healer / basically cool people who implied that they all believe a genuine paradigm shift is going to happen rather abruptly, and relatively soon, ie, the disruptive surprise to the left-dominated people is not the recent election result, but something far bigger and more impactful that we simply do not have the language to express. Said the grace of DJT's clear mandate is we have more time to prepare to live/love differently without, I guess, having to deal with more chaos on this level first. My antennae are certinaly up. Love talking / reading/ experiencing this stuff so thank you very much for your post. Feel less crazy already :)
Thank you! I feel like New Agey people are continuously talking about paradigm shifts, and scientific people basically never. So there has to be a senseible middle ground! TBH though, I simply FEEL it coming. Not scientific at all, but hey.
Dr David Hawkins
Paul Levy
Robert Falconer IFS
Jerry Marzinsky
Meister Eckhart through the Bhagavad Gita
All embrace the Divine / The way /the morphic field ( Rupert sheldrake)
When we drop down into the ground of our being we don’t look back.
“When we drop down into the ground of our being, we don’t look back.”
Wow. That just leapfrogged me through a few coaching/therapy sessions.
thank you, Fiona 💛
What a great article in so many ways for me. I work in the quantumn field and it’s so good the way you have delicately with respect to all things weaved it into a beautiful piece of work . I love it so thank you .
❤️
Thanks so much Fiona!
I love what you're doing! Thank you! Ah, synchronicity — today I read that specific chapter of the Tao Te Ching :D
Also, thank you for sharing The Telepathy Tapes on X. Incredible accounts! Definitely gave a boost to my faith in the whole. It'll probably make me invincible if I ever encounter this phenomenon myself aha! I do have some experiments in mind... :)
Ha- I wish I was invincible. But at least we may reincarnate after we die...
My essay inspired by your article, Tom.
https://johnstokdijk.com/2011-on/my-essays/about-love-posted-november-12-2024/
Oh this is so rich! I'm glad you did more digging on this because it really deepens my understanding.
I have just been learning about the quantum field, and diving into all the everything (and all the nothing) and this read helped me with understanding more. Thank you.
Thanks Denny! My mind always stops working around all things quantum. But I’m hoping to get smarter over time.
Just restacked a quote from the article, but wanted to post this comment here too (still figuring out the best way to engage):
I’m new to Substack and this article resonates so deeply with where I’m currently at in life and what I recently wrote about that I was honestly confused about which of the following was true:
a) the Substack algorithm is insanely effective, capable of immediately connecting me with hyper-likeminded individuals
b) the universe is communicating with me through a powerful form of synchronicity
c) the resurgence of right-hemisphere worldviews (in the McGilchrist sense) is rapidly accelerating in ways that I was previously unaware of - in other words, perhaps my interests and perspectives aren’t that fringe
My hope is that all of the above are true. So delighted to come across this content as it is exactly where my mind has been circling in recent weeks/months: complex systems, McGilchrist’s hemisphere theory, Taoism. If you’re interested in these themes, you might like the first post I made a few weeks ago on “entering the path of effortless action”.
Thank you! Hopefully proof in itself of the holistic point I’m coming to believe that these ideas are gaining/regaining mass traction.
I've found that you can reach different interpretations of what you're saying here w.r.t Taoism from Christianity, Advaita Vedanta and Vajrayana Buddhism.
w.r.t the circular chains of causation that might be helping folks be more intuitive about their world, you might also like this framing from Alex Komoroske's blog. Instead of left/right hemispheres, he uses metaphors from Lord of the Rings.
https://medium.com/@komorama/the-sarumans-and-the-radagasts-6392f889d142
Dude I love that essay! Even reached out to Alex afterwards to meet him. It became shorthand in my circles for a whole for LH/RH.
Fascinating read Tom. IFS is game changing. Integrating all the parts of ourselves to exist whole. Feel like I need to read this one a few times to really let the wisdom integrate!!
Thanks so much! I need to do some IFS myself. Think I’ve got some parts knocking around messing me about.
I hear you!! Always new parts to meet :)
Thought provoking writing. Im going to start listening to that podcast immediately. FYI I recently started listening to podcasts on the topic of terminal lucidity and they really challenged my thinking on consciousness in much the same way you describe about the telepathy podcasts…
Thank you! There are just SO MANY sources pointing to non-local consciousness. And still my brain and local culture resists the implications…
I’m with you. I’ve “stumbled” on to the concept of faith, what it is and how you develop it and it’s reality warping for me
You are bringing it all together now. And drawing from your insightful interviews. Inspired.
♥️♥️
What an amazing article!! Saving this to reread over the next few months to make sure I stay on an integrated path.
Interestingly enough I just picked up a book on Taoism...
Oh which one? And thank you Jim!
"Taoism: A complete introduction to the history, philosophy, and practice of an ancient Chinese spiritual tradition" by Eva Wong
So far, it has served as a very interesting historical background, I'm about 55 pages in.
https://www.amazon.com/Shambhala-Guide-Taoism-Guides/dp/1570621691/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=wOx2C&content-id=amzn1.sym.05575cf6-d484-437c-b7e0-42887775cf30&pf_rd_p=05575cf6-d484-437c-b7e0-42887775cf30&pf_rd_r=147-8943435-5625343&pd_rd_wg=wgeog&pd_rd_r=eaa8c503-9d83-4dd8-910d-0e8271c9ddaf&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk
Trying not to try by Ed Slingerland was the first time the penny dropped for me.
I’ll have to check that one out!
I read China Root by David Hinton over the summer, another great on about Taoism and how it relates to Zen.
For me Taoism always lends itself to experience, in that it's self validating beyond words or thought.
For me the practice of Aikido is set up entirely to experience the present moment, momenting. The Tao.
In practice the choreography is that one person receives the attack the other or others supply the attack.
The practice is to allow the attacker to act upon you without obstruction. Easier said than done.
Off the matts Aikido is transferred as a way of being that allows the world to act upon you. Non resistance to what is. Easier said than done.
Skateboarding is another great way to experience the Tao..
Aikido seems like such a great practice. I love the philosophy!
I've debated practicing myself, but am a little weary of being thrown around haha
Wetiko.. as if things couldn't get any weirder, along come wetiko..
https://www.innertraditions.com/blog/wetiko-in-a-nutshell