Consciousness: The End of Authority

A person could make an excellent bet by wagering a hundred ounces of gold bullion that Julian Jaynes’ book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind will someday rank among the five most important books written during the second millennium.  The discovery of the bicameral mind solves the missing-link problem that has defied all previous theories of human evolution.

Dr. Jaynes discovered that until 3000 years ago essentially all human beings were void of consciousness. Consciousness versus unconsciousness is not defined here as awake versus asleep, alert versus dazed, aware versus knocked out. Consciousness is defined as modern man’s awareness of himself, his subjective thoughts and feelings, his subjective choices and self-determined interaction with the world around him versus mere automatic reactions as with all other animals, including man until about 3000 years ago. Until the first millennium BC, man along with all other primates functioned by mimicked or learned reactions. But, because of his much larger, more complex brain, man was able to develop a coherent language beginning about 8000 B.C. In effect, human beings were super-intelligent but automatically reacting animals who could communicate by talking. That communication enabled human beings to cooperate closely to build societies, even thriving civilizations.

Still, like all other animals, man functioned almost entirely by an automatic guidance system that was void of consciousness. Ten thousand years ago, man’s neurological guidance system incorporated his superior phenomenon of speech: man’s neurological instructions amazingly took the form of automatic, audio commands in his own mind known today as audio hallucinations. Those audio hallucinations came from neurological instructions triggered in the right hemisphere of the brain and transmitted as “heard” voices of the gods in the left hemisphere of the brain (the bicameral or two-chamber mind). Whereas the cat would automatically run from danger, bicameral man would hear a voice in his head from his god saying, “Run, run away!”

Ironically, this advanced guidance system based on speech carried its own death sentence as it allowed civilizations to thrive to such new heights that the complexities went beyond the capacity of an automatic, neurological guidance system designed by nature. About 1000 BC, whole civilizations began collapsing as the “voices” became confused, contradictory, or just plain vanished. Man was forced to invent consciousness or a self-determining (versus automatically reacting) way of using his mind to become his own guide and god to survive in the collapsing bicameral civilizations.

Jaynes eliminated the missing link in the evolution of man by discovering that consciousness or the self-determining way of using the mind was never intended by nature — consciousness was invented by man.

The major components of Jaynes’s discovery are:

• All civilizations before 1000 B.C. — such as Assyria, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, pharaonic Egypt — were built, inhabited, and ruled by automatically reacting, unconscious people.
• Ancient writings such as the Iliad and the early books of the Old Testament were composed by unconscious minds that automatically recorded and objectively reported both real and imagined events. The transition to subjective and introspective writings of the conscious mind occurred in later works such as the Odyssey and the newer books of the Old Testament.
• Ancient people learned to speak, read, write, as well as carry out daily life, work, and the professions all while remaining unconscious throughout their lives. Being unconscious, they never experienced guilt, never practiced deceit, and were not responsible for their actions. They had no way to determine their actions; they were automatically reacting animals. They, like any other animal, had no concept of guilt, deception, evil, justice, philosophy, history, or the future. They could not introspect and had no internal idea of themselves. They had no subjective sense of time or space and had no memories as we know them. They were unconscious and innocent. They were guided by “voices” or strong impressions in their bicameral minds — unconscious minds structured for nature’s automatic survival.
• The development of human consciousness began about 3000 years ago when the automatic bicameral mind began breaking down under the mounting stresses of its inadequacy to find workable solutions in increasingly complex societies. The hallucinated voices became more and more confused, contradictory, and destructive.
• Man was forced to invent and develop consciousness in order to survive as his hallucinating voices no longer provided adequate guidance for survival.
• Today, after 3000 years, most people retain remnants of the bicameral guidance system and the desire for external authority.
• Except for schizophrenics, people today no longer hallucinate the voices that guided bicameral Yet, most people are at least partly influenced and are sometimes driven by the remnants of the bicameral man as they seek, to varying degrees, automatic guidance from “voices” of others or external “authorities”.
• All religions are rooted in the unconscious bicameral mind that is obedient to the “voices” of external “authorities” — obedient to the “voice” of God, gods, rulers, and leaders.
• The discovery that consciousness was never a part of nature’s evolutionary scheme (but was invented by man) eliminates the missing-link puzzle in human evolution.
• Essentially all religious and most political ideas survive through those vestiges of the obsolete bicameral mind. The bicameral mind seeks omniscient truth and automatic guidance from external “authorities” such as political or spiritual leaders — or other “authoritarian” sources such as manifested in idols, astrologists, gurus — as well as most lawyers, most psychiatrists and psychologists, certain professors, some doctors, most journalists and TV anchormen.

The idea of civilizations consisting entirely of unconscious, automatic-reacting people and the idea of man bypassing nature to invent his own consciousness initially seems incredible. But as Jaynes documents his evidence in a reasoned and detached manner, the existence of two minds in all human beings becomes increasingly evident: (1) the obsolete, unconscious (bicameral) mind that seeks guidance from external “authorities” for important thoughts and decisions, especially under stressed or difficult conditions; and (2) the newly invented conscious mind that bypasses external “authorities” and provides thoughts and guidance generated from one’s own mind. …Understanding Jaynes’ discoveries unlocks the 10,000 year-old secret of controlling the actions of people through their bicameral minds. What evidence does Jaynes present to support his discoveries?

After defining consciousness, he systematically presents his evidence to prove that man was unconscious until 3000 years ago when the bicameral civilizations collapsed and individuals began inventing consciousness in order to survive. Jaynes’s proof begins with the definition of consciousness:

Defining and Understanding Consciousness

Julian Jaynes defines both what consciousness is and what it is not. After speculating on its location, he demonstrates that consciousness itself has no physical location, but rather is a particular organization of the mind and a specific way of using the brain. Jaynes then demonstrates that consciousness is only a small part of mental activity and is not necessary for concept formation, learning, thinking, or even reasoning. He illustrates how all those mental functions can be performed automatically and unconsciously. Furthermore, consciousness does not contribute to and often hinders the execution of learned skills such as speaking, listening, writing, reading — as well as skills involving music, art, and athletics. Thus, if major human actions and skills can function automatically and without consciousness, those same actions and skills can be controlled or driven by external influences, “authorities”, or “voices” emanating under conditions described later in this review. …But first an understanding of consciousness is important:

Consciousness requires metaphors (i.e., referring to one thing in order to better understand or describe another thing — such as the head of an army, table, page, household, nail).

Consciousness also requires analog models, (i.e., thinking of a map of California, for example, in order to visualize the entire, physical state of California). Thinking in metaphors and analog models creates the mind space and mental flexibility needed to bypass those automatic, bicameral processes.

The bicameral thinking process functions only in concrete terms and narrow, here-and-now specifics. But the conscious thinking process generates an infinite array of subjective perceptions that permit ever broader understanding and better decisions.

Metaphors of “me” and analog models of “I” allow consciousness to function through introspection and self-visualization. In turn, consciousness expands by creating more and more metaphors and analog models. That expanding consciousness allows a person to “see” and understand the relationship between himself and the world with increasing accuracy and clarity. As he becomes more and more aware of himself and his interaction with the world, he gains control of his actions, makes decisions, and discovers self-determination.

Consciousness is a conceptual, metaphor-generated analog world that parallels the actual world. Man, therefore, could not invent consciousness until he developed a language sophisticated enough to produce metaphors and analog models.

The genus Homo began about two million years ago. Rudimentary oral languages developed from 70,000 B.C. to about 8000 B.C. Written languages began about 3000 B.C. and gradually developed into syntactical structures capable of generating metaphors and analog models. Only at that point could man invent and experience consciousness.

Jaynes shows that man’s early writings (hieroglyphics, hiertatic, and cuneiform) reflect a mentality totally different from our own. They reflect a nonmetaphoric, unconscious mentality. Jaynes also shows that the Iliad, which evolved as a sung poem about 1000 B.C., contains little if any conscious thought. The characters in the Iliad (e.g., Achilles, Agamemnon, Hector, Helen) act unconsciously in initiating all their major actions and decisions through “voices”, and all speak in hexameter rhythms (as often do modern-day schizophrenics when hallucinating). Hexameter rhythms are characteristic of the rhythmically automatic functionings of the righthemisphere brain. Moreover, the Iliad is entirely about action…about the acts and consequences of Achilles, always reacting to the world and the gods around him. The Iliad never mentions subjective thoughts or the contents of anyone’s mind. The language is unconscious — an objective reporting of facts that are concrete bound and void of introspection and abstract thought. There is no self-determination.

With a conscious mind, man can introspect; he can debate with himself; he can become his own god, voice, and decision maker. But before the invention of consciousness, the mind functioned bicamerally: the right hemisphere (the poetic, god-brain) hallucinated audio instructions to the left hemisphere (the analytical, man-brain), especially in unusual or stressful situations. Essentially, man’s brain today is physically identical to the ancient bicameral brain; but with his invention of consciousness, he can now choose to integrate the functions of the left and right hemispheres and be his own authority.

Beginning about 9000 B.C. — as oral languages developed — routine or habitual tasks became increasingly standardized. The hallucinating voices for performing those basic tasks, therefore, became increasingly similar among groups of people. The collectivization of “voices” allowed more and more people to cooperate and function together through their bicameral minds. The leaders spoke to the “gods” and used the “voices” to lead the masses in cooperative unison. And that cooperation allowed nomadic hunting tribes to gradually organize into stationary, foodproducing societies. The continuing development of oral language and the increasing collectivization of bicameral minds allowed towns and eventually cities to form and flourish.

The bicameral mind, however, became increasingly inadequate for guiding human actions as societies continued to grow in size and complexity. By about 1000 B.C., the bicameral mind had become so inadequate that man’s social structures began collapsing. Under threat of extinction, man invented a new way of using his brain that allowed him to solve the much more complex problems needed to survive — he invented a new organization of the mind called consciousness.

With consciousness, man now became his own executor, his own god, and now controlled his actions and became aware of his past and future. With consciousness, man became aware of himself, his life, his feelings. A whole new world opened up to him as his life now had meaning…and direction. He could now establish goals and feel the unique ecstasy of self-determination and accomplishment. Man, in essence, went from an automatically reacting animal to a fully conscious human being, just as we are today. The thrill for life — a dynamic conscious life — had to be spectacular to those pioneers who overcame their fears and embraced the new world that opened up to them. …Similarly today, we are at the threshold of embracing, again, a spectacular new world as we discover the Neothink^® mentality. But first…

The Development of Consciousness

Dr. Jaynes shows through abundant archaeological, historical, and biological evidence that the towns, cities, and societies from 9000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. were established and developed by unconscious people. Those societies formed and grew through common hallucinating voices attributed to gods, rulers, and the dead — to external “authorities”. Various external symbols that “spoke” (such as graves, idols, and statues) helped to reinforce and expand the authority of those common “voices”. And those “voices” continued to expand their reach through increasingly visible and awe-inspiring symbols such as tombs, temples, colossuses, and pyramids.

But as those unconscious societies became more complex and increasingly intermingled through trade and wars, the “voices” became mixed and contradictory. With the “voices” becoming muddled, their effectiveness in guiding people diminished. Rituals and importunings became ever more intense and elaborate in attempts to evoke clearer “voices” and better guidance. The development of writing and the permanent recording of instructions and laws during the second millennium B.C. further weakened the authority and effectiveness of hallucinated voices. As the “voices” lost their effectiveness, they began falling silent. And without authoritarian “voices” to guide and control its people, those societies suddenly began collapsing with no external cause.

As the bicameral mind broke down and societies collapsed, individuals one by one began inventing consciousness to make decisions needed to survive in the mounting anarchy and chaos. During the chaotic cataclysms of the collapsing civilizations, during which entire populations were wiped out, the bicameral man would, for example, automatically fight a band of men plundering his home and raping his spouse — his automatic reaction to external stimuli — even though his gallant fight would mean certain death for him and his family. The newly conscious man, however, might smile passively on the outside — while planning his revenge in his mind — and later that night visit the bedsides of his sleeping enemies to end their lives and save his own. The conscious man, who could separate himself from the objective world to subjectively determine his actions, greatly increased his advantages for survival over the bicameral man.

On making conscious and volitional decisions, man for the first time became responsible for his actions. Also, for short-range advantages and easy power, conscious man began discovering and using deceit and treachery — behaviors not possible from unconscious, bicameral minds. (Before inventing consciousness, man was as guiltless and amoral as any other animal since he had no volitional choice in following his automatic guidance system of hallucinated voices.)

As the “voices” fell silent, man began contriving religions and prayers in his attempts to communicate with the departed gods. Jaynes shows how man developed the concept of worship, heaven, angels, demons, exorcism, sacrifice, divination, omens, sortilege, augury in his attempts to evoke guidance from the gods — from external “authorities”.

All such quests for external “authority” hark back to the breakdown of the hallucinating bicameral mind — to the silencing and celestialization of the once “vocal” and earthly gods.

Much direct evidence for the breakdown of the bicameral mind and the development of consciousness comes from writings scribed between 1300 B.C. and 300 B.C. Those writings gradually shift from unconscious, objective reports to conscious, subjective expressions that reflect introspection. The jump from the unconscious writing of the Iliad to the conscious writing of the Odyssey (composed perhaps a century later) is dramatically obvious. That radical difference between the Iliad and the Odyssey is, incidentally, further evidence that more than one poet composed the Homeric epics.

The transition from the unconscious Iliad to the conscious Odyssey marks man’s break with his 8000-year-old hallucinatory guidance system. By the sixth century B.C., written languages began reflecting conscious ideas of morality and justice similar to those reflected today.

The Old Testament of the Bible also illustrates the transition from the unconscious writing of its earlier books (such as Amos, circa 750 B.C.) to the fully conscious writing of its later books (such as Ecclesiastes, circa 350 B.C.). Amid that transition, the book of Samuel records the first known suicide — an act that requires consciousness. And the book of Deuteronomy illustrates the conflict between the bicameral mind and the conscious mind.

Likewise, the transition to consciousness is observed in other parts of the world: Chinese literature moved from bicameral unconsciousness to subjective consciousness about 500 B.C. with the writings of Confucius. And in India, literature shifted to subjective consciousness around 400 B.C. with the Upanishadic writings.

American Indians, however, never developed the sophisticated, metaphorical languages needed to develop full consciousness. As a result, their mentalities were probably bicameral when they first encountered the European explorers. For example, with little or no conscious resistance, the Incas allowed the Spanish “white gods” to dominate, plunder, and slaughter them.

The Bicameral Mind in Today’s World

Dr. Jaynes identifies many vestiges of the bicameral mentality that exist today. The most obvious vestige is religion and its symbols. Ironically, early Christianity with its teachings of Jesus was an attempt to shift religion from the outmoded bicameral and celestial mind of Moses to the newly conscious and earthly mind of man.

Despite religion, conscious minds caused the gradual shifts from governments of gods to governments of men and from divine laws to secular laws. Still, the vestiges of the bicameral mind combined with man’s longing for guidance produced churches, prophets, oracles, sibyls, diviners, cults, mediums, astrologers, saints, idols, demons, tarot cards, seances, Ouija boards, glossolalia, fuhrers, ayatollahs, popes, peyote, Jonestown, born-agains.

Jaynes shows how such external “authorities” exist only through the remnants of the bicameral mind. Moreover, he reveals a four-step paradigm that can reshuffle susceptible minds back into hallucinating, bicameral mentalities. The ancient Greeks used a similar paradigm to reorganize or reprogram the minds of uneducated peasant girls into totally bicameral mentalities so they could become oracles and give advice through hallucinated voices — voices that would rule the world (e.g., the oracle at Delphi). …Today, people who deteriorate into schizophrenic psychoses follow similar paradigms.

A common thread united most oracles, sibyls, prophets, and demon-possessed people: Almost all were illiterate, all believed in spirits, and all could readily retrieve the bicameral mind. Today, however, retrieval of the bicameral mind is schizophrenic insanity. Also, today, as throughout history, a symptomatic cure for “demon-possessed” people involves exorcising rituals that let a more powerful “authority” or god replace the “authority” of the demon. The New Testament, for example, shows that Jesus and his disciples became effective exorcists by substituting one “authority” (their god) for another “authority” (another god or demon).

As the voices of the oracles became confused and nonsensical, their popularity waned. In their places, idolatry revived and then flourished. But as Christianity became a popular source of external “authority”, Christian zealots began physically destroying all competing idols. They then built their own idols and symbols to reinforce the external “authority” of Christianity.

Among today’s vestiges of the bicameral mentality is the born-again movement that seeks external guidance. Such vestiges dramatize man’s resistance to use his own invention of conciousness to guide his life.

The chanting cadence of poetry and the rhythmic beat of music are also rooted in the bicameral mentality. In ancient writings, the hallucinated voices of the gods were always in poetic verse, usually in dactylic hexameter and sometimes in rhyme or alliteration — all characteristic of right-brain functionings. The oracles and prophets also spoke in verse. And today schizophrenics often speak in verse when they hallucinate. Poetry and chants can have authoritarian or commanding beats and rhythms that can effectively block consciousness. Poetry is the language of the gods — it is the language of the artistic, right-hemispheric brain. Plato recognized poetry as a divine madness.

Most poetry and songs have an abruptly changing or a discontinuous pitch. Normal speech, on the other hand, has a smoothly changing pitch. Jaynes demonstrates that reciting poetry, singing, and playing music are right-brain functions, while speaking is a left-brain function. That is why people with speech impediments can often sing, chant, or recite poetry with flawless clarity. Conversely, almost anyone trying to sing a conversation will find his words quickly deteriorating into a mass of inarticulate cliches.

Likewise, listening to music and poetry is a right-brain function. And music, poetry, or chants that project authority with loud or rhythmic beats can suppress left-brain functions to temporarily relieve anxiety or a painfully troubled consciousness.

Jaynes goes on to show phenomena such as hypnosis, acupuncture, and déjà vu also function through vestiges of the bicameral mind. And he demonstrates how hypnosis steadily narrows the sense of self, time, space, and introspection as consciousness shrinks and the mind reverts to a bicameral type organization. Analogously, bicameral and schizophrenic minds have little or no sense of self, time, space or introspection. The hypnotized mind is urged to obey the voice of the hypnotist; the bicameral mind is compelled to obey the “voices” of “authority” or gods. By sensing oneself functioning in the narrow-scope, unaware state of hypnosis, gives one an idea of functioning in the narrow-scope, unaware state of bicameral man.

Jaynes also identifies how modern quests for external “authority” are linked to the bicameral mind. Many such quests use science to seek authority in the laws of nature. In fact, today, science is surpassing the waning institutional religions as a major source of external “authority”. And rising from the vestiges of the bicameral mind are an array of scientisms (pseudoscientific doctrines, faiths, and cults) that select various natural or scientific facts to subvert into apocryphal, authoritarian doctrines. That subversion is accomplished by using facts out of context to fit promulgated beliefs. Such mystical scientisms include astrology, ESP, Scientology, Christian Science and other “science” churches, I Ching, behaviorism, sensitivity training, mind control, meditation, hypnotism, as well as various nutritional, health, and medical fads.

Today the major worldwide sources of external “authority” are the philosophical doctrines of religion (plus the other forms of mysticism and “metaphysics”) combined with political doctrines such as Fascism, Marxism, and Maoism. All such doctrines demand the surrender of the individual’s ego (sense of self or “I”) to a collective, obedient faith toward the “authority” of those doctrines. In return, those doctrines offer automatic answers and life-time guidance from which faithful followers can survive without the responsibility or effort of using their own consciousnesses. Thus, all political systems represent a regression — from conscious man back to bicameral man.

Despite their constant harm to everyone, most modern-day external “authorities” thrive by using a devastating technique to repress consciousness and activate the bicameral mind in their victims.  You see, shortly after the leap into consciousness, external “authorities” discovered a devastatingly effective tool for authoritarian control — guilt. Indeed, guilt not only worked on conscious minds, but required conscious minds to be effective.  Consider the guilt put on the young generation today for things beyond their control, from race to “destruction of the planet”.

First, young people are made to feel guilty, and they are condemned if they assume the responsibility to use their own minds to guide their own lives.  They are condemned for exchanging the automatic, following-mode bicameral life for a volitional, self-determining conscious life.

Then young people are offered automatic solutions to problems and guidance through life if they exchange their own thinking process for faith in external “authority” — bicameral faith in some leader or doctrine.  They are offered the “reward” of social acceptance while escaping the selfresponsibility to make one’s own decisions and to guide one’s own life. But for that “reward”, they must renounce their own minds to follow someone else’s mind or wishes disguised as the “truth” promulgated by some external “authority” or higher power.

But in reality, no valid external “authority” or higher power can exist or ever has existed. Valid authority evolves only from one’s own independent, conscious mode of thinking. When that fact is fully realized, man will emerge completely from his bicameral past and move into a future that accepts individual consciousness as the only authority. …Man will then fully evolve into a prosperous, happy individual who has assumed full responsibility for his own thinking and life.

Still, the resistance to and punishment for self-responsibility is formidable. The bicameral mentality grips those seeking “authorities” for guidance. Those who accept external “authority” allow government officials, religious leaders, faith, homilies, cliches, one-liners, slogans, the familiar, habits, and feelings to guide their actions. Throughout history, billions of people unnecessarily submit through their bicameral tendencies to the illusionary, external “authorities” of government and religion. And that submission is always done at a net loss to everyone’s well being and happiness.

The Implications of the Neothink^® Mentality (As Learned In The Main Article)

To some, the implications of the Neothink^® Mentality (our next mentality) will be frightening, even terrifying. To others, the implications will be electrifying and liberating, perhaps similar to what the fearless, early pioneers into consciousness felt. …The implications of Neothink^® are that each individual is solely responsible for his or her own life — responsible for making the effort required to guide one’s own life through one’s own consciousness. No automatic, effortless route to knowledge or guidance exists.  …Great prosperity awaits these people.

People knowledgeable about Neothink^® have the tools to outcompete all others who act on their bicameral tendencies. Equally important, people knowledgeable about Neothink^® have the tools to control their own lives and destinies, free from the crippling “following mode”.  Those people who digest and gain the energy from the Neothink^® Mentality go on to become masters of wealth creation.