Emerald Energies - A Delightful Spiritual Retreat

In Our Right Minds -
Restoring Right-Brain "Feminine" Values to Society
by Dale Allen

The intelligence of the right brain is a part of all of us, yet we live in a culture that, as Nobel Prize winning psycho-biologist Roger Sperry wrote, "discriminates against the right hemisphere." The realm of the left hemisphere (the "masculine hunter/killer" side) is logical, linear, abstract, sequential, analytical, literal and functional. The right realm ("feminine gatherer/nurturer" side) includes intuition, dreams, creativity, metaphor, poetry, empathy, art, image and synthesis. Through three million years of evolution, these hemispheres developed to work in perfect balance.

Women have a larger corpus callosum than men - that is, they have four times more brain cells connecting the right and left side of the brain. Men think more with their gray matter, and women think more with their white. Yet regardless of their differences, now both men and women are using their right hemispheres more, and this is changing everything!

In cultures that integrate strengths of the right brain, feminine power is celebrated. The worldview is holistic and oriented in the embodied rather than the abstract. It is aligned with the eternal cycles of birth, growth, death and renewal. These cultures value community, birthing, nurturing, empathy, earth, nature, connection and interdependence. Sensuality and sexuality are honored as sacred. This kind of intelligence is our birthright - it is the intelligence of the "feminine gatherer-nurturer" hemisphere of the brain.

In our left-brain dominant culture, we define humanity according to left-brain characteristics, and we have relegated right-brain "feminine" characteristics to secondary status. We call war human nature, and peace an impractical ideal. We sing praises of women's traditional work of nurturing. Yet those who do the work of caring for children or the infirm and elderly are relegated to the lower economical, social and political rungs. Nurturing is denigrated as "non-work." We can hardly view sexuality and sensuality as holy expressions, for we have come to perceive sexuality through the lens of the left-brain with its themes of dominance and ownership.

Our left-brain dominant culture encourages women to avoid positions of power and causes humanity to suppress half of its nature. It is critical that humanity move into balance. To help us access our right-brain intelligence and shake up the fixed assumptions of our left-brain dominant perspective, my book and performance piece, In Our Right Minds^tm, explores the archetype of the goddess as a powerful metaphor for our right-brain strengths and values. By focusing on the experience of God as female we begin to dismantle the imbedded cultural insistence of the masculine pronouns for God, and restore the validity of our right-brain wisdom. Leadership for a new era will be based on integration of the feminine, as expressed through both women and men. A sustainable world cannot be built through the old, out-of-balance model; In Our Right Minds^tm illuminates an alternative.

Having presented In Our Right Minds^tm to thousands of people, I am continually both energized and humbled by the power of this message. It is transformative information presented in a relatable, inclusive way. And it's a fun multimedia piece - with original songs, comedy, characters, storytelling, myth and art. The seed of understanding that we carry within, three million years of the evolution of right-brain intelligence, bursts forth with unstoppable growth to fuel us as architects of a new paradigm.

"Dale Allen's one woman show turns the myths about women and men upside down and inside out. Her performance should be required viewing - not just for women and girls, but for men as well! Her powerful presentation is chock full of information and inspiration!"

-- Suzie Galler, Founder and President, Esteemed Women Foundation