Historic Transformations in Consciousness

"Theology is a way of thinking which represents the past. The future will be about psychology and philosophy." ~ Swami Vivekananda

While I neither agree nor disagree at the time of this writing, here is why this quote matters.

The History of Consciousness

The history of narrative is the history of consciousness. Tracking narrative reveals how culture and the individual’s relationship to culture has modified throughout the ages – no, how it has progressed, for it has progressed. Culture is formed by the collective agreement of what is correct – the rules of the group according to consensus. Asking “what is correct according to culture?“ reflexively reveals the state of consciousness of the group.

Early Barbaric Culture

Culture was originally barbaric in its inception, self-contained and self-mediated, like a child. Groups coalesced ego formation, adapted to experience itself, upon the world, seeing little separation between themselves and the ground. However, in an uninformed state, they expressed this psychopathologically. Molestation, rape, orgies, and murder were the norm for underdeveloped individuals raised in tribes. Thus cultural expression depended on ways of thinking we now term mental illness. This was a global phenomenon. Expression began with ideas of ingesting others for their power (cannibalism) and male virgin sacrifices. The people thought that the fertility of the earth required sacrifice, because they noticed blood released by women in the menstrual cycle preceded the spermatic planting of a seed from men. Thus a majority of sacrifices were virgin males in ancient history and throughout all time, even metaphorically in the present day.

The Rise of Kings, Heroes, and Love

Narratives progressed throughout time until the rise of kings and the love relationship began to surmount animalistic instinct and the benevolent aspect of femininity exercised towards beloved, compassionate sons gave rise to patriarchy. Women became that which nursed the hero to life rather than that which devoured men and slept with sons to confer tribal dominance. Men became lovers and fathers united to and protective of spouses rather than disposable peons or ascendant maternal rapists and paternal murderers. This marks a developmental shift in humanity through the passing of knowledge and behavior wherein individuals and communities moved beyond of sociopathy and psychopathy by ceasing to abuse children and spouses and instead loving them as an extension of self and the future. This is synonymous with the beginning of the development of the hero archetype who defies the witch or the dragon of chaos to rescue the female virgin (benevolent generative femininity) from destructive devouring maternity.

Law and Order

Following this is the development paternal protective mechanisms of law and order, developed out of paternal benevolence combating paternal tyranny. This eradicated barbarianism and announced the eventual death of paganism in guided form through recorded word. Examples are the 10 Commandments, which ban ideas we perceive as stupidly basic, such as the worship of stone objects in pantheism, but were the common practice of the day. However, we still struggle with others, such as envy or adultery, although the culture has changed significantly due to these and other laws. Adultery included wife stealing and family disowning while cuckolding the father, as mentioned, determined male hierarchical ascension within the family unit. Now adultery is forgiven or trades one spouse for another, generating a new family while supporting past children. Though difficult, that is a significant change towards ethical behavior and a significant benefit towards the stable, future good.

Transitions to Scientific Thought

The rise of Christian thought was lesser than the step towards law and order exemplified by Judaistic law but still significant. Rather than banning behaviors and promoting justice, it prescribed best practice and offered individually mediated opportunities for forgiveness and restoration, a path to eradicate “evil” itself. This was a catalyzing leap forward which gave rise to alchemy which in turn generated science and psychology. Likewise, non-religious thought such as that exemplified by the Greeks produced philosophy which evolved concurrently with eastern traditions and has together produced ethics, chemistry, herbalism, and more, and likely combined with Christian generated alchemy to produce science.

Modern Conceptual Wrestling

Organizational Psychology

A surprise in this narrative is organizational psychology where the data prescribes for optimal organizations what the religiously bounded context of Christ’s teaching elucidates. Judaism directs behavior also but notes it requires individually directed participation. For this reason, the system was never fully put in place and we are still far from it. It includes systematic eradication of debt every seven years and termination of all leases every 50 years, with guaranteed permanent familial property rights. It also includes a flat 10% tax, 2/3 of which is allotted to destitute or disenfranchised parties. Research indicates the production of wealth across all classes would increase significantly with such alterations. When the resource potential pools with a very few individuals, it becomes less useful and destitution in the lower classes produces desperation which can upend the system. This is where Christianity shines (once separated from its present political conservative obsessions). It allocates benevolent emotion as the logical source of altruistic behavior, and long-term orientation which produces stability creativity through economic security and psychological safety.

Ideological Possession

Mental disorders were considered demonic possession in the earlier transition from barbaric psychopathology to patriarchal order. There was no term for stultified ideology in ancient metaphorical representation beyond contrast to the ideal – the hero who left the safety of a bounded city of prescribed thought and behavior to explore the unknown, taking from it the riches of conquering evil and danger. In our present state of individual sovereignty and political participation, we also need to clearly identify the antithesis of the hero. We can name it as ideological possession – arrogance – the individual who believes what they know is all that they need to know and the path that they are on is correct. This is calcification of the cortex, disintegrated frontal lobe, and dead hippocampus. (Joe Dispenza, Evolve Your Brain) It is the individual who believes without question that they are correct and so they do not need to know more.

Full Circle: Religious Coalescence

Tribalism

With this context in mind, the swami’s’ quote becomes more insightful. The theological perspective is bounded to superstition produced from tribal, in-group/out-group affiliation rather than individual growth, knowledge, and research which produces the hero. This is the same fear-driven affiliation which produces extremist behavior, terrorist groups, and political polarization. And it is also from groups considered anti-theological – evolutionists, atheists, and dogmatic feminists etc., not only from groups normally considered religious. The frightened, underdeveloped individual will abdicate responsibility and align with anything to feel secure. (See also Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb.)

The Death of God

The genius in the swamis quote is this – metaphorical representation as a means to compel behavioral change has reached its limit. The future demands new knowledge – philosophical, psychological, scientific description and education to produce significant behavioral change. Heralded by Frederick Nietzsche, the problem is now God’s “death” at the hands of arrogant scientists who opposed prescribed patterns of action. Perhaps they were logically concerned with ideologically possessed zealots, but being logicians, they were the same. Science progressed but the understanding of God did not. Patterns of matter became the new law and the patterns of action were labeled useless and meaningless. Theosis, abdicated by religions, was taken up by secularists and became psychopathological through arrogance separated from its original set of religious values

The Consequence

This regression to psychopathological, biologically-mediated thoughts and destruction of the competing other with the rejection of value-based transfer of knowledge (patriarchy) resulted World War and genocide. Without a best-practice moral compass and flooded with biological predispositions built by rewarding socially inappropriate behaviors, philosophy, psychology, research, and politics ingested moral ideas unsupported by data or theology. The common thread is the intent to eradicate competition, often as abusive religious or anti-religious systems espousing good but actually promoting self-preservation or preservation of an idea at the destruction of the other – basic authoritarianism and tribal genocide. Finally, it cumulates in denying that optimal patterns of behavior can be known at all, hence postmodernism. To quote the Apostle Paul discussing the early generation of such problems, “They have lost connection with the head.”

Resurrection

Many disciplines, without knowing it, respond to the death of the optimal pattern of behavior and seek the resurrection of God on scientific, data-based, or even political terms. This is true from psychology to neurology, political science to economics, and even physics. However, they do so with the rejection of ancient texts, foolishly rejecting the long term wisdom of the ancients and starting from scratch.

Whatever God is is expressed in the truthful speech that rectifies pathological hierarchies…confronts the chaos of being itself and generates habitable order…a transcendent reality that’s only observable across the longest of time-frames…that which eternally dies and is reborn in the pursuit of higher being and truth. That’s a fundamental element of the hero mythology. God is the highest value in the hierarchy of values…what calls and what responds in the eternal call to adventure. God is the voice of conscience…the source of judgment, mercy, and guilt…the future to which we make sacrifices and something akin to the transcendental repository of reputation. God is that which selects among men in the eternal hierarchy of men. ~ Dr. Jordan Peterson

Future Action

We would do better by transferring the wisdom of religion to secular social norms. Cautioning youths against the seven deadly sins, the arrogance of static mindsets, and unsupported conclusions reduces suffering. Recognition of sociopathic, exploitative, or dangerous individuals based on observation of unhealthy psychological group interactions or individual malevolence should become elementary education. Conversely, we ought to teach the value of critical thought, data exploration, growth, and argumentation standards. Children should learn the biology of habit and pattern formation present neural networks. We should honor love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control, making these standards to live by while also teaching self-defense and justice so that we do not become weak.

Summation

Psychology and philosophy detail values and ethics down to minutia using language previously nonexistent. There is a great opportunity there to improve personal and group ethical behavior, if widely applied to society even against possession by religiously-motivated “good” ideas. This is why the future will be about data, psychology, and philosophy as the world comes of age and collectively struggles with past metaphor and new scientific methods for understanding our Source.