I have a new blog, where this article was first published:
Journal Of A Trainee Angel
You can also find a link to it on my RF profile page.
First off, Some Theory
There is a book called The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind which is by Julian Jaynes.
According to Jaynes, ancient people were not conscious and self-aware in the same way as modern people. They had no theory of mind and were incapable of introspection and/or empathy. They had no sense of self either regarding themselves or others. Simply put, they were not at all conscious.
Instead, they had a bicameral mind – a mind in two parts. They would hear a voice from one part of the brain (the command section) and would unquestionably obey it with the executive section of their brain. Jayne identifies specific parts of the brain - one that commands and the other that does, according to how it’s commanded. He says that people believed that the voices that commanded them were Gods, Ancestors, or Spirits. And that they hallucinated holy statues speaking to them.
He says that 3,000 years ago the ancient civilisations underwent a period of social upheaval, change, and conflict and that in this context people began to become conscious as we are, as opposed to bicamerally non-conscious. The two parts of the bicameral mind were integrated into a unicameral conscious mind and they acquired a sense of self, and of others too. He said that this caused a crisis as people thought that the Gods who used to talk to them had forsaken them and tried desperately to get back in touch with them. He also said that people having a conscious mind was adaptive, and gave people the edge over bicamerally minded peoples as they had a theory of mind which bicameral people lacked. And were thus able to walk all over their bicameral enemies.
He says that early Greek mythology and Hebrew scripture differs from latter works as the latter works describe a completely different kind of mental experience in which people are capable of thinking for themselves and have free will, as opposed to being bossed around all the time by a capricious and inconsistent God (or Gods).
Instruction
I believe that in modern, unicameral humans, the old bicameral system remains dormant. I believe it is still in place, it’s just that in contemporary humans it is redundant. I would say that it can, however, be put to work. That it is still there, as a vestige of a more primitive way of thinking that is ignored by the regular workings of the unicameral mind.
This is what I did in my second year at university. A mad, mad, crazy time for me: me and someone I know (wouldn’t exactly call him a friend) often played chess. We would chose who played as white (and who therefore made the first move) by me placing a piece of each colour behind my back, mixing them up from hand to hand and then putting one in each hand and asking him to select a hand - he’d play as whatever colour was in the hand he selected.
I discovered I could command his choice. To make him select the piece in my right hand (his left) I would say “OK, you pick one and I’ll play what’s left” (as remaining), To make him select the piece in my left hand (his right) I would say “OK.. You choose.. Right then…” - it worked every time and he didn’t notice. And I tested it, over and over. I am sure it was a genuine phenomenon and that he was unaware of what was going on (I wouldn’t say he was a very perceptive person).
What I think happened was this:
He was instructed, commanded, into doing something. What he chose to do was not done because of his agency.
He had a unicameral mind, like all modern humans:
But his (one and only) conscious mind was still receptive to being bossed around by a command mind even though such a thing didn’t exist in him. That the words “left” and “right” were received as instructions from some kind of command function. I believe this was a matter of tone and emphasis, however maybe some kind of thought transference was at work? Maybe my tone was such that he unknowingly took them as his own thoughts? I don’t know. I really have no idea.
I believe my instructions were received by his unicameral mind as though they came from a second (and non-existing) second mind, using the same channels that were at work in a bicameral mind.
Basically, it was a subliminal use of language through which his choices and actions were determined. Such as “I’ll choose left” or “I’ll chose right”. It entered and worked upon his psyche without him being conscious of it.
I did this deliberately but I believe some people do this intuitively, without knowing, and that people being instructed by others via their dormant bicameral channels is very much a thing. I don’t know if only some people can instruct people like I did and I don’t know if only some people can be instructed by others. I cannot say that I understand the phenomenon or even know what to call it. But I believe that I know of it.
Donald Trump: Subliminal Language?
Check this out:
“bla bla bla bla bla BELIEVE ME”
“bla bla bla bla bla BELIEVE ME”
Repeatedly. Frequently.
Attention Americans. Attention World: He is instructing your sub-conscious to believe whatever he just said. You really need to notice this!
And it seems as though it works!
And I’m pretty certain he doesn’t know what’s going on…
Journal Of A Trainee Angel
You can also find a link to it on my RF profile page.
Journal Of A Trainee Angel
You can also find a link to it on my RF profile page.
First off, Some Theory
There is a book called The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind which is by Julian Jaynes.
According to Jaynes, ancient people were not conscious and self-aware in the same way as modern people. They had no theory of mind and were incapable of introspection and/or empathy. They had no sense of self either regarding themselves or others. Simply put, they were not at all conscious.
Instead, they had a bicameral mind – a mind in two parts. They would hear a voice from one part of the brain (the command section) and would unquestionably obey it with the executive section of their brain. Jayne identifies specific parts of the brain - one that commands and the other that does, according to how it’s commanded. He says that people believed that the voices that commanded them were Gods, Ancestors, or Spirits. And that they hallucinated holy statues speaking to them.
He says that 3,000 years ago the ancient civilisations underwent a period of social upheaval, change, and conflict and that in this context people began to become conscious as we are, as opposed to bicamerally non-conscious. The two parts of the bicameral mind were integrated into a unicameral conscious mind and they acquired a sense of self, and of others too. He said that this caused a crisis as people thought that the Gods who used to talk to them had forsaken them and tried desperately to get back in touch with them. He also said that people having a conscious mind was adaptive, and gave people the edge over bicamerally minded peoples as they had a theory of mind which bicameral people lacked. And were thus able to walk all over their bicameral enemies.
He says that early Greek mythology and Hebrew scripture differs from latter works as the latter works describe a completely different kind of mental experience in which people are capable of thinking for themselves and have free will, as opposed to being bossed around all the time by a capricious and inconsistent God (or Gods).
Instruction
I believe that in modern, unicameral humans, the old bicameral system remains dormant. I believe it is still in place, it’s just that in contemporary humans it is redundant. I would say that it can, however, be put to work. That it is still there, as a vestige of a more primitive way of thinking that is ignored by the regular workings of the unicameral mind.
This is what I did in my second year at university. A mad, mad, crazy time for me: me and someone I know (wouldn’t exactly call him a friend) often played chess. We would chose who played as white (and who therefore made the first move) by me placing a piece of each colour behind my back, mixing them up from hand to hand and then putting one in each hand and asking him to select a hand - he’d play as whatever colour was in the hand he selected.
I discovered I could command his choice. To make him select the piece in my right hand (his left) I would say “OK, you pick one and I’ll play what’s left” (as remaining), To make him select the piece in my left hand (his right) I would say “OK.. You choose.. Right then…” - it worked every time and he didn’t notice. And I tested it, over and over. I am sure it was a genuine phenomenon and that he was unaware of what was going on (I wouldn’t say he was a very perceptive person).
What I think happened was this:
He was instructed, commanded, into doing something. What he chose to do was not done because of his agency.
He had a unicameral mind, like all modern humans:
But his (one and only) conscious mind was still receptive to being bossed around by a command mind even though such a thing didn’t exist in him. That the words “left” and “right” were received as instructions from some kind of command function. I believe this was a matter of tone and emphasis, however maybe some kind of thought transference was at work? Maybe my tone was such that he unknowingly took them as his own thoughts? I don’t know. I really have no idea.
I believe my instructions were received by his unicameral mind as though they came from a second (and non-existing) second mind, using the same channels that were at work in a bicameral mind.
Basically, it was a subliminal use of language through which his choices and actions were determined. Such as “I’ll choose left” or “I’ll chose right”. It entered and worked upon his psyche without him being conscious of it.
I did this deliberately but I believe some people do this intuitively, without knowing, and that people being instructed by others via their dormant bicameral channels is very much a thing. I don’t know if only some people can instruct people like I did and I don’t know if only some people can be instructed by others. I cannot say that I understand the phenomenon or even know what to call it. But I believe that I know of it.
Donald Trump: Subliminal Language?
Check this out:
“bla bla bla bla bla BELIEVE ME”
“bla bla bla bla bla BELIEVE ME”
Repeatedly. Frequently.
Attention Americans. Attention World: He is instructing your sub-conscious to believe whatever he just said. You really need to notice this!
And it seems as though it works!
And I’m pretty certain he doesn’t know what’s going on…
Journal Of A Trainee Angel
You can also find a link to it on my RF profile page.
