Writer Between Worlds

“The words ‘mean’, ‘mind’ and ‘memory’ share common roots, so any account of meaning that does not begin in the raw stuff of human consciousness is off to a poor start. The left hemisphere on its own puts words together using often complex syntax and makes a kind of sense of them. But the real meaning of the communication, something called ‘pragmatics’, may escape it, as it would escape a computer. For example, if I say, ‘it’s hot in here today’, you understand, using your right hemisphere, that I mean ‘would you please open a window?’ Meanwhile your left hemisphere, if left to itself, notes with some puzzlement this supply of unasked for meteorological information.”

Iain McGilchrist – The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World (p. 215)