The Mystery of Consciousness: Dr. Iain McGilchrist’s Keynote at Kinross House (2024)

Prepare to have your understanding of consciousness transformed. In this captivating keynote, world-renowned philosopher and neuroscientist Dr. Iain McGilchrist delves into the depths of the human mind, exploring how the hemispheres of the brain shape our perception of reality. He challenges conventional thinking about consciousness, matter, and the nature of existence, offering a radical yet insightful perspective that will leave you questioning what you thought you knew.

Delivered at 'A Symposium on Consciousness' on August 2, 2024, at the stunning Kinross House Estate in Scotland, this talk was presented by Wonderstruck, The Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, and Five Books.

Discover why Dr. McGilchrist believes consciousness is the foundation of reality, and explore the provocative questions raised by his research: What role do our brain hemispheres play in shaping reality? How does our attention alter the world around us? Is consciousness the ultimate reality?

This keynote is not an academic lecture—it’s a journey into the heart of what it means to be human.

Who is Dr. Iain McGilchrist:
Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, literary scholar, philosopher, and neuroscientist, best known for his groundbreaking work on how the brain’s hemispheres shape our reality. His seminal book, The Master and His Emissary, explores how the right and left hemispheres offer different yet complementary views of the world—the right focusing on the whole, the left on details. In his latest work, The Matter with Things, McGilchrist critiques reductive materialism and addresses life’s biggest questions: Who are we? What is the world? What is the nature of time, space, and consciousness?

Chapters:
0:00 – Introduction by Elizabeth
1:41 – Keynote begins: Consciousness & Epistemic Humility
2:46 – Defining consciousness and unconsciousness
4:26 – The unconscious mind and its vast scope
6:19 – Consciousness and the hemispheres of the brain
9:23 – Consciousness vs. matter debate
12:32 – The brain as a transmitter or sculptor of consciousness
17:23 – Matter, consciousness, and interconnectedness
24:07 – The role of attention and the hemispheres
31:00 – Left vs. right hemisphere delusions
35:00 – Creativity, order, and the role of consciousness
46:00 – The emergence of meaning and creativity in life
55:06 – Final reflections on consciousness and reality
59:55 – Closing thoughts and Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem