Up until now, now in this age of digital enlightenment; this Third Industrial Revolution, religion, like so many other forms of our human communal growth, is pictured as top-down by nature.
Wasn’t always like this. And perhaps now we are re-visiting, in a different way, a previous form of our relationship with a higher power.
Julian Jaynes in his book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind categorizes the history of man, in our relationship to a higher power, into the last four thousand years. The time roughly reflecting the origins and eventual explosion of the seeds of the human intellect.
Painting, through Julian Jaynes, with a VERY broad brush;
2,000 - 1,000BC : Men spoke directly to gods
- Not all men but individuals who seemed to experience traumatic stress within their lives due to various outside sources.
- This is revealed through writings, paintings & sculptures where men & their gods are standing or sitting face to face. Neither individual is depicted in a dominant posture.
1,000BC - 0AD : Gods recede into the heavens
- Gods seem to become fewer & fewer. They speak less & speak to fewer people.
- The concept of sacrificing aspects of oneself or of animals along with petitioning the gods to goad them to speak or appear becomes prevalent and structured.
0AD - 1,000AD - Gods stopped speaking to individuals altogether
- The concentration of the number of gods continues. No longer is the word of any god heard.
- Mankind is left with only the writings of mortal men as they attempt to recall what exactly the former presence of gods was like.
1,000 - 2,000AD - Even the writings become meaningless
- Humanity, estranged from the lineage, burdened by religious structure, turns away, in mass, to all religious writings.
- Logic, science, a communal sense of humanity, empathy, and civility create universal laws of man.
Now we are approaching an era where we are once again looking eye-to-eye with a higher power. Only this time, it’s not some mythical metaphor. It’s ourselves, as a collective whole.
A world-wide instantaneous forum where digital currencies reflect values alone with utility of price. This is where we are. THIS is where we meet. WE are the new religion.
Gone are the individual enclaves of sanctuaries and rules. NOW we are decentralized.
