BOOK THREE
The Evolution of Our Common Mind
the flowering of thought
replication peaking
10,000 years ago
tribal man goes to war.
He forms tribes into states
and states into nations.
The self has begun it's march across time,
until now
it stands over the Earth,
ax in hand,
poised to split the planet in two.
Its time to recognize the power we wield
and turn it to better use.
the power to mold men's minds
in childhood
by the time man achieved domestication of plant and animal
he had created god and beauty
and a sharp metal edge
combined with a psyche that pursues security
ruthlessly
in the name of the tribe
-prejudice-
are born structures of power
with the one
-father, god, king, master, govornment-
on top
supported by the many
-children, mortals, subjects, slaves, citizens-
on bottom
Not much has changed since then ... except for the sharp metal edge has become a sharp mental edge (legal) and a vast machine capable of anything (technology) which, like a sharp metal edge, can do only a limited amount of good, depending on the quality of consciousness that wields it, swords, plowshares, computers, et al.
With the advent of the agricultural revolution, man achieved a high degree of success in his pursuit of security through knowledge, technique, and culture. He created the conditions for permanent communities, expanded populations, divisions of labor, distinctions of rank and privilege, and military capability for unifying disparate tribes, engaging enemies, plundering, taking slaves, and enforcing law.
Simple survival was no longer the total time and energy consuming goal of the whole community. The psyches of the more talented individuals were cultivated to create security through knowledge while the more privileged were given free reign to exploit power.
And the psyche of the laborer, foot soldier, and slave was squashed, molded, manipulated, and discarded - right along with his body.
The universal mind guided it all up to the point where the "particular" mind took over - the self - tribal individuals - me - culture, knowledge, technique, program, and prejudice - creating the present global chaos.
Atom Smashing! Earth Shattering!
HUMAN BEINGS ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS
THOUGHT USES
TO PERPETUATE ITSELF
THE SAME WAY DNA USES AMINO ACIDS AND NUCLEOTIDES -
IT BUILDS STRUCTURES WHICH COMPETE
Mind Blowing!
Its kinda like sayin' everything you've ever thought about - you hopes, your dreams, your fears, your most cherished possessions, desires, activities, and memories, beautiful and horrible alike, your traditions and beliefs, the whole of your past - don't mean a whole heckuva lot to the universal mind, the spirit of god.
"You" and "me" and every thought we think is just an extension of the cosmic physical/chemical/biological/psychological reaction initiated by the big bang. There is no freedom in this.
what the universal mind is interested in is
the world/experience/consciousness/perception
that you're plugged into right here and now
remember?
this is it
Thought is great for maximizing physical security and comfort but that security and comfort is lost when thought attempts to do what it simply cannot do - cheat death.
At the dawn of civilization the initial insights have blossomed into advanced language, writing, mathematics, science, philosophy, religion, agriculture, engineering, navigation, law and every form of art. Only 5000 years ago, Adam, having swallowed the fruit, sees his nakedness and vulnerability and builds walled cities, granaries, and armies and from out on the frontier he mounts a multitude of horses to consolidate the countryside through terror - violence - and he proliferates.
Certain structures of thought (the ones that promote the survival of the individual and foster pleasure) tend to dominate the environment of our common mind (human brain cells).
And so it came to pass that self, chief, and tribe should evolve into god, king, and country.
REPLICATION III
Through replication - DNA - life evolves.
Thought is an elastic, flexible, sometimes fluid form of replicator
existing in the primordial soup of human brain cells,
our common mind.
It's components consist of
memory, images, ideas, paradigms, and presuppositions.
It's structure is formed by
hopes, fears, desires, and dreams.
Thought uses human beings to perpetuate itself
through culture, custom, tradition, imitation, belief, prejudice, and program,
institutions and organizations,
schools and govornment,
armies and war -
violence -
sanctioned by law.
Though now, through technology, its doing it's best to create silicon and steel structures - machines and computers not subject to the law of death - in order to conquer and control completely.
GENESIS
out of Africa
the garden of Eden
man erupted
engulfing the globe
cultivating and civilizing
the Middle East, Egypt, India, and Asia
human social structures
are human entities
the characteristics of the individual human
are the characteristics of
human social structures
the history of the world
is the story of man
having risen from the bowels of the Earth
exploding outwardly
the history of mankind
is the story of human social structures
dividing the Earth's resources
through violence
and prominent personalities
social organization in competition evolving
the stronger and more powerful
devouring the weak naturally
by their ability to achieve security
through violence and technology
the primal motivation and means of the self
The abundance of wealth generated by knowledge and technique initiated the stratification of society while technology tended to solidify it's structure - man becoming dependent upon advanced techniques, ever necessitating further development to cope with the new conditions created by the original inventions - the exponential rate of population growth and the destruction of the natural environment being the primary consequence.
survival success
through thought
allows the animal within us
every excess of
exploitation, manipulation, and organization
Stone Age
50,000 years ago
bands of 20 to 30 people
hunting and gathering
25,000 years ago
tribes of 150 to 200 people
accessed archetypal insights
logical: numbers, calendars, maps
aesthetic: clothes, jewelry, painting, carving
technical: spear launcher, bow and arrow
10,000 years ago
villages along river banks and in mountain valleys
agricultural revolution
pottery, weaving, wheel, plow, cart
7,000 years ago
metal
5,000 years ago
crop surpluses, population growth, cities
gods and kings
distinctions of rank and privilege
organized govornment
extensive irrigation systems, roads, and pyramids
written language, Hammurabi's code
specialization and division of labor
trade, money
music, painting, sculpture
and war
- property -
...
a multifaceted, pulsating, sense oriented organism extends itself
to the limit of it's senses
- territory -
all within that boundary is an aspect of itself
an ameba's boundary extends not much further than it's cell wall
a human being's boundary by comparison is cosmic
- from stargazer to star flight -
Out of the most intense and intimate of human experiences -
the whole human act of the biological cycle of reproduction -
conception, birth, dependency, protection,
nurturing, maturity, and conception, etc. -
survival - utterly animal, territorial, and tribal -
was born the concept of property.
the providence of insight
the universe sprouts human beings
an extended family
they look around at the world
at the Earth and sky
and each other
and they know
in their blood
and in their soul
that they are connected
It is this connection that determines their behavior - the best assurance of survival is total and absolute investment in the protection and nurturing of one's family - love - a vital essence of life, to survive and reproduce, the primal passion.
Then they look over and see another extended family.
Human encounters,
whether spontaneous of engineered,
varied among countless situations
and consequences were determined by
genetic and cultural traits,
the degree of technology possessed,
and the specific geographical characteristics -
rivers, mountains, oceans,
deserts, jungles, forests,
and the natural environment of
wildlife, plant and animal,
and the abundance of resources
or lack thereof.
Human relationship is war or peace according to whether one lives by violence born of ruthless selfishness, survival, animal instinct, and the glorification of the self or compassion born of the familial instinct of love, sharing and caring, sacrifice of self, and an awareness of the wholeness of life or a particular imbalance thereof.
either way, so far, in this world
technique, skill, knowledge, material resources,
and the concept of property
has allowed the more brutal to dominate through the sacrifice of others
for the perpetuation of self
- property -
like a mother protecting her young, or prehistoric man protecting his
hunting ground,
or the tribe protecting it's territory
- property -
is determined and maintained by power
the violence of technology
The folks who had spear throwers, bows and arrows, swords, the most skillful hunt organizers, horses and the ability to ride, boats, navigational skills, stores of grain, high walls, and the most ruthless individuals were the folks who gained and lost property according to who possessed, at any given time, the most advanced techniques and the most ambitious leaders (human history).
The willingness (or rather the keen desire) and ability to kill both animals and men is built into our brain, muscle, blood, and bone. If it weren't we wouldn't be here now. To be hungry and successfully hunt and kill an animal, clean, cook, and eat it provides a deep satisfaction to the single most overwhelming need man experiences. Imagine what level of gratification, both physical and psychological, you might achieve if you made war, were victorious in battle, and gained not only a day's meal, but land, crops, stores, animals, and slaves to do your grudge work to insure your survival for an indefinite period of time - until a superior force came along.
The tribe would no longer be the most successful form of social organization. What became more successful were tribal alliances, kingdoms, states, and nations motivated and maintained by force and dependency on technology and environmental resources.
the culture of violence
The surplus of time, energy, and material provided by the early technologies allowed individuals who were more self centered to prosper and organize society around themselves through violence both subtle and gross. Industrious labor, wisdom, generosity, compassion, and any other example of virtue is easily overcome by the more physically powerful. Loud boastful talk, cunning, greed, and ruthlessness influences more extensively and gains material reward faster for oneself at the expense of others because of fear - conscious displays of violence communicates deeper within our brain and farther faster through our common mind than does the exposition of intelligence.
Violent individuals, the physically strong and most ruthless and selfish, begin to survive with the most success. They gain another dimension of power through fear. To fully exploit the power of fear, violence of every form, physical and emotional, had to by displayed in such a way to engrave it deeply within our mind. The grossest, most blatant displays of violence, especially those with no apparent reason or purpose, would be the most feared, as it would imply the threat of pain upon anyone at anytime with no way to prepare.
This is the origin of marauding hordes, pillage, rape, plunder, torture, and cruel and unusual punishment in the guise of divine right, manifest destiny, eminent domain, spreading the word of god, providing security and defense, and the dispensation of justice, service, and protection. Fear and violence became the ordering principles of society. The most ruthlessly selfish individuals structured society through military might with themselves in the top power positions, while the best warriors, the traders of goods, the craftsmen and artisans, and priests who could curry the favor of the gods enjoyed various degrees of privilege - while the common laborers, foot soldiers, and slaves performed their back breaking work and enjoyed no privilege or worse.
You only know your social status in relation to others - there is no difference between glorifying yourself and demeaning others - violence is the fundamental nature of the self in society because the self is born of fear.
the evolution of our common mind
reiterated
thought
as a replicator
had come to control
the world
by dominating man's psychic energy
and the whole activity of humanity on Earth
is in the service of the self
the self of our common mind
- fragmented -
controls the world
- divided -
creating conflict
- inherent -
the process of thought
planted in our brain
by our parents
- authority, the tribe, society, et al -
at the dawn of human history
has manifest
as an accelerating
rapidly expanding
state of deterioration
of human relationship
and of the environment
approaching critical mass
The core paradigm of human thought is the self/god polarity. The cognizance of pattern and progression, of beauty, quality, and goodness, and the ability to reach out, put hands on, and acquire more abundant life through the function of brain cells, the whole of thought, technology and culture - this is man, potential god - as the first replicator was potential human through the test and trial of evolution. We are now at the sub-primitive "dinosaur" stage of our psychic evolution.
The original archetypes imposed themselves on the human brain through the imperative of communication - our common mind. Perception was symbolized by sound and gesture - language - simulated in the brain cells with the components of memory - and here man became caught in time with terrible results. Because man confused the symbol - images and ideas, the whole of thought - with reality. As if the self were the whole show, rather than what it is, a convention of language. It wasn't the self that germinated the seed of insight which sprouted the process of culture that civilized man. It wasn't the self that created biological entities capable of insight. The initial insights were a direct result of the universal mind probing our common spacetime continuum via the human brain. Through the innocent, untouched, emerging mind of man - our common mind - the initial insights occurred to disparate people all over the globe at about the same time. That was the garden of eden, when the function of the human brain was aligned with the workings of the cosmos - the universal mind - as was the whole of life which grew out of the planet. Insight was the result of pure, direct human perception. That perception was reflected in thought, simulated, analyzed, organized, and manipulated in harmony with the whole, producing more abundant life.
all these
and every other process of thought
arises out of the observation of memory
the moment you have more than one memory
the comparison begins
to measure each perception
with what is known
to judge emotionally
according to pleasure and pain
invariably eliciting an action
which is inevitably selfish
as the human brain produced technical miracles in the world
- power -
controlling the forces of nature
fire (protection, warmth, cooking)
water (fishing, irrigation, travel)
wind (sailing)
stars (navigation)
Earth (agriculture, material)
- through thought -
the evolution of culture
each generation taking for granted the miracles of the previous generation
producing ever greater degrees of gratification through technology
thought came to consume all the psychic energy available
as thought evolved
creating superior survival skills
simulating the world in the brain
it was only one step removed
from reflecting itself
as a part of the whole process
apart from the whole process
when it did
the self was born
and became a replicating entity
in and of it's own
- with a different priority than that of the whole organism -
the primary priority of the whole human being who is fully aware of her
intimate and intense human and environmental relationships
is the well being of her loved ones
the only priority of the self
is it's own survival
-"me"-
the curse/blessing polarity
by usurping control of behavior
from the purely animal
- out of which we were born -
thought
- the self -
multiplied exponentially
our ability to survive
pursue pleasure and avoid pain
by allowing the self
- me -
to determine our behavior
to govorn our lives
we lose contact
with the universal mind
- intelligence -
god
takes the role of object
- thing -
subject to the action of the self
Which conjures up that old traditional character - Lucifer - the devil - in the role of "the self" - born of the fear of death. So come to find out, god did create the devil, as a tool of evolution - a spark, a tension - a spur to creation, but only as a bit player in a minor role who stole the scene but aint the whole show.
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