World
Futures, The Journal of General Evolution, 2000, Vol. 55, pp. 357-379
ESSAY
Collective
Fields of Consciousness in the Golden Age
by
Endre K. Grandpierre
Resume
ABSTRACT.
1. On the Elementary Mind
and the Nature of Mind
2. On the Cosmic Law of Interactions: The World was Born, and is
Maintained, by Interactions
3. Modes and Perspectives of Proof..
4. Cohesive Forces Holding Together Peoples and Countries
5. The Problems of Existence or Non-Existence of the Golden Age..
6. Our Mind is the Product of History
7. Memories of an Unknown World Sunk in our Underlying mind
8. Anti-Minds in our Brain.
9. The Unsolved Puzzle of our Dual Mind
10. Fantastic Interpretation of Dual Consciousness: Reptile Mind as
a Killing Machine Built into the Human Mind?..
11. Conditions for the Fall of the Golden Age
12. „Power Descended from Heaven”....
13. Violence Becomes the Factor of Forming the World.
14. The Joyful World of the Golden Age, the Eden Tantalises us Even
Today.
15. The Path of Mankind Broken: Evidence for the Formation of the
Two Histori-cal Periods of Opposed Sign.
16. Fulfilment of Individual
and Collective Freedom and the Overthrow of the Golden Age..
17. EMBers left after the Blossoming of Sexuality
18. Masses of People on the Edge of Brain Death.
References
COLLECTIVE
FIELDS OF THE GOLDEN AGE
Endre K. Grandpierre
ABSTRACT:
The present essay
is a concise form of results obtained during many decades of research in the
primeval foundations of collective, both social and consciousness fields. We
point out that a yet unknown type of forces existed in the Golden Age, which we
termed collective force. In the Golden Age mankind lived in communities which
had a full unity. The communal life developed its collective forms, of which
the most significant are the development of human speech, of language, share of
work and the development of the communal fests. The law determining the
primeval origins of mind is the cosmic law of interactions. It defines the
substance of the Universe and the ways of its existence and activity. A
detailed analysis is presented on the nature of the interaction there. One
consequence of this fundamental principle is the general prevalence of the
principle of mutuality, which plays a basic role in the understanding of the
unfolding and degeneration of consciousness. The principle of mutuality
determines the changes of every level of life. The laws of the generation of
consciousness in the ages of evolution toward Homo and the Golden Age are
analysed. Evidences were found proving the historical reality of the Golden
Age, surviving in the traditions of mankind in every part of the world, and its
overthrow before the Flood, which resulted in the dethronement of the primeval
mind, the human consciousness of the Golden Age and the subsequent – and
necessary – emergence of the superficial, rational mind.
Starting from the
consideration that our mind is the imprint of history, we have recognised the
phenomenon of the dual mind, the somewhat antagonistic duality of human
consciousness. We think we have succeeded in solving the riddle of the dual
mind and determining its substance. Our dual mind, consisting of the ‘upper’ or
rational mind and the ‘underlying mind’, is the product of the two fundamental
ages of mankind, that of the Golden Age and that of power domination. Therefore
it reflects the duality of our history.
We
attempted to explore the heritage of the Golden Age embedded into our world of
instincts, sexuality, emotional and sensual world, and the expressions of this
heritage according to the different periods of our lives. If we will succeed in
enlightening the deep-mind it may make it possible to give back the
long-forgotten collective fields of forces to mankind, unavailable to the
surface mind at present, and would expand the all-pervasive power of the
conscious mind significantly. Hopefully, our results open up new vistas for the
research of the collective fields and the double nature of the human mind, and
may enable us to know and complete ourselves more deeply and thoroughly.
KEYWORDS: collective fields of force, Golden Age, consciousness, dual mind
„In the human world there are plenty of miserable things which deaden
thinking (...) since you should know that everything has the ability of insight
and participates in the process of thinking.”
Empedocles
The aim of this
paper is to survey the community factors acting in the deep ranges of the human
mind and in our world of instincts, to explore the origin of the collective
forces and the way they are connected to our physical and biological existence.
Our topic has a historical character, and therefore a systematic well-founded
exploration is necessary to go back to the historical origins, to the ancient
times of mankind, to the Golden Age, the development and building-up of the
collective human fields of force in the Golden Age. We should go even further,
reaching down to the onset of biological and physical existence, in order to
demonstrate, in their ultimate roots, the existence and functioning of any
possible collective factors in the ancient era of mankind and their possible
presence in today’s societies.
The research,
carried on for many decades, has led to surprising results. One of them is the
discovery that the elementary mind, which we consider a form of perception,
extends over the whole Universe. We present arguments defining the elementary
mind and give the evidence proving this fundamental thesis. One of the most
fundamental theses is the one stating that consciousness is on the same scale
as perception and extends over the whole Universe. Another is that through the
analysis of the conditions of the creation of micro-particles, we have
been able to uncover a new world-principle, a cosmic law of general validity,
namely the principle of interactions, the fundamental law of the creation and
maintenance of cosmic, physical and biological existence.
The drama of the
ancient world and the evolution to Homo cannot be understood without an
authentic mapping of the elementary mental states. The essential contents of
our basic nature are given by the elementary mental states. We identify these
mental states at the most elementary level with perception, since it is not
possible to deny the presence of an elementary form of consciousness in any
kind of perception. We point out that everything that exists is necessarily
endowed with a specific form of perception, because even the most elementary
things that exist perceive their environment in a certain way, perceive the
environmental stimuli and also respond to them, which is a phenomenon without
which the whole world would disintegrate and be annihilated. But this
elementary fact necessarily implies that in this sense even the most elementary
particles possess a perceptive ability, therefore they have an elementary form
of consciousness. Thus the elementary particles are the end points of the
cosmic systems of consciousness, in other words, they are the end points of
spirit. Spirit and mind are inseparable entities and they cannot do without
each other. Everything possesses consciousness.
This thesis was
approximated in the presentiment of Empedocles two and a half thousand years
ago, when he stated that everything that exists possesses the abilities of
‘sensation’ (perception) and ‘thinking’ (consciousness manifested in
self-perception). We do not think we are far from the truth in assuming that in
this insight the traditions preserved from the Golden Age, which were much more
alive in her/his time than today, must have played a role. The magic world-view
saw the elements of nature and objects as being able to perceive, having a kind
of consciousness, an ability to act by themselves and have their own will. For
example, in the Hungarian folk ballad JÚLIA SZÉP LEÁNY (Fair Maiden Julia),
which has preserved many remnants of the ancient world-view, the hillock
becomes round by itself, the footpath descends at an easy pace from the sky,
the heavenly door opens without anybody opening it, the bells sound without
anybody ringing them. In our ‘regõs songs’ (a special kind of winter-solstice
wassailing) the lights at the tips of the deer’s antlers go on without being
lighted, and go out without being extinguished. Strange but true, that this
ancient conception still survives within us: we quarrel with the objects which
disobey our will, and we occasionally even punish them. „We wonder if the real
task of metaphysics is not to go up the hill which physics runs down, to take
back matter to its origin and gradually construct a cosmology which could be
termed, as it were, a kind of psychology inverted?” (Bergson, 1907/1981).
We
consider the existence or non-existence of collective fields of force from the
very beginning. While Empedocles (444 BC, see Wright, 1981) speaks about the
"feelings" of the atoms, a different notion of the interactions is
worked out here. It is based on the observation that energy cannot exist
separately, as independent from all the existents. The fundamental nature of
energy is that it is counteracting with something. Although the content of the
notions "something" and "nothing" and
"nothingness" is not well clarified, for the present purpose they
serve well to shed some light of the energy itself. Any something cannot exist without nothingness.
They are defining each other, being a mutual pair-relation mutually creating
each other. In my conception energy is a kind of perception. Perception cannot
exist without an observer and the observed existent. Even in its most
elementary form the absence of interactions is impossible. But how can we
introduce an apparently psychological concept into a cosmological, therefore
apparently physical context? The clarification of this question leads to a
consideration of the relation of matter and energy. Although these two forms
are related to each other, they represent basically different existents. Matter
is a concept of a rigid, inert, passive, inanimate form of existence. In
contrast, energy is a dynamical activity, of oscillation. But how is this
oscillation generated? It is generated as a re-action to something. The most
elementary degree of perception: an effect, to which a counter-effect is
elicited. This activity is energy itself. Energy is, therefore perception of
some counter-acting existent. Energy is created on this fundament. Perception
is also a re-action to an action, a counter-effect to an effect.
The
question of the primacy of matter or energy leads to the following
consideration. If I regard energy, and interaction, as primal, I have to
clarify, if this interaction assumes already material existents as preceding
the interaction or not. In this point I do not want to enter into the analysis
of "something" and
"nothingness". So in this point it is enough to assume that we start
from a state in which there is no existent at all. In the very first moment in
this nothingness when any change occurs, any kind of oscillation, or effect, in
the same instant the whole world unfolds explosively. Therefore, it is the
effect, which has to be regarded in this manner as primary. Of course, the
effect cannot exist without countereffect. In this context the notions of
effect and countereffect becomes circularly involved in each other. So the very
fist sign of existence already involves a counter-effect as well as an effect,
in which the effect is the counter-effect to the counter-effect. In this way
the most elementary and primal energy, the most elementary oscillation of
reality is a counter-effect to the preceding state that is nothingness. Energy
appears when it counter-acted to its counter-factor that is nothingness. In
this process the interactions will grow and spread as the gigantic thread of
the world of existents, in which process energy generates its own
counter-factor which will be determined as matter. The character of matter will
be determined and postulated by the nature of energy as the counter-factor of
the dynamic and active energy itself. Between energy and matter a complete
opposition stretches. Energy is immaterial, it does not have any solid
counterpart, and, in contrary, matter is a passive, non-dynamic existent.
Matter is a side-effect, a by-product of the main activity of energy, a certain
conserved and hidden form of energy. Matter in itself is not an ultimate
substance, only in a certain sense in the case when regarded in the context of
its dynamism and all-pervading interaction fields, which is its energetic
aspect. The real ultimate 'substance' is energy, or, more properly,
interactions.
We
have to recognise that the law of interactions is the real fundamental law of
material existence in the universe. The whole cosmic existence is the gigantic
thread of interactions pervading and sustaining all kinds of existents. The
material of the universe - from the microparticles to the celestial bodies,
metagalaxies as well as the biosphere - was born of interactions and is a
gigantic network of interactions. The real nature of matter consists of
transient units of dynamic interactions. The Cosmos is a field of not only
known interactions, but also of yet unknown forms of interactions. These
interactions are the ones elevating the Universe to higher and higher
organisational levels. Any action is already an action to another action,
therefore any action is a reaction to its precedent actions. Effect cannot be
elicited without a countereffect. All kinds of influences elicit
counter-influences. We could formulate the law of interactions in another way:
nothing can exist without interactions. Interaction belongs to the very
ultimate nature of energy. Matter can not exist without interactions, so it is
a secondary existent. Since interactions expresses a reaction to something,
therefore it is an idea referring to a collectivity. Interaction expresses a
relation between a manifold of existents. Therefore interaction has a
fundamental collective character. Since the manifesting effect and
countereffect do not isolate themselves from their environment, they generate
newer and newer actions and counter-actions in an expanding chain of events.
Therefore, interactions have a creative collective character. As it is revealed
here, this fundamental law of the universe is the strongest proof of the
existence of collective fields. These arguments refer to the field of physics.
If we now enter in the field of biological organisation, and if we consider the
more complex interconnectedness of the human sphere of life, comparing it to
the sphere of the inorganic matter, we can recognise that in the organisation
of energy into higher forms of organisation, such as biological existence and
human society, the law of interactions has to be manifested at a much higher
rate.
One has to conclude from the above
arguments that the Cosmos is not a mere aggregate of particles. But the
question arises: why the Universe had to evolve in a way that atoms grouped to
form stars and systems of celestial bodies showing high forms of organisation,
to form galaxies and metagalaxies, in a hierarchical articulation? What was
that force that organised organic molecules from the atoms, and later on,
consistently, cells from the molecules? This force creates systems
spontaneously self-active, alive organisms, and, later on, the brains’ network
of neuron0s. What is the relation or principle that connects all of these
phenomena from the smallest to the highest scales? How can we shed light on any
question regarding the details if we do not know this fundamental principle?
I found this still hidden fundamental
principle of interactions, which uncovers the elementary law present in the
generation of reality, maintaining and developing the cosmic energy, in the
‘principle of elementary interactive perception’, or ‘principle of elementary interactive consciousness’. We have to
recognise that nothing can exist without a form of perception. In this respect
we do not necessarily relate the notion of perception to the presence of a
nervous system. On the contrary, we state that interactive perception, as a
more general conception, is present already in the most initial forms of
material interactions and forces, in the interaction of microparticles. The
concept of perception is extended in a way that includes the wide range of
phenomena from perception in the interactions of microparticles to the
interactions present in the highest organisational levels of existence. Energy
is a countereffect to an outer effect, as expressed in interactions, the
expression and function of interactions which generates additional interactive
fields around itself. Therefore this concept of interactions, which is
necessary to enlighten the real role of perception present in the cosmic
organisation, giving preference to interactions over matter, opens the way to
the vast range of phenomena of the universe, the continuous ‘upward
organisation’.
In consequence, if energy, as well as
the universe and biological existence, humans and human organisations were
created by interactions, then our principle sheds a new light on the
fundamental nature of the human societies, especially on the significance of
the roles of collective fields in the character and basic working mechanisms of
societies. The cosmic law of interactions expresses a co-operation, an
elementary and natural mutuality. Mutuality is a pronounced balanced
bilaterality, with a relative equality and fairness of the related factors.
Therefore, we do not have to imagine the Universe as a kind of gigantic
pyramid, whose upper layers deform and torture the layers below by their
immense weights, - despite of the well observed fact that the present state of
our societies apparently sharply contradicts this universal principle. We have
to recognise the Universe as a self-active organisation, which was founded on
the basis of free grouping, none of the members of this cosmic organisation
suffer disadvantages, but, on the contrary, complete their own nature and
individual characteristics, prevailing their own substance. Expanding the range
of consciousness, we identify consciousness with a generalised perception and
realise that perception, and with it the frontiers of elementary consciousness,
go far beyond the boundaries of the biological existence, far beyond so-called
'organic matter'.
One
can not deny consciousness from all kinds of existents that react to
environmental influences with activity, whatever is their actual material state
and organic structure. Consciousness is present not only in humans but - in
other forms - in every living being, and generally in every material existent.
Energy is born in interactions, and it is the expression of these interactions
and their further vibration. Therefore in the great act of creation the main
role belongs to consciousness and perception realised in interactions. Universe
is based on interactions. The energy of the Universe explodes to existence -
from nothingness - through interactions. The substantial nature of energy, its
form of existence as perception, is expressed in interactions. Energy is an interaction
that creates the primeval energy known as the microworld (and its apparent
'particles'), and the whole building up of the world. Interaction is
perception, perception is an interactive, therefore collective consciousness.
Collective consciousness generated the world, the principle of perception that
is born in interaction.
Interactions
are the basis of cosmic, physical, historic and social life. This fact is the
primeval physical and social cause of the collective fields of forces acting in
human life. During the evolution to Homo, and the development of human nature
in the Golden Age, the most powerful driving factors of human society, the
inevitable cohesive force of the social evolution, were the mutuality, the
dynamism of interactions rooted in the cosmic existence. The violation of this
primeval principle - or even its transient weakening or deformation - is a sign
of the decay and atrophy of society. On the other hand, when this principle
unfolds to its full scale it leads to social elevation, an enhancement of
social harmony, to the unfolding of collective fields of force.
It is easy to see
that the principles of interactions and mutuality are of enormous importance,
they pervade the whole Universe and with their crystal-clear elementary primeval
foundations they show the way out of the present chaos of the world. It was
this law of existence that generated biological existence after the physical
one had been formed. This law gave the rules for the formation of the first
germs of life, for their organisation, the grouping of the first cells as well
as the establishment of giant, widespread biological systems on Earth. The
primeval era of mankind, the Golden Age is also based on the same principles,
on the prevalence of collective fields of force. On the other hand, in the
societies of today huge masses of people are losers due to the violation of the
principle of mutuality.
Our arguments are
based on the law of interactions, as this law determines the functioning of not
only biological but also social existence. This law became prevalent in the
Golden Age. Unfortunately, the Golden Age suffered a decline, and the Great
Break soon took its place. From that time on the working of the basic law of
interactions has suffered from disturbances, and this fact is the ultimate
cause, the actual background for the continuing aggravation of society’s
problems. We must face this fact. If this lies at the background of our
problems, then having recognised the real cause of our illness we may have the
possibility to fend off the threatening consequences or at least to improve the
situation to a certain degree.
We must realise
that in the world of the Golden Age, in the magic world-view a far-reaching
mutuality prevails all. (since mutuality is the basic principle of existence.
Mutuality is an expression of the partnership between physical world and human
existence, in the whole biosphere, in the flora and in the fauna. Mutuality
prevails in all forms of natural existence. In societies which deviate from natural
existence the principle of mutuality is violated on the surface.)
The Golden Age
perceived mutuality as involving, besides the living world, the cosmic world.
It is difficult to understand this world-view from the position of a presumed
‘modern’ dominance over the whole nature, from which even partnership seems to
be an instance of subordination. The Homo of the magic era did not believe that
she/he was the centre of the Universe, neither did she/he imagine that she/he
had unlimited, ruling power over nature and that she/he had the right to regard
all other forms of life without any respect. On the contrary, in the Golden Age
Homo was an organic part of nature in a brotherly equality, she/he was a
co-operating agent respecting all other forms of life.
Taking
into account the circumstance, that in this work we had to touch yet unexplored
territories, we had to be careful and try to explore to most complete possible
ranges of evidence available for us.
It
is true that all the statements had to be proven, even in the case when the
available factual materials are scarce and seems to be incomplete. Therefore,
in such cases we have to make use the classical evidentiary theories (modus
probandi), the all-embracing, i.e. the possibly full-ranged proof, although we
have to see that sometimes it will be inevitable to bridge the gaps in the
knowledge since we have to deal with vast ranges of time and many important
data seems to be unavailable (saltus in probando). In these cases it is even
more important to give a proper role to the reveal the facts important for the
proofs and to present well-based foundation for the proof (vis probandi),
completing with the historical facts, with the classical and ancient sources,
as well as with the biological-genetical facts, and, last but not least, with
the logical proof carried out in a consistent way.
In
order to make an attempt to develop such a logical argument, at first we will
need to clarify the cohesion forces between the peoples.
The problem of
the origin of the cohesive forces of communities is reminiscent of the problem
of the ‘part’ and the ‘whole’. Can any part exist without the whole? It should
be evident that the more highly developed and the more complex an organism is,
the more it is sensitive to its external relations. In the case of humans,
apart from transient periods of tyranny and violence, neither the individual
nor the society can exist without collective cohesive forces. Collective
cohesive forces are the most human parts in our integral sphere of actions,
this is the framework in which our whole life takes place. Therefore a
comprehensive, all-embracing force must exist and give a character to peoples,
to millions and millions of individuals, in order that society could exercise
its proper functions. This cohesive force must evidently exist in the minds of
people. We have to take these active forces of community into account when
considering human consciousness. This force is in a permanent dynamic
equilibrium with individual interests and can be viewed as a subtractive
polarity. In the process of personal alienation, collective forces are pushed
into the background, become dimmed and obscured both at the level of
individuals and of society. Because this progression of decay is a major
characteristic of our age, it is an urgent necessity to thoroughly explore the
basis of this problem.
It
is a rather established view that, as compared to biological evolution, human
society is a relatively late development. It is a widespread opinion that Homo
like other animals had to fight alone against a hostile Nature, with the
predators threatening her/him. Brutal necessities forced humans to form hordes,
smaller and larger groups. Again the problem of part versus whole arises. Science regards human communities as
products of a lengthy evolution, and the community is constituted from the
elements of the communal life. „As if the cells of the human organism had
developed separately, later compound groups formed, and then, by finding out
the proper order, they had combined themselves into the living being” (Hamvas,
1943).
The views about
primitive Homo, about its wild nature, sinful, superstitious views are
frequently repeated in an era in which violence has lost its chains and has
become more widespread than ever, in which lies and mind-bending mysticism are
rapidly growing as an epidemic of plague.
It is a commonly held view that prehistoric
Homo was superstitious, while we are free from any deformed views. Therefore
the ancient concept that animals, plants, all members of the family of living
beings, and what is more, inorganic objects are the embodiments of
supernatural, cosmic forces is dismissed as superstition. This ‘barbarous,
primitive’ view endowed objects, celestial bodies, stars and planets with
sensations. These views had preceded by thousands of years the ideas of the
Greek Empedocles, who was also far ahead of his time with his ideas. His theory
concerning sensation in atoms and materials was widely considered nonsense,
even though this is a level of knowledge to which modern science has been
unable to rise after two and half thousand years of ‘progress’, even after the
discovery of the atomic world. Such were the ‘preposterous views’ held by
‘primitive’ people.
The holders of the ancient natural-magical
world-view had an affinity to identify themselves with environment, with the
world. Through this identification they attempted to enter internal worlds, the
substances of the objects and phenomena. They were led in this way to a high
degree of comprehension which was unattainable from an arrogant view coming
from above or outside. This was the way our predecessors approached, through
identification and in the form of intuitions, the deeper ranges of reality.
This alternative form of knowledge was what is now called their ‘superstition’.
The Homo of the
Golden Age knew that plants and animals are not inferior to her/him. Everything
that exists, alive or not, is the carrier of mysterious, secret cosmic,
therefore "supernatural" forces. Every phenomenon of the natural
world, the earth, water, fire, sky, air, the natural world as a whole, the Sun,
the Moon, the stars are all manifestations of the creative power of Nature,
therefore, they are all expressions of the magic cosmic power. Ancient man had
the feeling that all these factors exerted a decisive influence on her/his life
and the whole terrestrial world. But of all these the primary agent it was the
Sun whose omnipotence and heavenly
radiation flooded the terrestrial world and whose supernatural strength
sustained life on earth. This primitive man, nicknamed ‘ignorant savage’ was
able to grasp with her/his uncorrupted senses and empathic abilities what we,
so-called educated and civilized people, hardly know, namely that the whole
terrestrial biosphere is pervaded by internal and external ‘supernatural’, i.e.
cosmic powers.
Is this all
nonsense? Is it superstition or true insight into reality? These images are not
constructed by the artificial efforts of a narrow mind but with a knowledge of
life much wider and deeper than ours. The most important difference is that
ancient Homo looked at the whole world, the plants and animals as brothers,
regarded them as companions of life, life-partners with whom she/he lived in
brotherly friendship (except for the satiation of her/his hunger and for the
predators attacking her/him). It was clear to her/him that without her/his
natural environment she/he could not exist either. Therefore she/he did her/his
best to protect and take care of her/his friendly life-partners.
The cutting edge
of the nickname ‘savage’ is directed at her/his wild nature, her/his alienation
from her/his fellow-people. The Homo of the Golden Age lived in an unbroken
unity, freedom and harmony with her/his fellows and with Nature and Cosmos. Its
collective community-forming spiritual forces extended over society and to
mankind as a whole (on which all traditions agree), and what is more, over the
biosphere and the stars as well. Therefore these facts show just the opposite
of what is stated by those propagating spiritual disintegration and individual
separation. Homo as a newly-born descendant of the fresh organising forces of
the Cosmos was pervaded with the collective fields of force of humans, of
Nature and Cosmos in a much higher degree than in its later development. The
Golden Age was the culminating point of
the society-forming forces, which were in full blossom at the time.
Life itself would
not have born through individual separation. Organisms are built of billions
and trillions of cells organised by their spontaneous, voluntary grouping and
based on mutuality. Collective co-operation of all social members during tens
of thousands of years of rhythmical collective activities have created the most
amazing intellectual compositions, articulated human speech and language,
compared to which the pyramids and the most impressive structures of the
megalithic era seem to be unimportant remains left by Lilliputian dwarfs.
Modern society itself, even in its present, much debated form, still capable of providing a scene for
community life, is a relic of ancient society. The survival of human society
demonstrates pronouncedly the falseness of views regarding individuals and
communities as antagonistic factors in opposition. Inordinate individualism and
anti-social tendencies are the decomposition products of social life.
What is needed is
not the disintegration of society but the correction of its more serious distortions.
The possibility to do this is given by the fact that Homo lived for millions of
years (the length of this period is beyond the scope of the present essay) in a
society in which collective fields of force prevailed without limitations. What
is more, ancient society favoured the realization of collective tendencies,
which were exactly what were needed for the unfolding of individual abilities,
never again attained since that time. Human minds as well as human culture are
also products of collective fields of force. Human societies are built on the
will to form communities. This is an ancient heritage which we have to preserve
by care and attention.
Questions that
arise: when did human’s collective fields of force form, and what were the main
factors of their formation? What kind of relations exist between collective
feelings and the law of interactions? How do these factors relate to the
conditions of life during the evolution into Homo, in the Golden Age, and in
the following era? In which era of our historical existence, in which
direction, and where in our layers of consciousness did the ancient foundations
of social cohesion lie? How were these factors modified during the changes of
history? What kind of role did collective fields of force play in the process
of becoming Homo and in the Golden Age?
To answer these questions, we have to study
the most ancient layers of human history and of human mind.
Looking back to the origins of Homo, we see
gigantic ages, the monuments of which have been destroyed, their stone tablets
crushed, their written traditions clamped and burnt to ashes. There are few
remaining traces and the data are scarce. The Golden Age stands at the dawn of
the times of Homo, which may be preceded only by the era of the biological,
corporeal development of Homo, the era of becoming Homo, if it proves separable
at all from the Golden Age. In regard to the social and spiritual aspects the
Golden Age is undoubtedly the beginning of the beginnings. It is clear that the origins, the genetic factors, the onset conditions
play a significant role in determining the development of a certain process,
although it is also true, that the formative and modifying effect of the
events, developments, and previously lateral processes occurring later on also
may exert a decisive role on the evolution of the process considered.
All human values
germinated in the ancient past, in the very beginnings, in the era which formed
Homo by giving her/him a face, first as a biological, then as a communal,
social being capable of abstract thinking. Despite its fundamental
significance, it is just the ancient era which we know the least of, and it is
not because the heritage of our ancestors was not passed on to the following
generations, but because all the accessible traces of this era have been
artificially and forcefully erased. The picture preserved of the Golden Age
fades from centuries to centuries, the obscurity increases, as it can be
observed as early as the ancient authors. For example, writing about the people
of the Golden Age Hesiod says that their bodies were made of gold, and that is
why decay had no power over them. The following two and a half thousand years
have led to an almost complete extinguishing of the memory of the Golden Age,
so that now even outstanding authors regard it as a belief without validity,
created by mere imagination, from the attempt to make our past look nicer than
it was in reality.
„We have already
noted in general how one should conceive of the beginning of the history of
spirit: people simply imagine a natural state, in which freedom and law are
said to prevail or have prevailed in a perfect manner. But this is merely an
assumption born in the twilight of conditional reflection on a historical
existence” - writes Hegel. -„Nature is imagined as a clear reflection of the
nature of God, appearing openly and transparently to the uncorrupted eyes of
Man, and the divine truth was just as evident for him” (Hegel, 1978).
Conflicting views
are not lacking, nor are they without a real basis. It would seem suspicious to
the rational mind that once upon a time everything used to be nice and good.
And then – the thought may arise – where
is the fruit of all human efforts, of civilisation and human progress? What are
we to do with the idea of permanent progress? The doubts apparently seem to be
justified. But why could not the beginning have been nicer than the unfolding?
Especially if the realisation – as the overwhelming majority of facts seem to
support – is very, very far from being perfect? Why cannot the traditions be
right, as well as the view that the foundations determine what is to be built
on them? Biological evolution provides for our bodily existence to the same degree
as the Golden Era provides for the development of consciousness. Interestingly,
the traditions preserved from this ancient era are homogeneous to a surprising
extent. Almost all the peoples of the world conserve traditions from this
ancient era. The Golden Age was Eden itself, from where for some unknown and
fearful reason Homo was exiled. The duration of the Golden Age was immeasurably
long, and human mind became rooted in it.
After the
overthrow of this era, however, only around ten thousand years have passed, a
relatively short time, and this period should be set against the millions of
years of the Golden Age. Regarding the existence and nature of the Golden Age,
there is significant confusion since official history seems to reject the
relevant statements in ancient chronicles and traditions. Different facts and
opinions collide and thus it seems that we do not know our own origins and
history. What happened in the everyday life of ancient times is rather obscure
and disputed. The era of the evolution into Homo is also covered by haze. We do
not know where we came from, how we lived and what happened to us. Getting rid
of the beliefs of legends, we interpret the Golden Age as the ancient era of
Homo, to be exact, we regard it as the period of the spiritual and social
accomplishment, merging with the era of evolution into Homo. In this sense we
divide the history of Homo into two unequal parts, the many million years of
the Golden Age and the Iron Age or era of power lasting for a few tens of
thousands of years.
We have referred
to the fact that the judgement of ancient times is far from being uniform, in
fact it is full of the sharpest possible contradictions. By dominant opinions
the ancient era was a tough era of painful misery, the era of savagery and dark
barbarism, of darkness and ignorance, of psychical inferiority and amorality.
According to both the materialistic and the religious views, man spent her/his
days in permanent horror and used most of her/his vitality for the mere
maintenance of her/his life. On the contrary, written and other sources tell
about heavenly conditions, the Eden, the joyful era of people in the ancient
Egyptian, Hindu, Mesopotamian, Scythian, Frankish, German and other traditions.
In the legend of the Fall in the Old Testament, Man lived in the Garden of Eden
and was exiled from there into the cruel and wild world of nature.
There are also
some hard facts that contradict these general opinions. The facts of history
and anthropology are corroborated consistently by decisive evidence from Nature
itself:
1.)
The part of the
living world which is unaffected by modern man and its destructive influence
still reflects conditions of Paradise
2.)
Animals living in
nature gather their food and satisfy their needs in an incomparably shorter
time and with much less effort than humans do in societies
3.)
In the secluded
regions of the world there are ‘wild races’, ‘primitive tribes’, peoples far
behind civilisation still surviving without showing any sign of atrophying
physically or degenerating psychically. It suffices here to refer to the
Pacific Islands and Hawaii, not too long ago generally referred to as an
earthly paradise, or to the pre-Columbian culture and richness of Indians
before they were massacred by the conquistadors.
Our conclusions are supported by
ethnographic research. Geertz (1975) remarks that the human brain is not
capable of survival in the absence of human community. Melville Herskovits
(1952) stated that the Australian aborigines were the classical example of
peoples whose economical resources are minimal. Therefore they could only
survive with the most intense utilisation of these resources. Marshall Sahlins
(1962) says that „it is an almost unequivocally accepted statement that life
was tough and difficult in the Palaeolithic era. The books of our experts rival
one another in depicting a scene of chilly fate, and the reader is wondering
how these hunters succeeded surviving, and whether the term life is proper to
theirs at all. Death by starvation haunts on these pages. It is pointed out
that because of the lack of technology they had to labour continuously in order
to survive. They did not have the chance to take a break, nor to rest or
produce surplus which is needed for establishing a culture. In their writings
dealing with economic development this era is shown as a bad example, it is
referred to as ‘subsistence-level economy’.”
When however the Canadian anthropologist
Richard Lee faced these theories after having done 18-month-long research of
the Kung San (Bushman) tribe living in the north-western part of the Kalahari
desert, in a semi-desert area which regularly suffers from drought, he obtained
some shocking results. The mixed menu of the Kungs contains 10 percent more
calories and 50% more proteins than the average daily amount prescribed by the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States. The most shocking was
the amount of effort used to obtain the food. On average, the Kungs worked two
and half days a week. (A modern working day lasts for six hours, the number of
working hours per week is fifteen.) And this amount of work is enough to obtain
a kind of diet which is better than the one suggested by western standards.
What is more, young people begin to work only in their twenties, and old people
retire in their sixties. Ten percent of the tribe consists of retired people
over the age of sixty. This existence, which is not unique among the gathering
and hunting peoples living world-wide, cannot be described as ‘dirty, cruel and
short’” (Lewin, 1980).
Now it has been proven that the opinions
concerning the inferior state of prehistoric peoples are unsound. Nevertheless,
the highly respected writer L. H. Morgan in his book on ancient society
distinguishes the following periods of savagery and barbarism:
I. Lower degree of savagery
II. Intermediate
degree of savagery
III. Upper
degree of savagery
IV. Lower degree of barbarism
V. Intermediate degree of barbarism
VI. Upper degree of barbarism
VII. Stage of civilised people
All
these stages seem to build up in a linear sequence towards the highest, from
the deepest darkness to the era of glory. However we think that a more adequate
division would be the following one:
I. The beginnings of the magical
civilisation of the Golden Age
II. The blossoming of the magical world-view
III. The overthrow of the Golden Age, the
fall of the magical world-view
IV. The lower, initial degree of primitive
rationalism
V.
The continuing
decline and barbarisation of spiritual culture
VI.
The spiritual
fall of the age of power
In
the hope of a better future, we may wish another era to come:
VII The renewal of collective society
Following ancient
sources the Zend-Avesta of Zarathustra describes the periods of history in
terms of tree symbols. In these visions four mythical trees (Tree of Life or
Tree of the World) appear. The first tree has golden branches, the second
silver, the third copper, and the fourth iron branches (Zend-Avesta, 1888).
In the Hindu
teachings of Yuga, which considers the lifetime of Homo to be 4,320,000 years, four
ages are mentioned again such as the golden, silver, copper and iron ages. This
division seems to be general in the traditions of most peoples.
The myths of the
Greeks on the Golden Age were preserved e.g. at the time of Hesiod, in his poem
Works and Days: „first humans were formed of gold by the Gods,...far away from
sufferings and pains...their life was full of joy and well-being”. In the
Old-Scandinavian sagas the Golden Age shows up too: „In the North, on the land
of the Night, the tribe of the Fire Dwarfs is living in halls made of gold”
(Edda, 1602). „By the views of the Tibetan people the state of Paradise was the
state of the most perfect completion of the psyche. But the consumption of a
certain kind of drug deprived man of this state. In this way the feeling of
shame entered their life, and from that time on they covered their bodies with
clothes. After that the necessities drove them to cultivate the soil, and their
morality changed to killing and cheating.” (Doane, 1882)
„The Egyptians
always thought of the Golden Age with longing, remembering the earthly land of
the god Ra, where he consecrated earth and human life. They said this era would
never come back again.”
„African black
tribes also think that the origins of agriculture go back to the fall of
mankind to sin. The Malabar legend of creation describes events remarkably
similar to those in the Bible. The first couple of mankind was called to the
heaven by the sound of a bell, to eat with Abasi. The forbidden tree (tree of
Knowledge) was substituted here by economy and proliferation, since this was
what Abasi forbid the first human couple to enjoy.”
„Sir Leonard
Woolley describes the excavations in the city of Ur where they found 74 human
skeletons, and a golden tree, which a ram is shown to mount”.
„The Chinese
traditions recall the Age of Virtue, when Nature poured its fruits abundantly
and humans lived in peace with animals. The sacred Chinese books write about a
mysterious garden in which the Tree of Immortality bears its fruit. This tree
is guarded by a snake with wings, called a dragon. The sacred writings describe
an era of joy yielding plenty of blessed fruits without any human effort. The
seasons did not bring winds and hurricanes. Anxiety, illness and death were
unknown at that time.”
„The legend of
the peoples of Madagascar says: „The first man was created out of the dust of
earth and was placed in a garden, where nothing was found that the mortals of
today suffer from. He was free from any bodily needs, was surrounded by fine
fruits and crystal-clear springs, but he did not wish to eat of the fruits and
drink of the water. The Creator had forbidden him strictly to eat or drink, but
somehow the great enemy came and described in colourful words the sweetness of
the apple and the taste of date and orange. He first resisted but later on ate
of the fruit and this caused his destiny.” (Doane, 1882)
We
have to regard as widely accepted view (Received View) that the human organism
gained its present constitution and capacities on the process of natural
evolution. We would like to call the attention to the circumstance that the
central nervous system is not an exception from below this rule. This means
that our brain/mind is also a product of the historical evolution, and so it
shows a historical character as well as all the organs of our organism. We have
to add to this that the evolutionary pathway of our consciousness is largely
modified by the social forces, especially by the influences of the social factors
of the last ten thousand years.
The most direct
and important task of our rational mind is practical control over our organism,
its needs and everyday elementary activities, orientation in the real world,
the assessment of the circumstances, immediate possibilities and all things
related to the needs, requirements, and sustenance of life, including the
storing of sensations and experiences in our memory. For all this the rational
mind has to judge and make decisions, which also involves practical thinking,
and abstract thinking to a certain degree.
All of these
activities are none other than a particular kind of mental automatism, the
execution of inevitable mechanical activities. This automatism is a far cry
from the self-contained, independent thinking and from the creative activity of
the deeper mental layers. Therefore the light of the rational mind is not
strong enough to shed light on the vast empires of the deeper mental layers.
This is why we
know so surprisingly little of our deeper mental layers. The laws of their
functioning, their origin, the ways of their development are merely guessed at.
The speculations about them are mere subjective opinions. Psychology is still
in its infancy. The term ‘deep or underlying mind’ was invented recently by A.
Grandpierre (1983, 1991) because previous terms, e.g. the unconscious, are
misleading as they suggest a lack of organisational ability. Then we ask the
main questions: why do we have a mind with a dual nature? Why is this duality
necessary? Why is one mind not enough, as vast and as differentiated as it
could be? What causes the development of this duality, what kind of outer or
inner forces, what kind of influence, or perhaps tragedy? What kind of world is
it that has sunk into and got rooted in our underlying mind? And what are its
real contents, what is the source of these contents, and what kind of
instincts, urges, impressions, intuitions, ancient memories are stored in it?
The origin of the
underlying mind can be explained by the elimination of the single,
wide-ranging, magical mind. The duality of mind expresses a schism, therefore
its origin is not caused by Nature but by the artificial deformation and
degeneration of human society. A fearful turn, a radical change, a drastic
shift in the whole attitude to the world and ourselves set in the remote past
around ten thousand years ago, which swept away a whole world and created an
artificial new one. At this turning point the old mind was pushed aside, it
became unnecessary. It also became the inhibitor of the oncoming changes,
therefore it had to be eliminated, and its place given to a new type of
consciousness. This change of worlds must have been the only reason for the
existence of the duality of our mind, the overthrow of the old mind, its
suppression into darkness, and the dominance of the new mind replacing the old
one.
There is a real
spiritual catastrophe lying behind the dual character of our mind. In
consequence, the investigation of our ‘deep-mind’ or underlying mind may reveal
whole unknown ages of history and human evolution. This may give important
information to know ourselves more deeply and thoroughly. On the other hand, we
should realise that the elevation of this ‘underlying mind’ to our
easy-to-access mind, its amplification or surfacing, the removal of permanent
confrontation of the two minds may make it possible the exploration of the vast
ages of our past.
The emergence of
the underlying mind to the surface, to the light of awareness may make it
possible to lead mankind back to the long-forgotten collective fields of force,
which are unavailable to the surface mind at present. We have to build bridges
between our polarised minds in order that our underlying mind may get closer
and more conscious for us. In this way we may reach again the collective fields
and stop the process of alienation. The antagonism, the opposition of our dual
mind is the reason for burying the underlying mind. If we could find a way to
cease the opposition then the empire of the conscious mind, its all-pervasive
power would expand more than thousandfold.
Accepting the
point of view that our mind is a product of biological development and social
history, we should realise that the gradual nature of biological and social
evolution makes a layered structure in the mind.
The organisation
of cells, groups of cells, organs, systems of hormones, elementary life
functions assumes a certain kind of consciousness. Its investigation lies out
of the scope of the present essay. We will concentrate on the main problem, the
antagonistic duality of our mind. Each of us has a mind with two components,
two separate governing centres. One of them is subordinated to the other, is in
a suppressed, subordinated state, pushed so far into the background that most of us do not even know about its
existence. Two minds in one brain, they seem to be just too many. Their
investigation shows that their characteristics are sharply different and
definitely confront each other. The stronger of the two is naturally the one
above.
One up, one down.
The question may arise which is the richer spiritually, which possesses mental
stores of greater value, the upper or the lower? Who has the courage to decide,
seeing that both of them perform vital tasks? Nevertheless the upper one seems
to have all the dominance in most of our moments - and strangely enough, the
lower mind seems to have control over our life-long nature. When we look at
them more closely, it becomes clear that the two minds are in a permanent
conflict with each other. One of them shows a brilliant, sparkling world, the
other shows strategic, withdrawal, clever compromises. One wants all the
wonders of life, love and heavenly fires, the other sees the immediate
interests, anxiety and compromise, driving us into unconditioned submission to
orders from above, to restrict our inclinations and give up ourselves. When the
upper mind is at the helm we listen for orders, submitting ourselves as
well-disciplined soldiers. When the other one sweeps forward, we laugh freely,
a joyful world emerges, empathy and human fulfilment become the laws of life.
How are we to
understand this apparent irrationality, this futile conflict? The way to
approach the answer is at the very foundations of our mind, i.e. the history of
mankind. Our deduction is that mind is the product of history, therefore the
duality of our mind must be the product of the duality of our history. In this
way we are led to the inference that the upper and lower minds are formed by
the two fundamental epochs of mankind, the matriarchal magical world, i.e. the
Golden Age, and the subsequent period of power. These two ages shaped our two
minds, the superficial and the underlying, in their likeness, according to
their historical and communal conditions. We preserve in our dual consciousness
the impressions of the two main ages of our history.
Bergson, Henry, 1907/1981, Evolution Creatrice, p. 191
Doane T.W., 1882/1971, Bible Myths, 4th edition,
University Books, New Hyde Park, New York, 39
Edda. Codex Regius. Bryniolf Sveinsson, 1662.
Geertz, C. 1975, The Interpretation of Cultures,
Hutchinson, London.
Gothic Eddas, 1891, Codex Regius collotype. F. Wimmer
and Johnson.
Grandpierre, A. 1983, Punk-music as a rebirth of
shamanic music, Jó Világ, Bölcsész Antológia (in Hungarian)
Grandpierre, A. 1991, Kozmikus mozgatóerõnk: a
világösztön. (Our Cosmic Drive: The World-Instinct). Harmadik Szem, No. 3 (in
Hungarian).
Grandpierre, E. K. 1992, Eltemetett világkorszak: a
mágikus kor. (The Buried World-Age: The Magic Era). Harmadik Szem, No. 8 (in
Hungarian).
Hegel, G. W. F. 1978, Lectures on the Philosophy of
the History of the World.
Lewin, K. 1980, Introduction to the Well-Being, in Not
Work Alone, eds. J. Cherfas, K. Lewin.Temple Smith, London.
Sahlins, M. 1974, Stone Age Economics, Tavistoek,
London.
Wright, M. R., 1981, Empedocles: the Extant Fragments.
Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
The Zend-Avesta, 1888-1895, Vols. I-II-III, transl. By
James Darmesteter and L. H. Mille, Oxford, Clarendon Press.