Well documented is the reality of residences of various mental functions, e.g. speech, memory, emotions, and etc. The brain can be mapped within a fair degree of accuracy. Consisting of two hemispheres, left and right, people are right or left dominant just as they are right or left-handed. Unlike handedness, brain dominance is not as obvious. Most people are more or less near balance. But even among those who are leaners, the weak side is used far more than a person uses their off-hand.
 
            Brain side differences are profound. The left brain houses communicative skills, especially verbal. Creativity resides on the left along with major memory blocks. The right is analytical. Logic requires right brain work. It is mathematical, precise and regimented. Left brains excel intuitively. Left-brain dominants can deal in the abstracts that confound the right. The right brainers tend to require proofs and logic that befuddle the lefts.
 
            An old adage states, "generally speaking, generalities are generally wrong." Well, scientists generalize that women tend to be left-brain dominant and men, right. However, just as many women are taller than some men, the distinction is obscure, at best.
 
            This discussion is not about intelligence or gender. Many studies have refuted long-held theories related to gender biases. This discussion refers only to hemispherical dominance. Both sexes are born with both hemispheres. Environmental factors seem to account for much gender bias. A further complication is the matter of lobes and hormonal and glandular activity within the brain. This piece, at the risk of being dangerously superficial, will remain in the shallow end of the pool.
 
            Could it be that the ability to believe, that is, faith is a particular brain-side function, or characteristic? If so, it would most definitely be a left side function. Faith as a left brain function would be consistent with other left brain activities: creativity, intuition, abstract thought, musical and artistic inclinations, as well as other expressive abilities. Believing is different from knowing in that believing requires no proof, or evidence. Knowing is like a Missouri trait: I'll believe it when I see it - show me. Could this account, in part, for the well-documented greater female religious participation?
 
            The father of a convulsive boy said to Jesus, "I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief." Could it be that logic inhibits faith? Simultaneously requiring proof, and believing blindly is illogical. You can’t have it both ways. To believe a miracle only after refuting its miraculous nature by verifiable explanation is not believing at all. Faith is absent.
 
            King David was a singer, a musician, and a poet - even a performer. He could be persuasive with words. David danced before the Lord as the Ark of the Covenant reached the Holy City. David demonstrated ingenuity and left-side intuition in nearly all of his decisions - even the more emotional nature of his few poor choices. David was also a man of great faith. Was he left-brain dominant, or perhaps perfectly balanced?
 
            Prophet Elijah was a man of great faith. After believing God for one of the most fantastic miracles of all time, the burning of the water-drenched altar along with turning rain off and on three-and-a-half years later, Elijah wished for death, fearing wicked old Jezebel. Logic was not his forte. Was Elijah, with all his faith, left brain dominant?
 
            Perhaps this explains why the more educated generally find absolute faith more difficult than the less-encumbered. Education teaches proofs, logic, and reason - right brain heaven. Simple faith requires the shut down of all such mental exercising. Creating something from nothing, talking animals, flying people, virgin birth, resurrection of the dead, etc. Analyzing and understanding such phenomenon must be obstacles to faith. “Become like little children.”
 
            The nature of God, the mission and purpose of Jesus, and the doctrine of the scriptures are certainly for study and understanding, and believing by faith. We must be able to believe right, and study left. Just as clapping requires both hands, full faith requires whole brain activity. One-sidedness does not preclude healthy faith, but may require compensations, deliberately and consciously exercising the weaker, or off-side, allowing the mind the freedom to believe uninhibitedly – forcing faith, willing ones’ self to believe, forcing the left hand to meet the right in the middle for a decent clap. It’s a matter of choice, and will.