A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

Symphony is the faculty to combine separate entities into one whole. It relies on synthesizing rather than analyzing and requires the individual to “detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answers” (130). The best way to understand and strengthen this aptitude is to draw.

Pink takes a drawing course to strengthen his Symphony sensibility, but he struggles. His instructor, Bomeisler, says that Pink’s challenge is that he doesn’t draw what he sees, but draws the learned symbols from his childhood. What Bomeisler means is that Pink is not drawing his lips, but a standardized symbol for lips that he remembers from his childhood. This process is from the left brain. The right brain, once free, can see and “integrate those relationships into a whole” (133). Seeing relationships is an essential component to mastering Symphony. Pink argues that there are three types of people who excel at this: the boundary crosser, the inventor, and the metaphor maker. Boundary crossers shine in vastly different spheres. Inventors combine separate things into one unified creation. Metaphor makers decipher and create meaning, enabling the understanding of themselves and the world they live in.