Iain McGilchrist: The Coincidence of Opposites

Ralston College presents a lecture by Dr Iain McGilchrist followed by a discussion with Dr Stephen Blackwood and questions from the audience. In his lecture Dr McGilchrist deals with certain themes that are treated at greater length in his recent book The Matter With Things. He focuses especially upon the coincidence of opposites (coincidentia oppositorum), which he explores (providing an extraordinary range of illustrative examples) in such a way as to make manifest both its universality and its particular relevance to our present historical moment. The event took place online on October 26th, 2021. Artists, Art, and Writings Mentioned in this Episode Iroquoian Cosmology Charles Sanders Peirce Niehls Bohr Friedrich Hölderlin Goethe Heraclitus Alan Watts Upanishads William Blake Jacob Needleman Hegel Alfred North Whitehead M.C. Escher, “Angels and Devils” Friedrich Nietzsche Ryōan-ji Zen Garden Friedensreich Hundertwasser Carl Jung Ochwiay Biano William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence” Sam Johnson Laurence Sterne William Wordsworth David Olive (physicist) William Empson Oliver Wendell Holmes Joseph Campbell Empedocles F.W.J von Schelling Kabbalah Aristotle, concept of “phronesis” Louis Pasteur Pierre Curie William James Wilfred Owen, “Strange Meeting” Jonathan Sacks Franz Schubert, String Quartet in C Major The Sophists Protagoras Immoderate Greatness, William Ophuls Oedipus Rex Jesus, “The Lord’s Prayer” Links of possible interest: Channel McGilchrist https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ The Matter With Things (soon available elsewhere) https://www.bookdepository.com/Matter... https://www.amazon.com/Matter-Things-... Ralston College https://www.ralston.ac – Chapters — 00:00 Introduction by Stephen Blackwood 05:30 Iain McGilchrist’s New Book: The Matter With Things 05:41 Opposites Are Not as Irreconcilable as They Might Seem 07:06 Three Quotations From a Philosopher (C. S. Peirce), a Physicist (Niels Bohr) and a Poet (Friedrich Hölderlin) 09:45 The Two Hemispheres of the Brain Cooperate Through Opposition 11:00 The Iroquois Legend: Two Brothers as an Analogy of the Brain Hemispheres 11:58 Energy and the Coming Together of Opposites in Nature 12:42 The Yin-Yang Symbol: The Best Known Expression of the Idea of Complementary Opposites 13:43 All is One and All is Many 14:37 Goethe on Unity and Division 15:46 Heraclitus: The Bow and the Lyre as Images of Harmony Through Tension 17:08 The Three Ancient Meanings of Harmony 17:55 Heraclitus’ Notion of Grasping (Syllapsies): Insight and Gathering Together 20:25 Wave-Particle Duality 20:46 Nesting of Opposites in Nature 21:35 Opposites as Mutually-Sustaining, Inseparable and Intertwined 22:00 The Corpus Callosum: Connection and Separation, Bridge and Boundary 22:57 The Creative Power of Resistance 24:09 William Blake: Contraries as Necessary for Human Existence 24:30 Needleman, Hegel and Whitehead: Opposing Truths and Reconciliation 25:39 Opposites Co-Exist, Give Rise to and Fulfil One Another 26:32 Complementarity as Foundational to Physics, Morality and Spirituality 27:47 Cultural and Societal Paradoxes 30:21 Hormesis: Small Amounts of Stress as Conducive to Growth 31:18 Context Matters 33:36 Objectivity as Seeing as Many Points of View as Possible 35:05 The Dangers of Neglecting the Dark Side 36:06 Friedensreich Hundertwasser and the Tyranny of Straight Lines 38:03 Focus and Exclusion 39:23 Reflections on Perfect Linearity and the Structure of Reality 39:31 William Blake’s Idea: There Must be Sorrow in Heaven if There is Joy 40:00 Perfection Can Constitute a Flaw 41:04 The Edge of Chaos: The Co-Existence of Order with Disorder 41:42 The Necessity of Opposites at Every Level 43:01 Joseph Campbell’s Three States of Being as Summary of the Relationship Between the Brain Hemispheres 44:17 Yellowstone Wolves and the Flourishing of the Ecosphere: Evil Predator as Key to Life 45:27 Spirals Image Both Circularity and Linearity 46:18 Empedocles: Love and Strife 46:51 Schelling: The Conjunction of the One and the Many 49:47 The Kabbalah’s Understanding of the Mind Shares Similarities with the Brain Hemisphere Hypothesis 51:12 Opposites and Cyclical Returns 51:52 Asymmetry at the Heart of the Coincidentia Oppositorum 52:56 Asymmetry Between Symmetry and Asymmetry: Asymmetry is More Important 54:00 Pasteur on Life as a Function of Cosmic Asymmetry 54:50 Pierre Curie on Asymmetry 55:24 Asymmetrical Arrangement of Brain Hemispheres 56:15 William James’ Insight: Opposites Melted into Unity 57:05 Movement and Rhythm of Biological Processes Are Not Entirely Regular 58:52 The Use of Half-Rhyme in Wilfred Owen’s Poem “Strange Meeting” 59:57 McGilchrist’s Summary of the Arguments 1:02:18 Final Words: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ Story 1:03:24 Thanks from Stephen Blackwood 1:04:43 Forthcoming Release of McGilchrist’s New Book: The Matter With Things 1:05:08 Q&A