Right and Left Brain Activity

It is interesting to compare  chochma and  bina with the results of right brain and left brain research. Dr. Elmer Green of the Menninger Clinic at Topeka, Kansas, is a foremost scientist in this arena. He has noted that creativity is associated with right brain activity. The left brain activity must be quieted if we are to encourage creativity to come to the fore. The left brain is the rational cortex, developing logic, rationalizing, deducing, and judging and is akin to the function of bina.

The right brain tends to "see the whole picture". It draws on an "intuitive" response, providing inspiration and creativity that seems very close to the nature of chochma.

" Bina...taps the chochma energy and puts it to good use...."

In fact, Green developed a biofeedback process of training people to elicit theta waves, a sign that the left brain is relaxed, to allow the less defined processes of the right brain to work on a problem. It is conceivable that similar biofeedback techniques could be used to identify chochma and bina spiritual flows.

Within chochma lies the "soul" of the idea. Hence "right brain" people tend to see overall general problems rather than grappling with individual components. Some scientists and artists employ non-analytic approaches to solve problems. They walk, or meditate, or daydream, or even "sleep on it". This allows right brain activity to emerge - the infusion of a chochma flow.

Although it has become fashionable to call upon right brain activity as a solution to all problems, the truth is that both hemispheres are necessary for their respective capacities. Even the most creative people need discipline and dedication if they are to produce anything worthwhile. This derives from left brain activity.

Using a Kabbalistic point of reference, the sparks of chochma must be harnessed by the shaping quality of bina, which taps the chochma energy and puts it to good use. While bina is discipline and definition oriented, it is nevertheless a pathway to creative freedom. All too often creative geniuses remain undiscovered because they lack the capacity to tap creativity in a meaningful and expressive way.

Pablo Picasso mastered the mind-body flow to a point where the cubic shapes and juxtaposition of colors captured a dimension of the subject that would otherwise have remained hidden.

For celebrated violinist Yehudi Menuhin, the inanimate wood and strings became living extensions of his own limbs, heart, and soul. This synthesis of painter and canvas, maestro and instrument, is the result of repetitious and self-disciplined practice. Each of these creative geniuses harnessed the creative spark of chochma and nurtured it through discipline and practice through the bina flow.

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