Book by James Olson
Derived from contemporary works of holistic science and “modern revelation,” author James Olson exhaustively examines the familiar right/left hemisphere theory of brain lateralization relative to human history, cultural perspectives and behavior. Our innermost attitudes, he notes, are conditioned by long habit and training in a pattern of culturally encouraged left-brain dominance and imbalance. Sexual roles, education, morality, politics, social issues—all are subsumed in a self-perpetuating snowball that threatens our comfort, inner peace, safety and ultimately, our very existence.
Though he continually asserts the necessity of bi-hemispheric cooperation, and that the skills and perspectives of the left-brain truly have value, James Olson clearly illustrates the dire consequence of its over-dominance in all our institutions—including “the exclusivist sectarian nature of religion . . . [that] has trumped even the [holistic] teachings of Jesus himself.”
A former deacon, farmer, psychologist and management trainer, Olson espouses the axiom of Holonism, which posits that all things are both parts and wholes. Left-brain naturally takes things apart and views them individually, while the right joins parts into wholes, viewing relationally; only when both function in a balanced and harmonious way can humanity and its institutions overcome long-habituated factionalism and separation to rise to their fullest potential, and thus overcome the long history of destructive imbalance.
Seeking peace, knowing peace, sharing and communicating peace—valid and necessary directions we can all pursue to change the world in increasingly desperate times. Still, in an age when problems are so readily identified and painstakingly elaborated, solutions remain scant. Nevertheless Olson shares what can be found, and certainly, even if the Big One transpires, we’ll all be better off having achieved inner peace. (Origin Press)
