>The asymmetry of the brain is already present in the prenatal development,
>since the right brain develops earlier and faster than the left hemisphere.
> The left hemisphere matures catches up later and gradually becomes dominant.
> Language and logical thinking develop as a result. Education contributes to
>left hemispheric dominance in our culture. Ours is a primarily left-brain,
>adult culture.
>
I doubt that education contributes to the left hemispheric dominance. All of
the fossil men species back to Homo habilis have shown the same pattern of
Left hemispheric dominance and those fellows were not educated. (see~L. A.
Schepartz,"Language and Modern Human Origins," Yearbook of Physical
Anthropology, 36:91-126(1993), p. 111; Kathy D. Schick and Nicholas Toth,
Making Silent Stones Speak,(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993), p.103)
As to development, the brain approaches adult size by age 2. (see Richard M.
Restak, _The Brain_, Warner Books, 1979, p. 120) Restak also states:
"Several observations cast doubt on this developmental model of cerebral
localization. Anatomical studies carried out at Harvard and reported in
February 1978 reveal structural differences in the two hemispheres, with the
left hemisphere specialized, even in the fetus, for the production of
language. In the vast majority of subjects the left-hemisphere speech area
was larger than the corresponding area in the right hemisphere. The tendency
for speech to lateralize to the left hemisphere seems preset and genetically
'programmed'" (Ibid., p. 204-205)
>I hypothesize that the right hemisphere of the brain is the primary locus of
>religious faith, and is the channel, as it were, through which God revealed
>Him/Herself to and communicated with human beings. I suggest that in far off
>historical times, the function of the right brain may have been more dominant
>than it is today. The right hemisphere developed historically in the human
>race more rapidly than the left brain, as it does in individual development.
Humans (and rhesus monkeys) are the only beings who have a predominate
handed-ness which is associated with a left brain dominance. (see Dean Falk,
"Comments", Current Anthropology 30:2, April 1989, p. 141; Kathy D. Schick and
Nicholas Toth, Making Silent Stones Speak, (New York: Simon and Schuster,
1993), p.140)
The evidence for brain lateralization and right handedness is convincing in
Neanderthal man. The inside of their skulls show definite brain
lateralizations just like our brain. Most of their tools were made by
right-handed individuals, their right arms were stronger (based upon size of
muscle attachments and bone thickness) and they held something in their teeth
and the left hand. They then cut it with the right hand. (see Chris Stringer
and Clive Gamble, In Search of the Neanderthals, (New York: Thames and Hudson,
1993), p. 77)
Homo erectus also shows brain lateralization.
[snip]
>
>The "window of opportunity" for God's special revelation is closed, and the
>various revelations have been gathered together in the Bible. Anticipating
>the maturing and dominance of the left brain in human history, and subsequent
> subordination of the right brain, and with it the cessation of revelatory
>dreams and visions, it might seem that God ordained the composition of the
>Scriptures to consolidate and contain what had been revealed in the great
>revelatory age, the age of the active right brain.
>
Considering that every single anatomically modern human has shown the same
ratios of brain lateralization with left hemispheric dominance being the vast
majority, it is difficult to see any hard evidence for this thesis in the
skeletal parts of fossil homo sapiens.
glenn
>Do visions and trances happen today? Probably. Although they may have
>personal signficance they have little if any larger revelatory significance.
> Dreams, of course, are an ubiquitous if not a universal human experience.
> Some posts on this listserve have reported meaningful dreams. These are a
>blessing. Some native Americans induce trances and visions by various means
>as part of their culture. I noted earlier, we live in a left-brain culture,
>dominated by science. To overcome the dominance of the left brain is not
>easy.
>
>
Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm