Re: Julian Jaynes- The Origins of Consciousness

Paul Thompson (zen@island.net)
Wed, 16 Oct 1996 18:07:38 -0800

In article <53t0p6$qrc@mochi.lava.net>, julieb@lava.net (pvr/jkr) wrote:

>In the 1960's Jaynes wrote "The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of
>the Bi-Cameral Mind". It was a tantalizing theory, but maybe a little too
>much for his collegues, and I think he got banished to some dark basement
>office.
>I've never forgotten the basic premise, which was that the evolution of our
>modern human consciousness was tied to the advent of written language.
>(Seems pretty logical on the face of it). He was slammed academically at a
>time when the establishment was trying to distance itself from people like
>Timothy Leary.
>Whatever became of Dr, Jaynes? Did he give up on this train?
>Julie

I believe he's still around! I came across a post from last year which
I'll attach below. I have been fascinated by his book which I read when it
first came out almost 20 years ago...

I'd like to contact him and see what he has done lately. I have explored
his theories quite extensively and recently I came across a local case of
schizoid-like "possession" (multipersonality voices in one person) which
included asking one of the observers if they had seen "the gods."

Any info you get I'd be glad to hear about.

Thanks

Paul

attached message

Re: Julian Jaynes

Wayne Dyer (dwdyer@eskimo.com)
Sat, 21 Jan 1995 19:52:26 GMT

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tbev@parcplace.com wrote:
[...]
: I'm trying to interest Prof. Jaynes in sharing his current ideas/thoughts
via
: the internet but alas he had never heard of it. He said he'd have his Secy
: look into the matter so let's keep our fingers crossed.

This is the single most joyous thing I've heard in weeks. His book on
the bicameral mind is among the dozen or so books I've ever been
completely engrossed by, and among the half-dozen or so books I've ever
recommended to others.

--



Wayne Dyer (no, not that one)   |o| "Users are amazingly creative when



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