The 3 brains as metaphors for ‘thinking’ or ‘intelligence’ (IQ, EQ, SQ) have been broadly named by some scientists as the ‘Mind’. I would like to suggest that the English proverb, ‘a mind of its own’ shows disintegration and lack of coordination between one’s thinking and actions.
To ensure integration of the three minds, I would like to highlight Daniel Pink’s book, “A Whole New Mind” where he writes about the importance of both the left and right brain, especially in today’s conceptual age. Pink shares that besides function, argument, focus, logic, seriousness and accumulation (qualities of the left brain), it is equally important to develop the six senses/touches of the right brain i.e. design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.
I would like to suggest that Pink’s left brain is what societies and education focus on (‘the brain in the head’ i.e. IQ) and right brain requires activating the ‘brain in the heart’ i.e. EQ).Interestingly, as pointed out in my earlier article (Part 1), Pink’s ‘Blink’ shares stories on how over time, persons can develop an intelligence better known as intuition (‘the brain in the gut’).Non-scientifically, people refers to call this intelligence colloquially as ‘six sense’.
This ‘six sense’ (knowing without much deliberate thinking) may be what Daniel Kahneman refers to as ‘quick thinking’. While it may occasionally spew wisdom, it can be subjected to thinking errors such as prejudice, judgement, bias etc. Many spiritual tradition and followers of Carl Jung’s Analytical Psychology seem to believe that this arena is the large ‘unconscious’(personal and collective) that we can learn to tap into. They believe that when these the unconscious is integrated into our consciousness, we live a more balanced life, embracing both our light and shadow.
Clearly, the human being is a wonder of creation with the potential for learning and growth. We have seen great examples of exemplary leaders who demonstrated by the lives they live on how they have integrated the three brains and cast more light into the world. These leaders could be models for all of us to recognise, acknowledge our hidden potential and seek to develop ourselves (starting with developing all three brains) and then utilising these to become ‘better versions of ourselves’ and eventually, a ‘better world’–in the words of Scott Peck, ‘a world waiting to be born’.