Quick Look
A fascinating journey through our anthropological history which points towards an emerging collective awakening for the human race.
Description
How Humanity Came into Being is our story -- the collective story of all humankind. Life, from its earliest days, is a constant exploration of our physical, emotional, mental and ultimately spiritual relationship with the world. It is no wonder, then, that we ponder the perennial questions: where did we come from? What is our destiny as a species? Why the miracle of consciousness, self-awareness and the agony and ecstasy of existence? Why do we have a sense of order, morality, purpose, and even intimations of the divine?
This unique and remarkably readable book explores such questions of existence. The authors present a fascinating journey through our anthropological history, including art and science, linguistic, spiritual and other cultural innovations; in short, all things that make us a unique species.
Drawing on the latest research and ideas, they go on to show that we are poised at an evolutionary turning point as human beings move towards a collective awakening. For anyone interested in human consciousness, this book is an important signpost, indicating the way forward.
Table of Contents
Introduction
PART I. Hello, Consciousness
1. Some User-friendly Notions of Consciousness
You and me: the fundamentals of subject-object dualism
Setting boundaries and getting centred
Mind-body, mind-matter and other dualisms
Observer and observed: a general perspective
2. Through the Darwinian Paradigm and Beyond
Evolution evolving: how all paradigms change
Darwinism, mechanism, materialism — and their shadows
Shifting to the next critical phase: beyond linearity
Perennial philosophies of holism
PART II. The Evolution of Consciousness
3. Consciousness and the Individual Life Cycle
Being childish: how our minds grow
The rhythm of life: intellectual and emotional cycles
Spiritual emergence
4. Ebb, Flow and Cycles in Collective Consciousness
Changing generations: the fourth turning
History’s masculine and feminine moods
Slowly coming to our senses
Pattern and structure in revolution and renaissance
Time and space consciousness: before and after memory
5. Human Consciousness from Deep Time
A fleeting glimpse of Homo habilis
The Gebserian paradigm: an epic cultural philosophy
Archaic consciousness: the dormant soul
Magical consciousness: the emergent awareness of nature
Mythic consciousness: the emergent time-conscious soul
Mental consciousness: the measure of man and the universe
Integral consciousness: a whole new language
Repackaging Gebser: towards a grand integration
PART III. Biological and Psychological Dynamics
6. A New Look at Who We Are and How We Got That Way
Integrating the cosmic individual
Reading the dynamic organization of the biosphere
Evolutionary timescapes: biological clocks and heterochrony
How organisms take shape: the dynamics of head-to-toe growth
Knowing ourselves: new perspectives on humans and mammals
Integrating morphology and consciousness structures
7. New Evolutionary Paradigms: Coherence, Unity and Beyond
All for one and one for all
The body electric: energy fields, brainwaves, subtle bodies
Enveloped by consciousness: gaseous genies and Russian dolls
Molecular democracies and spooky quantum quandaries
May you be forever young
A new evolutionary grandeur
8. Into the Mystic
Scientific prophecy and global mind change
The evolutionary co-emergence of self and sensibility
In the beginning was the word, and the word was sacred
What’s in a name?
Sin, sacrifice and the loss of innocence
Into the mystic: the cosmic connection
9. Closing the Circle
The poetic impulse: its psycho-spiritual origins
Mystics and scientists: the same universal truths
Crowning glories: kundalini shock and awe
The courtship between science and spirituality
Longing for love: the happiness of homecoming
Reviews
'A sweeping and erudite interdisciplinary study that builds up an integral understanding of the evolution of consciousness, showing that our predominant Western rationalism is a stage on the way towards a more holistic world-view and that our human trajectory takes us towards a conscious reunification with the Ground of Being.'
-- David Lorimer, Programme Director, Scientific and Medical Network
'The vast internal domain of human consciousness is the next great frontier of exploration for humanity. This field now transcends the limitations of psychology, extending to the limits of science, philosophy, and spirituality. Thus, to understand consciousness, we have to bring together a wide diversity of approaches to the subject. And this is skillfully accomplished by Martin Lockley and Ryo Morimoto in: How Humanity Came Into Being. This highly informed book harmonizes a broad range of insights into an intriguing and accessible narrative. Their text evinces cultural, spiritual, and scientific sophistication and is recommended reading for anyone interested in the emerging field of consciousness studies.'
-- Steve McIntosh, author of Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution
'How Humanity came into Being is an exciting and highly readable account of the history of human consciousness. Lockley and Morimoto explore our prehistoric and historic past with an adroit combination of paleontological and psychological expertise which keeps the reader deeply absorbed. From anthropological and historical evidence they weave a fascinating account of how our language, art and science reveal the dynamic evolution of the unconscious, subconscious and conscious mind. From cave art to quantum physics the broad sweep of human culture is all surprisingly relevant to who we are, how we came into being and where we are going. A must read for all members of the human species!'
-- W.K. Peterson, PhD, Space Scientist
'The book's approach is appropriate to its subject and is holistic. Arguments from psychology, palentology, ancient myth and legend, the evidence from yoga and mystical experience, are all assembled to make the case.'
-- Max Payne, Scientific and Medical Network Review, Spring 2010
Author
Martin Lockley was brought up on nature reserves in Wales and England where he later earned his PhD in Paleontology and his Welsh Track and Field colours. Now a Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, he works and writes on fossil tracks and field conservation issues and teaches The Evolution of Consciousness.
Ryo Morimoto was born in Japan where he spent the first eighteen years of his life. He then studied Philosophy, Psychology, and Clinical Psychology at the University of Colorado, Denver, developing an interest in Consciousness Studies. He is now a graduate student at Brandeis University studying Anthropology.
