Critique 6 – Hallucinations vs. Internal Dialogue Part 1
Critique: “Moreover, Jaynes is wrong to talk in terms of “hallucinations.” His ancients “hearing voices” were hearing their own thoughts, which were real, and that’s different from hallucinating nonexistent voices coming from outside (even though, obviously, they also originate within the person’s mind). Possibly one could imagine believing a “voices of gods” notion concerning inner voices that arrive suddenly, out of the blue, after a lifetime of silence (as with the hallucinated voices of schizophrenics). But in contrast normal people become aware of their own thoughts in early childhood, at least as soon as they learn language. And, from such an early age, when we talk to ourselves, we know who is doing the talking, and do not ascribe the interior chatter to “the gods.” Certainly humans would have been capable of such minimal mental sophistication long before 1000 BC.”
Response: Again, Robinson is just stating his personal beliefs. Texts indicate that in the ancient world, individuals often experienced auditory and visual hallucinations that they did not attribute to their internal thoughts. The early Biblical prophets, Muhammad, and, more recently, Emanuel Swedenborg and Joseph Smith all had this experience. The evidence of personal gods, idols, and descriptions in ancient texts in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere suggest that this experience was widespread. Similarly, the inhabitants of ancient civilizations experienced commands in what has been terms visitation dreams, which differed greatly from our modern, conscious dreams (see my Introduction and Jaynes’s “The Dream of Agamemnon” in The Julian Jaynes Collection). We see evidence for both hallucinations and visitation dreams among preliterate tribes as well (see Levy-Bruhl, Primitive Mentality). For more on the external quality and often commanding nature of auditory hallucinations, see my chapter in Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness, Stevens and Graham When Self Consciousness Breaks: Alien Voices and Inserted Thoughts, Russell Hurlbert, “A Schizophrenic Woman who Heard Voices of the Gods,” Ralf Erkwoh, et al., “Command Hallucinations: Who Obeys and Who Resists When?”, etc. Additional articles on command hallucinations can be found on the Command Hallucinations page in the Supporting Research section of this website.
Learn about about Julian Jaynes’s theory by reading our latest book, Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind: Interviews with Leading Thinkers on Julian Jaynes’s Theory.