Part 3 of John Cleese & Dr Iain McGilchrist on Creativity, Humour and the Meaning of Life 

Probably you have heard this a lot, but you and your book have been the greatest discoveries I have made as a musician and a composer. Thanks!

“The only real valuable thing is intuition”- Albert Einstein. “My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.” - Nikola Tesla

I am hoovering up everything I can that Dr Iain has on the web - he has a wonderful message for humanity. I wish I could knock on his door and shake his hand. ( .. and I do love teh Isle of Skye, so maybe I will bump into him up there once lockdown is over - we have a place in the Western HIghlands because it restores us to ourselves.

I love how such a fun series of videos can end with one of the most profound statements I've heard in the last 20 years. I predict Iain McGilchrist will be to the 21st century what Sigmund Freud was to the 20th.

I cant wait to read the masive book , thank you both for this great conversation

Looks like I'm going to have to clear the decks for this book!

I love this interview. Cut into pieces or not. Thank you Heckle and Jeckle // things are definitely more than the sum of just their hearts

There was a time when this type of discussion would be on the BBC and we would all have felt enlightened and our curiosity nourished by it

fascinating ideas. looking forward to the book

the Quantative Approach to English Literature.

For me this collaborative conversation is,(to use an old m'adman's expression),priceless..

What I appreciate about Iain is so much of the books are paying service to the great minds of history. I absolutely love how often he is quoting and connecting quotes together. I get to learn of so many people I didn’t know before and engage with ideas I might have never encountered. The stuff right under our nose is so vast it’s stunning.

a lifetime of thought to solve a new riddle, wow with short lives my fore bearers are beyond my gratitude for their gifts

Genuinely laughing aloud at "But it's still a monstrously big book and I do feel ashamed of myself for writing it, but I felt that I had to."

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Cleese at 10:45! Not only will I make the time to read the 1500 pages (depending on the editor hah!), but I will do it with absolute delight I'm sure!

It's not too long, it is a delight.

Excellent conversation Dr McGhilchrist - I have recently read in sequence Irvin Yaloms Spinoza problem, Hesse's Steppenwolf, Zen and art of motorcycle maintenance, Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis (which as a hard agnostic reduced me to tears multiple times and have since decided to attend church for the first time in 23 years this Sunday) and most recently the Master and His Emissary. There is a thread here, compounded by John Cleese inspiring me to read the Passion of the western mind a few years ago (and the into the ocean of the great philosophers) which is pointing towards a clear bright future if enough people can grasp and accept the idea, or the truth as I see it. I want to help communicate these ideas as much as possible. Can't wait to read The Matter with Things. You are clearly doing god/dao/right brains/logos/dharma's work (a few problems linguistally there I know but I would imagine you get the point.) Thank you for giving your life to this work.

Can’t help but feel (watching this lively discussion) like a hard, soulless, shell of a world is being peeled back before our generation’s eyes. And that humanity is once again returning to its roots, and those of all creation-in relationship. I believe this is where our greatest insights await us! Insights both in and outside of the academic world that stand to alter not just the appearance of everything, but the heart of everything...as we re-examine and reconnect with it, returning all that was lost in the severing.

... interesting, entertaining, honest discussion.

This man's words are healing.

what you say is hugely important and meaningful to people" is absolutely correct and does inspire love for the author

Brilliant. Thanks for sharing. (one of the Watchers ;) )

Thank you both for this fascinating and hilarious conversation.

It's all about perspective

Sad to see there is not 4 or even 10 parts ! Fascinating. Thank you both of you. Looking forward to your book ! Dr McGilchrist, do you happen to speak french ? I'd love to do an interview for the french public. These subjects are absolutely non-existant in the french intellectual landscape.

Thank you For finding the perfect words to describe my feelings, “a great sense of affection for Dr. McGilchrist and his words.” Thank you for blessing us with these two wonderful books. (The Master and his Emissary and The Matter with Things)

Thanks

Great conversation. Thank you. I have been waiting for the next book for a couple of years, since you mentioned it in your talk with J Peterson.

Such an interesting talk, what a great duo. Incredibly interesting about symbolic and literal approaches. Am definitely looking forward to more talks in the future:)

Great thanks for the videos! ❤️

I read Master in full , need to re-read at some point.

The Master and His Emissary took me most of 2021 to read, in part because I needed complete concentration with no interruption, in order to fully digest the profound revelations it offers. I am a filmmaker. I have been studying storytelling for the last twenty five years, but only recently branching out into philosophy, psychology, human behaviour, the brain, psychedelics, evolutionary psychology and religion, as well as trying to understand how and why identity politics with social media has been so destructive to western societies. I was initially drawn into filmmaking because it was a way for me to communicate through moving images rather than words, which I always struggled with. I now know my right hemisphere is more dominant ...and perhaps that my left hemisphere was simply not wired correctly at birth. Iain's first book explained all of this to me in a way that not only connected the dots of my previous knowledge to form a much fuller, richer and profound picture of the world, but showed me that far from being 'stupid' my lack of left hemisphere skill, might well have prevented it from getting overconfident and dismissing my right. I have always felt that imagination and intuition were far more important than the world gives it credit for and so was elated to read that I had been right all along. The experience of reading this book was truly life changing for me, as well as life affirming and I will be forever grateful to Iain for taking the time to explain it so beautifully. When I learned an epic 1,500 page, two volume sequel was in the works, I pre-ordered it straight away. The thirst for such knowledge outweighed any reservation I might have had by its length. In addition, now that I've a clearer understanding of how both hemispheres work (in the sense of how difficult it is to use left hemisphere abstractions to describe right hemisphere understanding), I can appreciate what a paradoxical minefield it must have been to try and write such an ambitious piece work. As a result I'm truly grateful for such an attempt even if it takes 1500 pages to attempt to explain it. Like all the great thinkers of the past, Iain has sown the seeds of understanding for others to continue to explore, refine and progress - I feel truly privileged to have discovered his work.

Dr. McGilchrist, it sounds as if you have a GOOD editor. And I say this as a retired copywriter/editor who knows what it is to progress through an important work and only in so doing to gain a better sense of how much care and time must be taken to optimize an author's voice and message.

I found the Master and His Emissary to be a profoundly reassuring and hopeful book. Optimistic pessimism indeed. There is plenty of work to be done still.

Yes John, well said, Iain talks about (albeit jokingly), that one of his hidden motives for writing this new book comes from the Ego, his Ego, but I don't think we see that at all in him, he comes from a place of compassion for human kind, and the very fact that he continues to see human kind (and meaning) is one of the reasons we enjoy his work so much, but also he is part of the collective group that will encourage human kind to prevail over greed, corruption and materialism (and also a linear focused education system), or perhaps that is my hope! Thank you Iain, I very much enjoy listening to you, to you both.

Just sent this to my son and daughter! They may beg for my Corey on The MasterAnd His Emissary!

What a fantastic discussion!

Thanks for the air 😅👍 a good laugh gives. Thanks for connecting ✨🙏✨ the Dots or hemispheres 🙄, I do need to Read the massive book 🛎️ ... And the other book that had no positive notation whatsoever 😂.

I've always been interested in trying to connect left and right-handedness and artistic temperament...or the lack of it.

Fantastic conversation. Thank you both

More please Gentlemen!

Love this conversation, between these two inspiring wise men spreading wisdom and laughter to the world! (What could be greater?) Thanks so much for sharing

Make them publish every word, because I plan to read every word.

Totally agree about psychologists still in the Newtonian linear mindset.

Gentlemen, you make me laugh through my tears.

Amazon lists it for sale in Canada ....

When the discussion turns to Biology (Process Biology), I am immediately mindful of Goethean science

Maybe you like to try this book: "The five Dynamics of Creative Development", from Johannes Ziskoven and Av van Vugt. Its based on a very large experience in practice and connects to your work I think. Its also fun to read what is very importment in creativity.

@2:30 I read a kindle sample of “Matter with Things” & the sample chapters describe a Bio-Chemical machine that goes wrong & life for a person is never the same (e.g. Stroke) So how are we not machines?

Is there a group or organisation you can recommend for process biology? I’m just starting my first post doc as a neuroscientist and I’d love to learn more

The leap from Newton to Einstein missed the mystique of Clark Maxwell's algorithms for electro magnetic fields, that was the interface between mechanistic and stochastic comprehension.

Great chat! The painting in the background is so beautiful? Who is this?

Interesting about the hemisphere-thing. But what about the Mind? The Emotional part of us, and the Soul?

What is that painting behind Iain? Want it!!!

What a wonderful exchange between these two. They help lift you up intellectually as opposed to dragging you down as is often the case in our everyday lives with the shallow, useless and rapid news, commercials and opinions garnered from many major news networks and social media.

I would like to see Iain talking with Rupert Sheldrake....

He's the guru at the top of the mountain, but he's accessible.

And … the neoDarwinists didn’t help Biology but Lynn Margulis understood the whole picture and the ecology of how the world works through time and with cooperation, you’ve got Gregory Bateson understanding pattern and relationship… Capra wrote System View of Life with Biologist P Luigi Luisi ( Biologist). This is where biology and ecology need to be taught together and how children learn science radically changed from schools into Uni into careers.

I would like to point out, I'm up-to-date on Robert A. Caro's four volume biography of Lyndon Johnson each of which components is upwards of 1,000 pages. So, yes, we will read if it's worth the pain.

So far as 'process' rather than 'things' as a useful way of thinking is concerned , you might check out Alfred North Whitehead's 'process philosophy.' Started really (to within a decade!) in the 1890s. Thanks for a great discussion. Why split it over three videos, tho? AS for 'microaggressions', they're so called because they need a microscope to see. You have to be really, really determined to find them.

12:00

The word I like to use is ‘pseudosceptics’. Wikipedia is laden with them.

Kindle can handle it! No worries. The ease of referencing endnotes will be a godsend. The funniest criticism of any book is that that it is too long. Good ideas are never too long. What’s the hurry? Abe Lincoln is correct on this. You didn’t write this book for everyone. I remember even as a child I knew it was off when my grandparents bought me the Readers Digest version of the classics. I was probably 8? She explained it was Treasure Island without all the bothersome details so I could finish it faster. But the author took the time to write the book, I argued, not understanding the concept of abridged books. Still don’t. My grandmother seemed offended that I didn’t appreciate the genius of their gift. I recently gifted a philosopher friend a copy of TMAHE, and he said he couldn’t take the risk of digging into something so long without knowing the benefit to him and would I just explain it to him.

Reductive materialism ! I like that label.

Science, reason, intuition and imagination is like William Blake’s 4 Zia’s only now we have Urizen leading everything and inhibiting Livah and Los. Did he foretell the Loss of Los on our world with the coming of Urizen dominance. I mean he totally understood somehow that our brain structure and our minds being forth a world….

why can I only see the aura of a living leaf by starlight?

if consciousness is choosing to accept the unattended energy of conception and intends to hold this energy to grow over time no containment is needed and we hang on to this living energy as the prize from the absolute beginning moment until the final moment death can be a voluntary act of letting it go? i almost did this once , if I dissolve myself it will end her suffering for her too. ok try , go to the void place. at 27 years but was told DO NOT DO THIS by the most powerful encounter i have ever experienced, : """GREIVE! NOT! FOR! THE! CHILD! OF! THE! LORD!.""". run run run...... calm down you are going crazy but when you go back and sit down the message must be completed? ok , pre-record message plays and I write, "Look into yourself and seek your own forgiveness." damn the hardest thing ever is the only way, ok nothing has been easy so far so what choice do you have Mr Lazy?

Take my money and my time

Pretty sure that having the two sides of the brain just follows automatically from having two sides to your head.

Its funny if you say ''no'' to the question ''do you know what is the book about?''' and than keep that up

3:40 "God -he stole the handle," not really but the Catholic church took it from us and gave it only to him, in the name of the lord. the omni-present master being watching me? in the name of the people and science was the reply?to ensure the empowerment of my own being?

Psychologists? Not quite, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy marry behaviourism and Eastern psychology, along with elements from humanistic & existential ideas. Not a psychologist by the way.

I can understand why the book is so long. He's so slow and verbose to make up for a lack of truly penetrating insight. For instance we are 'creative', that's quite a broad word. His remarks about left/right hemispheres is proved wrong by neuroscience. There isn't a partition. I would prefer John's summary of relevant ideas. I'm sure he's a nice person but there's nothing original here. Just a lot of empty words. I'd rather read John's book in an hour, its probably a lot more useful.

“...Provided that they don’t die first.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha

Great talk gentlemen. I am anxious to see this book as well. P.S. If anyone at TeamMcGilchrist is reading, at some point can we please please please have Iain on with Philip Pullman?!

It's the revisionists! There's a small clip about it on my page by Dr David R Hawkins, any thoughts?

I love this conversation!! Mr. Cleeze (Cleese), I read your book with delight. Mr. McGilchrist, I am working on yours, also with delight, and your books are the most exciting event in my country-fied life here in Virginia. I listen to your RU-vid videos while I'm cooking...I listen to as many as I can find. We are the same age (I just turned 70). My deep thanks and gratitude to both of you. I face the future with much less fear and trepidation.

You two are wonderful, both separately and together. Thankyou.