14.9 Square Inches

In my last post I said we’d consider the repercussions of the left hemisphere of the brain acting as a master rather than a faithful servant. I’ll give you a micro example this week, then a macro example of the servant acting as master next week.

My micro example is my iPhone. I’m not anti-phone. I use an iPhone 17. Its screen measures approximately 14.9 square inches. That defines the height and width of what the screen makes present to me when I’m on my iPhone: 14.9 square inches of stuff.

But that’s miniscule considering the room I’m in. It’s small but measures approximately 3 million cubic inches. Those 3 million cubic inches comprise all the things present to me in the room, most of which I’m not paying attention to when I’m on my iPhone.

That’s because our span of attention must narrow to see what’s on a mobile device’s screen. The more time we spend on our screens, the narrower our view of things. The less time we spend on our screens, the wider and higher our view of things.

Which calls into question this thing we call “worldview.” Christians like to talk about having a “biblical worldview,” but what if our worldview is a mere 14.9 square inches? That’s miniscule considering the universe that God created.

But what if we’re not conscious of our worldview being so small? That can happen, since 98 percent of our thought process is not conscious. But the left hemisphere is generally unaware of this (or doesn’t believe it), so it doesn’t understand things.

That’s why Iain McGilchrist’s The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World is a must read. He uses the word “matter” in two senses. We no longer know the essence (matter) of things (like smartphones), so we don’t see how we don’t know what’s gone wrong (what’s the matter?) in how we use these things.

In truth, we’re entertained when we’re on our phones. Entertain means “to hold” (as in “entering a thought,” or holding it). But folks who bias their left brain fail to see they’re not holding their phone as much as the phone has a hold on them. So they don’t see how their worldview is unconsciously narrowing (to perhaps 14.9 square inches?).

If you think that’s nuts, read the story of a former Cincinnati politician who was unjustly incarcerated. Through months without a smartphone, he learned how “my brain – if not my heart – felt a lot better without it.” Over time, the phone was losing its hold on him.

Given all this, why then do we spend so much time on our mobile devices?

Simple. We like doing it. It’s pleasing, which is part of being made in God’s image. God does whatever he pleases. We do what pleases us. But we don’t mature as humans if we only do what pleases us. We have to align what pleases us with what pleases God.

And that presents a problem in a fallen world. God created us to feel pleasure when our brain releases dopamine, an addictive chemical which creates sensations of pleasure. Engineers who are smarter than you and me have studied this, designing algorithms that create images causing the brain to release dopamine. The more we watch, the more pleasure we feel and the more addicted we become to more info and images.

But we only have a finite amount of time in this life. Do we ask whether all this attention paid to our social devices is the highest and best use of our time, if our intent is to become like Christ? 30 minutes on our phone is 30 minutes we could spend elsewhere – in prayer, scripture meditation, worship… you know, things we’ll do in eternity.

Except that, here on earth, those things do not give us the same dopamine rush we get from scrolling through Facebook, texting friends, posting pics of ourselves… you name it. Those who bias the left hemisphere of the brain are simply not conscious of this.

And that, my friends, is a micro example of the left hemisphere acting as the master. It’s supposed to be a servant, the domain of reason. But when the left brain acts as a master, it doesn’t see the big picture. It doesn’t see the 14.9 square inches in the context of 3 million cubic inches that it doesn’t see, what’s literally present before us.

The left hemisphere instead tends to rationalize, which is what happens when we turn reason into an idol. “I’m not on my phone that much.” “I am paying attention to you and others in the room.” “You’re making too much out of spending time on social devices.”

Actually, we think too little about the repercussions. We’re delusional, writes Iain McGilchrist. The left hemisphere, acting as master, is not in touch with reality. It acts as a rationalist, conjuring reasons why it’s 100 percent conscious of what it sees.

McGilchrist is not suggesting we abandon reason but to restore its rightful place as servant. The right hemisphere depends on the left: It needs to employ categories, it needs a map of the territory, which the left hemisphere can provide as a servant.

But those things are at the service of the right hemisphere’s more wide-ranging, far-seeing, insightful perspective. The right takes in the phenomenon as a whole, before passing it to the left with its particular gifts for division and analysis. Then the left hemisphere must pass back its findings to be integrated into the bigger picture.

McGilchrist uses the example of learning to play a piano sonata. First you hear it, and you are enraptured (the right hemisphere). But to learn it, you will need to master the tempo, the fingering, the dynamics (the left hemisphere). What is crucial is that, having got a handle on these things, you do not become fixated on the details but play the piece with your love for it still fresh (the right hemisphere).

And like learning to play a piano sonata, restoring a fruitful harmony between the right and left hemisphere is best done through a guide or tutor. You can’t do it on your own, or in some sort of small group where everyone shares their take on things. You need a guide, someone who biases their right hemisphere and can help you restore a fruitful harmony between your right and left hemisphere. It can be done.

So Pascal was right. Our hearts have reasons for what we do (like spending a lot of time on our social devices) which reason (which is the job of the left hemisphere) knows nothing of. Those reasons are wrapped around pleasure, and when our unconscious pleasures are not in alignment with God’s, they’re hard habits to break.

In my next post I’ll give you a macro example of the servant acting as master.