Wisdom Renaissance: How to Embrace the Conceptual Age? Unite the Left Brain with the Right!

By: DK_Matai

Aesthetic design... Story-telling... Harmony-in-concert... Cultivation-of-empathy... Team-playing... Finding-meaning... This is where the future is being conceived right now and it no longer automatically belongs to people and organisations that have been successful in the past. Moving forwards, it belongs to different kinds of personalities with different kinds of mind-sets. Today -- amid the uncertainties of national economies that have gone from boom to bust to near flat-lining or negative GDP growth -- there's a metaphor that explains what is going on and its right inside our heads. The triumphant London Olympics and Paralympics have shown not just the population of the United Kingdom but billions around the world what can be achieved through the combination of left-brain and right-brain activity including the amplification of the grand narrative via aesthetic design, story-telling, harmony-in-concert, cultivation-of-empathy, team-playing and finding meaning and purpose in our ordinary lives rendered extraordinary by coming together as one.

The Conceptual Age

Having gone beyond the Agricultural and Industrial Age, the global and local economy is now moving through the Information Age to the Conceptual age. Powered by armies of industrial and knowledge workers, the sequential combination of the Industrial Age and Information Age has delivered a standard of living that would have been unimaginable at the time of our great grandparents and the generations before them. Their lives were defined by scarcity: Ours are shaped increasingly by abundance. However the Information Age is shuddering to a close now and giving way to the paradigm shift of the Conceptual Age which demands balanced, conscious, creative and inspired leadership that rises above the self and creates a climate for perpetual innovation and invention.

Harnessing Creative Assets

Abundance caused by massive over-supply of goods, outsourcing and automation is contributing to the need for individuals and organisations to concentrate on creative assets such as:

1. Aesthetic-design for everyday objects and services that creates cascades of inspiration to invent and to innovate;

2. Story-telling that weaves information, knowledge and wisdom into compelling narratives;

3. Harmony-in-concert putting together and integrating incongruent objects, processes and individuals from diverse backgrounds into mesmerising togetherness;

4. Cultivation-of-empathy allows people from diverse backgrounds to identify and relate to each other, establishing foundations for caring, friendship and improved relations;

5. Team-playing and coming together to have fun and to share joy, laughter and good humour; and

6. Finding-meaning to identify a sense of purpose and significance that gives consequence to the ordinary lives of extraordinary people.

Each of these “Concepts” are high touch, uniquely human abilities, that in the past "Ages" have not been as much in demand as they are now proving to be. Why? These "Concepts" are essentially right-brain skills necessary to develop the whole new mind-set this new unfolding era demands.

Joining the Two Halves into One

The structure and functions of the human mind suggest that the two different sides of the brain control two different “modes” of thinking. Each of us prefers one mode over the other. Experiments have shown that the two different sides, or hemispheres, of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. The following illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-brain thinking:

1. Rational vs Holistic;

2. Logical vs Random;

3. Sequential vs Intuitive;

4. Analytical vs Synthesising;

5. Objective vs Subjective;

6. Looks at parts vs Looks at wholes.

Beneath the nervous cacophony of our concluding "Information Age" stirs a slow and silent seismic shift. Rising in its place is the Conceptual Age, an era in which mastery of abilities -- that the establishment has often overlooked and undervalued -- marks the balancing point between who rises to the top and who falls to the bottom. Many of us have a distinct preference for one of the two styles of thinking. Some, however, are more whole-brained and equally adept at both modes. In general, schools, universities and other organisations and institutions tend to favour left-brain modes of thinking, while downplaying the right-brain ones. Left-brain scholastic subjects focus on logical thinking, analysis, and accuracy. Right-brained subjects, on the other hand, focus on aesthetics, feeling, and creativity. The Conceptual Age is essentially about combining the two halves into one!

What are your thoughts, observations and views? We are hosting an Expert roundtable on this issue at ATCA 24/7 on Yammer.

By DK Matai

www.mi2g.net

Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance (ATCA) & The Philanthropia

We welcome your participation in this Socratic dialogue. Please access by clicking here.

ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance is a philanthropic expert initiative founded in 2001 to resolve complex global challenges through collective Socratic dialogue and joint executive action to build a wisdom based global economy. Adhering to the doctrine of non-violence, ATCA addresses asymmetric threats and social opportunities arising from climate chaos and the environment; radical poverty and microfinance; geo-politics and energy; organised crime & extremism; advanced technologies -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI; demographic skews and resource shortages; pandemics; financial systems and systemic risk; as well as transhumanism and ethics. Present membership of ATCA is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished members from over 120 countries: including 1,000 Parliamentarians; 1,500 Chairmen and CEOs of corporations; 1,000 Heads of NGOs; 750 Directors at Academic Centres of Excellence; 500 Inventors and Original thinkers; as well as 250 Editors-in-Chief of major media.

The Philanthropia, founded in 2005, brings together over 1,000 leading individual and private philanthropists, family offices, foundations, private banks, non-governmental organisations and specialist advisors to address complex global challenges such as countering climate chaos, reducing radical poverty and developing global leadership for the younger generation through the appliance of science and technology, leveraging acumen and finance, as well as encouraging collaboration with a strong commitment to ethics. Philanthropia emphasises multi-faith spiritual values: introspection, healthy living and ecology. Philanthropia Targets: Countering climate chaos and carbon neutrality; Eliminating radical poverty -- through micro-credit schemes, empowerment of women and more responsible capitalism; Leadership for the Younger Generation; and Corporate and social responsibility.

© 2012 Copyright DK Matai - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.