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Quote by Julian Jaynes

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The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

This book delves into the concept of the bicameral mind, a theory suggesting that early humans experienced a form of consciousness that was split between two parts of the brain. The author examines the implications of this theory on the development of human consciousness and society. more

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Julian Jaynes
Julian Jaynes

Julian Jaynes was a psychologist known for his hypothesis on the origin of human consciousness. His book 'The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind' proposed a theory that human consciousness experienced a shift from collective unconsciousness to individual consciousness around 1000 BCE. more

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“And when it is suggested that the inward feelings of power or inward monitions or losses of judgement are the germs out of which the divine machinery developed, I return that truth is just the reverse, that the presence of voices which had to be obeyed were the absolute prerequisite to the conscious stage of mind in which it is the self that is responsible and can debate within itself, can order and direct, and that the creation of such a self is the product of culture. In a sense, we have become our own gods.”

“This breakdown in the bicameral mind in what is called the Intermediate Period is reminiscent at least of those periodic breakdowns of Mayan civilizations when all authority suddenly collapsed, and the population melted back into tribal living in the jungles.”