'The defining features of the human condition can all be traced to our ability to stand back from the world, for our selves and from the immediacy of experience. This enables us to plan, to think flexibly and inventively, and, in brief, to take control of the world around us rather than simply respond to it passively.'
Iain McGilchrist, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, p.21.
