<How can we know they were ALL ruled by the voices of Gods? I don't even know if most were ruled by the voices of Gods, and no one else does either. We can speculate, but that's all it comes down to>
The evidence that Jaynes presents is compelling. That's what the book is about. I can't possibly distill a 450 page book in a paragraph, but the content rises above simple speculation. Jaynes supports the theory by using what we know about burial practices, fetish worship, language development, writing, architectural design, agriculture, art, social interaction, governments, religion, natural disasters, migration patterns and literature (including but not limited to the bible)from about the time of 4000 BC. He then looks back on this information, and tries to prove a change occurring in man. A period of time where mental processes shift so that he begins to establish the part of the self we know as the soul, mind, or "I". The time when we leave a cultural induced hypnosis, a mass schizophrenic experience, a right brain controlled society, to mental sovreignity--- the dawn of the nebulous part of our being upon which thoughts are staged. Thoughts for change, planning for the future, solving a problem can now be performed internally. This independent thinking, of course, reduces the need for external gods and places that responsibility within. |
