Julian Jaynes Society Forum: Exploring Consciousness and Bicameral Mind Theory

Does anyone have an idea of how the neurological model of the Bicameral Mind mind might be used to explain the religious hallucinatory phenomena associated with ecstatic epilepsy? For examples of these religious hallucinatory phenomena, see my YouTube video "Sick Mystics", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd1izjaagO8.

This is an interesting subject and is touched on briefly in Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness (pages 120–126).

The idea is that language evolved along with auditory hallucinations, which coming from the right hemisphere had an external quality to them. They also contained an air of authority in order for them to be unquestionably followed. The external, authoritative quality and sense of meaningfulness associated with the voices can lead to what we would today describe as religious-type experiences.

In temporal lobe epilepsy, we see excitation of the right (and sometimes also left) temporal lobe leading to sudden religious conversions and hyper-religiosity. Jaynes's bicameral mind theory offers the best explanation (that I am aware of) as to why auditory hallucinations and religiosity would both be associated with the right temporal lobe area. Dr. Michael Persinger's work on the feeling of a sensed presence during right temporal lobe stimulation is also relevant here.

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I am currently focused on ecstatic epilepsy, but I will also write about connections between that field and the bicameral mind theory as I become aware of more of those connections (and if there is still an interested readership that can be reached).

The understanding of ecstatic epilepsy's neuroscientific basis has significantly improved in the past two decades, very significantly. And I think there will be a huge impact on Jaynes' bicameral mind model.

Ecstatic epilepsy is now recognized as a feature of the insula, specifically the anterior insular cortex (AIC), rather than the temporal lobe. The AIC is a region of much greater interest. For instance, the AIC has been called a neural correlate of consciousness. More than one patient with ecstatic epilepsy has described increased consciousness during seizures: this makes sense because focal seizures can increase the level of functioning of areas in the brain region in focus. (See my substack post dated March 19, 2024):Astounding Experiences Of Deep Meditators: A Science-based Explanation, Part 2: Brahman in the Brain?. https://markzima.substack.com/p/astound ... tators-7f7
Will this impact the viability of Jaynes's language-based model of consciousness?

One of my other themes to explore, as hinted at in the above substack post title, is the hypothesis that when deep meditation and hatha yoga techniques actually "work", it is via neurological mechanism very similar to that of epilepsy. I will, in the near future, support that hypothesis by multiple neurological and medical examples, including a discussion of ways by which ecstatic epilepsy patients self-induce their own seizures.

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