Post by uz on Jan 21, 2012 18:47:28 GMT -5
Julian Jaynes - American psychologist, (February 27, 1920 – November 21, 1997) believed the kind of consciousness possessed by modern humans is a recent historical phenomenon rather than an innate part of human.
He beleived that humans were automatic and operated by means of nonconscious habit-schemas. Jaynes called this the "bicameral mind".
From Wiki; For bicameral humans, when habit did not suffice to handle novel stimuli and stress rose at the moment of decision, neural activity in the "dominant" (left) hemisphere was modulated by auditory verbal hallucinations originating in the so-called "silent" (right) hemisphere (particularly the right temporal cortex), which were heard as the voice of a chieftain or god and immediately obeyed.
Jaynes wrote that volition came as a voice that was in the nature of a neurological command, in which the command and the action were not separated, in which to hear was to obey. Jaynes argued that the change from bicamerality to consciousness (linguistic meta-cognition) occurred over a period of centuries beginning around 1200 BC.
Carl Goldberg on Jaynes;
According to Jaynes, the authors of the Jewish Bible, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Odyssey, along with their less literate contemporaries entirely lacked what we call “self-consciousness.” Since their awareness was directed outward, toward the external world, these ancient writers were unable to examine their own motivations and intentions; in short, they were incapable of introspection…Jaynes explains that the people of that era were able to deal with the tasks and burdens of their lives by hearing voices telling them what to do, voices that they regarded as divine. He contends that an auditory hallucination, considered to be evidence of a serious emotional disturbance today, is in fact a throwback to the neurological commands of an ancient era of human development. The “bicameral” period, as Jaynes terms it, began before 10,000 BCE, when hallucinations served to orient and guide a humankind not yet intellectually evolved enough to exercise deliberate personal control - (The Evil We Do)
Terrence McKenna, speaking of Jaynes, wrote:
Jaynes has suggested that human consciousness has changed its character even in historical times, the ego as we know it was not really in existence, except under extreme stress. And then it presented itself almost as an exterior intrusion into consciousness, like the voice of*god
Could consciousness come out of nothing, or was it learned through habbit and evolution?
Consciousness may very well have always been existant, but more likely not recognized by the ancient peoples' as a "thing". In a time/era where/when consciousness did not exist yet, would it be suffice to say that the "ego" itself hadn't been manifested yet? and through the developement of consciousness - was this the emergence of the ego, to coincide in growth simultaneously? Maybe our evolution as a species is purely based on individual reflection; motivations, aspirations/dreams/ambitions/desires.... etc and not outer-phenomenons such as; world-issues, innovation/education, cultural inheritances, power, "beleifs"...
He beleived that humans were automatic and operated by means of nonconscious habit-schemas. Jaynes called this the "bicameral mind".
From Wiki; For bicameral humans, when habit did not suffice to handle novel stimuli and stress rose at the moment of decision, neural activity in the "dominant" (left) hemisphere was modulated by auditory verbal hallucinations originating in the so-called "silent" (right) hemisphere (particularly the right temporal cortex), which were heard as the voice of a chieftain or god and immediately obeyed.
Jaynes wrote that volition came as a voice that was in the nature of a neurological command, in which the command and the action were not separated, in which to hear was to obey. Jaynes argued that the change from bicamerality to consciousness (linguistic meta-cognition) occurred over a period of centuries beginning around 1200 BC.
Carl Goldberg on Jaynes;
According to Jaynes, the authors of the Jewish Bible, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Odyssey, along with their less literate contemporaries entirely lacked what we call “self-consciousness.” Since their awareness was directed outward, toward the external world, these ancient writers were unable to examine their own motivations and intentions; in short, they were incapable of introspection…Jaynes explains that the people of that era were able to deal with the tasks and burdens of their lives by hearing voices telling them what to do, voices that they regarded as divine. He contends that an auditory hallucination, considered to be evidence of a serious emotional disturbance today, is in fact a throwback to the neurological commands of an ancient era of human development. The “bicameral” period, as Jaynes terms it, began before 10,000 BCE, when hallucinations served to orient and guide a humankind not yet intellectually evolved enough to exercise deliberate personal control - (The Evil We Do)
Terrence McKenna, speaking of Jaynes, wrote:
Jaynes has suggested that human consciousness has changed its character even in historical times, the ego as we know it was not really in existence, except under extreme stress. And then it presented itself almost as an exterior intrusion into consciousness, like the voice of*god
Could consciousness come out of nothing, or was it learned through habbit and evolution?
Consciousness may very well have always been existant, but more likely not recognized by the ancient peoples' as a "thing". In a time/era where/when consciousness did not exist yet, would it be suffice to say that the "ego" itself hadn't been manifested yet? and through the developement of consciousness - was this the emergence of the ego, to coincide in growth simultaneously? Maybe our evolution as a species is purely based on individual reflection; motivations, aspirations/dreams/ambitions/desires.... etc and not outer-phenomenons such as; world-issues, innovation/education, cultural inheritances, power, "beleifs"...