Consciousness, according to Iain McGilchrist, refers to the multifaceted and nuanced experience of being aware, which goes beyond mere cognitive processing to encompass a deeply rooted interconnectedness with the world. McGilchrist emphasizes that consciousness cannot be reduced to mechanistic functions or neural activities alone, but involves an intricate balance between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The right hemisphere, in particular, is crucial for grasping the broader, contextually rich environments in which human experiences occur. For McGilchrist, consciousness is both a unified and a dynamically oscillating phenomenon that reflects the interplay of attention, perception, emotion, and understanding, ultimately shaping our reality through a highly nuanced synthesis that transcends simplistic explanations.
See also: hemisphere, left brain, right brain, reality, mind, brain