Pendulum swings of human evolution, from 1970s Edgar Cayce literature, remains useful today
NOTE ~ To get the most out of this conversation, a pre-requisite exists, Your Habit Body; An Owner’s Manual: Gut-brain Axis 2.0
Except for surgery and trauma medicine, I believe polyvagal is the likely beginning of the end for 1700s-1800s corpse-dissection nomenclature (central nervous system, peripheral nervous system, sympathetic, parasympathetic).
Late in 2022, I was asked to teach an online anatomy class, for which I am grateful. Ive learned several new things. The biggest is a set of related ideas:
- Our vagus nerve anatomy-physiology is very close — or identical — to the anatomy-physiology of our inner child, the basic self each adult has,
- Both our vagus nerve and inner child are creatures of habit, learned responses, recorded for instant playback,
- Our internal physical threat, surveillance system, is NOT conscious. It is sub- and unconscious. By design, our internal, physical threat assessment, occurs below conscious awareness, away from conscious control. It scans for cues of safety, danger, and life threats without involving the thinking parts of our brain,
- Both our vagus nerve and our inner child contribute the intelligence of physical, threat assessment,
- Both our vagus nerve and our inner child contribute our intelligence about fear, anger, shame, anxiety and stress,
- The social age (developmental age) of both our vagus nerve and our inner child appear to be similar (I’ve begun my study of this).
- The way to unburden both our vagus nerve and our inner child, appears to be identical. Ideally with with ‘God as our Partner,’ using listening, direct dialog, apology and self-forgiveness.
Edgar Cayce (1970s): Pendulum swing of human evolution
Between 1650 and 1970, a change in priorities in human evolution, occurred twice. If we liken changes in priorities in human evolution to swings of a pendulum, between two extremes; then, 1650 and 1970, two swings of the pendulum occurred.
Historical context:
Q: When and where did the Enlightenment take place?
A: Historians place the Enlightenment in Europe (with a strong emphasis on France) during the late 17th and the 18th centuries, or, more comprehensively, between the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the French Revolution of 1789. It represents a phase in the intellectual history of Europe. Reform programs inspired by a belief in the possibility of a better world outlined specific targets for criticism and progressive programs of action ~ https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history
The “long 19th century”
The long nineteenth century is a term for the 125-year period beginning with the onset of the French Revolution in 1789 and ending with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It was coined by Russian writer Ilya Ehrenburg and British Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm. Wikipedia
The medical and scientific advances of the Enlightenment led directly to world industrialization in the 1800s and 1900s. Industrialization and commercializing products came to characterize life in all developed countries.
First change of direction: “the Enlightenment”
The pendulum of human evolution needed to swing AWAY from the basic self and its five-sensory impulsiveness and spontaneity
The pendulum of human evolution needed to swing TOWARDS the opposite pole, of rational thinking, rational feeling; and, more thoughtful choices (no longer impulsive, animalistic, only subjective).
Another way of saying this is, the priority was to dissociate conscious waking Self more from the lower frequency, animalistic Habit Body.
Why? According to Edgar Cayce literature I read in the 1970s, the talents of conscious waking Self were too deeply embedded in routine habits of physical survival, making babies and raising kids.
The pendulum of human evolution had swung too far towards five-sensory, physical materialism and was stuck there. Our gut-brain, the enteric nervous system was dominating human thinking to an unbalanced degree.
The danger was humanity’s evolutionary progress was slowed down too much. The need was to stimulate the intelligence and talents of conscious waking Self. This is why the Enlightenment and the 1800s all the way to the 1920s, are so strongly characterized by inventors, mathematics and analytical scientists.
The need was for conscious waking Self to emerge from out of lives dominated by only baby-making, child raising and earning money for physical survival.
The need was for conscious waking Self expand and exercise its greatest talents: logic, cause and effect thinking, math, language and rational objectivity generally.
The pendulum needed to swing towards our 12 senses (see Rudolf Steiner) and exercise of talents of our cerebral nervous system, our head-brain; and, our left brain hemisphere.
dg-12 senses of RS
However by the 1930s, the impulse of science, language, math and analysis became too strong, began to dominate the human psyche to an unbalanced degree. This helps explain why pro-eugenics, pro-racism and pro-fascism topics dominated cultural conversations in the 1930s.
Second change of pendulum direction (1960s-1970s)
It will be helpful here to mention a pattern in Earth’s history. This idea comes from 1970s Edgar Cayce literature. It sometimes happens after a large war is resolved, a long period of peace an prosperity is possible. This happened again after WWII. We know this phenomena as the Baby Boom Generation. This Generation was intimately involved with the opportunity history afforded them to move the pendulum of human evolution AWAY from narrow-minded left-brain-only naive materialism; and BACK towards the pole of right hemisphere subjectivity and youthfulness.
When the pendulum swing of human evolution reverses course, it is always hoped it will stop in the middle, balanced between the extremes of either pole. I’ll let each reader decide for themselves if in the 1970s, the pendulum swung too far towards right hemisphere; or, not far enuf in that direction.
It will be helpful here to add to our pendulum metaphor, its spiraling nature. The pendulum is not just moving back and forth. The whole room the pendulum is moving in time, space and frequency. After WWII Earth’s frequency was rising. This is partially reflected in the rising numbers of the Earths Schumann Frequency
After the chaos and trauma of WWII, the Baby Boom generation came in to ride UP on the Earth’s rising frequency. Where before, the priority had been, to separate and dissociate conscious waking Self from the basic self and its animalistic Habit Body — now the opposite priority prevailed: To re-connect conscious waking Self with vagus nerve intelligence, with our Habit Body and with the child within (all three closely resonant in frequency).
The educator John-Roger (d. 2014) used the term “basic self” to point to our vagus nerve intelligence, our Habit Body and our child within. Which term you prefer is entirely up to you. To see more names for the inner child, see Skill Ladder of Self-Connection, Law of Gentleness, 22 Names for the Inner Child (Best Practices in Energy Medicine Book ($1.25).
The new priority, to re-unite conscious waking Self with vagus nerve intelligence, so both can work together as teammates, is summed up in the phrase, “self-connection.” Briefly, all the Dr. Frankenstein monsters turned loose on humanity were created by males stuck in one-sided, left-brain-only thinking.
The new priority per Iain McGilchrist
Iain McGilchrist in his two books and many Youtube talks and interviews, has laid out the new priority in clear language using our two brain hemispheres. If you listen to him, Iain gives the strong impression of being a person of moral health, ethical health and healthy passion.
How does Iain do this? Iain is an excellent example of a whole-brained public figure, one of very few anywhere now who switch easily back and forth between right and left hemisphere. Douglas Rushkoff is another. The rest at this time are mostly women, who currently are all less well known.
Iain’s whole-brainedness (better term?) illustrates the latest priority in human evolution. It’s easy to spell-out in brain hemisphere terms.
Before the Enlightenment, humankind was stuck, mired, in primarily right hemisphere and gut brain thinking and behaving. Everyone was one-sidedly obsessed with five-sensory life and survival. Humanity was in danger of becoming a failed species. Five-sensory living and survival dominated the human psyche too much. Humanity’s evolution was proceeding too slowly for too long.
During the Enlightenment, thru many great science-medicine innovators, humankind was stimulated to exercise and attend to left hemisphere talents and intelligences.
However, by the end of the 1920s, left hemisphere talents and intelligences became too dominant in Western culture. The opposite problem appeared, humankind became one-sided, obsessed with nothing but abstract, dissociated points of view. No empathy, no compassion especially for people of lower class and/or a darker skin color and different culture.
By the 1930s, one-sided, left-hemisphere-only thinking, led in two crucial spheres of human culture:
- Money and finance, and
- Making guns and weapons of war.
Why are these two activities singled out? Because they can only function when persons involved:
- Dissociate left hemisphere form right hemisphere (R-Hem is cancelled), and
- Dissociate head brain from gut brain and vagus nerve, and
- The business is highly profitable.
Consider in 2023 how a significant fraction of all Westerners work in either financial services of all kinds (stocks, commodities, online finance sites like PayPal); or, making, distributing and using guns and weapons.
Consider also how given how profitable these activities are. Bank managers and weapons makers both invest a large fraction of profits into political races to elected officials thru campaign fund donations. This money further exaggerates the influence of their one-sided thinking.
To the above two groups we can add a third group, everyone worldwide involved in conventional drug-surgery-hospital healthcare.
Why would we add healthcare professionals to weapons makers and financial workers?
Because conventional drug-surgery-hospital healthcare remains stuck, mired in 1700s-1800s thinking. Conventional healthcare workers make their money from ignoring and denying, how thru polyvagal exercises, people can become friends with their own internal neurology and begin to address the underlying stress and psychosomatic causative factors of their physical complaints and diseases.
Does any reader disagree the activity of:
- conventional healthcare,
- finance in all forms, and
- making and using weapons of war…
…constitute a large fraction of all working persons?
In 2023, their one-sided mode of thinking and activity are main causes of the rapid decline of Earth as a viable Habitat for Humanity.
How a new priority of self-connection changes science-medicine
Example: Beginning of the end for “neuroception.” This word was coined by Stephen Porges, initial useful, isn’t likely to hold up well. Why? It’s an abstraction. It dissociates readers from direct experiences already familiar to them:
- I feel safe and secure
- I don’t feel safe nor secure
- Im enjoying this social interaction, and
- Im not enjoying this social interaction.
Neuroception tends to dissociate us from what each of us perceives directly: “I feel safe here” or I don’t feel safe here,” and “how safe and trusting do I feel now?”
I believe Stephen made up this word as a work around and apology to conventional doctors. “Neuroception” stops just short of declaring WHO is perceiving. NOT conscious waking Self. Our neurology-self is perceiving, our basic self, our child within, our inner child.
In 2023, male-led, left brain only, science-medicine is neither honest nor humble enuf yet to admit to and acknowledge an internal, living being, an innate intelligence, who contributes the intelligent work of synthesizing five-sensory percepts into a workable, useful threat assessment function. Still each adult has this living internal neurology. It contributes its unique ability to our whole system.
“Neuroception” describes the function of our internal living being without acknowledging its rights, responsibilities and privileges directly. As women, this may sound familiar to you.
-=+ -=+ -=+
The new priority of self-connection wants — necessitates — new terminology for science, medicine and healthcare. In mainstream culture, polyvagal is the start of this change in terminology and nomenclature.
Q: What about the last 50 years of holistic health and healing?
A: Lots of useful language here too. However polyvagal is almost the only holistic healing topic which has so far been embraced by conventional drug-surgery-hospital healthcare, in a way things might change.
Q: How might polyvagal theory and exercises — in time — change conventional terminology and nomenclature?
A: A widening consensus on the value of polyvagal theory and exercises, exists between healthcare workers, counselors, therapists and physical therapists. This did NOT happen with acupuncture. This did NOT happen with self-testing (muscle testing). It may be polyvagal theory and exercises are like a Trojan Horse, taken into the fortress of conventional drug-surgery-hospital healthcare, permitting change to happen from the inside out.
I predict this will happen over the next 100 years.
In simplest terms, we can say, all true healing begins with self-connection.
Drugs, surgery, vitamins and genetic manipulation-in service to merely avoiding pain and discomfort, are NOT true healing.
Mimi Castellanos ofBravoCoop.com has a phrase, “healing all the way healthy.” Avoiding physical pain is not the same as ‘healing all the way healthy.’
To avoid pain, you don’t need Willingness to heal. You only need to react. Avoiding pain is a service our vagus nerve as our immune system self, does for us.
To heal all the way, Willingness to heal is required. Not only is this an intention; it’s also, being ready, willing, able and wanting to redeem our internal parts from the negative habits they are burdened with.
Your comments are welcomed.
