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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 3, 2009 12:50:09 GMT -5
Africa is the common homeland of all mankind
Africa also remains the last living repository of precisely what went on in our prehistoric periods.
The San Bushmen of the Kalahari are among the last remnants of our Stone Age culture.
Rural tribal Bantu groups are among the last remnants of our Bronze Age culture.
I spend half my life studying both the San and the Bantu tribes and have constructed our entire forgotten past from those researches.
One can argue that I am making suppositions.
That is true.
But I have reason for faith in my interpretations
Decades of direct experience on the ground among those surviving cultures, clearly reveal the social organizational imperatives that forced both family group hunter/gatherers and clan group agriculture's to remain within prescribed survival parameters.
Comparisons with existing shamanist practices as far apart as Siberia and North America with those practiced in Africa, tend to confirm basic Bronze Age cultural similarities.
From these researches I have defined the following.
The Stone Age is defined by Hunter/gatherer family groups who survive via a social ethic of meticulous sharing, and an intuitive spiritual sense that Nature is a conscious organism, jealously guarding against destructive trespass. They are all Animists
The Bronze Age is defined by an agricultural existence, extended family cooperation, oral-based communication and clan totemism.
Ancestral worship is practiced via the medium of psychically gifted shamans.
These fundamental social and spiritual realities are the the common prehistoric denominators that guided the development of all human cultures.
It is from that common foundation that all Iron Age nations were formed and developed individual script-based industrial organizations.
All of that prehistoric development is lost in all but the remotest regions of the world.
Three early English pioneer colonists were witness to the federation of the Nguni clans under the despotic rule of the warlord, Shaka Zulu, in the late 18th and early 19th Century. Their surviving diaries describing that momentous event provided me with a clear window into the exact moment a Bronze Age culture came to an end, and how an Iron Age of national organization began.
The on-going survival of a ruling dynasty also reveals why the need for and introduction of orthodox scriptures were a national imperative It made me realize that by learning the mechanics of grammar via scriptural missionaries, the precise spiritual stimulus was created to sustain conscientious craftsmanship as well as engage the human intellect in abstract reasoning, necessary for a further Age of scientific determinism and religious protest to arise out of the Iron Age.
Thus the Iron Age is defined by national industrialization with conscientious craftsmanship religiously sustained by orthodox Scriptural observances
The Steel Age is defined by international colonization, scientific intellectual self-determinism and religious protestation
This logical evolutionary progression of human development through four distinct Ages of mass changes of consciousness is common to all developed cultures.
With the introduction of the nuclear theory, which explains the relationship between orthodox religion and the reasons for protestation, all indications are the we now face a 5th mass shift of human consciousness into the formation of a Nuclear Age Global Cooperative, with us all involved in sustainable planet management and practicing an ontological form of spirituality.
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:23:28 GMT -5
"Sonofgloin"
That is a fair enough compromise
Let me see if I can reasonably extend the statements and explanation you give below
"Sonofgloin"
My theory contradicts this significantly.
We know that around 2.5 million years ago, human consciousness made a technological break-through.
Stone tool-making suddenly emerged.
Prior to that nothing.
What-ever rudimentary tools and implements used by hominid family groups before that date were simply selected and picked up and used, un-worked, where available much like chimps still do today.
Digging sticks and wooden spears were more than likely roughly prepared, but there is no surviving evidence.
We know that for some 6 to 8 million years the cubic capacity of the cerebral cortex in the hominid brain kept enlarging itself.
Since 1973 we have known from work by Roger Sperry in lateral specialization of cerebral function in surgically separated brains that\" The main theme to emerge is that there appear to be two modes of thinking, verbal and non-verbal, represented rather separately in left and right hemispheres, respectively...\"
Sperry\'s initial findings on the separate functions
of the two sides of the cortex were qualified by J.E. Bogen at UCLA
Parallel Ways of Knowing
intellect...intuition
convergent...divergent
digital... analogic
secondary...primary
abstract...concrete
directed..free
analytic...relational
rational...intuitive
objective..subjective
My theory is that around 2.5 million years ago, enough neurons had evolved in the hominid cerebral cortex for a dim spark of communication to take place between the two hemispheres.
I believe that, just as an idea suddenly pops into mind, there was a distinct moment back there in prehistoric time when the very first inspiration took place in a primate psyche - and in that moment an ape-man, became a hu-man.
Allow me to apply my intuition and recreate that moment.
It is night.
A hominid crouches in the shadows
watching the family group at some distance
a spark of energy jumps across a synapse within his brain
he is dimly conscious that there is space
between him and the group
there is a dim sense of separation
THEY are THERE
HE is HERE
In this way for the first time in 3 billion years of organic evolution
a consciousness experiences itself as separate from the rest of nature.
An EGO is born
And its birth is to have a profound impact
on the whole of nature
I will continue if you are interested.
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:27:05 GMT -5
I will continue if you are interested.
"Unreasonable" |
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:27:29 GMT -5
With the emergence of the first dim ego
I place the birth of man at 2.5 million years BCE
I apply 25 years to a generation
and say that our specie has been evolving a human consciousness
for 100,000 generations
Having arrived at this conclusion
that humanness is defined by a self-reflective consciousness
and how and when that might have happened
my next thought was:
Why would Nature work for 3 billion years
to produce a single specie with a separated consciousness?
What was the survival purpose of having an ego as an identity?
Especially one which can be totally selfish
infinitely destructive
and now has the power to destroy
all those eons of organic investment?
That question is at the base of all human inquiry.
It took me years to find Nature's answer
It came in a moment of inspiration
I had made a difficult safari into the remote fastness
of the Central Kalahari Bushman Reserve
I was sitting around a campfire
watching a Bushman family group prepare supper
That same afternoon one of the younger males
had killed a springbok
it had been skinned and spitted over the fire
when the meat was ready
the elder male ceremoniously took the carcass off the spit
and handed it to the young hunter
He then cut it up into twenty three equal portions
and handed each portion to each member of the group
In that moment of meticulous sharing
I saw that young mans ego
extend beyond his narrow view of himself
It encompassed the entire group
In that moment of sharing
he became a giant
Ego taught us to share
meticulous sharing
accelerated our survival capacity
far beyond the rest of our primate brethren
Sharing thus formed our base social ethic.
It is the foundation of family values
It is the foundation of our intelligence
And when you mess with that ethical foundation
by allowing unequal sharing among the larger national consciousness
you create unending dissension
I have to go
but I will continue
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:31:33 GMT -5
And when you mess with that ethical foundation by allowing unequal sharing among the larger national consciousness you create unending dissension [/color]  I look forward to your explanations MM; I knew you were hiding something from the moment I started reading you. Do you account for warfare and in-group, out-group sexual reproduction too?? Don't let me throw you off-course though![/quote] |
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:37:51 GMT -5
We know that around 2.5 million years ago, human consciousness made a technological break-through. Stone tool-making suddenly emerged. Prior to that nothing. What-ever rudimentary tools and implements used by hominid family groups before that date were simply selected and picked up and used, un-worked, where available much like chimps still do today. Digging sticks and wooden spears were more than likely roughly prepared, but there is no surviving evidence. We know that for some 6 to 8 million years the cubic capacity of the cerebral cortex in the hominid brain kept enlarging itself. Since 1973 we have known from work by Roger Sperry in lateral specialization of cerebral function in surgically separated brains that\" The main theme to emerge is that there appear to be two modes of thinking, verbal and non-verbal, represented rather separately in left and right hemispheres, respectively...\[/i] "Sonofgloin"
intellect...intuition convergent...divergent digital... analogic secondary...primary abstract...concrete directed..free analytic...relational rational...intuitive objective..subjective[/quote] "Sonofgloin" My theory is that around 2.5 million years ago, enough neurons had evolved in the hominid cerebral cortex for a dim spark of communication to take place between the two hemispheres. I believe that, just as an idea suddenly pops into mind, there was a distinct moment back there in prehistoric time when the very first inspiration took place in a primate psyche - and in that moment an ape-man, became a hu-man. It is night. A hominid crouches in the shadows watching the family group at some distance a spark of energy jumps across a synapse within his brain he is dimly conscious that there is space between him and the group there is a dim sense of separationTHEY are THERE HE is HERE |
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:44:17 GMT -5
Sharing thus formed our base social ethic. It is the foundation of family values It is the foundation of our intelligence And when you mess with that ethical foundation by allowing unequal sharing among the larger national consciousness you create unending dissension |
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:47:28 GMT -5
"Unreasonable"
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:53:08 GMT -5
"Unreasonable"
"Sonofgloin"
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:53:37 GMT -5
I am impressed by the comments made so far
and the depth of thought that has gone into them
I am keeping my thumbs crossed
in the hope that I might have finally
bumped into some genuine critical collaboration
on a simple yet extremely complex new theory
on the evolution of consciousness.
So please keep up the constructive comments
as we go along
------------------------------
I am still deep in the Kalahari Bushman Reserve
it is 1972
As far as I know I am one of a handful of Europeans
to make a safari that far into the Central desert.
Laurence van der Post was there a few years before me.
But I am the first one trying to analyze the Bushman psyche
not just his daily behavior
It is midday
I am out with the women and children
gathering vegetables
The men left camp in the morning
to check on their traps and snares
and go hunting
hopefully to bag another gazelle
with a poisoned arrow
or maybe even a gemsbok (desert oryx)
If they do
that means meat for three or four days
No more daily survival grind
for all the family
big feasting day and night
until the entire carcass is consumed
much dagaa smoking (marijuana)
dancing chanting
going into hallucinogenic trances
predicting future hunts
Maybe
It depends on the luck of the hunt
and luck depends
on reverence for Nature
Thus when a large animal is killed
the horns are donned
and the dancing chant
is a cry of praise to Mother Nature
for the grace received
and the painting in the cave
is a record of thanks
In the meantime
the women and children
are gathering
They use digging sticks to unearth
a wide variety of tubers and roots
On the surface they find tsama melons
and wild cucumbers
Everything goes into spingbok-hide shoulder bags
the kids hunt tortoise,
run down lizard and snake
open anthills and greedily devour grubs
The group is led my the matriarch
she might be forty or sixty
I have no way of knowing exactly
she is as wrinkled as a prune
her corn-cob hair is gray
her naked breasts are as flat as parchment
the ravages of a life of breast-feeding
She has been pregnant since puberty
having a child every three years
All five of the younger women are her daughters
the kids are her grandchildren
they are all steatopygic
their buttocks distended with stored fat
like camels they can live in the desert
for weeks without food
and very little water
Two of the daughters carry infants
strapped to their backs with buckskin
one has thrown an elongated breast over her shoulder
and the infant breastfeeds while she works
A six year old girl has been carrying a three-year old sibling on her hip
she has been trudging with the load
through the heavy sand for hours
I am conscious that during the past week
I have never heard an infant cry
Breast-feeding and unbroken body contact 24/7
ensures a feeling of total security
there simply is no need to cry
and begin that awful modern mother/infant cycle
of manipulation and guilt
every time the infant is put down
and contact is broken
Nor have I heard a single adult rebuke
or seen a sibling squabble
Natural three year spacing
ensures that each infant
is properly weaned from the breast
and not pushed off too soon
Also
the visual difference in size
between each sibling
makes hierarchical acceptance natural
with no need to fight for dominance
thus it is entirely natural for the six year old
to accept the load of carrying her sibling
all work together willingly
without need for command
The Stone Age group is matriarchal
generations of these these women
have never left their family hunting territory
and never will.
The post-pubertal boys will migrate
and seeks mates with neighboring families
I am soaking in all of this family group behavior
and gradually becoming conscious
of more profound under-currents
I know from my diary that it is Sunday
But not here in the desert
there are no weekdays here
no months
no years
no hours or minutes
there is no crop to tend
to worry over infestation
or pray for rain
or expect a harvest
there is no past regret
nor future expectation
all that exists in Time
is the moment we are in
But Space does exist
I became conscious of that as the afternoon wore on.
We had reached some kind of invisible boundary
I noticed on a couple of occasions
when a child went over to dig up a tuber
one of the older females would ell her not to
as we began to circle back to camp
it dawned on me that the ripe tubers
on the other side of the invisible line
belonged to their neighbors
We had reached a territorial boundary!
Crossing it was taboo
Conflict lay in that direction
The taboo was both instinctive
and cultural
that tuber across the invisible line
belonged to relatives
the family of her own sons
No title deed
No policemen
No judge
No court
Man naturally respected
the territory and livelihood of his neighbor
and treated him
as he wanted to be treated himself.
Here was the Golden Rule
established by Mother Nature Herself
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:55:32 GMT -5
"Sonofgloin"
"Unreasonable"
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:56:15 GMT -5
"Unreasonable"
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 20:57:50 GMT -5
"Unreasonable"
There has been questions about translating my observed behavior among the San Bushmen family group as a perfectly preserved representation of the Stone Age era in general. I have been accused of making too many suppositions.
I disagree. Nothing has changed. The Bushman group I observed 40 years ago, could have been just the same if I had observed it 40,000 years ago. If our technology crashed tomorrow, sending us all back to the bush, human culture would revert to the identical Stone Age structure and behavior found among the Bushmen.
Survival existences in the wild are constant. If there is flint stone or obsidian available it will be used. If not, then bone, horn and fire-hardened wood becomes the tool and weapon head.
Men will hunt and trap. Women will gather. Those are constants.
In the central desert neighboring families rarely merge together for more than a few days. Each family group -averaging between a dozen and two dozen - is essentially autonomous. Each has its own hunting and gathering territory. The 2000 families that existed in the central desert at the time I was there, have no established tribal system. No more than two families ever gather in one place. And then only when an extremely large animal is killed (like giraffe or eland or buffalo) This may happen once during a year.
Hunting and gathering is a marginal existence. The group is eternally on the very edge of starvation. The entire day, every day, without break, is invested in searching for and preparing food; repairing and making tools and weapons. There is no time for extended periods of relaxation and socialization. Thus there is no need for tribal totems; chiefs; laws; and shamans to interceded between the living and the dead. We are looking at basic existence. It is plain and simple family group life, held together by the basic needs of mutual company and protection - cemented by the family ethic of sharing and caring.
"Unreasonable"
There is no alpha male. The luck of the hunt fluctuates. usually all males share some degree of honor in the kill. Mostly the males return to camp empty-handed. Women supply the bulk of the daily diet. They carry the heaviest load. They supply the off-spring. They never leave the home territory. Males always migrate. All paleolithic figurines are of MA the Mother Goddess.
PA the Father God arrived in the Bronze Age - 99,000 generations later.
Stone Age male supplied the inventive technology. They invented and devised the traps, snares, bows, arrows, spears, skinning knives, axes and the like. They built the temporary shelters and bowers as they moved camps every week or two about their territory. They made the fires. Brewed the poisons. It is here in this vast period of Stone Age hunting and gathering that the basic engineering and mathematical genius of mankind was laid and imprinted in our genes - learning torque, tension, trajectory, arts and crafts.
It is here in those 99,000 generations of family group cooperation that out basic family values were firmly established The same values that are shared by every single culture on this planet. Every one of the cultural differences that have since separated us - language religious, politics, economy, - happened only over the last !% of our period of evolution. Thus any question that we can never unite as a single global culture, begs the meaning of our common base of family values.
"Unreasonable"
Conversation is limited to the mundane needs of existence. Children are warned to be aware of trespass. They grow up intuitively aware of the laws of cause and effect - with trespass punished by some form of pain. Nothing is regarded as accidental. They remain deeply superstitious throughout life. Thus each member grows up profoundly self-policed. Nature is experienced as a surrounding consciousness. They do not see life in any form as having no feelings. They tread the ground warily, respecting all life and giving homage to nature when it is sacrificed for their own needs. Without Her feeding them, they know they are dead meat. They are romantic. They have music, song and dance, make crude jewelry and paint, Young men woo maidens. They make a miniature Cupid bows and arrows, sneak up behind their fancy and shoot a needle into her buttocks. If she is not resentful, the mate is found.
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 21:00:13 GMT -5
They make a miniature Cupid bows and arrows, sneak up behind their fancy and shoot a needle into her buttocks. If she is not resentful, the mate is found. |
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Post by MagnetMan on Mar 12, 2009 21:03:08 GMT -5
"Sonofgloin"
"Unreasonable"
"Sonofgloin"
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