The Tao Te Ching and New World Bicameralism
Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:51 am
I have never encountered an article which applies Julian Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory to Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. I read the Tao long before I ever encountered Jaynes's work. However, as I was reading the OC, I could not help but think of the Tao. I did not see the Tao mentioned in the OC but it would seem to me that Lao Tzu's thoughts run parallel to many of the ideas contained within the OC. For example, Lao Tzu's notion of the "Great Integrity" seems consistent with notion of the bicameral mind or bicameral civilization. Furthermore, the Taoist idea of the "Great Disintegration" may very well represent the breakdown of the bicameral mind. In fact, it seems to me that the entire work may very well be an iconoclastic rejection of conscious civilization and a nostalgic yearning for the values and dispositions of nonconscious bicameral peoples. The writings of the Tao probably date back no later than the 6th Century BC so, it appears that the Oracles of ancient Greece and other remnants of bicameral times would have still been quite influential. However, although Jaynes comments a great deal on Western writings and artifacts, not much is said about Asia. Also, I have not encountered much about the civilizations of the Western Hemisphere who supposedly lost their bicameralism much later than those of the Eastern Hemisphere. Given the much more recent collapse of these bicameral societies, it would seem to me that archaeology would have an even greater body of artifacts to work with that indicated bicameralism among the Aztec, Mayan, and Incan peoples than the body of artifacts suggesting bicameralism among the peoples of the Eastern Hemisphere. Does anyone know of any articles or have and thoughts regarding Asian and New World civilizations and their applicability to the bicameral mind theory or, specifically, the evidence of bicameralism found in the Tao Te Ching?