However, when I actually try to walk the plank, I
thrust up my right hand into the air to signify the right
computer, the pictures have taken over. In my
imagination I have' seen' myself splattered out on the
sidewalk three hundred feet below. I ask my audience
"Can I walk across the plank of wood three hundred
feet up in the air if all the time I'm 'seeing' myself as
strawberry jam down on the sidewalk?" The answer is
of course I can't! Splat! Strawberry Jam! Nasty! For a
laugh I always ask my audience if there is anyone at all
who thinks they could walk the plank three hundred
feet up in the air. Before they have time to answer I tell
them we have the experiment set up outside. I've
never had any takers!
All the t ime I'm talking to my audience I ho ld up
the dictionary and the picture postcards to signify the
left computer processing in words and the right
computer processing in pictures. This tends to bring it
home to a lot of my students and I suggest that before
you read any further, that you hold a dictionary in
your left hand and some picture postcards in your
right hand and go over the plank of wood exercise for
yourself. (The only people who can walk across the
plank of wood three hundred feet up in the air, are the
tightrope walkers, who don't have an incongruity
between their two computers).
The whole point is that for years you have been
verbally telling yourself (left computer, words) that
you are going to be a success, going to own your own
business, going to be a millionaire, going to be a
winner, going to be top salesperson, going to own a
Rolls Royce or Porsche but have been' seeing' for
yourself (right computer, pictures) the exact opposite.
In other words most people have an abso lute total
incongruity between what their left computers' say' in
words, and what their right computers' see' in pictures.