A blast from the past

Allow me to shift gears, ever so slightly.

There is one aspect of blogging that simply fascinates me: what gets read the most. In my own humble case, it is a post from just over four years ago about -- are you ready? -- "The Archaic structure of consciousness". Yes, you read that correctly ... how obscure is that? Not only is this the most viewed entry at Diaphainon, it has been viewed twice as often as the next closest entry. It's not only at the top of the list, it is far, far ahead of the pack. I can't help but wonder why.

The post is a brief summary of (Jean) Gebser's (1986) description of the earliest consciousness structure in his model of consciousness unfoldment (cf. EPO). Put most succinctly, what goes on in our human heads hasn't always been the same. At different points in our history, major shifts in how we perceive, see, and comprehend the world around us have occurred (Gebser calls them "mutations" to emphasize the differentness from one structure to the next.) Archaic consciousness is hardly consciousness at all. Feuerstein (1987) describes it as "a dimly lit mist devoid of shadows" (p57). In this structure, it was this dawning of awareness that put us on the path to becoming human. Yes, this is a tough notion to grasp, I agree. And you will probably agree as well that this isn't the first topic that would be on most people's what's-that-all-about agendas.

Personally, I like to think that this high number of page views is due to college professors touching upon Gebser's model and throwing their classes into confusion, whereupon they go home and google the subject to see if they can find out more. If my guess is correct, I sincerely hope they find my brief summary helpful.

Irrespective of the reason for this post's popularity, it is worthwhile to remember, to recognize, that what goes on in our modern heads is not what has always gone on inside people's heads. What has gone on and how significant these changes have been over time cannot be overemphasized. The difference that obligates, of which I've written in the last three posts, can be traced back directly to the emergence of this rather obscure, hard-to-grasp structure of consciousness.

In the next post or two, I will try to make clearer what this means.

References
Feuerstein, G. (1987) Structures of consciousness: The genius of Jean Gebser - An introduction and critique, Lower Lake/CA, Integral Publishing.

Gebser, J. (1986) The Ever-present Origin, Authorized translation by Noel Barstad with Algis Mikunas, Athens/OH, Ohio University Press [originally published 1949]. (EPO)