We are about to take a creative, whirlwind tour through history, dating back to , perhaps, a million years ago or more.

What was our mental atmosphere like back then, when mankind was first becoming conscious?

With humanity’s dark history, the survival of the fittest evolutionary imperative, and the fear of both dangerous animals and human strangers prone to displaying less than collaborative behavior, what can we speculate about the original nature of that consciousness?

Based upon our present understanding, could one surmise that trauma and suffering has-been with mankind from the very beginning of their conscious, and semi-conscious, presence upon planet Earth?

Is the Garden of Eden story, and other myths and legends, merely stories created by ancient peoples seeking the same answers?

The previous questions are riddled with assumptions, and the answers that we might supply to questions of this nature are subject to both speculation and revisionist history.  We must apply the tools of historical, anthropological, sociological, psychological, mythological,  cinematic, and spiritual analysis and discernment in any endeavor of this nature.  I will only touch upon the highlights of this epoch of mankind, and you should not believe me, any more than you might believe the scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and biblical writers who have already undertaken their own studies and vain attempts at understanding.

We only need to look within ourselves, and to our pasts, to see how uncertain our memories are, and extrapolate that to our human history, which is also plagued by short term, medium term, and long term memory loss. We can see how impossible it is to accurately recall and recreate memories from times long past, especially of the times when we were babies or children, though the recollections of others, coupled with insight can help in this daunting journey of discovery.  The last thing I want to do is to create “alternative facts” and implant false memories that were never real, just like the malicious fake news generators and conspiracy theorists of today attempt to do,

Without a recorded history, and supersubstantial archeological records, a careless investigation and exploration can become yet another Rorschach test for all inquisitors.  We attempt to create our best representation for what we think their truths might have been in the earliest iterations of mankind, the times that existed before there were verbal accounts being passed down through the generations. Even though our present history has only about 4500 years of written records, some cultures have historical narratives that appear to have been passed down for at least 30000 years.  The aborigines of Australia claim a 60000 year narrative, while Central and South American indigenous peoples and their shamans also claim lineages of tens of thousands of years.

Western European civilization appears to be an outgrowth of the migration of African tribal members at least 13000-30000 years ago.  Cave drawings in Spain and France show sophisticated art capabilities, as well as versions of animal and spirit worship. Other caves have been found showing even earlier creative endeavors. in an amazing recent, though questionable discovery,  a cave was discovered that is purported to possess chiseled storage cubicles dating back one million years ago, according to carbon dating.

The earliest human creatures spoke primarily with gestures, grunts, and body language, with their evolving vocal chords eventually joining in the conversation  at some unknown point in the distant past. They eventually standardized certain verbal sounds, sounds that became words that were supposed to represent that which they were seeing, doing, using, or eating.  Eventually mankind made the quantum leap to symbolic writing, where animal and plant forms once used to symbolically  represent life were replaced by crude symbols, which eventually evolved into hieroglyphics, and then cuneiform alphabets. It must have seemed like magic to the first humans who realized, and then taught others, that their thoughts could be approximated and shared through an ever evolving symbolic representation.

It appears that the creation, or formation of a new world had been made possible through words and concepts that were arising in the evolving consciousness.  Formerly, there were mainly biological systems with limited freedom of choice responding to environmental influences, with a more instinctual response to meeting the needs of the body, and of whatever family or community that existed.  We could call that world the “real world”, as it dealt with the harsh realities of a world not yet under the subjugation of the human mind.  With the advent of symbolic representation of the real world, a concurrent, though alternate “reality” was created which only existed in the minds of those entertaining those new concepts and symbols.  To the point that this alternate reality created within the mind, both individually and culturally, matched up with the conditions of the real world, one could say that becoming verbally conscious was an amazing evolutionary leap for humanity.  They now lived in two intimately related worlds, that of their biology, and that of their minds.

Once symbology is introduced into the human mind, absolutely remarkable, if not miraculous, phenomenon start appearing.  Consciousness expressing through symbology appears to have a self-organizing principle innate to it, and as it weighs and measures and assigns names to the objects of its awareness, a personal sense of being is also introduced into the biological system entertaining the symbology.  Thus, the “word” or the act of first recognizing that a verbal sound or a specific set of symbols can represent an environmental influence is the initial generative force behind the creation, or the awakening of the personal sense of self.  It appears that there is no real way to reverse this process, though many seekers of truth and knowledge throughout time have claimed that by meditating upon their body, their biology, and their breath, rather than the endless stream of words, thoughts, and concepts that seem to be constantly present, a door may open revealing the possibility of such an experience.

Jesus, in the new testament, proclaims:

Unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.“, and

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”.

So, even biblical writers understood the difficulty of such an undertaking.

I began this chapter with a question about when mankind first became “conscious”, and the story of Helen Keller is a remarkable account of that very process.  Helen Keller gives an outstanding narrative of the beginning of her own sense of self, a new self which seemed to arise out of her more instinctual, or even chaotic response to life.  Once she recognized that the letters W A T E R represented the substance that she washed with, and drank, her own unique sense of being herself also arose..Literally, understanding the word and its symbolism opened the miraculous door to her self, and  both phenomenon seem to have arisen concurrently.  Helen Keller’s new sense of self arose out of a life-giving and sustaining symbol, and she grew into a creative, profound, and spiritually wise human being, beloved by all who knew her.

It can be argued that once mankind finally became conscious of its own individual self, and the needs of others, it’s collective mind entertained and hosted the symbolic representation of the parts of the  world it was witnessing. When was mankind’s first W A T E R moment?  It could  be said that mankind may have left its Garden Of Eden state with that same evolutionary unfoldment in consciousness.

note:  I might have had a different early childhood, had the first word I learned was the unifying, life giving word W A T E R, rather than the divisive, confused, abandoned experience I had around the words M O T H E R and F A T H E R.   My experience was definitely not to be of  the same nature as hers, though I am now loved by my wife and pets..

In the mystical literature of the Bible, as recorded through the words of New Testament scribe John:

“The Word.became flesh, and dwelt among us”.

We cannot be certain as to what the first words taught to each other in the dawning times of human consciousness were, but by historical evidence, it would appear that the language of survival, defense, killing, eating, and sexual activity probably dominated early language building cultures.

Does anyone really know the way back “home”?  Would we return to a pre-verbal or non verbal state of being, or would we recognize words for what they are, and use them with more love and care, or perhaps a conscious blend of the two states? Perhaps we will discover that words only have limited, relative value  rather than absolute value, in the search for our real origins.

With the advent of symbolic representation, our history was no longer totally dependent upon oral transmission, yet oral transmission still, to this very day remains the most powerful, and primary, from of communication, especially for those not proficient in their reading ability, and intellectual and spiritual discernment.  With the advent of a community shared symbology, yet another evolutionary unfoldment occurs, which is our cultural identity, or the collective sense of self.

Our present civilization now proudly touts its written “recorded history”.  Yet, as we have learned, our history has been written to accommodate the prevailing victorious powers and understandings of the age in which it was first written.  There are two or more sides to every story, and the epoch of mankind certainly could have been defined historically  by its nearly infinite number of interactions between members of its worldwide community, and all of the resultant stories derived through those connections, be they ordered or chaotic in nature.  But, in the interest of brevity and our need to bring order out of apparent chaos of the limitless multitudes, we tend to select the stories that appear to carry the ethos of the age in which they originated, and which also appear to support our own perceptual agendas.  Thus is history created and maintained by the institutionalized powers, and transferred to all members of the community.

In the distant past, and even today among the few uncivilized indigenous tribes left, the mother, father, and whatever tribe or supportive community that was present passes all of their wisdom and knowledge about hunting, weapon construction and use, tool construction and use, gathering, childbirth and rearing, wound care, fire building, and survival to the children, until they were of age, and could join their father, or their mother, in the daily grind, or branch out and seek their own fortune elsewhere.  Today, our parents and our culture continue the same process, transferring their knowledge, sacred or otherwise, to our children.  So, not only do we live in two worlds, we also have two identities to deal with.  Our collective/cultural self and our individual sense of self are rarely one person, though both now travels with us, wherever we might travel.

We have more than a biological evolution, we also have an ongoing emotional, intellectual, and spiritual evolution.  Our latter history, which is written, shows our ability to philosophize, and to form creative narratives about what the world once was, what it is now, and where it might be going in the future.  Our vision of what the world once was will always be just a best guess, and, just like now, our ancestors writing their own histories, proposed myths and legends to explain that which was pre-existent to  their own lives.  Our myths and legends serve us well in this regard, and many times they complement what we have discovered through all of the sciences, spiritual literature, as well as through our intuitive natures.

Who tells the story?  Many times, the greatest, most courageous and intelligent heroes of our race remain anonymous, though their stories were captured by others..  They died before they could even create a story, thus the survivors, usually less qualified and relatively more uninformed, are the historians, and their story, not the story of the real heroes, are accepted as the narrative.  Religious texts abound with such exposition.  Our American history also has suffered under the need to present the prevailing propaganda of the time, as it looks back and interprets other’s historical accounts of what actually transpired, and molds it into a more self-supporting and self-aggrandizing cultural ethos and narrative.

When we were under the law of “survival of the fittest”, we really had to measure up, and use all of our physical, emotional, and intuitive resources at maximum power, coupled with community and individual knowledge (wisdom) to have any hope of not becoming a meal for a stronger and hungrier predator than we were. Biologically, the men of our species usually were blessed with the greatest physical assets, while the women, through their capacity for becoming impregnated, were the carriers of the species future, plus messengers from a deeper realm of human potential through their heightened intuition and Earth centered wisdom.  Women within many ancient cultures were regarded as healers and carriers of “medicine”.  They were loved, honored, respected, and protected by the community for those very reasons.  Modern anthropological studies continue to confirm that early indigenous women were held in at least as high esteem as the hunter/gatherer/warriors of ancient times, so it can be surmised that in our pre-history the balance of the masculine and the feminine through mutual understanding, acknowledgement, and equality existed and supported the good for all.

Yet, mankind’s story, when told by the historical progression of women, would be much different than the story told by the history that men might present.  History is rarely described and defined by the ones who were stuck at home caring for the wounded and the children, by the submissive ones, by the artists or sculptors, or  by the losers in any conflict.  Our history is no different, being described, and defined, by predominantly white male influences..

The larger the community became, the more the equilibrium between men and women became disturbed,  Size indicates prosperity, and the bigger communities either traded with friendly neighbors, or were attacked by others seeking to help their own tribes.  As our history shows an almost universal, steady progression of conflict and war, cultures took their strongest citizens and made them into defenders, or aggressors, to preserve the tribe’s rights to resources, which were usually scarce.  Biologically, the male warrior  usually was considered as the best choice, and a whole consciousness eventually developed around that difference in biology.  The best male might be considered the one who brings home the most game, gather the most berries, raise the most crops (a more recent development) and/or are most fearless and aggressive, within certain community proscribed limits.  The best female might be considered the one most willing to support the hunter/gatherer and the defenders, through family support, maintenance of the home, meal preparation, healing of wounds, and birthing and raising the family, especially while the men go about their business.

There is an imbalance within the field of the human spirit.  Masculine energy has dominated our specie’s relationship with the universe, the world, the plants and animals, and with each other for most of recorded time, and well before the human race had any capacity to keep records,.

In the Hebrew based mythological story of The Garden Of Eden, we even see the scapegoating of the female for listening to the voice of the serpent, which now becomes the voice for the development of consciousness itself.  With eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, man, and woman, now may hesitantly approach divine knowledge, and forever remain outside of their original ignorant unconscious state of being.

The serpent in the Garden of Eden remains a fascinating, enlightening archetypal image. The serpent is always in contact with the ground, or with the limbs in the trees, depending upon where it lives, so it serves as a great metaphor for those in continuous contact with our planet. And, mothers have a much more earth centered understanding of life, being the bearers of human life itself.  As the Earth gave life to us, so did the woman give life to the human.  Women learned early about the Earth’s capacity to heal us, through judicious application of its plants and herbs. Women tended to see a more complete picture than did the men, due to the very constitution of their neural networks.  Women tended to see the forest, while men obsessed about the trees.  And, in a later development, the more earth attuned women were actually persecuted and burned at the stake for being witches.

The serpent is also recognized for the way that it instinctively strikes out at others when feeling threatened, so as a continuation of the metaphor it represents our instinctual needs, like our natural reflexes, sexual activity and self preservation.  In some early cultures, the serpent was even worshiped as a God, or even feared as the devil, probably because of the pain, suffering, and sometimes death that ensued from failing to follow its edicts, such as avoiding contact with those of a poisonous nature.

Before I enter the portion discussing the Common Knowledge Game in detail, it is beneficial to provide some information about the physiological similarities and differences in the brain between men and women, and how we process information and express ourselves, as a result of those differences and similarities.  I will also post some quotes from the New Testament of the Christian Bible, to show how men have attempted to suppress the nature of the feminine, both within the women in their lives and culture, and within their own “masculine” minds.  Both of these factors have ultimate importance in the Common Knowledge game, providing the basic foundation for perception for our collective consciousness, and unconsciousness.
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Wow, there really is a difference! How did THAT get in there?!

It’s no secret that boys and girls are different—very different. The differences between genders, however, extend beyond what the eye can see. Research reveals major distinctions between male and female brains. Scientists generally study four primary areas of difference in male and female brains: processing, chemistry, structure, and activity. The differences between male and female brains in these areas show up all over the world, but scientists also have discovered exceptions to every so-called gender rule. You may know some boys who are very sensitive, immensely talkative about feelings, and just generally don’t seem to fit the “boy” way of doing things. As with all gender differences, no one way of doing things is better or worse. The differences listed below are simply generalized differences in typical brain functioning, and it is important to remember that all differences have advantages and disadvantages.
Processing
Male brains utilize nearly seven times more gray matter for activity while female brains utilize nearly ten times more white matter. What does this mean? Gray matter areas of the brain are localized. They are information- and action-processing centers in specific splotches in a specific area of the brain. This can translate to a kind of tunnel vision when they are doing something. Once they are deeply engaged in a task or game, they may not demonstrate much sensitivity to other people or their surroundings. White matter is the networking grid that connects the brain’s gray matter and other processing centers with one another. This profound brain-processing difference is probably one reason you may have noticed that girls tend to more quickly transition between tasks than boys do. The gray-white matter difference may explain why, in adulthood, females are great multi-taskers, while men excel in highly task-focused projects.
Chemistry
Male and female brains process the same neurochemicals but to different degrees and through gender-specific body-brain connections. Some dominant neurochemicals are serotonin, which, among other things, helps us sit still; testosterone, our sex and aggression chemical; estrogen, a female growth and reproductive chemical; and oxytocin, a bonding-relationship chemical. In part, because of differences in processing these chemicals, males on average tend to be less inclined to sit still for as long as females and tend to be more physically impulsive and aggressive. Additionally, males process less of the bonding chemical oxytocin than females. Overall, a major takeaway of chemistry differences is to realize that our boys at times need different strategies for stress release than our girls.
Structural Differences
A number of structural elements in the human brain differ between males and females. “Structural” refers to actual parts of the brain and the way they are built, including their size and/or mass. Females often have a larger hippocampus, our human memory center. Females also often have a higher density of neural connections into the hippocampus. As a result, girls and women tend to input or absorb more sensorial and emotive information than males do. By “sensorial” we mean information to and from all five senses. If you note your observations over the next months of boys and girls and women and men, you will find that females tend to sense a lot more of what is going on around them throughout the day, and they retain that sensorial information more than men.
Additionally, before boys or girls are born, their brains developed with different hemispheric divisions of labor. The right and left hemispheres of the male and female brains are not set up exactly the same way. For instance, females tend to have verbal centers on both sides of the brain, while males tend to have verbal centers on only the left hemisphere. This is a significant difference. Girls tend to use more words when discussing or describing incidence, story, person, object, feeling, or place. Males not only have fewer verbal centers in general but also, often, have less connectivity between their word centers and their memories or feelings. When it comes to discussing feelings and emotions and senses together, girls tend to have an advantage, and they tend to have more interest in talking about these things.
Blood Flow and Brain Activity
While we are on the subject of emotional processing, another difference worth looking closely at is the activity difference between male and female brains. The female brain, in part thanks to far more natural blood flow throughout the brain at any given moment (more white matter processing), and because of a higher degree of blood flow in a concentration part of the brain called the cingulate gyrus, will often ruminate on and revisit emotional memories more than the male brain. Males, in general, are designed a bit differently. Males tend, after reflecting more briefly on an emotive memory, to analyze it somewhat, then move onto the next task. During this process, they may also choose to change course and do something active and unrelated to feelings rather than analyze their feelings at all. Thus, observers may mistakenly believe that boys avoid feelings in comparison to girls or move to problem-solving too quickly.
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These four, natural design differences listed above are just a sample of how males and females think differently. Scientists have discovered approximately 100 gender differences in the brain, and the importance of these differences cannot be overstated. Understanding gender differences from a neurological perspective not only opens the door to greater appreciation of the different genders, it also calls into question how we parent, educate, and support our children from a young age.
There appears to be a physiological reason in the brain for why men and women see life differently from each other.  Men and women tend to process information and emotions somewhat differently.  Women tend to think more globally, and outwardly network with others, and also within all centers of their own brains, better than males.  Yet, there are aspects of many styles of processing available to both men, and women, depending on their own internal natures, and intentions.  And, through proper training, intention, and insight, men can actually process information and emotions in more intelligent, balanced, loving manners.  And men can become much more interested in, and sensitive to the needs of others, and their own emotional needs, if this becomes a conscious intention for them.  Studies have also shown that the internal nature of all brains can be changed, even after one reaches adulthood.  Men can become much more “feminine” in the way their brain processes emotions and information, showing the powerful transformative force that conscious “nurture” has upon “nature”.
The bible has so many revealing statements and texts about the subjugation and disempowering of women, all in the name of maintaining “Godly” relations.   The Christian bible is replete with aphorisms and statements relegating women to the background of the “church”, and in all relations with life.  This oppression of women, and repression of so-called “feminine characteristics” within the male have been historically inculcated into the history and traditions of so-called “religious people”, and it reflects in the diseased and imbalanced relationships between some Christian and Jewish bodies of thought, and the world in general.
These religious principles have also become established as conscious, and unconscious, norms for perception within the collective consciousness of America, and mankind in general.  Just having a political and philosophical need to keep the church and the state separate is not quite enough, apparently, to establish healthier norms for relationships between the sexes.  And, an unfortunate and dangerous outcome to this division between the man and woman is that the man is unconsciously conditioned to see the ‘feminine” aspects of himself in an objectified manner, and tries to oppress, control and dominate those aspects, emotions, and tendencies as if those parts were his “Christian wife”, rather than integrate them into a complete holism within himself.
For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.-—1 Peter 3:1
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a world by the conduct of their wives-–1 Corinthians
The women should keep silent in the churches.  For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.  If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.  For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church—-1 Timothy 2:12-14
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.—-1 Timothy 2:
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.  Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.“—–Genesis 3:16
So how on Earth, or in Heaven, do we bring balance back to ourselves, and with our relationships to each other, with our women, and with our planet Earth?
Here begins my story on how I was guided to bring balance back to myself.

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Enlightenment may be the realization that the words that we use to define ourselves, and our worlds, are only symbols.  As we evolve, so must the symbols which we use to define our perceptual reality.  When we realize that we are the timeless awareness behind the formation of the symbols, we can then erupt with joy, and laughter, at the very insane thought that ideas about the past and future have ultimate reality or eternal value.  Words are only a convenience for communication, pointing to a truth, but never becoming the truth.—–Elisha Scott.

Categories: Musings

Bruce

Presently, I am 67 years old, and I am learning how to live the life of a retired person. I am married to Sharon White, a retired hospice nurse, and writer. Whose Death Is It Anyway-A Hospice Nurse Remembers Sharon is a wonderful friend and life partner of nearly 30 years. We have three grandsons through two of Sharon's children. I am not a published writer or poet. My writings are part of my new life in retirement. I have recently created a blog, and I began filling it up with my writings on matters of recovery and spirituality. I saw that my blog contained enough material for a book, so that is now my new intention, to publish a book, if only so that my grandsons can get to know who their grandfather really was, once I am gone. The title for my first book will be: Penetrating The Conspiracy Of Silence, or, How I Lived Beyond My Expiration Date I have since written 7 more books, all of which are now posted on this site. I have no plans to publish any of them, as their material is not of general interest, and would not generate enough income to justify costs. I have taken a deep look at life, and written extensively about it from a unique and rarely communicated perspective. Some of my writing is from 2016 on to the present moment. Other writing covers the time prior to 1987 when I was a boy, then an addict and alcoholic, with my subsequent recovery experience, and search for "Truth". Others are about my more recent experiences around the subjects of death, dying, and transformation, and friends and family having the most challenging of life's experiences. There are also writings derived from my personal involvement with and insight into toxic masculinity, toxic religion, toxic capitalism, and all of their intersections with our leadere. These topics will not be a draw for all people, as such personal and/or cultural toxicities tends to get ignored, overlooked, or "normalized" by those with little time for insight, introspection, or interest in other people's points of view on these troubling issues. There also will be a couple of writings/musings about "GOD", but I try to limit that kind of verbal gymnastics, because it is like chasing a sunbeam with a flashlight. Yes, my books are non-fiction, and are not good reading for anybody seeking to escape and be entertained. Some of the writings are spiritual, philosophical and intellectual in nature, and some descend the depths into the darkest recesses of the human mind. I have included a full cross section of all of my thoughts and feelings. It is a classic "over-share", and I have no shame in doing so. A Master Teacher once spoke to me, and said "no teacher shall effect your salvation, you must work it out for yourself". "Follow new paths of consciousness by letting go of all of the mental concepts and controls of your past". This writing represents my personal work towards that ultimate end.