Leonard Shlain is Dead

 The genius, the visionary, the great being, Leonard Shlain is dead. I had no idea he died last may. I was just made aware of this by following Robert Lyons' blog post link. I'm sad, and I'm sure you are as well. If you haven't had the chance to listen to this extraordinary talk with Leonard Shlain conducted by Stuard Davis and posted here on Integral Life, please have a listen. It's truly amazing: integrallife.com/node/43427, and number 2: integrallife.com/node/43429

Leonard Shlain discovered the cultural connections between art and physics, how visionary artists were painting and creating art that helped the minds of each time period make sense of the physics being discovered at the time. He also discovered that the feminine, holistic, caring, beauty recognizing part of the brain (the right-brain, left-hand) was suppressed by the mythic religions that decreed "Destroy the art, destroy all graven images, and cover the women up for Christ's sakes, they're too beautiful!" etc. 

So the left-brain (right-handed) side, the masculine, logical thinking side was emphasized, thus cutting off the masses from recognizing their oneness with the environment, a oneness that can only be experience through the holistic right brain. This is why 92% of us are right-handed today. It is only in the last 100 years or so that cinema has began to reawaken the image recognition, beauty recognition side of our brains, thus leading us toward a more balanced brain. It completely coincides with the arising feminist, equal rights, and environment movements. 

His latest book, Leonardo's Brain, is scheduled for release this Spring. And I hope it is, because it promises to be one of the most important books ever created, a map of what human potential is aspiring to. Leonardo Di Vinci was ambidextrous, an amazing artist as well as scientist. He represented true integration, the kind the Integral Movement is all about. 

To Leonard Shlain I say, Sir, I love you. I see how much you've done for our world. And we will continue on the legacy. Leonard Shlain is another Ken Wilber in his own right. And we're lucky to have these fellas.