The Voices in Your Head: How God Becomes “I” - Dr. Brian McVeigh

Micky & Quinn meet up with Dr. Brian McVeigh, an
anthropologist and mental health counselor, who was once a
student of Dr. Julian Jaynes. Jaynes developed the Theory of the
Bicameral mind, which seeks to explain the evolution of conscious
introspection in humanity. In other words, how did humans come to
have a perception of themselves that could be abstracted - the I
of the present, and the “me” of future action, cognition, and
planning?


Jaynes’ proposed that this shift happened as a result of
the bronze age collapse of around 1200 BCE. Prior to this event,
he suggests that humans experienced thought as auditory
hallucinations, theophanies, which were assumed to be of divine
provenience.


In this perspective, ancient human thoughts were
understood as the voice of Gods, which regularly appeared to
people and helped them navigate decision making.When the
bronze-age civilizations of the middle east ended, a new
mentality emerged from the wreckage - a unicameral perspective
where those voices were integrated into the Self. In this way,
the voice that seems to create ideas and inspiration from thin
air went from being the word of God to simply being a thought
that belonged to the individual.


In his recent work, “The Psychology of the Bible:
explaining divine voices and visions”


Dr. McVeigh adds a biblical hypothesis to the Jaynsian
picture. He compares the wording in different chapters of the
bible, written at different time periods, to illustrate how the
voice of god receded from society over time.


We also talked about the future evolution of
consciousness in Humans and other animals on Earth, and how the
destabilizing effect of an overwhelming information stream might
precipitate radical adaptations - much like the Bronze Age
Collapse did.

Audio-only version available at all usual podcast locations or
here: https://anchor.fm/demystifying-science


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Music:


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Shilo Delay: 
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