True or False? The Light of Insight
by Peter Shepherd
Two Ways of Knowing
A creative person is one who can process in new ways the information directly at hand - the
ordinary sensory data available to us all. A writer needs words, a musician needs notes, an
artist needs visual perceptions, and all need some knowledge of the techniques of their
crafts. But in addition, in the creative process, a second mode of mental processing takes
place: in an altered state of consciousness, an individual intuitively sees possibilities for
transforming ordinary data into an original creation.
Concepts of the duality, or two-sidedness, of human nature and thought have been
postulated by philosophers and scientists from many different times and cultures. The key
idea is that there are two parallel 'ways of knowing': thinking and feeling, intellect and
intuition, objective analysis and subjective insight. Political writers say that people
generally analyze the good and bad points of an issue and then vote on their gut feelings.
The history of science is replete with anecdotes about researchers who try repeatedly to
figure out a problem and then have a dream in which the answer presents itself as a
metaphor intuitively comprehended by the scientist. In another context, a person may intuit
about another, 'The words sound OK, but something tells me not to trust him': both sides of
the brain are at work, processing the same information in different ways.
The brain functions in broadly two quite different modes. The first 'left brain' mode is linear,
logical, verbal thinking, which we normally identify as our 'mind' - the 'semantic program'
of the left hemispherical cortex. The second 'right brain' mode is holistic, intuitive, nonverbal
functioning (one cannot call it 'thinking' butit is a way of knowing) of the right
hemisphere. Of this we are usually not consciously aware, except as the results of its
functioning, which are passed over to the left hemisphere for analytic verbal interpretation.
This duality of functioning passes over to the manipulation of objects by the hands. The
right hand of a person (controlled by the left brain) determines fine detailed movement, such
as writing, adjusting mechanisms, using tools or doing anything that requires a sequence of
actions. Meanwhile the left hand (controlled by the right brain) establishes an anchor point
or reference.
You might say that the left brain is chalk and the right brain the blackboard. The left side is
linear, it cannot deal with more than one thing at a time, and it forgets strings of words or
numbers rather rapidly. The right side holds the gestalt, the overview. It can compare many
things simultaneously and its memory of pictures, feelings and emotions is permanent. It is
like 'figure and ground', subject and background, focused imaging and overall perception.
Luria, the great Russian neurologist describes this in his book 'Man with a Shattered World'.
He writes of a soldier who received a bullet wound severely damaging the right cortex, yet
the man survived, but with very strange experiences. While eating soup, when he
concentrated on the soup the spoon disappeared, when he concentrated on the spoon the
soup disappeared, and when he concentrated on the flavour the whole room disappeared!
Without this capability music would not be possible. The left hemisphere can concentrate on
only one note at a time, while the right hemisphere is able to look at the overall context, of
what has been played and anticipation of what is to follow, such that improvization and
emotional interpretation are possible. Whereas a left-brain dominant musician could merely
tune the instrument and play simple tunes robotically.
Mostly our consciousness resides in the left, organizing hemisphere but this does not mean
that the right side is inactive - it continues like the shining of stars in the daytime, there but
unperceived. If the left hemisphere has become excessively dominant the right hemisphere
has reduced opportunity to share in consciousness, being blocked in various ways, and can
only express itself in deeply Subconscious functions (often only apparent in dreams). Full
consciousness would arise from a collaborative integration of the two sets of processes.
How such blockage comes about is demonstrated in the following example. Imagine the
effect on a child when its mother presents one message verbally but quite another with her
facial expression and body language. 'I am only spanking you because I love you, dear' says
the words, but 'I hate you and will destroy you' say the face and body blows. Each
hemisphere is exposed to the same sensory input, but because of their respective
specializations they each emphasize one of the messages. The left will only attend to the
verbal cues, because it cannot extract information from the facial gestalt and kinesthetic
sensations efficiently. The right will attend to the non-verbal cues because it has become
specialized to do this and cannot understand the words.
In this situation the two hemispheres might decide on opposite courses of action: the left to
approach, the right to flee. Since the left is the organizing hemisphere it can take control of
the output channels most of the time but if it cannot 'turn off' the right completely, it may
settle for disconnecting the conflicting information from the other side. The mental process
in the right hemisphere, cut off in this way from the left hemispheric consciousness that is
directing overt behavior, may nevertheless continue a life of its own. The memory of the
situation, the emotional content and the frustrated plan of action may all persist, affecting
subsequent perception and forming the basis for expectations and evaluations of future
input. These may have their effect when the right hemisphere is not blocked and cause
irrational misinterpretations.
When a person is in a right-brain mode of extreme emotion such as love, rage or grief, the
pain and emotion and effort is experienced but he is unable to access the postulates,
conclusions and other verbally and conceptually stored material in the left, as this is below
the boundaries of consciousness - a person overcome is often speechless.
As a result of the more common left-brain dominance, emotions become a symbolic
memory ('I was angry') rather than the feeling sensation of what was actually experienced.
The person may have a verbal description of events but is unable to experience the emotion
and pain thereof. The painful emotions persuade the left hemisphere to hold-off the right
side's contribution habitually. Eventually, with reduced nervous traffic between the
hemispheres, the nerve fibres of the connecting channel (the corpus callosum) become
atrophied with disuse (though this may be stimulated to re-grow with Transformational
Psychology techniques) and the potential quality of brain functioning is then severely
retarded.
A frequent cause of such blockage is when the right hemisphere contains data that the left
finds distinctly uncomfortable - such as the truth! For example, the fact of a bad action may
be repressed in this manner, as may any experience that the mind finds embarrassing,
unacceptable or unconfrontable. Similarly, deeply held beliefs that have a strong emotional
investment become charged areas in the right hemisphere. The person who is left-dominant
tends to be governed by words and belief systems often to the exclusion of external reality;
a person with an integrated mind uses words as his servants and is in touch with the truth of
where he stands.
The average person lives too much in a state of sensory illusion, of indoctrination, to be
clear about anything except at rare, lucid intervals. Trance states are much more prevalent
than is generally realized; there is rarely an 'objective' state of consciousness. Most of us are
in a semi-waking, semi-sleeping trance induced by our cultural and genetic heritage and our
personal belief system. To become fully awakened we must be wholly aware of all the
influences that bear upon our daily state of consciousness.
For many centuries the Sufis have said that man must learn to use his mind in a different
way if he is to progress. That missing link is the recovered integration of holistic right brain
functions. Our right hemisphere, with its capacity for appreciating a complex whole, for
facial recognition, map reading, maze solving, provides the alternative mode of
understanding.
How did we get this way? Left-brain dominance probably came about because of a basic
need to survive in a physical world. It may have developed when man changed from simple
food-gathering to having to kill for survival - including having to kill others who threatened
his survival or territory. Man had to organize in larger groups in order to live. He had to give
up part of himself, to deny his own needs and feelings in deference to those of his society.
And in order to kill animals and other humans he required some sort of shut-off mechanism
in allow such acts.
The point about the split is that one side of our brain can be feeling something while the
other side is thinking something very different. The split person can yell at you and not
know why he is doing it, though he will manage to rationalize his acts and put the blame on
others. With that division of the brain one could think one thing and do another. Feelings
could be transmuted into symbolic form, disconnected from their feeling roots - the
elaborateness of the ritualistic and symbolic life being commensurate with the loss of self.
Man could then murder others for religious reasons or kill others when the state (an
abstraction - not himself) was threatened.
As man came to defer to higher authority, his symbolic and repressive hemisphere became
more active. He developed all sorts of ideas and rationales that were out of keeping with his
feelings. The cultural trance had begun.
Through thousands of years our ancestors added to left-brain dominance because that was
the way to get things done. The two specializations work effectively, the left brain
supporting the right hand's use of tools, including writing. Our entire system - books,
schools, universities, industry, political structures, churches - is fundamentally left-brained
in learning, application and operation. We have generally regarded right-brain functions
with suspicion, frustration and awe.
In fact we use our right brain throughout our daily lives in many subtle ways. While the leftbrain
serves our consciousness, the right-brain serves our awareness. Though the left-brain
seems to predominate and to coordinate general behavior from both halves, it is the minor
side that sees things in a broader perspective. It sees the context and views the parts of an
event as its gestalt. It is the right-brain that takes the facts worked out by the left-brain and
can make proper conclusions (connections) from them. It makes facts 'meaningful'.
The importance of understanding our dual consciousness is that it is possible to have
thoughts that have nothing to do with what one is feeling, and to try to reach and change
someone for the better through his thoughts and intellectual apparatus alone, without
reference to the necessity for connection, is a vain exercise. The left-brain can be quite
aware that smoking causes cancer but the person will still pull out a cigarette. The person is
aware but not conscious.
LEFT RIGHT
Verbal description, explicit
Linear - one thought following another
Sequential, orderly, counting
Rational, conclusions based on reason
Abstract - representing a whole by a
part
Conceptual, word-symbols
Logical thought, analysis
Symbolised, evaluative feelings (head)
Convergent, focused (attends to detail)
Solves problems towards goals
organizes actions, masculine
Has only present time, active, involved
Ends oriented, telic
Imagines details, fictionalises stories
Short-term symbolical memory
Hostile weakness, friendly strength
Hypocritical, lying
Ego-consciousness
Non-verbal awareness, implicit
Spatial, relational, holistic,
synthesising
Simultaneous, spontaneous
Non-rational, willing to suspend
judgment
Analogical - seeing similarities
Perceptual, concrete, image-symbols
Intuitive ideas, connections
Affective feelings and emotion (heart)
Divergent , contextual (ignores detail)
Perceives problems
Supportive, receptive, feminine
Deals with time, reflective, objective
Means-whereby oriented, paratelic
Constructs contexts, assumptions
Long-term perceptual memory
Friendly weakness, hostile strength
Authentic, genuine
Sub-consciousness
Defenses: falsifying, fabricating,
mis-owning, invalidating, or
fixating
Blocks: suppressing, withholding,
denying, or accepted imprinting
Man is conscious, as are animals, of external stimuli, but to be conscious that he is
conscious, to be self-aware, is the introspective faculty that separates him from the animals.
But he can only be meaningfully objective about that self when his feelings and contextual
understandings are connected and integrated.
Logic is fine for mentally running over the mistakes of the past and for anticipating the
future so that we do not commit the same blunders twice. But we cannot actually live in
either of these two time realms, and the effort to do so may damage both our minds and
bodies. Our task, then, is to learn to free ourselves from the cultural trance, the daydream of
illusions, and with an awakened mind, live life today, in fully objective consciousness.
In our daily life we life in two worlds simultaneously, the left and right modes. The left
mode is associated with logic, linear thinking, rationality, schedules, time, sequencing,
measurements, the obvious, names, dates, deductive reasoning - the things we learn at
school. The right mode is about intuition, holistic understanding, expressive movement, art,
poetry, emotions, the hidden, the inferred, and imagery - in short, it is the 'ah-ha' state. In
therapy, the unconscious is best accessed through the route of images and feelings; answers
are then revealed from the unconscious that the rational mind would not otherwise be able
to reach.
The right brain, by its very nature, cannot lie; the left brain is an expert at lying - at
fabricating answers, telling stories, rationalising, blaming and erecting all of the Ego
defenses.
As we converse in normal language, we tell each other anything we want to: details, about
admissible feelings, social pleasantries, half-truths, lies or anything we need to say to
function in the day to day world. But we may not say what we really think - we may omit
information and lie, in order to protect others or ourselves from potentially hurtful truths.
We are, meanwhile, always telling ourselves the repressed truth, both about our conscious
reality and also relating to the deeper dimensions of our innermost Self, giving facts about
events and information about our motives, but this may not be revealed through the
conscious mind. It is our direct feelings, utilizing images and metaphors, and does not
disguise itself with pleasantries. The hidden messages occur especially at times when the
right-brain is stimulated: when a person is expressing his or her Self emotionally or
creatively.
So there is no more need to lie or pretend. To do so is to support power struggle, tyranny,
low self-esteem and isolation. Truth conversely brings us closer, though it might take more
risk, openness and vulnerability. As human beings we want to be welcomed, for our needs to
be honoured, to be able to be strong and still be loved, to be recognized for who we really
are. By being honest with our fellow beings and our selves, we can often strike a chord that
resonates in every human heart.
Integration of the Two Sides
True higher creative thought arises from an integration of the two sides of the brain.
Einstein said, "I will do a flight of fantasy and work on some thinking, which is not thinking
as you would understand it, but a combinatorial play of some types of imageries and
sensory feelings. Only when this activity comes to some resolution, would I fumble in the
other side of my head for words and for algebraic statements, which would permit me to
communicate these insights to others".
The parallel processing of the right hemisphere attends to the nonverbal, holistic, spatial and
emotional aspects of the environment. The right brain identifies relevant experience and
provides the context and awareness within which understanding is possible. There is no
sense of time, and much of this process operates below the level of consciousness.
In contrast, the interpretative processing of the left hemisphere provides a verbal description
and attends to the detailed information in the environment, and this material is usually
available to our conscious minds. The left brain is sequential and, above all, time-based - it
includes an accurate internal clock. When the left-brain takes control, this results in rigid
adherence to the one-sided reality in which we have been educated and culturally
conditioned. In short, we have been fed with pre-packaged cultural patterns - fixed solutions
- which emphasize the penetrating, masculine values of activity, manipulation and direct
influence over the environment.
In most cases right-hemisphere participation in conscious thinking is actually suppressed.
As a result of traumatic experience and cultural conditioning many of the important
functions of the right hemisphere are suppressed, e.g. the softer, more feminine ability to be
aware of one's feelings, to let things happen and be involved in the moment in an unselfconscious
way. If only the verbal-analytic left side is operating, a person is effectively
cut off from many of the ways in which he could experience the world around him - life can
become dry, meaningless and boring.
Whether you are left or right handed, man or woman, left-hemispheric cultural patterns of
thinking rule the day. As a result we lose touch with our intuitive, spiritual nature. We push
aside our unspoken feelings as irrelevant to the struggle for survival. We rationalize the
beliefs we have adopted in order to be accepted members of our partnership, family, peer
generation, etc. We push aside right-hemisphere intuition because it contains the real truth
of who we are, what we have done and what we intend to do. Above all, we repress what we
feel about ourselves, because the truth hurts. The keystone of left-brain consciousness is
time, the primary lie of the physical universe. The right brain is timeless, so it cannot lie!
The brain is a sophisticated transduction device through which the Higher Self is able to
relate its mental subtle energies to the coarser energies of the nervous system of its bodily
identity. In this way, mental processes manifest as changes of arousal in particular parts of
the brain, which leads to bodily action or behavior. The left hemisphere of the brain cortex
usually controls selective attention, language, rational analysis, temporal and other
sequential functions; meanwhile, the right hemisphere is responsible for felt, intuitional,
relational, pictorial, spatial and other awareness processes - it creates a non-verbal, holistic
synthesis of information without regard to particular details.
In short, the left brain deals with significance and attempts to reason, and the right-brain
deals with the perception, kinesthetic sensation and pictured memory of reality and emotion.
Thus the left-brain interprets, which can lead to falsity and rationalization, whereas the
right-brain duplicates reality as it is.
The left-brain mode of thought is one of sifting sequentially through files of associated data
and then the right brain obtains an overview. The emotional force contained within the rightbrain
way of representation may prevent inspection of deeply held beliefs, hidden aspects of
the personality, or repressed traumatic experience; in which case the right brain will have
reduced arousal. In addition the left-brain may fictionalise to cover up missing data
(including that which is unconfrontable in the right-brain) or make rationalizations, based
on false information or influences which have been installed through genetic or cultural
imprinting.
In contrast, if thinking analytically about painful experiences or wrong-doings cannot be
confronted, this may result in a retreat to the right-brain mode of experience, where there
are strong feelings but no logic to direct them. This is how we feel when overcome by fear,
sadness or remorse, and when we are cathartically re-experiencing a past moment of pain or
loss.
Healing the split
As a result of the two essentially disparate ways of handling reality, right-brain awareness
becomes split off from consciousness. True release and resolution occur only when this split
is healed; this depends upon re-integrating the hemispheres, so feelings can be adequately
described and organized. Whereas pseudo-release is the consequence of rationalization,
leading at most to a detachment, because the individual's attention has been taken off the
problem.
Truth may be concealed by distorted thinking fuelled by charged contents of both the left
and right hemispheres. Alterations and additions to the truth are derived from the left-brain.
Likewise, avoidance of truth and obscured information, derives from painful material in the
right brain. Whilst the right brain 'feels wrong', the left brain 'is wrong'. However, from the
perspective of a deeper level of consciousness, we 'know better'. We already know the
nature of the conflict, and the defense system surrounding it, because we have set this up,
almost as a mental game. A game requires unknowingness, and this void is filled with
fiction. The unconscious mind contains the truth as to the nature of the conflict through its
connection with the Higher Self.
Spiritual writers make much of "being in the present moment" - what they really mean is the
state of right-brain involvement, which is timeless and right-brain in nature, so intuitive
faculties are fully available and therefore access to the Higher Self and universal spiritual
connection. For this reason, the Law of Attraction, a spiritual principle, does not come into
play until we move beyond a thinking and planning stage and adopt the mode of full
involvement, of responsible action aligned with our vision. Since we are responsible, at
cause, and connected with Spirit - responsible for All That Is - the whole world of
synchronicities and the "magic" of manifestation is enabled. This is just not possible in the
"thinking about" customary mode of left-brain consciousness.
A further important aspect of right-brain consciousness with respect to the spiritual life, is
connected with the fact that the right brain cannot lie. Our essential inner nature is loving,
indeed as sparks of God-consciousness we are each of us unconditionally loving in nature,
and that basic truth is obscured only by the machinations of mental distortions and
conditioned belief systems. "The Kingdom of God is within," as Jesus said. Therefore, when
our actions are guided by our own inner loving nature, and informed intuitively through the
wisdom of the Higher Self, again we are connected to Spirit and the full power of the Law
of Attraction is in our hands. When informed solely by the Ego mind (however intelligent
and well-intentioned) and especially when guided by fears and considerations of time, then
we are detached from Spirit and the Law of Attraction is weakened, as most people discover
to their disappointment.
Playing the Game of Life
There are two fundamental approaches that we adopt in life - we may be thinking about
things or we may be taking action. We can do these in a masterful way, serene and calm; or
we may find difficulties, get stressed and worry ourselves - in this case we have a life
challenge. Well done personal development involves changing from living for tomorrow to
living today. By learning to change our way of being, while facing challenges in life, we
move from stress and worry to serenity and calmness.
To illustrate this, imagine a tennis match between two players: both of whom are well
involved in the action and playing well. They are in right-brain mode, involved in the
moment - time does not exist for them. (This is the paratelic state described in Transforming
the Mind.) But then it reaches a crucial point; one of the players becomes nervous, worries
about whether their serve will be good enough and as a result, becomes self-conscious and
serves badly. He has reversed through anxiety to the detached, thinking, left-brain 'telic'
state. The other player stays cool and involved in the game, and thrashes the weak serve
with a pass down the line. One player then is even more tense and 'out of the flow' of the
game; the other is excited but calm and really into their flow.
This tennis match is just like the game of life. We all need to make plans, learn from the
past, think about things, and then take action, by getting involved in making the plans a
reality. But when we have challenging situations, often we have difficulties... We may not
have the required knowledge and skills. We also may have previous negative experiences
that we fear may happen again, or we may have acquired self-defeating beliefs as a result of
our past experiences and conditioning.
These factors may prevent full involvement in, and commitment to, the actions you need to
take, and impede the good performance that you need in order to succeed. By learning and
applying the skills, insights and understandings that Life Mastery Training provides you are
empowered to overcome these life challenges. Then although you are in the same situation,
facing the same life challenge, you can now succeed!
Having Unshakable Inner Peace
The ego is a mental projection of Self into the world, necessary to function. It is selfish and
egotistical when weak, which is the case when it's dominated by conditioning, fears and
pressures, and disconnected from heart and spirit (as is so often the case). Therefore the way
forward is to connect and integrate the ego, so it dissolves into a transparent window to the
world, rather than acting like an alternative mechanical self on the rampage.
When we focus on clarifying what is being observed, felt, and needed rather than on
diagnosing and judging, we discover the depth of our own compassion. That kind of judging
and rationalizing easily becomes a filter obscuring what IS, and who we ARE, because it's
effected by beliefs and conditioning and distance. Not that one should not reason, but be
always objective and direct as possible, reasoning only with an open mind, ALL beliefs and
assumptions open to revision, and seeing from all viewpoints so there is little separation.
Liking and agreement are the customary measures of accord, but they lead to separation;
they are not a spiritual way of relating. Communication, understanding and empathy are the
factors involved in a higher level of relationship; they enable true compassion and the
dissolving of the solidity of existence.
We have all we need within to stay calm and unstressed, to feel good about ourselves and
perform to our full potential. What we need is a training program that identifies our greatest
challenges and which then supports us in facing this challenge with skill and calmness. This
is what personal development, and the resources offered at Trans4mind, are all about.
The following diagram illustrates the the two aspects of mastering life challenges: our
thoughts and our actions. The top half illustrates the negative ways we may approach
thinking and doing. These are the negative states that separate mind and heart from working
together and create inner conflict and stress. The bottom half illustrates the positive states
that form as a result of the training that Life Mastery provides, resulting in mind and heart
working together, and the resulting experience of unshakable inner peace while facing and
addressing life challenges...
Mastering the Challenges of Life
THINKING ABOUT
(Left brain)
TAKING ACTION
(Right brain)
STRESSED BY LIFE CHALLENGES
Conflict (worrying)
(Negative ego)
Fears, regrets
Guilt, blame, judgment
Greed, envy
Distorted thinking
Conditioned beliefs
Negative interpretations
STRESSED BY LIFE CHALLENGES
Conflict (stressed)
(Reactive)
Dispersed
Unfocused
Uninvolved
Intuition blocked
Poor performance
Negative emotions
In conflict states, mind and heart are disconnected, feelings repressed
MASTERY OVER LIFE CHALLENGES
Peace (serene)
(Positive ego)
Aware and mindful
Learn positively from past
Plan how to achieve vision
Objective and rational thinking
Self-directed and proactive
MASTERY OVER LIFE CHALLENGES
Peace (calm)
(Inner guidance)
Involved and living in the moment
No time "in the flow"
Clear intuition
Good performance
Positive emotions
In peaceful states, mind and heart have open communication
Truth is multi-dimensional
"The mind is like a parachute; it works much better when it's open!" ... Trans4mind's motto.
We try to be neutral in the information we put across, for "truth" is unique to the individual
perspective. For example, from the scientist's material view, the world looks very different
than from the more subjective emotional, intellectual or intuitive points of view. To you and
me sitting here, we are first and foremost individual personalities; but from an enlightened,
spiritual viewpoint, there is no separation, and we are truly at One with All That Is, we are
God. Two widely disparate views - but both are true!
For some God is the Sun, or Mother Nature, or All That Is. For others God is universal
consciousness or the quality of Love as a creative and binding force. For others God is
Creator and all life on Earth is created by Him. For some, human beings are also spiritual
entities who can survive the body's death, and for others Spirit is entirely in God's hands.
Atheists and humanists perceive the physical world to have a completely independent
existence that naturally evolves, and in which there is no place for God and spirit.
Consciousness may be highly developed and humane but not a supernatural phenomenon.
Some believe that our destiny is the will of God; others that our life is directed according to
decisions and agreements in-between lives. And others believe destiny is purely a matter of
self-determined choices in the present.
Perhaps all these people are right, on one level or another? There are many theologies,
dogmas and philosophies... paganism, spiritualism, christianity, buddhism, zen, sufism... just
to begin the list. Some demand personal subjective exerience of God and spirituality before
belief is possible, others demand scientific proof, whilst others will believe according to
their faith. And others will not believe at all. One thing is for sure, belief in God and
personal spirituality - or not - plays an important part in many peoples' lives, providing
sense and reason, and a foundation for their values and worldview.
In argument, the ego presents a view from one level and says it is right; in truth, all the
views may be "right" in their own way. Beautiful and ugly, good and bad, are opinions but
not essential truth; essential truth is simply the unconditional acceptance of what IS, as it is,
without judgment.
And yet we need discernment in everyday life; we want a picture we find attractive on the
wall, not an ugly one. Judgmental views are only a problem when they are ego based, to
make self right and others wrong - in short, when they present a barrier to unconditional
love.
So... we always have to be aware of the context, when we make proclamations about how
things are. And "truth" is always something the individual needs to discover inside
themselves - what is true for them at their current level of awareness. And be open to revise
that view, when new opportunities for learning and expansion of awareness occur. With
compassion and empathy, we will understand that truth for others may naturally differ from
our own.
Trans4mind remains neutral in these arguments, but we trust the tools and coaching we
recommend below will help you become aware of alternative points of view, and help you
to synthesize your own unique perspective. ###
Peter Shepherd is a psychologist and writer, who works particularly in the field of personal
development and runs the web site, www.trans4mind.com. Born in London in 1952, he spent
most of his life in England before moving to France to be with his wife, Nicole. Trained
both as a rational-emotive and transpersonal psychotherapist, Peter combines these
techniques in his own system of transformational psychology, applied to personal growth
rather than therapy. His book, Transforming the Mind, was the foundation of the web site,
which over 10 years has expanded to become one of the top personal development portals
on the Internet.
Peter is also the author of Daring to Be Yourself, which gives the reader the tools to turn
their life around.
by Peter Shepherd
Two Ways of Knowing
A creative person is one who can process in new ways the information directly at hand - the
ordinary sensory data available to us all. A writer needs words, a musician needs notes, an
artist needs visual perceptions, and all need some knowledge of the techniques of their
crafts. But in addition, in the creative process, a second mode of mental processing takes
place: in an altered state of consciousness, an individual intuitively sees possibilities for
transforming ordinary data into an original creation.
Concepts of the duality, or two-sidedness, of human nature and thought have been
postulated by philosophers and scientists from many different times and cultures. The key
idea is that there are two parallel 'ways of knowing': thinking and feeling, intellect and
intuition, objective analysis and subjective insight. Political writers say that people
generally analyze the good and bad points of an issue and then vote on their gut feelings.
The history of science is replete with anecdotes about researchers who try repeatedly to
figure out a problem and then have a dream in which the answer presents itself as a
metaphor intuitively comprehended by the scientist. In another context, a person may intuit
about another, 'The words sound OK, but something tells me not to trust him': both sides of
the brain are at work, processing the same information in different ways.
The brain functions in broadly two quite different modes. The first 'left brain' mode is linear,
logical, verbal thinking, which we normally identify as our 'mind' - the 'semantic program'
of the left hemispherical cortex. The second 'right brain' mode is holistic, intuitive, nonverbal
functioning (one cannot call it 'thinking' butit is a way of knowing) of the right
hemisphere. Of this we are usually not consciously aware, except as the results of its
functioning, which are passed over to the left hemisphere for analytic verbal interpretation.
This duality of functioning passes over to the manipulation of objects by the hands. The
right hand of a person (controlled by the left brain) determines fine detailed movement, such
as writing, adjusting mechanisms, using tools or doing anything that requires a sequence of
actions. Meanwhile the left hand (controlled by the right brain) establishes an anchor point
or reference.
You might say that the left brain is chalk and the right brain the blackboard. The left side is
linear, it cannot deal with more than one thing at a time, and it forgets strings of words or
numbers rather rapidly. The right side holds the gestalt, the overview. It can compare many
things simultaneously and its memory of pictures, feelings and emotions is permanent. It is
like 'figure and ground', subject and background, focused imaging and overall perception.
Luria, the great Russian neurologist describes this in his book 'Man with a Shattered World'.
He writes of a soldier who received a bullet wound severely damaging the right cortex, yet
the man survived, but with very strange experiences. While eating soup, when he
concentrated on the soup the spoon disappeared, when he concentrated on the spoon the
soup disappeared, and when he concentrated on the flavour the whole room disappeared!
Without this capability music would not be possible. The left hemisphere can concentrate on
only one note at a time, while the right hemisphere is able to look at the overall context, of
what has been played and anticipation of what is to follow, such that improvization and
emotional interpretation are possible. Whereas a left-brain dominant musician could merely
tune the instrument and play simple tunes robotically.
Mostly our consciousness resides in the left, organizing hemisphere but this does not mean
that the right side is inactive - it continues like the shining of stars in the daytime, there but
unperceived. If the left hemisphere has become excessively dominant the right hemisphere
has reduced opportunity to share in consciousness, being blocked in various ways, and can
only express itself in deeply Subconscious functions (often only apparent in dreams). Full
consciousness would arise from a collaborative integration of the two sets of processes.
How such blockage comes about is demonstrated in the following example. Imagine the
effect on a child when its mother presents one message verbally but quite another with her
facial expression and body language. 'I am only spanking you because I love you, dear' says
the words, but 'I hate you and will destroy you' say the face and body blows. Each
hemisphere is exposed to the same sensory input, but because of their respective
specializations they each emphasize one of the messages. The left will only attend to the
verbal cues, because it cannot extract information from the facial gestalt and kinesthetic
sensations efficiently. The right will attend to the non-verbal cues because it has become
specialized to do this and cannot understand the words.
In this situation the two hemispheres might decide on opposite courses of action: the left to
approach, the right to flee. Since the left is the organizing hemisphere it can take control of
the output channels most of the time but if it cannot 'turn off' the right completely, it may
settle for disconnecting the conflicting information from the other side. The mental process
in the right hemisphere, cut off in this way from the left hemispheric consciousness that is
directing overt behavior, may nevertheless continue a life of its own. The memory of the
situation, the emotional content and the frustrated plan of action may all persist, affecting
subsequent perception and forming the basis for expectations and evaluations of future
input. These may have their effect when the right hemisphere is not blocked and cause
irrational misinterpretations.
When a person is in a right-brain mode of extreme emotion such as love, rage or grief, the
pain and emotion and effort is experienced but he is unable to access the postulates,
conclusions and other verbally and conceptually stored material in the left, as this is below
the boundaries of consciousness - a person overcome is often speechless.
As a result of the more common left-brain dominance, emotions become a symbolic
memory ('I was angry') rather than the feeling sensation of what was actually experienced.
The person may have a verbal description of events but is unable to experience the emotion
and pain thereof. The painful emotions persuade the left hemisphere to hold-off the right
side's contribution habitually. Eventually, with reduced nervous traffic between the
hemispheres, the nerve fibres of the connecting channel (the corpus callosum) become
atrophied with disuse (though this may be stimulated to re-grow with Transformational
Psychology techniques) and the potential quality of brain functioning is then severely
retarded.
A frequent cause of such blockage is when the right hemisphere contains data that the left
finds distinctly uncomfortable - such as the truth! For example, the fact of a bad action may
be repressed in this manner, as may any experience that the mind finds embarrassing,
unacceptable or unconfrontable. Similarly, deeply held beliefs that have a strong emotional
investment become charged areas in the right hemisphere. The person who is left-dominant
tends to be governed by words and belief systems often to the exclusion of external reality;
a person with an integrated mind uses words as his servants and is in touch with the truth of
where he stands.
The average person lives too much in a state of sensory illusion, of indoctrination, to be
clear about anything except at rare, lucid intervals. Trance states are much more prevalent
than is generally realized; there is rarely an 'objective' state of consciousness. Most of us are
in a semi-waking, semi-sleeping trance induced by our cultural and genetic heritage and our
personal belief system. To become fully awakened we must be wholly aware of all the
influences that bear upon our daily state of consciousness.
For many centuries the Sufis have said that man must learn to use his mind in a different
way if he is to progress. That missing link is the recovered integration of holistic right brain
functions. Our right hemisphere, with its capacity for appreciating a complex whole, for
facial recognition, map reading, maze solving, provides the alternative mode of
understanding.
How did we get this way? Left-brain dominance probably came about because of a basic
need to survive in a physical world. It may have developed when man changed from simple
food-gathering to having to kill for survival - including having to kill others who threatened
his survival or territory. Man had to organize in larger groups in order to live. He had to give
up part of himself, to deny his own needs and feelings in deference to those of his society.
And in order to kill animals and other humans he required some sort of shut-off mechanism
in allow such acts.
The point about the split is that one side of our brain can be feeling something while the
other side is thinking something very different. The split person can yell at you and not
know why he is doing it, though he will manage to rationalize his acts and put the blame on
others. With that division of the brain one could think one thing and do another. Feelings
could be transmuted into symbolic form, disconnected from their feeling roots - the
elaborateness of the ritualistic and symbolic life being commensurate with the loss of self.
Man could then murder others for religious reasons or kill others when the state (an
abstraction - not himself) was threatened.
As man came to defer to higher authority, his symbolic and repressive hemisphere became
more active. He developed all sorts of ideas and rationales that were out of keeping with his
feelings. The cultural trance had begun.
Through thousands of years our ancestors added to left-brain dominance because that was
the way to get things done. The two specializations work effectively, the left brain
supporting the right hand's use of tools, including writing. Our entire system - books,
schools, universities, industry, political structures, churches - is fundamentally left-brained
in learning, application and operation. We have generally regarded right-brain functions
with suspicion, frustration and awe.
In fact we use our right brain throughout our daily lives in many subtle ways. While the leftbrain
serves our consciousness, the right-brain serves our awareness. Though the left-brain
seems to predominate and to coordinate general behavior from both halves, it is the minor
side that sees things in a broader perspective. It sees the context and views the parts of an
event as its gestalt. It is the right-brain that takes the facts worked out by the left-brain and
can make proper conclusions (connections) from them. It makes facts 'meaningful'.
The importance of understanding our dual consciousness is that it is possible to have
thoughts that have nothing to do with what one is feeling, and to try to reach and change
someone for the better through his thoughts and intellectual apparatus alone, without
reference to the necessity for connection, is a vain exercise. The left-brain can be quite
aware that smoking causes cancer but the person will still pull out a cigarette. The person is
aware but not conscious.
LEFT RIGHT
Verbal description, explicit
Linear - one thought following another
Sequential, orderly, counting
Rational, conclusions based on reason
Abstract - representing a whole by a
part
Conceptual, word-symbols
Logical thought, analysis
Symbolised, evaluative feelings (head)
Convergent, focused (attends to detail)
Solves problems towards goals
organizes actions, masculine
Has only present time, active, involved
Ends oriented, telic
Imagines details, fictionalises stories
Short-term symbolical memory
Hostile weakness, friendly strength
Hypocritical, lying
Ego-consciousness
Non-verbal awareness, implicit
Spatial, relational, holistic,
synthesising
Simultaneous, spontaneous
Non-rational, willing to suspend
judgment
Analogical - seeing similarities
Perceptual, concrete, image-symbols
Intuitive ideas, connections
Affective feelings and emotion (heart)
Divergent , contextual (ignores detail)
Perceives problems
Supportive, receptive, feminine
Deals with time, reflective, objective
Means-whereby oriented, paratelic
Constructs contexts, assumptions
Long-term perceptual memory
Friendly weakness, hostile strength
Authentic, genuine
Sub-consciousness
Defenses: falsifying, fabricating,
mis-owning, invalidating, or
fixating
Blocks: suppressing, withholding,
denying, or accepted imprinting
Man is conscious, as are animals, of external stimuli, but to be conscious that he is
conscious, to be self-aware, is the introspective faculty that separates him from the animals.
But he can only be meaningfully objective about that self when his feelings and contextual
understandings are connected and integrated.
Logic is fine for mentally running over the mistakes of the past and for anticipating the
future so that we do not commit the same blunders twice. But we cannot actually live in
either of these two time realms, and the effort to do so may damage both our minds and
bodies. Our task, then, is to learn to free ourselves from the cultural trance, the daydream of
illusions, and with an awakened mind, live life today, in fully objective consciousness.
In our daily life we life in two worlds simultaneously, the left and right modes. The left
mode is associated with logic, linear thinking, rationality, schedules, time, sequencing,
measurements, the obvious, names, dates, deductive reasoning - the things we learn at
school. The right mode is about intuition, holistic understanding, expressive movement, art,
poetry, emotions, the hidden, the inferred, and imagery - in short, it is the 'ah-ha' state. In
therapy, the unconscious is best accessed through the route of images and feelings; answers
are then revealed from the unconscious that the rational mind would not otherwise be able
to reach.
The right brain, by its very nature, cannot lie; the left brain is an expert at lying - at
fabricating answers, telling stories, rationalising, blaming and erecting all of the Ego
defenses.
As we converse in normal language, we tell each other anything we want to: details, about
admissible feelings, social pleasantries, half-truths, lies or anything we need to say to
function in the day to day world. But we may not say what we really think - we may omit
information and lie, in order to protect others or ourselves from potentially hurtful truths.
We are, meanwhile, always telling ourselves the repressed truth, both about our conscious
reality and also relating to the deeper dimensions of our innermost Self, giving facts about
events and information about our motives, but this may not be revealed through the
conscious mind. It is our direct feelings, utilizing images and metaphors, and does not
disguise itself with pleasantries. The hidden messages occur especially at times when the
right-brain is stimulated: when a person is expressing his or her Self emotionally or
creatively.
So there is no more need to lie or pretend. To do so is to support power struggle, tyranny,
low self-esteem and isolation. Truth conversely brings us closer, though it might take more
risk, openness and vulnerability. As human beings we want to be welcomed, for our needs to
be honoured, to be able to be strong and still be loved, to be recognized for who we really
are. By being honest with our fellow beings and our selves, we can often strike a chord that
resonates in every human heart.
Integration of the Two Sides
True higher creative thought arises from an integration of the two sides of the brain.
Einstein said, "I will do a flight of fantasy and work on some thinking, which is not thinking
as you would understand it, but a combinatorial play of some types of imageries and
sensory feelings. Only when this activity comes to some resolution, would I fumble in the
other side of my head for words and for algebraic statements, which would permit me to
communicate these insights to others".
The parallel processing of the right hemisphere attends to the nonverbal, holistic, spatial and
emotional aspects of the environment. The right brain identifies relevant experience and
provides the context and awareness within which understanding is possible. There is no
sense of time, and much of this process operates below the level of consciousness.
In contrast, the interpretative processing of the left hemisphere provides a verbal description
and attends to the detailed information in the environment, and this material is usually
available to our conscious minds. The left brain is sequential and, above all, time-based - it
includes an accurate internal clock. When the left-brain takes control, this results in rigid
adherence to the one-sided reality in which we have been educated and culturally
conditioned. In short, we have been fed with pre-packaged cultural patterns - fixed solutions
- which emphasize the penetrating, masculine values of activity, manipulation and direct
influence over the environment.
In most cases right-hemisphere participation in conscious thinking is actually suppressed.
As a result of traumatic experience and cultural conditioning many of the important
functions of the right hemisphere are suppressed, e.g. the softer, more feminine ability to be
aware of one's feelings, to let things happen and be involved in the moment in an unselfconscious
way. If only the verbal-analytic left side is operating, a person is effectively
cut off from many of the ways in which he could experience the world around him - life can
become dry, meaningless and boring.
Whether you are left or right handed, man or woman, left-hemispheric cultural patterns of
thinking rule the day. As a result we lose touch with our intuitive, spiritual nature. We push
aside our unspoken feelings as irrelevant to the struggle for survival. We rationalize the
beliefs we have adopted in order to be accepted members of our partnership, family, peer
generation, etc. We push aside right-hemisphere intuition because it contains the real truth
of who we are, what we have done and what we intend to do. Above all, we repress what we
feel about ourselves, because the truth hurts. The keystone of left-brain consciousness is
time, the primary lie of the physical universe. The right brain is timeless, so it cannot lie!
The brain is a sophisticated transduction device through which the Higher Self is able to
relate its mental subtle energies to the coarser energies of the nervous system of its bodily
identity. In this way, mental processes manifest as changes of arousal in particular parts of
the brain, which leads to bodily action or behavior. The left hemisphere of the brain cortex
usually controls selective attention, language, rational analysis, temporal and other
sequential functions; meanwhile, the right hemisphere is responsible for felt, intuitional,
relational, pictorial, spatial and other awareness processes - it creates a non-verbal, holistic
synthesis of information without regard to particular details.
In short, the left brain deals with significance and attempts to reason, and the right-brain
deals with the perception, kinesthetic sensation and pictured memory of reality and emotion.
Thus the left-brain interprets, which can lead to falsity and rationalization, whereas the
right-brain duplicates reality as it is.
The left-brain mode of thought is one of sifting sequentially through files of associated data
and then the right brain obtains an overview. The emotional force contained within the rightbrain
way of representation may prevent inspection of deeply held beliefs, hidden aspects of
the personality, or repressed traumatic experience; in which case the right brain will have
reduced arousal. In addition the left-brain may fictionalise to cover up missing data
(including that which is unconfrontable in the right-brain) or make rationalizations, based
on false information or influences which have been installed through genetic or cultural
imprinting.
In contrast, if thinking analytically about painful experiences or wrong-doings cannot be
confronted, this may result in a retreat to the right-brain mode of experience, where there
are strong feelings but no logic to direct them. This is how we feel when overcome by fear,
sadness or remorse, and when we are cathartically re-experiencing a past moment of pain or
loss.
Healing the split
As a result of the two essentially disparate ways of handling reality, right-brain awareness
becomes split off from consciousness. True release and resolution occur only when this split
is healed; this depends upon re-integrating the hemispheres, so feelings can be adequately
described and organized. Whereas pseudo-release is the consequence of rationalization,
leading at most to a detachment, because the individual's attention has been taken off the
problem.
Truth may be concealed by distorted thinking fuelled by charged contents of both the left
and right hemispheres. Alterations and additions to the truth are derived from the left-brain.
Likewise, avoidance of truth and obscured information, derives from painful material in the
right brain. Whilst the right brain 'feels wrong', the left brain 'is wrong'. However, from the
perspective of a deeper level of consciousness, we 'know better'. We already know the
nature of the conflict, and the defense system surrounding it, because we have set this up,
almost as a mental game. A game requires unknowingness, and this void is filled with
fiction. The unconscious mind contains the truth as to the nature of the conflict through its
connection with the Higher Self.
Spiritual writers make much of "being in the present moment" - what they really mean is the
state of right-brain involvement, which is timeless and right-brain in nature, so intuitive
faculties are fully available and therefore access to the Higher Self and universal spiritual
connection. For this reason, the Law of Attraction, a spiritual principle, does not come into
play until we move beyond a thinking and planning stage and adopt the mode of full
involvement, of responsible action aligned with our vision. Since we are responsible, at
cause, and connected with Spirit - responsible for All That Is - the whole world of
synchronicities and the "magic" of manifestation is enabled. This is just not possible in the
"thinking about" customary mode of left-brain consciousness.
A further important aspect of right-brain consciousness with respect to the spiritual life, is
connected with the fact that the right brain cannot lie. Our essential inner nature is loving,
indeed as sparks of God-consciousness we are each of us unconditionally loving in nature,
and that basic truth is obscured only by the machinations of mental distortions and
conditioned belief systems. "The Kingdom of God is within," as Jesus said. Therefore, when
our actions are guided by our own inner loving nature, and informed intuitively through the
wisdom of the Higher Self, again we are connected to Spirit and the full power of the Law
of Attraction is in our hands. When informed solely by the Ego mind (however intelligent
and well-intentioned) and especially when guided by fears and considerations of time, then
we are detached from Spirit and the Law of Attraction is weakened, as most people discover
to their disappointment.
Playing the Game of Life
There are two fundamental approaches that we adopt in life - we may be thinking about
things or we may be taking action. We can do these in a masterful way, serene and calm; or
we may find difficulties, get stressed and worry ourselves - in this case we have a life
challenge. Well done personal development involves changing from living for tomorrow to
living today. By learning to change our way of being, while facing challenges in life, we
move from stress and worry to serenity and calmness.
To illustrate this, imagine a tennis match between two players: both of whom are well
involved in the action and playing well. They are in right-brain mode, involved in the
moment - time does not exist for them. (This is the paratelic state described in Transforming
the Mind.) But then it reaches a crucial point; one of the players becomes nervous, worries
about whether their serve will be good enough and as a result, becomes self-conscious and
serves badly. He has reversed through anxiety to the detached, thinking, left-brain 'telic'
state. The other player stays cool and involved in the game, and thrashes the weak serve
with a pass down the line. One player then is even more tense and 'out of the flow' of the
game; the other is excited but calm and really into their flow.
This tennis match is just like the game of life. We all need to make plans, learn from the
past, think about things, and then take action, by getting involved in making the plans a
reality. But when we have challenging situations, often we have difficulties... We may not
have the required knowledge and skills. We also may have previous negative experiences
that we fear may happen again, or we may have acquired self-defeating beliefs as a result of
our past experiences and conditioning.
These factors may prevent full involvement in, and commitment to, the actions you need to
take, and impede the good performance that you need in order to succeed. By learning and
applying the skills, insights and understandings that Life Mastery Training provides you are
empowered to overcome these life challenges. Then although you are in the same situation,
facing the same life challenge, you can now succeed!
Having Unshakable Inner Peace
The ego is a mental projection of Self into the world, necessary to function. It is selfish and
egotistical when weak, which is the case when it's dominated by conditioning, fears and
pressures, and disconnected from heart and spirit (as is so often the case). Therefore the way
forward is to connect and integrate the ego, so it dissolves into a transparent window to the
world, rather than acting like an alternative mechanical self on the rampage.
When we focus on clarifying what is being observed, felt, and needed rather than on
diagnosing and judging, we discover the depth of our own compassion. That kind of judging
and rationalizing easily becomes a filter obscuring what IS, and who we ARE, because it's
effected by beliefs and conditioning and distance. Not that one should not reason, but be
always objective and direct as possible, reasoning only with an open mind, ALL beliefs and
assumptions open to revision, and seeing from all viewpoints so there is little separation.
Liking and agreement are the customary measures of accord, but they lead to separation;
they are not a spiritual way of relating. Communication, understanding and empathy are the
factors involved in a higher level of relationship; they enable true compassion and the
dissolving of the solidity of existence.
We have all we need within to stay calm and unstressed, to feel good about ourselves and
perform to our full potential. What we need is a training program that identifies our greatest
challenges and which then supports us in facing this challenge with skill and calmness. This
is what personal development, and the resources offered at Trans4mind, are all about.
The following diagram illustrates the the two aspects of mastering life challenges: our
thoughts and our actions. The top half illustrates the negative ways we may approach
thinking and doing. These are the negative states that separate mind and heart from working
together and create inner conflict and stress. The bottom half illustrates the positive states
that form as a result of the training that Life Mastery provides, resulting in mind and heart
working together, and the resulting experience of unshakable inner peace while facing and
addressing life challenges...
Mastering the Challenges of Life
THINKING ABOUT
(Left brain)
TAKING ACTION
(Right brain)
STRESSED BY LIFE CHALLENGES
Conflict (worrying)
(Negative ego)
Fears, regrets
Guilt, blame, judgment
Greed, envy
Distorted thinking
Conditioned beliefs
Negative interpretations
STRESSED BY LIFE CHALLENGES
Conflict (stressed)
(Reactive)
Dispersed
Unfocused
Uninvolved
Intuition blocked
Poor performance
Negative emotions
In conflict states, mind and heart are disconnected, feelings repressed
MASTERY OVER LIFE CHALLENGES
Peace (serene)
(Positive ego)
Aware and mindful
Learn positively from past
Plan how to achieve vision
Objective and rational thinking
Self-directed and proactive
MASTERY OVER LIFE CHALLENGES
Peace (calm)
(Inner guidance)
Involved and living in the moment
No time "in the flow"
Clear intuition
Good performance
Positive emotions
In peaceful states, mind and heart have open communication
Truth is multi-dimensional
"The mind is like a parachute; it works much better when it's open!" ... Trans4mind's motto.
We try to be neutral in the information we put across, for "truth" is unique to the individual
perspective. For example, from the scientist's material view, the world looks very different
than from the more subjective emotional, intellectual or intuitive points of view. To you and
me sitting here, we are first and foremost individual personalities; but from an enlightened,
spiritual viewpoint, there is no separation, and we are truly at One with All That Is, we are
God. Two widely disparate views - but both are true!
For some God is the Sun, or Mother Nature, or All That Is. For others God is universal
consciousness or the quality of Love as a creative and binding force. For others God is
Creator and all life on Earth is created by Him. For some, human beings are also spiritual
entities who can survive the body's death, and for others Spirit is entirely in God's hands.
Atheists and humanists perceive the physical world to have a completely independent
existence that naturally evolves, and in which there is no place for God and spirit.
Consciousness may be highly developed and humane but not a supernatural phenomenon.
Some believe that our destiny is the will of God; others that our life is directed according to
decisions and agreements in-between lives. And others believe destiny is purely a matter of
self-determined choices in the present.
Perhaps all these people are right, on one level or another? There are many theologies,
dogmas and philosophies... paganism, spiritualism, christianity, buddhism, zen, sufism... just
to begin the list. Some demand personal subjective exerience of God and spirituality before
belief is possible, others demand scientific proof, whilst others will believe according to
their faith. And others will not believe at all. One thing is for sure, belief in God and
personal spirituality - or not - plays an important part in many peoples' lives, providing
sense and reason, and a foundation for their values and worldview.
In argument, the ego presents a view from one level and says it is right; in truth, all the
views may be "right" in their own way. Beautiful and ugly, good and bad, are opinions but
not essential truth; essential truth is simply the unconditional acceptance of what IS, as it is,
without judgment.
And yet we need discernment in everyday life; we want a picture we find attractive on the
wall, not an ugly one. Judgmental views are only a problem when they are ego based, to
make self right and others wrong - in short, when they present a barrier to unconditional
love.
So... we always have to be aware of the context, when we make proclamations about how
things are. And "truth" is always something the individual needs to discover inside
themselves - what is true for them at their current level of awareness. And be open to revise
that view, when new opportunities for learning and expansion of awareness occur. With
compassion and empathy, we will understand that truth for others may naturally differ from
our own.
Trans4mind remains neutral in these arguments, but we trust the tools and coaching we
recommend below will help you become aware of alternative points of view, and help you
to synthesize your own unique perspective. ###
Peter Shepherd is a psychologist and writer, who works particularly in the field of personal
development and runs the web site, www.trans4mind.com. Born in London in 1952, he spent
most of his life in England before moving to France to be with his wife, Nicole. Trained
both as a rational-emotive and transpersonal psychotherapist, Peter combines these
techniques in his own system of transformational psychology, applied to personal growth
rather than therapy. His book, Transforming the Mind, was the foundation of the web site,
which over 10 years has expanded to become one of the top personal development portals
on the Internet.
Peter is also the author of Daring to Be Yourself, which gives the reader the tools to turn
their life around.
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