Notes on Monotheism

I have something in mind related to what neurobiologists and novelists(!) say about human nature. I am just going to list some observations without trying to link them. Surely there is some connection.  
For example consider the pathological case of multiple personality syndrome , Such patients admit to have been subject to early childhood physical and sexual abuse.

In early childhood, children are still developing a personality structure that allows integrative functioning. Trauma greatly interferes with the development of integrative meta cognitive functions and associative pathways between naturally developing ego states, enforcing separation instead of diffuse and inclusive functioning.

Sceptics believe that a small subset of doctors are responsible for diagnosing the majority of individuals with DID ( Dissociative Identity Disorder)

It has been suggested that symptoms of DID may be created iatrogenically by therapists using techniques to "recover" memories with suggestible patients.The characteristics of patients diagnosed with DID (hypnotizability, suggestibility, frequent fantasization and mental absorption) contributed to these concerns and concerns regarding the validity of recovered memories..

And there are case studies where people with brain tumour, stroke or head injuries undergo personality transformation. So if we say that the pathological is an extreme of the normal, what does it say about the normal? We know that we all play multiple roles, have mood swings... We all are aware of conscious mind,unconscious mind etc. and yet when this knowledge hits us, it is a shock So we have different personalities which come into play as we interact with different people, face different situations. 


As a child I was fascinated by ants, ever since I learnt that they have a society. From wikipedia

Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen predatory individuals living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies which may occupy large territories and consist of millions of individuals. These larger colonies consist mostly of sterile wingless females forming castes of "workers", "soldiers", or other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called "drones" and one or more fertile females called "queens". The colonies are sometimes described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony. 

Now what is Superorganism ?

A superorganism is an organism consisting of many organisms. This is usually meant to be a social unit of eusocial animals, where division of labour is highly specialised and where individuals are not able to survive by themselves for extended periods of time. Ants are the best-known example of such a superorganism, while the naked mole rat is a famous example of the eusocial mammal. The technical definition of a superorganism is "a collection of agents which can act in concert to produce phenomena governed by the collective," phenomena being any activity "the hive wants" such as ants collecting food or bees choosing a new nest site. 

Can one consider humanity as such to be a superorganism ? Then what is the meaning of gods   ? A controversial work by psychologist Julian Jaynes on Bicameralism

 Bicameralism (the philosophy of "two-chamberedness") is a hypothesis in psychology that argues that the human brain once assumed a state in which cognitive functions were divided between one part of the brain which appears to be "speaking", and a second part which listens and obeys—a bicameral mind. The term was coined by psychologist Julian Jaynes, who presented the idea in his 1976 book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, wherein he made the case that a bicameral mentality was the normal and ubiquitous state of the human mind as recently as 3000 years ago. Jaynes built a case for this hypothesis that human brains existed in a bicameral state until as recently as 3000 years ago by citing evidence from many diverse sources including historical literature. He took an interdisciplinary approach, drawing data from many different fields. Jaynes asserted that, until roughly the times written about in Homer's Iliad, humans did not generally have the self-awareness characteristic of consciousness as most people experience it today. Rather, the bicameral individual was guided by mental commands believed to be issued by external "gods" — commands which were recorded in ancient myths, legends and historical accounts. For example, in the Iliad and sections of the Old Testament no mention is made of any kind of cognitive processes such as introspection, and there is no apparent indication that the writers were self-aware. According to Jaynes, the older portions of the Old Testament (such as the Book of Amos) have few or none of the features of some later books of the Old Testament (such asEcclesiastes) as well as later works such as Homer's Odyssey, which show indications of a profoundly different kind of mentality — an early form of consciousness. However the Epic of Gilgamesh, considered by many historians to be the oldest known recorded story (ca. 2000-2100 BC), features characters whose actions are deeply rooted in introspection and dream analysis.

In ancient times, Jaynes noted, gods were generally much more numerous and much more anthropomorphic than in modern times, and speculates that this was because each bicameral person had their own "god" who reflected their own desires and experiences. He also noted that in ancient societies the corpses of the dead were often treated as though still alive (being seated, dressed and even fed) and argued that the dead bodies were presumed to be still living and the source of auditory hallucinations (see ancestor worship). This adaptation to the village communities of 100 individuals or more formed the core of religion. Unlike today's hallucinations, the voices of ancient times were structured by cultural norms to produce a seamlessly functioning society. In Ancient Greek culture there is often mention of the Logos, which is a very similar concept. It was a type of guiding voice that was heard as from a seemingly external source.

Jaynes inferred that these "voices" came from the right brain counterparts of the left brain language centres—specifically, the counterparts to Wernicke's area and Broca's area. These regions are somewhat dormant in the right brains of most modern humans, but Jaynes noted that some studies show that auditory hallucinations correspond to increased activity in these areas of the brain. 

Julian Jaynes work remains controversial and has not received much study within mainstream psychology while works of neurobiologists like V.S.Ramachandran and  Michael Persinger seem to support what Julian Jaynes says. See also www.julianjaynes.org/  An alternate look by Daniel Dennett . Yet another by Mushtaq Bhat Bicameral Brain Breakdown.


So much from psychologists and neuroscientists. It has been extremely satisfying to read the exploration of mind in the works of Doris Lessing ( I recognised portions of Golden Notebook and The Four Gated City from my own "explorations" )


In this context only I raise the issue of monotheism. I have no sure answers to give.At different stages in my life, I have tried to go deep into religion and have turned away because may be I lacked experience in life. Now I am going to have another go at it, so may be after a day or two I am not going to speak anything about religion for a year or two at least.