Post by MagnetMan on May 13, 2009 13:20:28 GMT -5
There is been much criticism on my analysis
of the evolution of human consciousness
and its development from the naivete of the Stone Age
to the rebelliousness of the present
and predictions of more mature states of consciousness
that will arrive in Ages yet to come
The claim is that I make too many unsubstantiated assumptions
about our primeval past that we no longer have access too
and have no business predicting the future.
My answer in part has been
that if we look carefully enough
the entire evolution of human consciousness
is recreated in the lives of every one of us
as we travel through life from birth to death
Let me try an explain this further
The title of this thread and the order I have put them in
asks the three great questions
that define the progression of human consciousness
WHO AM I?
Our first psychological need
is to establish a personal identity
Prior to weaning babies refer to themselves in the third person
Baby want, baby need ..etc.
The "I" who wants, emerges around the third year.
It emerges when the budding intellect realizes
that it's wants are not necessarily the same
as the wants of the rest of the family group
In order to assert itself
and get what it wants
irrespective of the needs of others
an Ego
a separate, independent, sense of self
needs to be created and established
Ego is never real
It is a personal creation
A carefully nurtured child remains an observer of its own ego
and leads a self-policed life.
It goes through life knowing that the "I" is a self-creation
It is constant witness to its own actions
God is within
An ill-bred, neglected child, tends to get lost in ego
and leads a false life that requires outside policing
It goes through childhood and adulthood
needing secular and spiritual instruction
It accepts the view and opinion of others as witness to its life
God is without
WHERE AM I?
The next great need of the budding child consciousness
is to roughly locate one's self in time and space.
Infants live in the here and now
past and future are of little or no consequence
In this respect their naive consciousness of time and spaced
is similar to that of Stone Age man
who survives via the day to day contingencies of the hunt
Around the seventh year
the need to know where one is in time and space
impinges on the consciousness
If the childish wants of
when can I get it?
or when do we get there?
cannot be immediately met
and one has to wait until a birthday or Christmas or payday
or the time it takes to get down the road
then the interval between the want and its gratification
needs to be measured.
The future and one's place in it lies ahead
Two initial measurements need to be established
1. The time it takes for Earth to turn on its axis
2. The time it takes for Earth to orbit the sun
And so the first childish locations begin
Days, nights and seasons
this will be followed by hours and minutes
weeks and months
In this respect the child consciousness
when establishing its location
is similar to the Bronze Age farmer
who measures time and space
via sewing a plot of land and harvesting it
WHY AM I?
A significant change of consciousness takes place at puberty
Up until that time the childhood psyche
accepts existence as a matter of course
Puberty changes everything
Body, Mind and spirit go through definite changes
Sexual urges arrive
Deeper questions arise
What is the meaning of life?
If the ordeals and rites of passage
are carefully conducted by elders at puberty
the question of Why am I?
once added to the earlier answers of
Who am I? and
Where am I?
is partly answered via community commitment
The neophyte initially accepts that one exists
in order to assist with comforts and furtherance of human evolution
A communal promise is made
that if the commitment to community is whole-hearted
the rest of the answer will eventually arrive in consciousness
during a restful period of retirement
that is fully supported by the community
If no pubertal rites are conducted
the question of Why I am?
tends to either fade into the subconscious
and the person leads a largely uninspired life
and dies a pointless death
or alternatively
leads to a rebellious unsociable nature
and a troubled death
In this respect the teenage consciousness
of modern youth who never experience formal rites of passage
resembles the modern consciousness
of this scientific era
which continues to search for our reason for being
amidst a world of war, terrorism and pointless confusion
If each of us are indeed living expressions
of the entire cycle of human consciousness
and if war and confusion do not annihilate us
then young adult
menopause
and sagehood answers
to the question of: Why Am I?
await us in the future
of the evolution of human consciousness
and its development from the naivete of the Stone Age
to the rebelliousness of the present
and predictions of more mature states of consciousness
that will arrive in Ages yet to come
The claim is that I make too many unsubstantiated assumptions
about our primeval past that we no longer have access too
and have no business predicting the future.
My answer in part has been
that if we look carefully enough
the entire evolution of human consciousness
is recreated in the lives of every one of us
as we travel through life from birth to death
Let me try an explain this further
The title of this thread and the order I have put them in
asks the three great questions
that define the progression of human consciousness
WHO AM I?
Our first psychological need
is to establish a personal identity
Prior to weaning babies refer to themselves in the third person
Baby want, baby need ..etc.
The "I" who wants, emerges around the third year.
It emerges when the budding intellect realizes
that it's wants are not necessarily the same
as the wants of the rest of the family group
In order to assert itself
and get what it wants
irrespective of the needs of others
an Ego
a separate, independent, sense of self
needs to be created and established
Ego is never real
It is a personal creation
A carefully nurtured child remains an observer of its own ego
and leads a self-policed life.
It goes through life knowing that the "I" is a self-creation
It is constant witness to its own actions
God is within
An ill-bred, neglected child, tends to get lost in ego
and leads a false life that requires outside policing
It goes through childhood and adulthood
needing secular and spiritual instruction
It accepts the view and opinion of others as witness to its life
God is without
WHERE AM I?
The next great need of the budding child consciousness
is to roughly locate one's self in time and space.
Infants live in the here and now
past and future are of little or no consequence
In this respect their naive consciousness of time and spaced
is similar to that of Stone Age man
who survives via the day to day contingencies of the hunt
Around the seventh year
the need to know where one is in time and space
impinges on the consciousness
If the childish wants of
when can I get it?
or when do we get there?
cannot be immediately met
and one has to wait until a birthday or Christmas or payday
or the time it takes to get down the road
then the interval between the want and its gratification
needs to be measured.
The future and one's place in it lies ahead
Two initial measurements need to be established
1. The time it takes for Earth to turn on its axis
2. The time it takes for Earth to orbit the sun
And so the first childish locations begin
Days, nights and seasons
this will be followed by hours and minutes
weeks and months
In this respect the child consciousness
when establishing its location
is similar to the Bronze Age farmer
who measures time and space
via sewing a plot of land and harvesting it
WHY AM I?
A significant change of consciousness takes place at puberty
Up until that time the childhood psyche
accepts existence as a matter of course
Puberty changes everything
Body, Mind and spirit go through definite changes
Sexual urges arrive
Deeper questions arise
What is the meaning of life?
If the ordeals and rites of passage
are carefully conducted by elders at puberty
the question of Why am I?
once added to the earlier answers of
Who am I? and
Where am I?
is partly answered via community commitment
The neophyte initially accepts that one exists
in order to assist with comforts and furtherance of human evolution
A communal promise is made
that if the commitment to community is whole-hearted
the rest of the answer will eventually arrive in consciousness
during a restful period of retirement
that is fully supported by the community
If no pubertal rites are conducted
the question of Why I am?
tends to either fade into the subconscious
and the person leads a largely uninspired life
and dies a pointless death
or alternatively
leads to a rebellious unsociable nature
and a troubled death
In this respect the teenage consciousness
of modern youth who never experience formal rites of passage
resembles the modern consciousness
of this scientific era
which continues to search for our reason for being
amidst a world of war, terrorism and pointless confusion
If each of us are indeed living expressions
of the entire cycle of human consciousness
and if war and confusion do not annihilate us
then young adult
menopause
and sagehood answers
to the question of: Why Am I?
await us in the future
