James Olson (author)


James Olson is an American philosopher and author. A generalist, his primary focus is on the effects of functional lateralization on consciousness and human behavior. Olson is the author of , a book that seeks to explain human behavior by focusing on functional differences in the brain's hemispheres in terms of how they view and manage the information that generates our thoughts, feelings, and actions; and , which promotes peace though whole-brain thinking. To explore the brain's role in our decision-making and behavior, Olson studies the character of the macro management systems that oversee the brain's operation, explaining how each system helps shape our viewpoint, biases our perception, and divides us.
As shared in Olson’s speaking engagements and radio interviews, his passion is to help bring a greater measure of peace to this planet by reducing the level of conflict created by dysfunctional polarizations. Olson believes that mental conflict is initiated in the brain/mind complex, the result of profound differences in the left and right hemisphere as expressed though the unique perspectives and ideas that they generate. According to Olson, the perceptual and ideological conflicts that arise and divide us can often be consciously eliminated by recognizing the two hemispheres and their operating systems as a complementary whole rather than as parts.

Early life

Olson was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up on a farm near Waynoka, Oklahoma, and was an active 4-H member.
A former church deacon, Olson began with a core of conservative Christian values, which were later complemented by the study of other religions and the acquisition of more liberal values as a result of having lived in Paris, France, Vienna, Austria, Murnau, Germany, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany, and Iserlohn, Germany.
After attending Oklahoma State University, Stillwater from 1961-1963, and the University of Vienna, Austria in 1963, Olson graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma, Norman. In 1967 he attended graduate school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Current, ongoing work

Olson currently promotes whole-brain thinking and works to reduce social and political polarization in order to create a more peaceful world. The scientific foundation of his published works starts with the split-brain research of Roger Walcott Sperry and his then student Michael S. Gazzaniga, and includes the work of Ned Herrmann, Iain McGilchrist, Robert Ornstein, and Jill Bolte Taylor.
Olson's approach is interdisciplinary, focused on fundamentals, and inclusive of physical, mental, and spiritual values. To explain the brain's role in feeding consciousness, he describes sixteen variations in how the brain gathers and processes information and informs our response. Focused on practical aspects of brain science, Olson works to understand how we can consciously interact with and influence this activity.
The foundation of Olson's philosophical and scientific research starts with a knowledge of the complementary systems that manage the operation of the two hemispheres, one a dual system, the other a nondual system. He explores how the two hemispheric systems relate to one another, seeking to understand the nature of the mental perspectives they give us, and why they elicit the responses they do. Having studied each hemisphere's perspective and its typical response, Olson then set out to explain in detail the differences between left-brain and right-brain consciousness, resulting in his latest book How Whole Brain Thinking Can Save the Future which outlines his four- and sixteen-variation models of consciousness.
Four-part brain-management model
In researching for his 2017 book, Olson found that the dual consciousness discovered by Roger Sperry , is a consequence of genetic dominance, specifically, genetic complete dominance, which produces the left-hemisphere- or right-hemisphere-dominant model of consciousness advocated by Sperry. Based on patterns common to genetic dominance, Olson hypothesizes that genetic co-dominance causes the two hemisphere to work as an integrated team to inform consciousness, and genetic incomplete dominance causes the two hemispheres to integrate into a hybrid system of operation.
Brain operating systems and gender
Olson views gender as a consequence of systems behavior. The specialized management systems that operate the hemispheres, like all management systems, can be described based on their operational characteristics. All systems, he points out, are characterized by their purpose and scope, and by the values they adhere to and promote, among other things. Based on a broad body of research detailing the brain's operation, Olson believes that in most people the left hemisphere uses a dual system of operation and the right hemisphere uses a nondual system. The brain’s dual and nondual systems engage in a variety of different tasks and in doing so produce different feelings, and gender is, in part, felt. Dualistic consciousness is aggressive, materialistic, selfish, and fearful. It feels masculine. Holistic nondual consciousness feels feminine. It is passive, people oriented, selfless, and loving in character.
Gender's four variations
Considering common genetic dominance patterns of behavior, Olson believes that some of us experience a combination gender. Whereas genetic complete dominance produces either masculine or feminine gender, genetic co-dominance can be expected to create a team-based operating system that, by default, produces a bisexual gender experience; and genetic incomplete dominance can be expected to give us a hybrid operating system that defaults to produce a hybrid gender variation that produces polysexual behavior.
Sixteen variations in consciousness
Olson claims to have resolved a major conflict between lateralization of brain function studies and handedness studies. The body of behavioral studies that form the foundation of functional lateralization suggest that most women are right-brain dominant; however, handedness studies indicate that most women are left-brain dominant since most women are right-handed, and right-handedness is widely accepted to be a reflection of left-brain dominance. To explain this apparent inconsistency, Olson contends that our information processes in two stages, first as brain input, then as brain output, and that each stage is independently subject to the regulation of one of the three types of genetic dominance. Thus, in accordance with most functional lateralization studies, it is common for women to be informed of their world though a dominant right hemisphere, and yet respond to this information from a dominant left hemisphere—as indicated by handedness studies. Furthermore, Olson claims that any one of the four responses described above, may dominate the processing of information input and any one of the four may dominate the processing of its output. Consequently, Olson believes that current brain science supports sixteen different systems of brain operation that produce sixteen variations in consciousness.
In July, 2012, Olson published a research paper on the topic of sexual orientation with a table showing 32 variations in sexual orientation, “The Role of Brain Dominance in Sexual Orientation”, that has garnered critical media recognition in traditional and LGBTQ outlets, based on the prevailing controversies around the topic of sexual orientation.
Following the unifying guidelines of philosophy and drawing on his wide-ranging education, Olson has stated that his mission is to help bring the planet’s masculine and feminine energies into greater balance, and therefore into a more peaceful state, through his advocacy of whole-brain thinking.

Previous career

From 1968 – 1987, James Olson worked in agriculture in Woods County, Oklahoma, managing a farm producing wheat and alfalfa.

Awards

How Whole Brain Thinking Can Save the Future is the recipient of several book awards:
Awards for The Whole-Brain Path to Peace include:
, article in Common Ground, May, 2017
, article in Spirituality & Health, March 27, 2017
, article in Spirituality & Health, March 5, 2017
, article in Spirituality & Health, Jan 29, 2017
, article in Om Times, Jan 14, 2017
. article in Spirituality & Health, Jan 8, 2017
, Origin Press, 2017
, article in Whole Life Times, August 7, 2016
, Origin Press, 2011
, article, July, 2012
, article in Wisdom Magazine, Summer 2011
, Guest Opinion in The Bay Area Reporter Online, July 26, 2012
, article in Light of Consciousness magazine, Spring 2012
, Spiritwarrior Publishing Company, 1981
, Spiritwarrior Publishing Company, 1982