WENDY WILLIAMSON: On the utter necessity of restoring right/left brain integration.

August 11, 2026

I have been focused on the need for right/left brain integration since forever! Knowing, with every fiber in my being, that this (sociologically, psychologically trained) bifurcation is THE ROOT CAUSE of what divides us from both ourselves and one another, leading to all manner of isolation and conflict.

Looking back through this ak.net website, searching for “right/left brain,” I see an enormous number of posts that just scroll on and on. Rather than trying to count ’em (a left brain activity), I just chose the most recent one to repost here:

REFLECTIONS: mostly detailed rant on how long daily walks dissolve left-brain doom-scrolling harm and invigorate right-brain/heart (and soul!)

If I were to go back through the exopermaculture.com archival site, no doubt I would discover the same preoccupation! But I “don’t have time” for that.

The reason I bring this subject of right/brain integration up here again, is thanks to Clif High on X this morning.

Instantly mesmerized, I found myself reading through both the original substack article and all the comments to it that directly address this right/left brain integration issue and brilliantly situate it within both historical, and current polticial and cultural context.

https://wendywilliamson.substack.com/p/the-intellectual-architecture-of-trumpism

And just so you know: Williamson is not “blaming” anyone, including Trump, in her deep assessment of what we western humans have willingly, though mostly unconsciously, subjected ourselves to, seemingly forever. The “blame game’ is part of the architecture she identifies.

Don’t forget to read the comment section. Also deeply informative, offering many perspectives. And the way Wendy Williamson replies to comments is also deeply informative. She is thanking critics; she is seeking relationship; her communication in the comment section offers a living example of what she and I both advocate (though I feel like a fool including myself, a former “violent peace activist,”  within her mastery): left brain logic and analysis working in service to the holistic, loving right brain. She succeeds here in personally exemplifying what she says she wants, HUMAN UNITY, rather than polarity, in this fractionated world where nasty division is still the name of the game.

And in fact, if we don’t wake up soon to what unites us, we’re more and more likely to blow ourselves up.

As we all know.

So let’s not.

 

BTW: her assessment of what we need to do to regenerate this sorry world of ours fits beautifully into the template we have created here in Green Acres Village. Our motto: Growing Community from the Ground Up.

https://www.greenacresvillage.org/

 

Ruminating on the Relativity(?) of “Moral Compasses”

August 10, 2026

As I ponder the differences between my attitude and my Mom’s attitude (see yesterday’s post) towards lying, I came across an interesting post on twitter/X. See below, Rothmus, on Haidt: “Moral judgments come from instinct, and are then rationalized.”

BTW: Please read beyond its stated “political” context, as I think distinctive moral compasses emerge from some kind of deeply personal/sociological context that lies way underneath such surface phenomena. 

And wow, just noticed: truth-telling is not one of Haidt’s “moral foundations.” Huh? Or maybe once we get into epistemology, we’re at a different level than authenticity, so that authenticity is the foundation of truth-telling. . . Oh wow, wait a minute. Now I notice that not even authenticity is a foundation, in Haidt’s analysis. So maybe sanctity will fit the bill?

Okay, let’s look at the Ten Commandments, many of which make at least an indirect reference to being and behaving in a real, rather than fake manner, i.e. authentic.

In any case, here’s the post I promised above.

https://x.com/Rothmus/status/2086642819716755890?s=61&t=aUBDiSUrvn0aSlRBtZx0wQ

Re: moral “relativity:”

Thinking again about my mom: her mom would not let her meet her own grandparents, even though they lived in the same town: Rochester, Minnesota. Why? Because meeting them would somehow expose the fact that she was Jewish!

I remember, as a kid, when the Rosenberg treason trial was being held, asking Mom if her name was Jewish? No! She instantly replied. “That’s Rosenberg, not Rosenberger.”

The strangeness of her obviously uneasy denial stuck with me, and makes her irate denial that she did NOT dent her son-in-law’s car, despite a witness, understandable.

 

Jordan Peterson had more to say on the subject of lying.

https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/2085488175934243059?s=61&t=aUBDiSUrvn0aSlRBtZx0wQ

 

 

And so here we are today, when not even biological essentialism is acknowledged by a portion of the populace as real. Anybody can “change genders” at any time, and demand others use (their) “correct” pronouns. Maybe we can lessen the severity of what to me would be the “sin” and call this attitude pretending, rather than lying?