Marcel Kuijsten - Julian Jaynes, the Bicameral Mind, and the Origin of Consciousness

[Moderator]

"Julian Jaynes, the Bicameral Mind, and the Origin of Consciousness," an interview with JJS Founder Marcel Kuijsten by Henrik Palmgren for Red Ice Radio. To listen to the full 100-minute interview and many other interviews and lectures on Julian Jaynes's theory, please join the Julian Jaynes Society.

Includes discussion of the problem of consciousness, what is consciousness is and is not according to Julian Jaynes, the importance of metaphorical language and writing, features of consciousness, Nicholas Humphrey's research on cave art and autism, evidence from the Iliad, ancient bicameral civilizations, the Thera explosion and ensuing tsunami, and Michael Carr's research on the bicameral mind in China. In the second hour, Marcel Kuijsten discusses the role of drugs, entheogens, hallucinogens in eliciting bicameral hallucinations, the importance of dreams in documenting the transition from bicamerality to consciousness, the origin of religion and the bicameral mind, and more. Also discussed is the significance to the theory of religious figures like Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, to more modern people like William Blake, Emanuel Swedenborg and Joseph Smith.



Read Marcel Kuijsten's books on Julian Jaynes's theory:

Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind: Interviews with Leading Thinkers on Julian Jaynes's Theory

Gods, Voices, and the Bicameral Mind: The Theories of Julian Jaynes

The Julian Jaynes Collection

Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness: Julian Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory Revisited

Please sign up or login to watch the full version in the JJS Member Area.