The New Psychology and the Evolution of Consciousness - Part 5

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Dear All,

 

Part 4 of The New Psychology and the Evolution of Consciousness ended

with:

 

" Assyrian kings, for instance, boasted of how many cities they had sacked and of

how many men, women and children they had killed, or conquered and made slaves.

A terrible power began to grow up when man had separated from nature and had

begun to discover his own power; it is this that marked the development of the

ego mentality " .

 

Here now is Part 5.

 

Enjoy,

 

 

violet

 

 

 

The New Psychology and the Evolution of Consciousness

 

(Part 5)

 

 

(P.44) Returning to the stages in the development of consciousness, it must be

appreciated that these cannot be sharply differentiated from one another, though

it is helpful to see them as successive stages in a gradual evolutionary

process. The next major stage was that of mental consciousness when, through

language, it became possible to go beyond mere words to logical thought. The

ability to think logically was a great breakthrough. It took place at a very

late date, beginning probably not earlier than 1000 BC becoming established in

about 500 or 600 BC. The rise of the Upanishads and the Buddha in India and the

beginning of Greek and Chinese philosophy are dated around 600 BC. At that stage

(P.45) people began to think rationally, whereas previously symbolic thought had

predominated.

 

The development of logical thought is correlated with the development of the

brain. The human brain has three levels: the reptilian level, the limbic brain

and the neo-cortex. The reptilian level corresponds with our most basic

consciousness, our unity with nature, with matter, with life and the emotional

world. With the limbic brain, which developed later, the faculties of

imagination and symbolic thought emerged. The most recent level, the neo-cortex,

although present in human beings from the beginning, now developed prodigiously,

covering the two earlier layers. This is where the rational functions take place

and it is at that point in evolution that the ego began to develop. Until that

time there was no consciousness of oneself as a separate individual; one

belonged to one's family, to one's tribe, to the world around. This was

beautiful in its way but it could only be a passing stage. In growing out of and

beyond it there had to be the development of an ego. The ego, however, as we

shall see, is the great obstacle as well as the great means of progress.

 

With the development of the ego came the discovery of the power to control

oneself and the world around. With the discovery of control the whole structure

of sacrifice became distorted. Instead of sacrificing oneself, one's ego, to

God, the Supreme, and receiving gifts, substitute sacrifices were made. The aim

became the strengthening of the ego and the more people and things that could be

sacrificed, the more people who could be killed in war, the greater the build-up

of power and the stronger the ego.

 

It is at this point that the myth of the hero arises. The hero was the one who

fought many battles, overcame enemies and achieved some great work. This heroic

stage is also the point at which patriarchy began to dominate. Up to now

societies had been mainly matriarchal. In agriculture the mother was certainly

central. It was she who did the work in the fields, (P.46) sowing, planting and

harvesting. And it was Mother Earth who in the same process was giving of her

gifts. But now the father came to the fore, developing this great ego and

becoming associated with authority and power.

 

This is also the stage of the human person's separation from nature. The man, as

male and as father, is essentially separate. In man-woman relationships the man

inseminates the woman but it is significant that after that initial act the man

is quite free of the child. It is the woman who has to bear the child and she is

responsible for it. And so the child is bound up with the mother and only later

begins to relate to the father who is always, as it were, outside. The mother

relates within, supporting the child; the father is separate and outside,

challenging and drawing the child out. That then was the beginning of the

patriarchal age, the age of heroes, and in many ways we are still in this stage.

It began about 2000 BC so for around four thousand years we have been living in

a patriarchal culture. This has profoundly affected all our religion as well as

everything else. Why in Christianity do we have only a male deity? It is because

we belong to a patriarchal culture. Only now are we beginning to see that there

are feminine aspects in God which are just as important as masculine. God is

neither male nor female and can just as easily be called mother as father.

Although we are still deeply involved in patriarchal structures, many people

today feel that we are moving into an age where the patriarchal and the

matriarchal, the masculine and the feminine, will once more come together in

balance and harmony.

 

During this patriarchal stage there emerged consciousness of self, whereas

previously people had not been self-conscious at all. Self-consciousness is

correlated with the development of ego and it marks a considerable advance.

Self-consciousness had to arise in order that people could know themselves apart

from others and be themselves. It is therefore (P.47) quite appropriate for

children at a certain stage of development to become somewhat aggressive and to

try out their powers and explore their world, relating everything to themselves.

It becomes disastrous after childhood, however, if the person goes on and on

building up the ego and exploiting other people. So the growth of the ego is

necessary but is highly dangerous when pursued into the later stages of life.

 

At this stage of mental consciousness there arises the concept of linear time as

distinguished from cyclic time. We have seen how the sense of time gradually

grew, but in all ancient culture time was experienced as cyclic because it was

connected with the course of nature where everything goes in cycles, the sun

rising and setting, the moon waxing and waning, the seasons following one

another. All ancient cultures, including the whole Indian culture up to

practically the present time, had a cyclic view of life. But at this stage

begins the linear view of time with the idea that the past is moving into the

present and the present into the future. The linear view was developed

particularly by the Hebrews. Along with the linear view of time there arose a

particular historical consciousness. Prior to this there was no history.

Herodotus the Greek historian par excellence, lived in the sixth century BC.

India had very little history at all at this time. It was the Hebrews

particularly who developed a sense of history; though the patriarchs and even

Moses belong to a large extent to a legendary time, with Samuel, David and

Solomon we are well into the period of historic time.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs.44-47