I’m delighted to announce that Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and his Emissary and fellow of All Soul’s College, Oxford, has agreed to be a patron of the Middle Way Society.

The Master and his Emissary is an important work of synthetic thought, focusing on the  differing specialisations of two hemispheres of the brain and their massive effects on human thinking and cultural history. Although not discussing the Middle Way explicitly, it does so implicitly in a great variety of ways, and provides a possible scientific approach to understanding the physical conditions that give rise to the need for the Middle Way.

Iain’s life also shows a multi-disciplinary approach to experience that has enabled him to gain synthetic understanding of a kind that is very helpful for engaging with the Middle Way. Starting out his academic career as a scholar of literature, he then retrained and practised as a psychiatrist. He is now devoted to his writing work and lives on the Isle of Skye.

Robert Ellis

Links

Iain’s personal website

The Master and his Emissary (Amazon)

Detailed review of ‘The Master and his Emissary’ by Robert M. Ellis