World in Two Minds, A

Chosen for Winter 2018 PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE COLLECTION for Non-Fiction.

Society is in a state of chaos, causing great suffering for people all over the world. Yet almost all life stresses are human-made. Our species is literally making itself sick. In A World in Two Minds, Kenny Jamieson considers the two complex adaptive systems behind the chaos – the individual mind and the global mind – and how the latter emerges, in the form of culture, from the former. He explores how conflict results from the opposing operating modes of the two brain hemispheres.

We have a global cognitive imbalance due to the dominance of the mechanistic worldview of scientific materialism, which is strongly rooted in the left mind and Western culture. Over centuries, this bias has gradually dissociated us from the right mind, lowering consciousness, denaturing the human condition and negatively impacting our health. However, in more recent times a distinctly organic worldview has emerged, shifting attitudes towards human rights, gender equality and environmentalism, while undermining scientific materialism. In doing so it has pushed global society to the ‘edge of chaos’, as our human system seeks to rebalance itself and make our species whole again. Our global crisis is no more than the result of competing worldviews and their associated cultures clashing.

Today, life offers the human race both opportunity and danger. Our global mind could evolve to a higher cognitive plane where harmony, health and happiness prevail, but it could just as easily disintegrate, leading to catastrophic conflict. Our future is unknown but whatever we bring forth will be the output of the global mind we collectively create. Critically, everyone has a role to play. Any one of us could be the final catalyst which tips our whole human system into a new era. Elevated personal consciousness and greater civic engagement are pre-requisites, and increasing the influence of women could potentially fast-track us forward. We must change our thinking to change our future, but whether we are smart enough to do so remains the great unknown. All will be revealed in the 21st century.

Author:

K W Jamieson graduated in social sciences from Edinburgh University, after which he applied his passion for socio-cultural anthropology in the fields of marketing and innovation. After two decades in the drinks industry, he founded his own consultancy specializing in the application of ‘whole-brain’ thinking to the challenges facing modern business and society. A World in Two Minds synthesizes over 30 years of study and learning across human anthropology, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, sociology and behavioural economics.

Review:

“Jamieson … is worthily trying to encourage everyone – we all have a part to play – to think more deeply, to cherish our highest thoughts and deepest feelings, to love the world of which we are a part and to work co-operatively with our fellow human beings.”

Peter B. Godfrey, Faith and Freedom