Shaper's of the World

>>3254004
I don't know much about Buddha, but I do know that Buddhism is pure decline. As for Confucius and Socrates, they are preserved thanks to their students. They were influential, but not independent of those who preserved them.

It would be better to say that the period between 5th c. and 3rd c. was an absolute high point in many areas.

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>>3254030
Just because Buddhism is in decline doesn't mean his ideas are. Most are preserved in the teachings of "jeebus crust" who, unwittingly, took and repackaged his thoughts.

>>3254004
>Buddha

Does he actually exist or is he like Jesus - a placeholder for the amalgamation of buddhist philosophers?

>>3254049
it's not gay if you're giving the dick out

>>3254049
That makes sense, given that crustianity is similar a force of decline.

Christianity infected Europe, and Buddhism infected China. Two tragedies.

>>3254054
Probably not. Lack of documentation really makes you think

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>>3254054
Probably not. Lack of documentation really makes you think.

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Bump

>>3254004
The axial age was spoopy.

Makes me think that either-
1. Civilizational development actually does occur in discrete, sequential stages that are the same for all civilizations.
2. Ideas could in those days promulgate across Eurasia much more quickly than we now suspect.
3. There's something to that wacky bicameral mind theory.

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>>3254132
Bicameral mind theory? Someone elaborate.

>>3254141
>According to Jaynes, ancient people in the bicameral state of mind would have experienced the world in a manner that has some similarities to that of a schizophrenic. Rather than making conscious evaluations in novel or unexpected situations, the person would hallucinate a voice or "god" giving admonitory advice or commands and obey without question: one would not be at all conscious of one's own thought processes per se. Research into "command hallucinations" that often direct the behavior of those labeled schizophrenic, as well as other voice hearers, supports Jaynes's predictions.[2]

>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.[3] 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. This is exemplified not only in the commands given to characters in ancient epics but also the very muses of Greek mythology which "sang" the poems: the ancients literally heard muses as the direct source of their music and poetry.

>According to Jaynes, 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. Jaynes suggests, 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 as Ecclesiastes) as well as later works such as Homer's Odyssey

>>3254141
In a nutshell, it's that people used to have a split-mind, with one part "speaking" and the other "listening" and doing. Essentially, everyone is low-grade schizophrenic, and not really conscious as we'd understand it. According to the theory, we were like this for most of history, until just a couple thousand years ago. It's extremely fringe, but it's interesting in the "extremely big if true" way.

>>3254184
>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.[4] 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) as a form of ancestor worship, and Jaynes argued that the dead bodies were presumed to be still living and the source of auditory hallucinations.[3] 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.[3]

>Jaynes notes that even in modern times[when?] there is no consensus as to the cause or origins of schizophrenia. Jaynes argues that schizophrenia is a vestige of humanity's earlier bicameral state.[3] Recent evidence shows that many schizophrenics do not just hear random voices but experience "command hallucinations" instructing their behavior or urging them to commit certain acts. As support for Jaynes's argument, these command hallucinations are little different from the commands from gods which feature prominently in ancient stories.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology)