Point of Origin: The Evolution of Religious Consciousness and Its Ultimate Expression

By Ericjon Thomas PhD

The Point of Origin investigates the evolution of religious consciousness as an integral reality in the human person. The evolution of religious consciousness is an experience found throughout human history beginning with the earliest known human species, the Cro-Magnon. In this work Dr. Thomas identifies empirical data that lends itself to his theory that spirituality is not a bi-product of the human phenomena but an essential characteristic of being human. The author delves into conscious acknowledgement of the natural law as a universal norm guiding human activity in the wake of the plurality of religious expressions (Atheism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc.). In a crescendo effect of his work Dr. Thomas illustrates how mysticism becomes the ultimate expression of religious consciousness in the human experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469166599

Ericjon Thomas PhD

Ericjon Thomas, PhD, is the author of the book Mystical Darkness (2011). He has served for over 19 years in various ministries as a priest and bishop: diocesan/parish administration, teaching, nursing home ministry, youth pastoral care, retreat work, pastoral counseling, crises intervention, military ministry, prison ministry, lecturing, etc. Dr. Thomas is credentialed with a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, Masters in Theological Studies, a Doctorate of Ministry in Pastoral Counseling and a PhD in Theological Studies. Recreationally he enjoys writing, listening to good music, bike riding, walking and reading.

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Copyright © 2012 by Ericjon Thomas, PhD.

Cover Photo used with permission by Peter Koehl

Library of Congress Control Number:               2012902606

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Contents

CHAPTER ONE

The Development of Religious Consciousness: Bridging the Gap between Science and Religion.

CHAPTER TWO

Natural Law Imperative

CHAPTER THREE

The Meaning Imperative: noögenesis and the innate self-transcendence

Chapter Three: Part II

CHAPTER FOUR

Neurotheology: Finding a Solution between Scientific and Theological Claims

CHAPTER FIVE

Mysticism: The Ultimate Expression of Religious Consciousness.

CHAPTER ONE

The Development of Religious Consciousness:

Bridging the Gap between Science and Religion.

Introduction:

A healthy theory of personality development strives toward the goal of living fully. It requires a conscious attempt to grow in living out one’s human existence in its most healthy expression. This process thereby requires a systematic effort on the part of the individual to live a psycho-spiritually integrated reality, based in the nature of being and embracing true freedom in the congruity existing in the homo rationalis.

The existential and essential nature of man are not in opposition, one to the other, but are found holistically in the fully functioning person, the homo rationalis. As society presents to us the piecemeal version of man, we must make every effort to present the psycho-spiritually integrated person.

I. Psycho-Social Expressiveness: Ingredients of Humanness

Dr. John Morgan notes that there are four essential characteristics to being human: aesthetic expression, education, a sense of community and speculation about the nature/meaning of life.¹

A. Aesthetic Expressiveness:

Art is uniquely human in that it unfolds out of the drama of human life and one’s own experiences. The Upper Paleolithic period (ca. 12,000—20,000 years ago) demonstrates this quality as expressed in the drawings found in caves near southern France and northern Spain, which illustrate various animal species.² The significance of this artistic expression, is that it paints not just an external expression of what the Cro-Magnon’s experience of life was at that time, but a reflective nature innate to being human. As Dr. Morgan writes: The insuppressible human urge to express ourselves artistically is validated by these cave paintings. ³

It is evident from Cro-Magnon cave art that there were species of animals that are now extinct, such as: rhinoceroses of the Ice Age of Europe with shaggy coats, and a deer with gigantic antlers that had a dark colored hump behind the shoulders.⁴ The preservation of such artifacts gives contemporary humans a glimpse into the external affairs of the first European Homo sapiens, as well as their conscious awareness indicative of the human propensity to reflectivity and intentionality.⁵ According to Clifford Geertz, the vocation of anthropology, as expressed in the symbolic dimensions of social activity, such as artistic expression, is by no means a movement away from facing existential reality, but a plunging into it.⁶

B. Survival Wisdom:

It is imperative to note that the Upper Paleolithic homo sapiens had an unprecedented conscious intentionality concerning their own well-being. Such intentionality requires reflectivity—a sort of weighing the pros and cons of decision making and its consequences. John Morgan notes that such intentionality must be matched by knowledge of what to do and how to do it.⁷ Studies in paleontology indicate a depth-consciousness concerning the Cro-Magnon humans, that is, a knowledge that is beyond mere instinct, and inclusive of learned techniques. For example, studies of the Upper Paleolithic period regarding the placement of campsites and the artistic storyline as drawn on the interior of the caves manifest the conscious understanding the Cro-Magnon had as regards the experiential. Ian Tattersall in his book Becoming Human states:

Many sites lie close to places at which herds of such mammals as reindeer would have had to form streams, at which time they would have been particularly vulnerable to ambush hunters; and vast accumulation of bones, sometimes showing evidence of cooking, have been found in association with stone tools at the end of blind alleys into which the victims must have been stampeded, or at the bases of cliffs over which they must have been chased.⁸

Morgan’s analysis of reflectivity and intentionality, and Tattersall’s depiction of his findings serve to compliment that which makes us unique in the animal kingdom: our ability to think about thinking, to reflect, to weigh the pros and cons and to act in light of the ‘wisdom’ passed on by the elders in the community. Such survival wisdom is manifested in campsite locations and the art depictions on the interior of the caves.

C. Community Development:

Clifford Geertz deviated from the classical view of culture/community as a conglomeration of learned behaviors or way of life to a conceptual framework. His conceptual framework moves away from a cultural analysis that emphasizes the doings of humanity, and instead places it in the experiential, interrelatedness, and ultimately the existential.⁹ Such a shift highlights sign, symbol, denotation, signification and communication.¹⁰ Therefore, the notion of survival wisdom is not an isolated personal event, since as relational beings it requires a communal effort; the survival of the one was radically dependent on the survival of the group.¹¹ Herein emerges an ethic of survival that is relational, a nurturing of the whole community emotionally and socially. The psycho-social dimension emerges in the drama of human interactivity during the Upper Paleolithic period. The cave became the ideal spot for this to occur since it provided the physical parameters for nurturing this interdependence . . .¹²

In contrast to the social interdependence of the Paleolithic period, there seems to be a shift in contemporary trends toward the direction of situational ethics that nurtures itself on individualism. Perhaps we need to look at our Paleolithic ancestors in order to help us get back to what is fundamental in being human. In contrast to the communal dynamics of the Upper Paleolithic period, contemporary persons prize themselves on how much more advanced they are in comparison to the Cro-Magnon. Perhaps this is true in some external instances, such as technology, cars, railroad systems, airplanes, etc. In our attempt to become more networked globally through the internet we are quickly deviating from personalism. Martin Heideggar noted it accurately: No age has known so much, and so many different things, about man as ours . . . And no age has known less than ours of what man is.¹³ Perhaps there are lessons to be learned from the cave dwellers.

D. Speculation (Emergence of Religious Consciousness):

Speculation developed out of the human propensity to reflect, dialogue, exchange ideas, share experiences and consider matters of existential importance such as meaning. The movement of the campsites into caves, and social inter-dialogue centered around fire, encouraged artistic expression, story telling, etc., lending itself to social exchange concerning the nature and meaning of life.¹⁴ Dr. Morgan notes:

The only animal, apparently, to intentionally engage in such an enterprise, namely, speculating about life, was the human animal and, therefore, the earliest human communities necessarily and inevitably played host to the resident philosopher.¹⁵

Out of this development and the cave experience emerged the philosopher or wise one of the cave community who could captivate the audience with years of experience (a posteriori) and age. Speculative thinking/dialectic conversation lent itself to verbal acuity/language development and ultimately holding the position of leadership/authority in the cave communal setting: To control the story is to control the power.¹⁶

The speculative quality of the human animal, the ability to reflect and ask questions of existential value/substance concerning the meaning of life, is the emergence of a religious consciousness in its most fundamental development. Theological anthropologist, Robley Edward Whitson, notes that meaning in the experience of a communal setting lends itself to the conscious awakening of the transcendental, out of which religion emerges.¹⁷ This emerging religious consciousness of the Cro-Magnons can be further understood by theologian Paul Tillich, who maintained that meaning is the common characteristic and the ultimate unity of the theoretical and the practical sphere of spirit, of scientific and aesthetic, of legal and social structures . . .¹⁸

II. Tripartite Matrix of Evolution

A. Biogenesis:

Imperative to the human animal is one’s capacity as regards organic biological/physiological development. Biological capacity, as part of the evolutionary process of the human species, contributes to the development of the following characteristics: bipedalism, stereoscopic vision, verbal acuity and opposable digitations.¹⁹ The upright body posture (bipedalism) had advantages for the hominid as it continued to develop, as demonstrated in the Upper Paleolithic period. Bipedalism allowed the human animal to run faster, to make tools, engage in eye-contact with others, foster mate-selection and frontal sexual intercourse, carry food items and survival instruments, etc.

The upright position also enabled the hominid to extend one’s horizon over the height of tall grass in scanning for predators.²⁰ Bipedalism development contributed to the social dimension of human interaction and was enhanced through stereoscopic vision, enabling the hominid to see in three dimensions as opposed to only two dimensions. Stereoscopic vision gave the hominid an advantage at hunting, in avoiding oncoming attacks from predators, and social interactivity. The enlargement of the skull capacity and shrinkage of the area previously occupied by olfactory senses increased the visual capacity.²¹

An additional factor of biogenesis is language development. This factor, resulting from bipedalism and stereoscopic vision, served to increase man’s verbal exchanges, predominantly through exchanges of sounds. Verbal exchange between human animals is indicative of early development of speech skills. Paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall writes:  . . . increase in brain complexity accompanied the long process of brain enlargement . . . especially in view of the apparent diffusion in the cortex of various functions related to language skills.²² The biogenesis of human evolution lent itself to an awakening of human consciousness.

B. Sociogenesis:

Human animals did not develop solely out of a biological capacity. Interwoven in the biological evolution of man was the opportunity for social exchange/learning. Bipedalism, stereoscopic vision, verbal acuity, etc., developed alongside with man’s evolving consciousness. Dr. Morgan writes: Beyond biogenesis, sociogenesis was essential in the development of the human person and the human community.²³

Although this subject matter is primarily about the Paleolithic period, let us digress for a moment. If one looks at the newborn infant, one watches for some time the quadrupedal locomotion of movement until the infant learns to walk upright. One does not walk upright out of the womb; it is contingent upon skeletal development and learning. Another point to consider is the fact that the infant, like the Cro-Magnon, begins communicating by observation and soaking up the environment through developed stereoscopic vision. It still remains that the infant’s conscious awareness is not fully awakened, nor is his/her ability of intentionality and reflectivity. The infant communicates by way of sounds/verbal exchanges initially, and it is some time before speech skills meet linguistic maturation. The biological/physiological development of the infant evolves concurrently with social consciousness, yet not at the same rate of time. It seems that the early development of the infant/child provides glimpses into the early stages of evolutionary history.

The sociogenesis of the community was essential for survival during the Paleolithic period. As noted by Dr. Morgan:

The skill to read a face, to detect the subtleties of a gesture, the necessity of judging a comment, all converged within the social matrix for survival and perpetuity . . . it was the social opportunity rather than the biological capacity that made human survival possible.²⁴

The social opportunity was fostered in the cave dwellings, centered around the warmth of fire and it’s radiating light. Stories were told, art was drawn, meals were shared, and what we have come to know as family gatherings began to emerge. In sum, the fundamental point of commonality characteristic of all homo sapiens without exception is our relational nature.²⁵

C. Psychogenesis:

The three dimensions of the human animal, biogenesis, sociogenesis and psychogenesis, must work together in order to have a fully functioning human person. One lends itself to the properties distinctive of the other. The psychogenesis of the human animal evolves out of and in unison with man’s biological and sociological evolution. Therefore, as Dr. Morgan notes:  . . . there was the inevitable need for the ingredients of psychogenesis, viz., reflective self-awareness of the individual, reflexive cognition for systematic thought and analysis, and expressiveness.²⁶

The tripartite development of the early homo habilis (tool maker) lent itself to the evolving reality of the homo hermeneuticus (the interpreter) in that the human animal was not only a tool maker but also an interpreter of his/her environment and experiences. Clifford Geertz states: The drive to make sense out of experience, to give it form and order, is evidently as real and as pressing as the more familiar biological needs.²⁷ The fact remains that such distinctively unique qualities speak to the Paleolithic origins of a religious consciousness and an understanding of the humanness in early evolutionary development. The hermeneutic of being human, the human animal’s capability of interpreting events, resides in man’s reflective self-awareness.

The psychodynamic of expressiveness is the direct result of reflexive cognition; in other words, that we know we think about thinking.²⁸ The Paleolithic period demonstrated this simultaneously evolving tripartite matrix, emerging from the need for and value of speculation about the unknown, the future, the possibilities . . .²⁹ Those who would more readily respond to and grasp these unique qualities of the human species (the wise men), as in the Paleolithic period, would be naturally destined to lead the others of the community.

III. Hominidal Sequencing: Aptitude Development

A. The Branching: Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon and