Active and Passive Hands

Right Handedness and Left Handedness

The development of single handedness in human beings is seen as a product of evolution. Both apes and monkeys are predominantly ambidextrous and it is argued that the specialisation of handedness in humans correlates with the developed specialisation of the human brain and the specialisation of brain functions.

The brain itself consists of two distinct lobes or hemispheres joined together via the body of the corpus callosum. The right hemisphere of the brain connects with the left hand and the left side of the body whilst the left hemisphere connects with the right hand and the right side of the body. The removal or severance of the corpus callosum, which is often done to assist those who suffer from epilepsy and other serious neurological disorders, results in a 'split brain' condition where the two hemispheres of the brain are no longer able to communicate with one another. It has been through such operations and through other direct traumas to the brain such as a stroke, that the medical profession has learnt much about the functioning of the brain and have discovered that each hemisphere of the brain deals with quite particular functions of the mind. For instance, injury to the left hemisphere can impair reasoning and speech performance, whereas an injury to the right hemisphere affects spatial awareness and musical ability but does not affect speech. Broadly speaking, the different hemispheres of the brain are functionally differentiated, for right handers and the majority (70%) of left handers, in the following way:

Left Brain Hemisphere - Right Hand
logical, linear, sequential, analytical, discriminative mind, judgement, intelligence, cognition, mathematical function, writing, reading, speech, verbal thinking, time sense, predominant in waking life, the conscious mind

Right Brain Hemisphere - Left Hand
holistic, integrative, imaginative, symbolic, synthetic mind, musical sense, dreaming/images, visual thinking, non-verbal thinking, creativity, art, drawing ability, intuitions, extreme emotions and the sexual emotions, awareness of space/sense of direction, recognition of others & objects, spatial sense, predominant in sleeping life, the subconscious mind

These qualities are reversed for right handers who write in an inverted fashion and for left handers who write holding a pencil normally and this should therefore be taken into consideration when determining Active and Passive hands.

Research into right and left-handedness has shown that approximately 12-14% of the British population are left handed, 10% are ambidextrous whilst the remainding 75%+ are right handed. Although the over-riding majority of people are right handed, it has been found that a higher proportion of mathematicians, computer programme designers, architects, artists, actors, professional photographers and professional sports players than one might expect are left handed. One obvious example here is the predominance of left-handers amongst the worlds top tennis players, eg Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. What is interesting to note about this though is that these various professions all exhibit a greater use of the functions of the right hemisphere of the brain, and particularly involve the use of imagination, spatial awareness and spatial ability.

However, a higher proportional percentage of left handed people are prone to allergies, arthritis, hormone imbalances, migraines, congenital heart disease or multiple sclerosis. Left-handers are also more likely to experience learning difficulties at school or other problems such as dyslexia or stuttering and a higher proportion of homosexuals, schizophrenics and mental defectives have also been found to be left handed.

Left-handers are thus found to be more represented at both extremes of the range of human intelligence, both amongst mental defectives or those with educational and learning difficulties and amongst those with highly talented mental or physical abilities.

The Brain and the Hand

Of particular note for the study of hands is the fact that there are more neural connections between the hands and the brain than between the brain and any other part of the body. The area of the cerebral cortex devoted to the sensory and motor nerves that supply the hands is not in proportion to the actual size of the hands. The physiology of the nervous system is such that the more important an area of the body is, the more space is given to it in the brain. The hands are an incredibly important source of sensory information and are indeed one of the first ways in which we begin to learn about the world around us. Moreover, hands play an enormous role in the way we mould and influence the world around us, for they are the organs of human expression par excellence. This is not only reflected in the tasks our minds instruct our hands to complete, whether that be digging a trench or playing the piano, but is also reflected in the importance of the hands in gesture, as used unconsciously within speech and consciously within specialised sign languages such as deaf-mute gestures, semaphore signals and indeed, writing. All these activities reflect the intimate connection and cooperation between the hand and the brain, and in so doing show how much the hands reflect so much of both our thoughts and our emotions. As Charlotte Wolff expresses it: 'The hand is the visible part of the brain'.

Research into the lineal patterns of the hands has shown that there are usually more lines on the left hand of a right-hander than on the right hand, and vice versa for a left-hander. This confirms that the line patterns of the hand are not primarily caused by the use of the hands, since the active and predominant hand is usually found to contain fewer lines than the hand which is less used! Moreover, it confirms that the lines on the hands are more related to psychological and emotional activities of the mind, given that the left hand of a right-hander relates to the right hemisphere of the brain and hence to the seat of the primary emotions.

However, it has also been found that the lines on the right hand of a right-hander change more quickly than the lines on their left hand, with the opposite being true for a left-hander. This therefore reveals that the passive hand is more representative of the deep-seated patterns within us whereas the active hand reveals more of the surface patterns and orientations which are more amenable to influence and change. Since the passive hand describes those patterns of consciousness less susceptible to change, it can readily be considered to be descriptive of our primary psychological and emotional make-up. If the active hand can legitimately be seen as a representation of our conscious mind, then the passive hand can be seen to be a reflection of our subconscious mind.

Active and Passive Hands

One hand is nearly always more dominant than the other and most people will know whether they are right or left handed, but to be certain, ask which of their two hands they normally use to write with. This will reveal which of their hands can then be taken to be representative of their conscious mind and therefore their conscious patterns and orientations. Although both hands must always be taken into consideration, they will usually recognise more of the patterns reflected in their active hands than their passive hands since these will describe the patterns of consciousness they actively use and generally have greater awareness of. However, the patterns of the passive hand can often be just as important since these will describe something of the patterns that form the basis of the consciousness expressed by the active hand.

The relation between the passive and active hands can be likened to an iceberg, the passive hand being that which is hidden below the surface of the water and the active hand being that which is exposed to the world above the water. The active hand thus describes those patterns of consciousness which are more visible and more obvious whereas the passive hand will describe those patterns of consciousness which are more hidden.

It is incorrect to think of the passive hand as 'what you are born with' and the active hand as 'what you have made of it' as popular lore would have it. This implies a temporal relation between the two hands which does not really exist and which further implies that the one hand changes whilst the other does not. As can be seen, both hands do in fact change, and in any case it obvious that you are actually born with both hands! Both hands are descriptive of you, now, as you are in the present; they merely describe something of the different aspects of yourself. One is in the foreground and one is in the background, but both are in the present. Both are representative of you as you are now.

The activity of the dominant hand shows that this hand is more descriptive of the manner in which we express ourselves at this point in time and hence also describes something of how we present ourselves to the world, our persona. Since it is the expressive hand, it also reveals something of what we actually do within the world, hence the patterns of the active hand are of particular importance for vocational analysis. In health analysis, the active hand is of particular importance for describing current and manifest conditions of ill-health. It is descriptive of the outer facet of our being, our outer life and our public face, for it reveals how we actually express ourselves. It reveals the qualities we have consciously chosen to develop and manifest in the world at this time.

The patterns of the passive hand describe more of our inner life and our private selves and they describe something of the qualities which are more latent within us rather than expressed. If these qualities are expressed at all, this will be more in our family and domestic life rather than in our professional and public life. Hence the patterns of our passive hands describe something more of our personal life and our inner feelings, what is going on within us at this moment in time. It also reveals our more instinctive habits and inclinations rather than our more considered responses. Healthwise, it reveals indications of latent or inherited conditions of ill-health rather than presently manifest illnesses.

Equally, the passive hand can reveal those inherited psychological and emotional patterns that have their origins from within ones family. The passive hand is the substructure, the foundations from which the active hand operates.

The two hands should always be compared together, for clearly a complete picture of the individual cannot be ascertained without doing so. The active hand is important for it reveals what has been consciously developed or neglected by the person, but the passive hand is important for it reveals the basis from which this development or change has taken place. The comparison of the two hands thus describes something of the progression or regression occurring in the individual at that time. Differences between the two hands will reveal conflicts and difficulties experienced by the individual between their inner orientation and their outward manifestation, conflicts, or differences, between their inner 'self' and their outer 'self'. Each individual is therefore only fully described by the synthesis of the features of both their active and passive hands. Their whole being is only described by the sum of the patterns represented in both hands.

Summary of Active and Passive Hands

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