From the Big Bang to the Human Predicament

Outline of an Ultimate Evolutionary Synthesis

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In the Garden of Eden

The many forms of the story of paradise testify to humanity's longings to return to a state that was simple and where things took care of themselves, in other words, where responsibility was not our's. A conventional psychologist may explain this as a wish to return to the safety of childhood. I would rather emphasize the wish to escape the constant need to explain and decide. The latest fruit on the tree of evolution seems to be cumbersome. Once the new path is taken, nothing comes automatically. Using the metaphor of the fruit, I am awed by the depth of the story of the forbidden fruit whose eating will drive out of the garden of Eden. The garden of Eden stands for a largely preconscious existence, dominated by automatic survival skills, phylogenetically deposited in the ancient part of our brain, before any neurological dualism could develop. In the garden of Eden the two sub-systems of the brain must have been in exquisite harmony.

But in reality was there ever such a state of archaic existence in simplicity, harmony and happiness? Of course not. Or if we ever were in such a state on a pre-human level, we probably could not have had the awareness to experience it. Yet compared to the complexities and frustrations inherent in modern civilization, life in the recently vanished original Bushman culture must have been close to such paradise. Of this we have reports of early missionaries, many recent anthropologists, and the compassionate description of his encounters by Laurens van der Post.

Before I attempt to give a brief account of Bushman culture, some historical facts are in order. According to Carleton S.Coon (1966) the paleontological record shows that the Bushmen (or Capoids) are one of the five "original" races in existence at the end of the Pleistocene era, about 10,000 years ago. The others are the Caucasoids, Mongoloids, Congoids and Australoids. The Capoids occupied all of north Africa down to the Tropic of Cancer, which is more than one quarter of the African continent. They may have extended to, or communicated with Caucasians on the Spanish Peninsula. The Bushman became the most visionary cave- and rock painter. This art was practiced well into British colonial times. Similarities to cave paintings found in Spain and the close proximity of the famous 'temple caves' [J. Campbell] in the Pyrenees, suggest a spread of the art from north to south, or at least a common origin.

The receding ice in northern Europe caused a population explosion among the European Caucasians, who pressed southward. This, and the drying out of the Sahara displaced the Bushman from north Africa into east and south Africa. A later expansion of iron age Congoids (particularly Bantu) further confined them to south Africa where they were 'discovered' in 1492 A.D. shunned, murdered and isolated by Congoid tribes. It is quite probable that the hunting and gathering stone age culture of the Bushman was the last preserved descendant of hunting-gathering cultures of the northern African steppes which had flourished during the Pleistocene and Neolithic periods.

D.Pilbeam [1972] argues convincingly that during a period after the last ice-age the whole of the European and Asiatic steppes was populated by a more or less uniform culture which was similar to the "great Capsian Hunt" of north Africa. Here the first artistic productions emerged. Through rational planning and better tools, life's misery had been reduced to a previously unknown degree, whereas the new burdens of existence in a high culture had not yet made their appearance. In short, if there ever was one, here must have been the original "Garden of Eden" [Pilbeam,D.(1972)], and the north American plains may very well be incorporated as parts of this happy state of early humanity. That is how L.van der Post describes his first encounter with the "wild" Bushman:

The young man stuck his spear in the sand and with his right hand raised, palm open and fingers up, walked shyly towards us, saying in a tone I had never heard before, "Good day !, I have been dead, but now that you have come, I live again".

We had made contact at last! I was so overwhelmed by the fact that for a moment I barely knew what to do. It was the young man who, after the exchange of greetings in his own tongue, a drink of our best water and a smoke of tobacco, put us all at our ease with his command of natural manners.

He was no taller than Dabe but slighter, with fine bones, and of course, much younger. Nor was there any sign of bitterness or hurt in his eyes. His features were regular and sensitive in the classical Bushman model. His eyes were wide and large and looked steadily into mine when I asked him a question. They had the same vivid light in them which occasionally one sees in Europe on the faces of gypsies in Spain. He was naked, with a loin strap made of duiker skin around his middle, and his skin of a fresh apricot color was still stained in places with the blood of an animal recently killed. All in all he had a wonderful wild beauty about him. Even his smell was astringent with the essences of untamed earth and wild animal-being. [van der Post,L.(1958),p.225]

Van der Post had found a group of about 30 people who lived in primal harmony with themselves and with the unforgiving nature of the Kalahari desert. They had mastered survival in an admirable fashion. Precious water could be obtained at "sip-wells" and stored in shells of ostrich eggs. At certain low laying places they drove hollow canes into the sand. After persistent very strong sucking, water appeared. The mouth was used as a pump. Large and often delicious tubers were dug out of the sand for food as well as for their wetness. The women knew more than 100 edible plant species [Lee,R.B.(1979)]. In food gathering the children participated with great pride and were lovingly rewarded.

For hunting the Bushmen used bows and poisoned arrows of an ingenious three part construction. The poisoned front end came off and remained in the wound. If that was ascertained, the animal was followed until it collapsed. The hunter apologized to the animal and thanked it for being willing to feed his family.

The sparse clothing and more extensive carrying bags were made of animal hide that was masterfully tanned with the juice of a certain tuber. Their camps were mostly temporary and they had not more possessions than what could be carried along.

On the average, the daily food gathering could be accomplished in a few hours [Lee,R.B.(1979)]. Enough time and energy was left for what life really was for: enjoyment.

The successful hunter was greeted by the women with excitement and melodious songs. Sometimes in the evening the women would sit together and sing. Here is van der Post's account of it:

The melody was charged with all the inexpressible feelings that come to one at the going down of the sun over the great earth of Africa. They called the song "The Grass Song" and with the difficulty of interpretation neither Dabe nor the singers could readily explain it. I can only recall the feeling and render the words inadequately:

This grass in my hand before it was cut
Cried in the wind for the rain to come
All day my heart cries in the sun
For my hunter to come.

They would sing this over and over again, the song becoming more charged and meaningful by repetition, as if the heart, too, was enjoined to a constant act of importunity as in the New Testament injunction to prayer, in order to make life and its powers accessible to its deepest entreaties. The song put us all under a spell, so that I was not surprised that often the young men hearing its crescendo of longing could contain themselves no longer. They would drop what they were doing and come out of the bush, their feet pounding the desert like a drum, their hands stretched wide and their chests heaving with emotion, crying as if the sound had been torn alive and bleeding from the centre of their being. "Oh, look, like the eagle, I come!. [van der Post,L.(1958), p.246]

They also had musical instruments. Men had a one stringed instrument derived from a bow. Women played a 4-stringed lyre. One particularly gifted musician was a young man named Nxou. During the day he would often drop his work and play. But especially he played at moments where nature's beauty impresses most, a particularly clear starry night, a romantic moonrise, or at the most celebrated daily event in Africa: the rise of the sun. No one but Laurens van der Post can describe the mood of this art which expresses not only harmony with nature, but also the sadness of the awakening individual, who has learned to know the suffering and death that are so much part of this nature.

They were still aware of their cave art. The last Bushman painter was probably massacred by British or Dutch colonists in the 19th century. But the knowledge of the paintings had survived. The paintings are in caves and under overhanging cliffs. Van der Post had reproductions of some of them to show. The reaction of the older men and women was tearful recognition of cherished treasures. The younger generation was overjoyed.

Of course van der Post was a romantic, and he falls into the well known trap of seeing "noble savages" where there only are fellow human beings mastering their survival with means strange to us. But with this reservation, his account still can catch the Bushman spirit better than any of the dry anthropological reports.

A most charming tradition was in wooing a bride. The young man made a tiny, artfully designed bow and arrow out of split bone. He then proceeded to shoot that miniature arrow into his chosen girl's derriere. If she pulled it out and destroyed it, he had failed. If she kept it intact, he had won. One cannot help to think of Cupid's arrows in Greek mythology. Who knows, maybe this is a tradition so old, that at one time news of it found their way via ancient Egypt into Greece. When van der Post wanted to film this, he had to convince some of the Bushmen to stage it. The most beautiful girl had just married. After some consideration, in view of the Bushmen's love for make believe games, the husband consented that she could play the role. But van der Post's film man wanted Nxou to play the suitor. This caused a great disturbance. Finally Nxou said why he was unable to do it: "Look! that man is my friend. I have known him all my life. Although he says he does not mind, I know his heart will be hurt to see his woman pretending to be mine." A tenderness of heart not easily found in modern civilization. Van der Post does not say whether it was her less photogenic husband, who finally played the role.

The most striking characteristic of Bushmen is their participatory intuition of the animal world. Africa had the richest animal population anywhere. Not enough that each animal and insect was known, but most of them had characters of their own, derived from observations which I can only describe as compassionate. They could, so to speak, get under the skin of the animal and were masters of mimicking them. Owners of pets know that the compassionate bond can transcend the boundaries between species. Their pantomimes were full of such animal mimicking, and every time it was not only easy to guess which animal was imitated, but a humoresque sudden realization happened of what was funny and significant about it. At the same time one discovered a human, all too human, attitude that thus was demonstrated for the edification of all.

Another pantomime represented humans. This one seemed to have been a standard repertoire. It was the acting out of an ancient real or mythological event of a war. An "apricot Helen of a middle aged Menelaos" had been abducted by a young archer from a different group. A war started:

"When these people performed their pantomime of the war, they divided into two teams facing each other on their knees in the sand, about fifteen yards apart. They would then taunt one another with the challenges and battle-cries of another age, the shouts and movements getting louder and more violent until at last they were twisting and turning with thrust, parry, counter-thrust and evasive action as though indeed spears and arrows were raining down upon them. Though they never moved from their knees, the gesture of heads and bodies, the expression on their faces, and the cries of the wounded and dying, enabled me to relive vividly the atmosphere of a battle of their past". [van der Post,L.(1958), p.244]

But this was a "war with a difference", as van der Post states:

For no sooner was Helen reclaimed and the ravishing Bushman killed than both sides were filled with fear and revulsion against their deed, as if suddenly among the acacias of their vast Kalahari garden the voice of God himself had made the leaves tremble as He reprimanded them for their mutual sin. They instantly sat down to talk to one another and resolved that it must never happen again. Accordingly they divided the desert into two zones, promising never to cross the demarcation line between them. [van der Post,L.(1958), p.243]

Is this an educational drama to counteract tribal aggression? It is difficult not to reach that conclusion. On this early stage of stone age hunter, man was quite capable to culturally compensate for the primate heritage, that was threatening his happiness. The main threat, of course came from the three universal factors: ranking rivalries, mating rivalries and inter-tribal aggression. We remember the tough emotional world of baboons. Apparently early man was well capable to escape these predicaments. In the Bushman they are eliminated through cultured mutual respect, the institution of marriage and cultivation of art, including direct "psychodrama".

I would not have presented van der Post's romantic account in the absence of other confirming evidence. Lorna Marshall has visited !Kung for many years, beginning in 1951, six years before van der Post [Marshall,L.J. (1976),(1962), (1969)]. Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1972) has written the account of a human ethologist on their basic aggressive tendencies which, contrary to the belief of some non-biological sociologists, are not different from any other tribes of the human species. He too noted their remarkable skill to culturally compensate for aggression, so that the first impression, indeed, is that of an egalitarian happy society. According to Eibl-Eibesfeldt, anthropologists who have fallen for the illusion of the "noble savage", did not distinguish between tribal belligerence and acts of inter-personal aggression, and have belittled the latter. Nevertheless even Lee and DeVore (1968) write: "I recognize that life in pygmy camp is far from peaceful, husbands frequently beat up their wives and vice versa. Yet such outlets, as well as explicit concern shown for avoiding aggression, are insurance policies against aggression of an intended, calculated type. . . ." This view ignores results of ethological research. Intra tribal aggression is not a substitute for war. On the contrary, the pecking order makes life within a group possible and, if anything, it amplifies extra group belligerence.

Some stone age hunters simply had established the very successful cultural tradition to avoid war and to defuse intra tribal aggression as much as possible. It is wasteful to do otherwise.

An enviable state of affairs. What then went wrong between the great Capsian hunt of 12,000 years ago and modern man? I will try to answer this in the next two sections.

Fall From Grace and the Ego System

In a sad way we are fortunate that one case of a breakdown of the happy existence of primal man happened right before our eyes.

It is the fate of early cultures to fade when brought in contact with later ones. The Aztec empire and culture was destroyed by only a handful of Spaniards under Fernando Cortez.

Compared to this, the Bushmen were exceptionally resilient. But ultimately, deprived of a habitat, they began to interact and trade with the Bantu. The Bantu had cattle, agriculture and iron. To make things worse, the government of Botswana began a program to encourage agriculture and the keeping of livestock. It gave away donkeys to pull ploughs and organized the purchasing of handcrafts such as ostrich egg necklaces. Soon the Bushmen were found in permanent camps, having a kraal with donkeys and goats, money to spend and wearing mass produced clothing. Some began to work for the Bantu. Presently there is a "Bushmansland" reservation and the neo-Bushmen have "agricultural cooperatives".

When the Bushmen were forced to abandon their lifestyle, John E. Yellen found that their values actually had not changed. We remember retention in cultural evolution. They considered themselves still hunters who temporarily did all kinds of other things on the side. Nevertheless he found that the shelters had become more elaborate. One telltale sign was the following: Previously the shelters all opened towards a common central plaza so that people at any time could share the pleasures of companionship. But now the huts became more scattered, and the entrance turned away from the communal area, as if everyone had something to hide. Indeed they had. They had discovered personal property. The women began to accumulate beautifully colored fabrics, which were stored in chests. They obtained beads, iron pots, blankets, etc. in quantities well beyond their needs. All this could now be purchased from their earnings [Yellen,J.E.(1990)]. The happy communal life and the sharing of goods stopped. Fig. 7.2 shows such a new family with their amassed useless goods. They still said that sharing was important, but did not do it, and, as if ashamed that they did not, they turned the huts so as not to be seen.

Now they quarreled among themselves. Often the disputes are settled by their Bantu landlords, who refer to them as "our Bushmen".

The simple opportunity to obtain personal property seems to have destroyed the fine tuned balance that was necessary in order to maintain their culture. At least J.E.Yellen came to that conclusion. Property, of course, gives social rank.

Previously the nomadic way had supported an egalitarian culture because there could not be any accumulation of property beyond what could be carried along. Besides if there were any aggressive encounters or disagreements, instead of fighting it out one could simply leave and join another group. To that end elaborate kinship relations existed. This enabled the Bushman to live virtually anywhere. So no strong leaders were needed to settle disputes. Also to seasonably migrate to where there was more food and water, was an obvious advantage.

But permanent camps also had their value. Better shelters could be built. Better household practices and tools could be invented. One other thing speaks for permanent camps: The great respect and sociability was especially extended to old family members. Those had a hard time to migrate. The cruel, but necessary custom was to leave them behind to die.

So there were good reasons for moving around as well as for staying in a permanent camp. It did not need much to tilt the situation the way it went.

But now the trap sprang: In contact with modern civilization, if you have a permanent camp, you have property that makes life much easier. If there is disagreement you have a strong inducement to stay and fight. To ease the tension you need privacy, the huts turn around. To settle the arguments a leader becomes necessary, or worse: a landlord. In short: Paradise is lost. The ego system becomes isolated. It thinks to find comfort in useless but colorful possessions which remind of the beauty of an existence in wholeness and social harmony. If you do not have self respect, having property may help.

Yellen writes: "The changes occurred so abruptly that the pattern of camp design can be said to have been unambiguously transformed from 'close' to 'distant' within a few years."

We have witnessed the moment of the fall from grace. Even the details of shame, covering the body, and expulsion from the first habitat conform to the Biblical account, so excellently felt by early mythopoets.

What happened to Bushman culture in the span of a few years may have taken others thousands of years. That is, if no advanced culture was there to interfere. But ultimately the expulsion from paradise was bound to happen. The adapted neocortex is a bright and practical image of today's world. Whereas the brain stem darkly mirrors the natural order during the last 300 million years. Polarity is already built into the system. Evolution is blind. There was no one to foresee the consequences of the neurological dualism.

In chapter 6 it was pointed out that under natural conditions the successful productions of the central explainer are remembered, and form what was called the ego system. But the memories cannot consolidate into a powerful autonomous system, because other parts of the brain are participating in the equilibration as well. The biological wisdom of the brain stem, when it enters into the unconscious personality, will prevent a view that is dominated by neocortical, externally adapted contents alone. The conscious ego system must have remained peripheral throughout pre-history.

But in a cultural environment that knows written records and possessions, the situation is radically different. The productions of the central explainer can be stored in writing. They can be passed on to others, compared with each other and with reality. A mutually reinforcing company of central explainers of many generations is formed, which is very much independent of any biological wisdom.

To a certain extent this already begins to happen through oral communication. Add to this some permanent possessions: They also reinforce autonomies of conscious explainers. With possessions that have been acquired through conscious decision, explainers can identify. Possessions are solidified memories of previous conscious transactions. The whole complex of the central explainer, the internal and external records of its explanations, and its acquired possessions and skills, now become part of the ego system. With permanent external attachments, the peripheral phenomenon of consciousness has consolidated. It has become a self referenced fabric of opinions and prescriptions that have been successful, and now can begin to dominate life's decisions.

Introverted Indian philosophy has a well defined word for the trap of the ego system: Maya, the veil obscuring true reality, which they consider to be the inner (World II) reality only.

What we have observed in today's Bushman were only the faint beginnings of the ego-system. In today's Western civilization its power has grown out of all proportion. It has created our technological civilization and we have become addicted to its magic. And since all this is far removed from any biological wisdom, we have sled into a very difficult situation. Once again we are awed by the truth expressed in that early myth about the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge.

Attempts to keep human existence wholesome, early on became an important goal. Not because the situation was understood. What was understood was only the bloodiness and misery of it all. But because there remains a systemic need to equilibrate between the contents of the two main sub-systems of the brain, as it is expressed by the Jungian archetype of the "self" (see chapter 6). I take this to be the one pressing evolutionary adaptation that became necessary after Homo sapiens developed consciousness and became such a success. This adaptation, though, is not genetic but cultural and our success in this has remained partial. Our present situation probably is comparable to the first land animals, who just barely wiggled and waggled along on flimsy fins. The fish ventured on land without knowing what lay ahead. We obtained consciousness in the same mode. What lay ahead was this: the logic of the situation forced us into the profession of creator and of nature's minister. But evolution still remains blind, and the attempts to master the new situation so far have remained shots in the dark.
Now I will try to incorporate the new concepts of ego system and individuation into a more formal schematic of the inner workings of the human psyche and its interaction with the social and the physical world.