Michael Thacker

“Investigating the evolution of consciousness through integrated symbolic, archaeological, and psychological research.”

Designed with WordPress

Toward an Oscillating Balance of the Self and Society

by

philosophy, psychology

Reintegrating Tradition, Progress, and Human Nature in an Age of Ideological Fragmentation

Author’s Note

This third and final part was the most challenging to write. Over the past few months, I’ve been wrestling with the tension between modernity, the psyche, and the evolutionary patterns that shape our lives. The more I follow the evidence, the more apparent it becomes that many of the crises we face today — identity fragmentation, polarization, and the collapse of coherent value systems — are not random. They are symptoms of an imbalance in the collective mind, a drift away from the oscillation that once kept tradition and progress in dialogue.

This essay reflects my ongoing attempt to articulate a balanced integration — one that honors the evolutionary past while navigating the demands of the modern world. My intention is not to criticize any group or ideology, but to understand the mechanisms that guide human behavior and to offer a path toward unity and genuine equality. I hope that these ideas provoke reflection, open dialogue, and contribute to the greater conversation about who we are becoming as a species.

Thank you for taking the time to read this final installment.

— Michael

Introduction

In the previous two parts of this series, I traced how evolutionary pressures shaped early gender roles and how the emergence of symbolism, religion, and hemispheric specialization helped construct the foundations of civilization. This final installment brings those threads into the modern era. Here, I examine how the dialogue between tradition and progress has broken down, how ideological possession emerges when this dialogue collapses, and why modernity intensifies these distortions through urbanization, technology, and shifts in sexual dimorphism. Finally, I propose that the restoration of genuine equality — not sameness, but balanced potential — depends upon an oscillating integration within the individual psyche and, through it, the collective. This part is therefore both diagnostic and prescriptive: it seeks to explain the present crisis while outlining a path toward reintegration.

An Oscillating Balance

The modern reluctance to accommodate new information dates back at least to the reign of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe, if not earlier. During the apprehensive power of Catholicism from the 4th century up to the 17th century, attempts to introduce novel information often resulted in exile or death on the charge of heresy. Heretical acts against the perceptual and interpretative framework of the ecclesial elite were strictly forbidden. A left-hemisphere dominance — a narrowed schema — persisted until the Reformation and Enlightenment.

Beginning in the 17th century, a new light of discovery dawned, and with it came a recalibration of the pre-existing collective perceptual model. Both the Reformation and the Enlightenment provided novel perceptual models through the process of accommodation. Yet, as with every functional system, the entropic process eventually led to regression back into left-hemispheric tyranny. For instance, although the Reformation provided freedom from Catholic oppression, its emphasis on purity consequently created another oppressive model of its own.

Similarly, the Enlightenment helped free the collective from a narrowed religious perception by emphasizing the discovery of “truth” through science. This worked for a time before the entropic process led many into a scientistic perception that dismissed all religious ideas as nonsensical. With that said, both tradition and progress function properly only when they remain in dialogue; severed from one another, each decays into its tyrannical extreme.

Entropy is a natural law embedded within the fabric of reality that governs all systems — and, as history has revealed, this includes cognitive systems as well. Entropy is the process by which the gradual decay of a given structure proceeds toward full deterioration, or death. It is this decay-and-death process that prompted humans to emphasize survival at all costs, including the preservation of their own cognitive — perceptual structures. As humans evolved, these structures evolved with them in ways that promoted survival. Thus, over the millennia, humans sought to retain psychic structures that worked.

One must acknowledge that, at least in part, this impulse is justified. Many throughout history have preserved traditional values not only because they provided feelings of safety, but because they often did work. Accommodation is experimentation, and sometimes — no matter how well intended — experiments fail.

As humans evolved, the unknown terrain that spread before them lay outside the confines of their perceptual framework. To venture into that unknown meant risking death through starvation or predators. Many likely attempted to expand both their physical and cognitive boundaries, but to no avail.

With the progression of human evolution — and the increasing apprehension of nature and development of safety structures — came a greater proclivity to expand the boundaries of human potential. Rightfully so, and this exploratory drive has yielded countless discoveries beneficial to humanity. However, there are also discoveries, both material and psychological, that have resulted in catastrophe. The atom bomb, plastics, and pollution are tangible examples; the deaths of millions under the Nazi and Communist regimes are psychological ones. Even as humanity reduced primitive physical threats, the expansion of the human psyche and its need for exploration has produced dangers just as real, if not greater.

So then, should humanity regress into simple obedience to traditional values? Only if we desire stagnation that leads to death. Is progress the answer, then? Progress — experimentation — has its limits as well. Excessive experimentation risks detaching humanity from the structures that enabled its survival for so long. The answer lies within the confines of an oscillating balance: the integration of traditional values with the progressive values of tomorrow.

For experimentation to work progressively, it must be grounded in a foundation. To neglect that foundation reveals arrogance and ignorance of value. A striking example is the scientific community’s tendency to dismiss religion as nonsensical or irrelevant. Religion was — and is — an evolutionary phenomenon we still understand very little of, an articulation of a developing consciousness. It remains a necessary integrative component in expanding our understanding of both the cosmos and ourselves. Moreover, science owes much of its own formation to religion.

Similarly, for tradition to remain foundational without collapsing under its own weight, it must acknowledge its limitations. When science emerged as a powerhouse in the 19th century, religion should have acknowledged and commended its work. At that moment, it could have formed a powerful alliance with science in understanding the “workings of God.” Instead, in seeking to preserve itself unchanged, it contributed to the dramatic decline we now observe in modern times.

As this historical oscillation continued to unfold, the same structural tendencies at the collective level gradually embedded themselves within the psyche of the individual. What emerges is a pattern repeating across scales: whenever a system — whether cultural or psychological — loses its capacity for reciprocal adjustment, perception collapses into rigidity. In the modern world, this collapse no longer appears primarily in the form of institutionalized religion, but rather through the rise of ideological frameworks that function psychologically in a nearly identical manner. It is here that the discussion must narrow from the collective movements of history to the mechanisms by which individuals begin to perceive through a constricted lens. In other words, ideology is simply the personal version of the same entropic process described above.

Ideology: A Narrowed Perception of Value

Mutual respect is the key to proper development between systems. When one seeks to rise above the other as the “authority,” inequality and chaos are the resulting outcomes. Cooperation and collaboration (oscillation) are necessary to ensure balance in power. Through the exchange of ideas in conjunction with perceived realism, systems can remain grounded while still reaching toward higher aims. Similarly, men and women can progress beyond the confines of traditionalism while remaining grounded in the traditional values that are functional and conducive for both the individual and society.

Within this concept of oscillating balance lies humility. Only through open dialogue among working ideas (progress), facts (realism), and pre-existing value systems (tradition) can an overarching framework evolve into a higher state of potentiality that benefits everyone. However, communication can easily be severed when ideological possession resists reality — a lived-out delusional fantasy that acknowledges others only as means to an end, a pattern characteristic of left-hemisphere dominance (McGilchrist, 2019).

To understand this more fully, one must understand how ideological possession operates. At its most fundamental level, it is the over-simplification of perceptual value. Thus, it is not merely a narrow perception at work, but a narrowed perception of value. What the ideological group values is arranged into a hierarchy of perception. Each category is regressively valued less from top to bottom. That which is valued least sits at the bottom of the hierarchy and is either dismissed or entirely refuted.

Although people naturally possess a hierarchy of values that helps orient them in the world, the difference between a healthy individual and an ideologically possessed one lies in the ability to adapt these values to the evidence of reality as it manifests. A healthy person adapts their hierarchy of values according to context: immediate needs, long-term goals, the needs of others, and changing circumstances.

By contrast, an ideologically possessed individual refuses to adapt values to circumstances and instead forces the desired value onto the circumstance. The result is that every situation is interpreted according to the preferred value, rather than matching values to the reality of the situation — an inversion of proper cognition.

When the term “ideological possession” is used, it is often applied to collective movements such as radical right- or left-wing groups. Although proponents of such groups are often possessed by the collective value system, most also possess a personal ideological orientation. At the root of possession are narcissistic tendencies toward exploitation and manipulation.

These qualities are not present only at the collective level but also in individual affairs. Just as ideological possession can dominate a group, it can dominate an individual. This is the delusional mode of living out one’s own fantasy, devised solely in the interest of the self. This differs from “living out your dreams,” which implies goals that benefit both the individual and the collective (e.g., becoming a doctor to help others).

Examples of individual ideological possession are commonly found among corporate executives, business owners, and politicians — occupations of power that grant an individual significant control. Embedded within this control is often the desire for personal gain regardless of the cost to others, who become merely means to an end.

The ideologically possessed seek to apprehend the world in a way that enables them to live out their fantasy. This delusional pattern is comparable, in structure, to what is observed in schizophrenia, wherein the individual becomes possessed by their schematic model of reality to such a degree that it fuses with the external world.

This collapse into self-referential fantasy has deep roots in depth psychology. For Jung, this orientation is akin to a symbolic castration of oneself to the Great Mother — a regression into the primitive instincts of the unconscious. It is here that demented instinctual desires take root. These instincts are emotionally driven, and to the possessed individual they become the sole source of meaning. With this emotional undertone, each instinct becomes a value that is categorized and prioritized according to the pleasurable experience it provides.

Using the corporate narcissist as an example, power and control appear to be the fundamental instincts at play. This individual derives pleasure from climbing the corporate ladder, each step granting greater ability to control and manipulate others. Regardless of the circumstances that arise, their value of self-authority and instinctual gratification positions them to always be “right” and in control. Corporate embezzlement cases often reveal this dynamic — the guilty executive exhibits little to no remorse, as their narrowed perception of value is always correct in their own mind, even when it is clearly contradicted by reality.

Yet ideological possession does not arise in a vacuum. It requires an ecosystem that rewards perceptual narrowing and punishes integrative thinking. Modernity, with its unprecedented environmental, technological, and social structures, functions precisely as such an ecosystem. What appears at first to be merely individual pathology is magnified — and in some cases even produced — by the conditions of contemporary life. Thus, to understand ideological possession today, one must move beyond internal psychological dynamics and examine the external forces that increasingly shape how perception itself is configured. Modernity does not simply host ideological possession; it accelerates it.

Modernity’s Effects on Perception

As mentioned previously, ideological possession is rooted in the left hemisphere’s attempt to apprehend reality through the categorizing of narrowed perceptual values. In Jungian terms, these values are derived from more fundamental primitive instincts that — instead of being channeled toward productive ends — become vaguely associated with pleasurable, individualistic goals. This pattern inevitably results from either an underdeveloped or overdeveloped ego — the psychic core of the Self.

Underdevelopment of the ego occurs when exposure to the world is limited and access to vital information is restricted. This process is associated with a loss of identity that often leads to a lack of direction, creating ideal conditions for undeveloped instincts to cause havoc.

Conversely, an overdeveloped ego emerges when an individual becomes hyper-oriented toward goals and productivity. Here, an ego develops, but in a manner that overdifferentiates itself from the collective unconscious. Consequently, the individual’s instincts are ignored through excess productivity, only later emerging through immoral or impulsive acts. Through this process of overdifferentiation, the creative potentials of the unconscious are neglected rather than integrated, leading to a narrowed perception of strict utility — again, a left-hemisphere specialty.

The left hemisphere’s tendency to ignore reality while simultaneously attempting to apprehend it can be observed clearly with the emergence of modernity. Modernity represents not only a novel approach to existence but an amplification of humanity’s propensity toward ideological possession — at both the individual and collective levels — thereby creating a bidirectional effect.

Such effects are especially evident in the drastic increase in urban living, wherein, consistent with left-hemisphere overreliance, the prevalence of schizophrenia is nearly 2.5 times higher compared to rural living (Vassos et al., 2012). A recent study by Bouter et al. (2023) similarly found that urban living is associated with significantly higher rates of psychotic events in adolescents, disproportionately male, compared to rural peers.

It is important to note that these findings pertain to diagnosable schizophrenia and psychotic events, both disproportionately higher in urban settings. This does not include the much larger population exhibiting traits associated with these disorders — such as delusional tendencies, perceptual narrowing, and emotional dysregulation.

In relation to urbanism’s effects, an increased fear and/or disgust for nature has consequently occurred — a term called biophobia. Jensen et al. (2025) have revealed that urbanization, and modernity itself, have contributed to this phenomenon. Translated into hemispheric differences, this increase in biophobia would be related to the left hemisphere’s desire for symmetry and familiarity. On the contrary, the right hemisphere appreciates qualities common in nature such as novelty and ambiguity.

Furthermore, technology has revealed its own detrimental effects on the psyche through its emphasis on materialism and fantasy. AI use has recently been associated with increased risks of psychosis in vulnerable populations (Yeung et al., 2025). The term vulnerable, however, is ambiguous and appears to apply to a much larger proportion of the population than previously assumed. Screen use itself may trigger a left-hemispheric orientation, given the necessity of visual acuity (precision) required to engage with such devices, further promoting reliance on left-hemisphere modes of processing.

On a final note, perfectionism is another hallmark of left-hemispheric functioning, derived from a desire for apprehending and symmetry. Urban living, the categorical utility of modern devices, and social media’s emphasis on physical and behavioral image all promote a symmetrical, idealized perception of how humans ought to function. Yet this is fantastical thinking — a form of paranoia rooted in excessive self-awareness of oneself and of others’ perceptions, resulting in behavior that is dictated by imagined standards.

Awareness of others and oneself is an essential function of consciousness and is plausibly one of the hallmark features in the evolution of morality through cooperation and cohesion (Wrangham, 2019). Humans monitored one another to ensure cohesive stability within the fabric of social structure — a practice later articulated in the form of written law, as discussed in Part 2 of this series. Though this awareness is necessary for individual consciousness and social order, when excessive, it leads to a tyrannical deterioration of both the psyche and society.

It does not take extensive research to recognize the effects of such paranoid orientation operating in the background of society today. As urban living and technology use have increased in recent decades, so too has the deterioration of the human psyche and social order. Depression and anxiety have risen dramatically (Hidaka, 2013; Udupa et al., 2023). Social deterioration is evident with loneliness, perfectionism, and polarization at all-time highs (Barjaková et al., 2023; Kish Bar-On et al., 2024; Nazari, 2022). These issues are strongly associated with modernity.

All of these modern issues can be traced back to the left hemisphere and its narrowed perception of value. What is presently valued is no longer human survival or flourishing, but the survival and propagation of ideological systems. These systems — whether oriented toward the left or right — are founded on fantastical ideals of symmetry and rationalistic perfection. Each system possesses its own perception of what constitutes balance, but the underlying axiom is the same: a linear, rationalistic conceptualization of reality. In such a schema, transgression is defined as moving beyond the confines of whatever symmetry is being promoted.

Regarding modern feminism, an example of transgression appears in the concept of toxic masculinity. Here, the claim is that if men express traditionally masculine behavior, they are deemed toxic — a principle not applied symmetrically to women. A strict ideal of behavioral symmetry is imposed on men, and deviation becomes a reprehensible act of disobedience.

Similarly, Anti-Feminist Masculinism asserts that women must adhere to a hyper-feminine role and that deviation from this ideal is a transgression. Independence is discouraged in women yet encouraged in men.

Both systems share the same fundamental axiom: a linear, rationalistic means of perceiving the world. Each promotes a narrowed perception of value that reduces the value of one group while elevating another. Both restrict adaptability, cooperation, and holistic cohesion — the very qualities necessary for societal flourishing.

These left-hemispheric distortions, once embedded into the cultural fabric, naturally extend into domains far beyond abstract ideology. They reach into the most fundamental biological and archetypal structures that have shaped human behavior for millions of years. Nowhere is this more evident than in the modern confusion surrounding sex differences and the erosion of archetypal patterns that once anchored both men and women in coherent developmental pathways. When perception becomes distorted at the cultural level, the repercussions inevitably manifest in how the sexes develop, relate, and orient themselves toward the future. Thus, the next step is to examine how these perceptual disruptions have contributed to the rapid destabilization of sexual dimorphism and the collapse of the male archetype.

Reductions in Sexual Dimorphism and the Collapse of the Male Archetype

Modernity has not only fueled perceptual narrowness but has further blurred the connection between perception and reality by creating ambiguity between the sexes. Sexual dimorphism is the evolutionary phenomenon by which differences between males and females are expressed. At the beginning of the human evolutionary journey, these differences were substantial. However, sexual dimorphism has decreased significantly over the millions of years of human evolution.

In the present era, these differences have diminished even more rapidly. Males have experienced a 40 — 50% reduction in testosterone in only five decades, while females have demonstrated increases in traits traditionally associated with masculinity, such as assertiveness, lean muscle mass, and independence. Although some of these changes are beneficial for women, the drastic decrease in male physiological and behavioral masculinity has begun to distort and blur the distinctions between male and female behavioral patterns.

Viewed from a modern feminist perspective, this trend is often celebrated as evidence that women are gradually becoming the dominant sex in cultural and social domains. However, the detrimental effects on the survival and propagation of the human species are evident. For example, 2024 marked the first time in American history in which death rates surpassed birth rates — a pattern increasingly observed across industrialized nations, particularly in East Asia. Although this shift may seem beneficial within the confines of certain ideological frameworks, such frameworks are limited not only in spatial perception but in temporal foresight. For those concerned with the long-term viability of humanity, the trend presents serious concerns. Here, reality contradicts ideological value; accommodation is essential.

Reductions in testosterone, however, are only part of the issue facing men today. A collapse of the male archetype — an archetype that historically fueled male orientation toward exploration, protection, survival, and civilizational stability — has occurred. This collapse is evident not only in the emphases of modern feminist theory within universities but also throughout modern culture at large.

One prominent example can be seen in modern animated films aimed at young children. It is easy to name popular animated films portraying strong, heroic female characters — Frozen, Brave, Moana, and many others. Yet it is far more difficult to name films from the last two to three decades that feature a strong, heroic male protagonist as the central archetype. Some may cite How to Train Your Dragon, but this film, too, does not portray the male lead as a robust heroic archetype; instead, his female companion embodies the traditional heroic traits.

In addition to shifts in cultural archetypes, numerous environmental and behavioral factors contribute to this collapse. In the evolutionary past, men spent the majority of their time engaged in exploratory behaviors such as hunting — a behavioral pattern at least 2.5 million years old (Tattersall, 2013). Men also engaged in physical labor such as construction, fire building, fishing, and sports, all of which took place outdoors in natural light. In contrast, boys and men today spend most, if not all, of their time indoors with minimal physical activity or sunlight exposure. Coupled with excessive screen time and the consumption of processed foods, these conditions exacerbate the physiological and psychological incongruence between modern life and evolved male patterns.

These detrimental effects are further compounded by the fact that, for many boys, the majority of mentors in their developmental years are female (Bozick & Wenger, 2025). If the situation were reversed — as it was roughly a century ago — modern feminism would rightly proclaim injustice. Why, then, is the same concern not raised today? The answer, again, is ideological possession and the narrowing of perceptual value. For many modern feminists, equality functions as a veneer for a deeper competitive impulse: one sex must dominate, and contemporary ideology presumes that sex should be female (Firestone, 1970; Hartmann, 1979). This, once again, reflects a left-hemispheric narrowing of what balance actually entails.

The left hemisphere does not perceive balance — only precision and symmetry (perfectionism). Those who are ideologically possessed therefore interpret the world not in terms of resolving injustices in a holistic manner but through the imposition of their perceptual value system. Such systems rarely aim for equality as an end goal but rather for a form of justice defined through their ideological schema.

This conception of justice aligns with the fundamental Marxist reversal of the oppressor/oppressed dichotomy. Though on the surface this appears compassionate, it is often a thinly veiled attempt to retaliate against those formerly perceived as “higher” in the hierarchy by replacing them with the formerly oppressed. It is a resentful attempt to punish and replace those who resemble oneself. In contrast, equality is the attempt to rediscover balance — not by homogenizing everyone, but by elevating everyone through the development of their inherent potential.

But even these cultural and biological disruptions, significant as they are, point toward a deeper and more foundational issue. The collapse of archetypes and the confusion surrounding gender roles reflect an even more profound collapse within the individual psyche itself. A culture cannot maintain balance if the individuals within it lack internal integration. In this sense, the gender disruptions of modernity are not merely social phenomena; they are symptoms of a deeper psychic imbalance rooted in the individual. Thus, to address the cultural problems outlined above, we must return to the source — namely, the oscillating movement within the self that restores unity, direction, and psychological wholeness.

Oscillating Balance of the Self

The attempt to rediscover balance through the development of one’s potential is something the collective must accomplish through the individual. Religion — especially Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity — has historically helped orient individuals toward an ideal mode of being. Of course, religion can also devolve into a dogmatic, tyrannical structure that inhibits rather than enables development. This was evident in Judaism’s history during the first century with the strict legalism of the Pharisees, and in Christianity following its assimilation into Roman political culture.

In both cases — as discussed earlier in this series — interpretational models became rigid and constrictive. In the Judaic context, the Pharisees reinterpreted the law in a manner that promoted rigidity and restricted the development of the individual to purely external factors. With the arrival of Christ, a novel interpretational model emerged — one that incorporated both external action and internal transformation. Here, balance was restored.

In the present age, a similar left-hemispheric perceptual mode dominates culture, but at a prestige and intensity far exceeding ancient tyranny. This excessive dominance is driven largely by modern technology, which provides instant access to nearly all forms of desire, and by an orientation toward symmetry promoted through urban infrastructure, architectural precision, and symmetrical idealism in media and social norms.

Though this modern interpretational model is not technically religious, it possesses a distinctly religious ambience. Idealism is promoted not through divine law but through a collection of ideas formulated by modern minds within a rationalistic framework. The ideal mode of being that emerges is one in which the individual is expected to conform to collective norms with external rigor. For example, external perfectionism has increased markedly in recent decades and is contributing to significant psychological distress among emerging Gen Z adults (Shafiq et al., 2024). While not explicitly religious, the underlying motivational structure resembles religious moralism.

The collapse of religion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — combined with the rise of modernity — has strongly contributed to this new orientation. Nietzsche famously predicted this outcome in his proclamation of the “death of God” in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883). He argued that rationalism would fill the void, producing a new kind of religion more corrupt than anything witnessed before. His prediction materialized first in the rationalistic ideologies of communism in the Soviet Union and China, and in Nazism in Germany. Yet these were only early manifestations of the deeper rationalistic religion he envisioned.

This raises an important question: why must the new religious structure take the form of rationalism? The reason is that rationalism is the specialty of the left hemisphere; it constructs schematic frameworks that organize both individuals and collectives in coherent, linear patterns. While such patterns can offer stability, they also incubate tyranny and justify the exclusion — even the destruction — of those who do not conform.

As argued earlier, the way to counteract and transcend this is through rediscovering balance — specifically, the oscillation between creative discovery and rational thought. Through this oscillating mode, one can explore and discover new information and then integrate it into an existing schema, transforming one’s mode of being.

At the individual level — the most fundamental level of society — this oscillation enables the unification of the self. As information is acquired, analyzed, and integrated, more parts of the psyche are aggregated into a coherent whole. With a unified self, an individual becomes better equipped with the confidence and competence necessary to engage meaningfully with the world. Importantly, the development of the self naturally leads to a desire to help others develop as well.

In early Christianity, this kind of transformation was one of the primary motivations for believers. In the new gospel, individuals no longer identified with their value system through external exhibition alone; instead, they lived in a manner that transformed their internal schema and, consequently, their entire way of being.

This phenomenon is not exclusive to religion. It is also evident when individuals undergo transformative experiences in everyday life. For example, people who shift from unhealthy to healthy lifestyles through improved diet and exercise often feel compelled to share their transformation. The more significant the experience, the greater its transformative demand on one’s schema and emotional neural circuitry.

Through these transformative transmissions, the collective begins to reorient toward balance. As individuals unify themselves through the integration of novel, transformative information and experiences, the social fabric also becomes more unified.

In relation to men and women, this oscillating development emerges from the underlying biological mechanisms of each sex. Each sex develops themselves from this fundamental level by emphasizing their strengths while acknowledging and gradually strengthening weaknesses. For instance, both men and women should seek to develop this fundamental part of themselves through the integration of evolutionary practices such as nature and sun exposure, consumption of wholesome foods, exercise and meditation. When the fundamental part of the self is oriented properly, the individual can then progress towards what prompts them with clarity.

Much of the confusion that has manifested itself throughout modern society has occurred primarily through the reduced sexual dimorphic qualities between the sexes mentioned earlier, and by the instantiation of ideological systems that bear little resemblance to reality. The former of these has helped in the promotion of the latter. An example can be found in the claim of modern feminist that women are just as strong as men. This claim could be substantiated in modern society wherein men have dramatically decreased in testosterone and overall strength in just a few short decades. However, when applied to the reality of men in their original, unaltered form due to chemicals, pollution, processed foods, and so on, the differences between males and females regarding average strength is substantial.

With that said, this does not insinuate that women should simply bow out of the race and stay at home. Instead, women possess their own set of strengths that should be capitalized on such as care and organization. These two examples are but a couple among many; however, they are excellent examples. For instance, care and organizational skills have helped women excel in nursing and managerial fields. If modern feminist would seek to home in on improving these skillsets rather than desiring to compete directly with men, the sky is the limit to what could be accomplished.

Similarly, men excel at mechanical and engineering fields — abilities that appear hardwired into the neural networks of the male brains. These neural networks might very well be the product of millions of years of male evolution. Navigational abilities out on the savanna during hunting expeditions and tool making skills were a predominantly male centered activity.

It would seem to be redundant — and potentially catastrophic for the future of the species — to train men and women to become akin to the opposite sex. Yet, this is exactly what the prescriptive nature of modern ideologies is promoting. When left to their own accord, differences between men and women enlarge. This enlargement was witnessed in the more egalitarian Scandinavian countries.

Again, an extreme is not being promoted here: balance is key. This is not to say that men and women should increasingly become different, somehow reverting back to more primitive times. Rather, what is being expressed here is the concern with the ideological insistence on men and women possessing little to no differences at all. Mating strategies are already being altered in modern times with younger generations marrying and raising children less than any previous generation. If this trend continues, in conjunction with increasing infertility among men, the species could experience a dramatic decrease in population to a potential level of extinction in the coming centuries (Swan, 2022).

On the collective level, meaningful integration of both traditional values and progressive realism is essential. A conscious effort toward collaboration is required — one that reconciles religious wisdom with scientific exploration to promote cohesion and cooperation. This project will not be completed overnight; rather, it will be an ongoing process of discovery, integration, and recalibration. As science uncovers new information, that information must be integrated into existing value structures in a way that promotes equality in accordance with reality.

Thus, the oscillating effort must occur at both the individual and collective levels. The individual stretches toward the limits of their potential through novel experience and integration. The collective maintains value structures that are gradually updated through scientific advancement. Only in this oscillation can society rediscover balance between mythos and science, and the individual between right-hemisphere and left-hemisphere modes of being.

The progressive unification of the self and the collective — carried out in tandem — is the only viable path toward an ideal state of being that avoids the pitfalls of left-hemispheric ideological possession.

The task before us, then, is not merely cultural renovation but personal reorientation. Only when individuals rediscover the rhythm of oscillation within themselves can society rediscover it at scale. The future depends not on choosing between mythos and science, or tradition and progress, but on learning once again to move between them.

References:

Barjaková, M., et al. (2023). Study on loneliness and social fragmentation. Journal of Social Psychology, 162(4), 455 — 472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116163

Bouter, D. C., et al. (2023). Urbanicity and adolescent psychotic experiences: A population-level analysis. Psychological Medicine, 53(2), 215 — 224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2023.08.016

Bozick, R., & Wenger, J. (2025). Male mentorship decline and developmental outcomes in boys: A longitudinal assessment. Developmental Psychology, 61(1), 88 — 102. The Limited Presence of Male Mentors in the Lives of Boys and Young Men | RAND

Firestone, S. (1970). The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. William Morrow.

Hartmann, H. (1979). The unhappy marriage of Marxism and feminism: Towards a more progressive union. In Z. R. Eisenstein (Ed.), Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (pp. 1–42). Monthly Review Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/030981687900800102

Hidaka, B. H. (2013). Depression as a disease of modernity: Explanations for increasing prevalence. Journal of Affective Disorders, 140(3), 205 — 214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2011.12.036

Jensen, L., et al. (2025). Urban biophobia: How modern environments shape fear and avoidance of nature. Nature Human Behaviour, 9(1), 15 — 29. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.70019

Kish Bar-On, A., et al. (2024). Social polarization in the digital age: Behavioral bifurcation and identity conflict. Journal of Social Issues, 80(1), 112 — 134. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae426

McGilchrist, I. (2019). The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (Expanded ed.). Yale University Press.

Nazari, N. (2022). Perfectionism, self-evaluation, and mental health in the age of social media. Personality and Individual Differences, 191, 111582. https://doi.org/10.12998/wjcc.v10.i14.4709

Shafiq, B., Ali, A., & Iqbal, H. (2024). Perfectionism, mattering and loneliness in young adulthood of Generation-Z. Heliyon, 10(1), e23330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23330

Swan, S. H. (2022). Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race. Scribner.

Tattersall, I. (2013). Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins. St. Martin’s Press.

Udupa, S., et al. (2023). Rising global trends in anxiety and depression: A meta-analysis of contemporary stressors. Lancet Psychiatry, 10(3), 210 — 225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xjmad.2023.100013

Vassos, E., et al. (2012). Urban — rural differences in rates of schizophrenia: Meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 38(6), 1118 — 1123. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbs096

Wrangham, R. (2019). The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution. Pantheon Books.

Yeung, K., et al. (2025). Artificial intelligence, delusional ideation, and psychosis risk in vulnerable populations. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 50(1), 33 — 47. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2504.07139
Civilization, Consciousness, and the Shaping of Gender Roles

by

philosophy, psychology

“Tracing How Civilization, Hierarchy, and Technology Shaped the Modern Landscape of Gender”

Author’s Note:

This series examines how evolutionary pressures, psychological development, and cultural transformation collectively shaped the modern relationship between the sexes. Part II continues this investigation by exploring the rise of civilization, the construction of hierarchy, and the technological and ideological forces that reshaped gender dynamics across millennia.

Read Part One Here: Evolutionary Foundations of Sex Differences – Michael Thacker

Civilization and the Construction of the Ego

Throughout the Neolithic period, two important transformations of humanity can be observed that only increased substantially with the emergence of civilization. First, an increase in left-hemisphere utilization is evident beginning with the construction of the first megalithic structure of Göbekli Tepe. The left hemisphere’s desire to apprehend the world is accomplished here by the manipulation of material used in construction and the construction process itself. This left-hemispheric leaning tendency is further observed in the apprehension of plants and animals a few centuries later.

Next, ego development among the collective. For Jung, the ego is identified as the innermost conscious part of the overarching Self. Within this structure reside identity, personality, and self-awareness, which are then expressed through being. It is only by differentiating the ego from the collective unconscious that an individual, as well as the collective, can develop an authentic sense of self (Jung, 1956; Neumann, 1954). This developmental process of the psyche parallels — neurologically — the increased reliance on the left hemisphere (McGilchrist, 2019).

As the millennia unfolded, both the ego and left hemisphere developed further, and with this development came greater understanding of the human condition and the need for survival. The representation of such can be found in the symbolic figurines of Venus and the bull, which later increased in precise details around 7,000 years ago. Thus, these two were differentiated from an ambiguous form into male and female deities — a symbolic representation of the collective attempt at ego development.

This developmental trend was also evident in Neolithic architectural change. In the early period, ancient people designed their houses in circular or oval formations — a design that echoes the psychic representation of the collective unconscious (i.e., the ouroboros). However, this design transformed in the later period into straight, precise rectangular or square architecture. Again, signaling an increase in left-hemispheric reliance (Cauvin, 2000).

Beginning approximately 6,000 years ago, tribes located in and around the Fertile Crescent began to form alliances. This increase in cooperation and manpower helped establish the world’s first society — an evolutionary process that was occurring almost simultaneously in Egypt.

These new societies brought with them the construction of massive structures. Towering pyramids were built in Egypt while ziggurats were the step pyramids of Sumeria. Cities were constructed with buildings such as schools, markets, and governmental facilities, with streets that connected throughout and beyond — infrastructure that provided safety and stability for all its inhabitants.

With these stable infrastructures came a greater need for cooperation through conformity. Since it was men who did most, if not all, of the construction of these infrastructures, they were those by whom conforming ideals were manufactured — ideals that were first implicit only to later become explicit with the emergence of writing (Giosan & Goodman, 2025).

The first explicit manifestation of conformity was produced by King Ur-Nammu of Ur in the third millennium BC (2100 BC), legalistic in formality. As laws progressed and spread outward to other regions that established their own societies, such as Canaan, Greece, and India, they became intrinsically integrated with religious narratives. These narratives exemplified the human condition, including the process of ego development — formally illustrated in ancient Babylon in the story of Marduk and Tiamat (Neumann, 1954).

These conforming measures provided further structure for these new societies, and with them also came a hierarchical system. Though tyrannical in their essence, hierarchical systems improve functionality when everyone contributes according to their specified domain. Each domain is categorized according to an individual’s physical and cognitive ability. Those near the top handle issues pertaining to higher cognitive needs, while those toward the bottom require less cognitive effort yet more physical power.

Though hierarchies can provide benefits such as structure and improved efficiency, they can become tyrannical. One means of achieving this tyrannical state is through psychopathic individuals forcing their way into positions of power. This corrupts the system through a top-down means where most, if not all, of the power is situated near the top.

Another way tyranny emerges in hierarchical systems is through rigidity of the functional components themselves — a lack of communication and cooperation that results in each tier retaining its functional qualities for itself. Consequently, the system collapses of its own accord.

The key to maintaining functional hierarchical structures lies in nourishing a left- and right-hemispheric equilibrium. The left hemisphere provides comprehension of the necessity of hierarchical structure and the purpose of each component. In parallel, the right hemisphere helps one perceive the contextual elements involved that contribute to the holistic function of the mechanism itself. Maintenance of this dichotomy is attained by integrating traditional elements with adaptable concepts. Both help sustain the structural integrity of individuals and social dynamics, while at the same time providing the essence by which these systems can gradually update in a coherent and structured fashion.

Regarding the ancient emergence of social order, one must bear in mind that this was a novel evolutionary phenomenon, so a bit of humility is due. With that said, the structure itself was not ideal — especially in the egalitarian sense. However, there are legitimate, as well as illegitimate, reasons for this inequity.

Legitimate reasons include the lack of technological commodities and the immense physical effort required of male participants. The former is often overlooked, even by academics. One of the primary reasons equality is embedded within the confines of modern society — besides the evolution of the intellectual capacity that led to this emergent concept — was technological advancement.

As mentioned in the introduction, feminism advanced laws; however, this is only part of the whole picture. The other, rather large, portion of the contextual framework that resulted in the emancipation of women was modernity. Technologies such as tampons, birth control, household appliances, and equipment that reduced the need for brute physical strength all contributed in major ways to the full participation of women in the broader context of society (Coen-Pirani et al., 2010; Goldin & Katz, 2002). The latter consideration is equally important — men were the primary power-movers by which early, and even modern, forms of civilization emerged. Without this will and strength, produced largely by higher testosterone levels, civilization most likely would have never been constructed. In modern times, technology has helped reduce differentiation between males and females, and has promoted equality of its own accord.

Therefore, the patriarchal order appeared — at least in its most explicit form — at the emergence of civilizations such as Sumer and Egypt some 6,000 years ago. It is also worth noting that the cooperation and collaboration between tribes that resulted in the formation of civilization were most likely accomplished by males — a common practice among modern hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa, South America, and Australia (Wrangham, 2019).

As civilization — and the hierarchical order within — evolved over time, so too did the propensity toward both forms of corruption mentioned previously. At various times throughout history, societies presented either a form of stagnation that inhibited communication and cooperation between hierarchical tiers, or all power and resources were funneled toward the upper end, or even a combination of the two. Again, these systems were evolving and thus not ideal; however, they helped contribute to an evolving concept of the ideal that has now provided humanity with what it currently possesses.

Modernity, Ideals, and the Pendulum of Perception

Civilization, along with its conceptual systems, again, is evolving. With that in mind, when analyzing these older systems, whether they be the hierarchical structure, conceptualized religious beliefs, or any other ethical framework, a dual perception must be utilized. These older systems were evolving alongside human consciousness — a phenomenological structure that had just recently emerged into perceptual clarity in the late Neolithic period. Therefore, empathy and grace are due for those that were conceptualizing and integrating such systems into society as it emerged.

However, this by no means excuses errors — either intentional or haphazard — resulting from our ancestors. What it does mean is that when analyzing such errors, instead of discriminating against such primitively evolving consciousness, one should rather seek to understand the nature of the faults. This is accomplished by acknowledging that one’s own discriminatory judgment is predicated on the successes and failures of these ancient people, and therefore some gratitude is due. When approached in humility, the underlying nature of these errors begins to emerge.

Instead of participating in criticism, it is best to seek the how and why these errors occurred in the first place. Though many in modern times do seek to explain these aspects of errors, they often do so in a simplistic, left-hemisphere-oriented fashion. Of course, as mentioned previously, this simplistic analysis is exactly the type of perception nested in privilege rather than humility.

To accomplish such an analysis of ancient ways, the how and why of these errors must be perceived in a manner that reflects ancient people’s developing consciousness. For example, the why and how of women’s rights during ancient times can be best understood by the evolving male ego. Though women contributed a great deal to the development of civilization through complementary labor, social cohesion, and textile development, men were the primary builders. This new society offered immense conveniences such as food, shelter, and safety. Thus, to participate in this new structure, one must adhere to the male-oriented codes that help sustain this structure.

Furthermore, these codes both protected and oppressed women. An excellent illustration of this is found in the Old Testament law wherein women were to be protected, while at the same time they were perceived as the property of men. The why to the protection aspect of these laws is due to the relative weakness of women compared to men at the time, especially in the absence of modern technology (something we will elaborate on here soon). However, these extra protective rights prompted men to also require extra privileges for themselves as well — men protected women in exchange for rights over them.

Now, does this justify such laws and behaviors of ancient people, especially that of men? This question is quite absurd when perceived in the manner of an evolving consciousness. Ancient people were experiencing rapid developments of consciousness that we now take for granted. What this means is that the perceptual systems of ancient people were still somewhat ambiguous and not fully coherent.

As time elapsed and knowledge expanded, so too did the development of the human psyche (consciousness). This is especially evident with the emergence of the eras of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Both eras provided humanity with knowledge that had been previously concealed. The disclosure of novel information helped expand the perceptual model of humanity in such a way that allowed for a new form of consciousness to manifest.

With this new form of consciousness came the development of new discoveries of science and mathematics. Moreover, an explosion of artistic creativity occurred that depicted reality in intricate detail that was not formerly produced in ancient times. Writing, too, expanded rapidly in both fiction and nonfiction form in a variety of genres with a depth of quality not previously observed.

Likewise, the Industrial Revolution helped instigate technological innovation in ways that significantly enhanced humanity’s survival, and thus its apprehension of nature. These technologies provided conveniences that were alien to earlier humanity — improvements in transportation, advancements in medicine, increased material goods, and enhanced livability were of this sort.

However, just as these innovations and discoveries were alien to the ancient conscious mind, so too is the mode of being of these ancestors a mystery to us. For instance, rates of survival among ancient people were exceptionally low in comparison to us. Astoundingly, these rates continued in a marginal scale of improvement up until the 20th century wherein the rate of survival improved substantially thanks to many of the technological advancements mentioned prior.

It is partly — or perhaps more so — due to this need for astute perceptual emphasis on survival that much of the behavior of ancient, and even earlier, people was influenced. Prior to many of the modern technological conveniences, people lived in states of cooperative survival. Both men and women worked together to ensure the survival of their offspring and of one another — a phenomenon that may be more than 2 million years old. Furthermore, just as with intersex cooperation, intrasex collaboration was common between males and females as a form of expanded survival insurance. The dangers that these primitive people faced could only be partially romanticized and fantasized now.

As mentioned previously, this trend in perceptual emphasis on survival continued, at least to a certain degree, until the beginning of the 20th century. The majority of the population up until the 1940s and 1950s lived in poverty with low survival rates. For all intents and purposes, both men and women were oppressed and had to continue to work together to ensure the survival of their offspring and themselves. For example, most people in 19th century England lived on less than a dollar a day in accordance to modern standards (Allen, 2009; Hobsbawm, 1969). To be hungry and fatigued was an understatement.

Though both men and women were oppressed, men still fared better than women economically, especially regarding the top of the hierarchy. However, perceptual consideration is due at this point. Although men fared better than females economically, both the occupational roles and survival rates of men were far inferior to that of women historically speaking. Another example involves that of George Orwell (1937) when documenting the living and working conditions of early 20th century male coal mine workers in England. Here, Orwell noted that most men’s working environments were both exceptionally dangerous and detrimental to their health — many workers had no teeth and died from black lung at an early age, often in their 40s or 50s. This asymmetry created a superficial appearance of male privilege while masking the brutal survival demands placed disproportionately on men.

As technological advancements emerged within the social fabric of the “average” population, a coinciding decline in social oppressive qualities with improvements in survival rates occurred (National Research Council, 2011; Office for National Statistics, 2020). With these commodities came a reduction in the need for physical strength and thus helped reduce the quality and quantity of labor differences between men and women. These commodities also provided an increase in time and energy to be expended away from the need for survival and more time for leisure activities.

These two significant changes played a large role in the emancipation of women in modern times: the equalizing role of technologies and the increase in time and energy devotion. The former of these changes helped elevate women as equal within the confines of several industries, including administration, factory work, construction, and mechanical. Novel equipment that reduced the need for physical strength provided women the opportunity to participate in the same type of work as men. Prior to these advancements, the physical differences between men and women were too evident in many labor industries for women to participate in the same manner as men.

The latter of these two changes brought about a different means by which emancipation was made possible. With an increase in time and energy devotion, both men and women had the opportunity to disperse their energy towards things that intrigue them rather than just the sustenance needed for survival. However, during this development men and women sought to devote their extra time and energy towards different interests. Men often devoted themselves to leisure-type activities to help reduce the stress of labor, while women sought this opportunity to devote towards educating themselves and to promoting change.

Though inequality is a fundamental reason for the difference between these gender devotions, another reason for this difference can be found in labor itself. Men were not only the primary breadwinners on average in the early to mid-20th century, but they were also the ones that participated in the majority of physical labor. This type of energy expense prompted men to devote extra time to leisure activities to help decompress from the expense of labor. On the contrary, many women devoted to their homes still retained some vitality that they sought to devote towards the development of themselves and the female collective.

As mentioned in the previous section, men as a collective developed the ego through their construction of civilization. Though this development helped to significantly influence society towards its modern form, it also promoted a left hemisphere orientation that resulted in increased tyranny — the fundamental essence of the patriarchy. Women, unfortunately, received the short end of this developmental end.

However, beginning in the late 19th century and then increasing in vigor in the early 20th century, women began their own form of ego development. This does not mean that they were not developing themselves prior to; quite the contrary, the development of ego, and that of consciousness as a whole, has been occurring for millennia for both sexes prior to this time. Women only trailed behind men due to their protected nature that men provided prior to technological advancements. This protective measure inhibited ego development; however, a measure that was necessary nonetheless. Protection naturally limits self-differentiation — a pattern evident in both child development and cultural systems.

Modernity not only provided an equalized field for the participation of both men and women, but it also allowed for women to develop a sense of independence. This independence was transpired due to an environment that was now more conducive for women. No longer did women have to concern themselves with large predatory animals, natural phenomena, or, to a certain degree, the victims of predatory men. Though there is still some concern with the latter of these, overall male violence has substantially decreased over the past century and continues to do so.

It is this implicit independence that provided women with the necessary fundamental structure by which they could now move out into the world without the necessity of a man. In this new independence, women could officially begin the major shift in their collective ego development — a process that began with the rights to vote and pursue an education, major breakthroughs for women.

These momentous events for women paved the way for a new evolutionary trend for humanity that had never occurred before. Women no longer were obliged to conjoin with a man for survival — a feat that was now in the hands of both sexes. However, as with any process, there are both positive and negative consequences that must be considered. For instance, with the emancipation of women came a change in mate selection strategies that had been quite successful in the evolution of the human species for at least 7 million years if not longer.

Prior to this transformation, sexual selection was predicated upon women choosing mates that were higher up the hierarchy, thus providing access to resources that were often restricted for the higher-testosterone, highly driven men — those who were more vital and healthy. In exchange for these resources, women provided sexual and reproductive access for the man. This dynamic had been forever changed as women now played an equal role within the dominance hierarchy and thus provided themselves with access to these resources once restricted to the other sex. Bear in mind, this is only one of the several changes that transpired within the confines of this transition of power.

Emergence of Intersex Competition

Things continued to drastically change as technology increased in sophistication and women continued to integrate themselves into the dominance hierarchy. Beginning in the 1960s, however, something entirely new emerged: second-wave feminism wherein much of this form sought not only equality but dominance. Unlike the first wave, the several branches of the new feminist movement borrowed from the Marxist value structure that promoted an ideal of women as the dominant sex. This new ideal sought to put men and women as competitors rather than collaborators as was the case for the survival of the species in the several million years preceding this movement (Firestone, 1970; Hartmann, 1979).

The new ideal value structure evolved over the following decades to not only encompass feminism but the overarching liberal movement itself. Though many have meant well with a progressive mindset, it is essentially a left hemisphere attempt to apprehend reality, something the proponents of such claim the traditional values of conservatism do. This attempt to reorient the collective perception and mode of being has now resulted in a dichotic ideological battle.

Since the second-wave feminist movement, women as a collective have undoubtedly developed their ego, albeit in a fashion that mimics the overaccentuated orientation of their male counterpart. What happened, exactly? With modernity and its emphasis on convenience and materialism, a collective tilt towards left hemisphere dominance occurred. A narrowed and self-centered perception of reality has resulted, as is evidenced by the stark increase in narcissism over recent decades (Twenge et al., 2008). Art is no longer a means of representing the world through skill development, but rather it is a way to express oneself in an immature demonstration of will. Connection is no longer a necessity except through a technological medium that provides dopaminergic ecstasy. Cooperation is only for those who adhere to the same ideological value system as oneself — a modern manifestation of unconscious dysfunctional tribal perception.

These dysfunctional and narcissistic traits are not only found in the progressive ideals of liberalism but of traditional values of conservatism as well. Both sides are right and wrong at the same time in their analysis of the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is the left hemisphere’s narrowed perception that inhibits their contextual understanding of all the various points that articulate. Both sides analyze the parts without acknowledging the whole. Matters have only worsened as each side delves deeper — not in truth — in their ideological schematic framework. They are both equally guilty in solely assimilating information rather than accommodating and adapting.

References:

Allen, R.C. (2009). The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. Cambridge University Press.

Cauvin, J. (2000). The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agriculture. Cambridge University Press.

Firestone, S. (1970). The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. William Morrow.

Giosan, L., & Goodman, R. (2025). Morphodynamic Foundations of Sumer. PloS one, 20(8), e0329084. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0329084

Hartmann, H. (1979). The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union. Capital & Class, 3(2), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/030981687900800102

Hobsbawm, E.J. (1969). Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day. Penguin Books.

Jung, C. (1956). Symbols of Transformation. Princeton University Press.

McGilchrist, I. (2019). The Master and His Emissary. Yale University Press.

National Research Council (2011). Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Neumann, E. (1954). The Origins and History of Consciousness. Princeton University Press.

Orwell, G. (1937). The Road to Wigan Pier. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.

Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2020). Mortality in England and Wales: Past and projected trends in average lifespan.

Twenge, J. M., Konrath, S., Foster, J. D., Campbell, W. K., & Bushman, B. J. (2008). Egos inflating over time: a cross-temporal meta-analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Journal of personality, 76(4), 875–928. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00507.x

Wrangham, R. (2019). The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution. Vintage.
Evolutionary Foundations of Sex Differences

by

philosophy, psychology

“Tracing the Deep Roots of Sex Differences and the Emergence of Human Consciousness”

Author’s Note

This series examines how sex differences, consciousness, and culture have evolved together from our earliest ancestors to the modern world. My aim is to provide a clear, balanced, and empirically grounded account of how men and women have shaped — and been shaped by — the forces of survival, cooperation, and societal transformation.

These essays are not ideological; they are an attempt to understand our shared history with nuance, humility, and depth. I invite readers to explore these ideas with an open mind and a willingness to see our past and present in a broader, more integrated light.

— Michael Thacker

Introduction

Women’s rights have progressed tremendously over the past several decades with the first milestone completed in the 1920s that granted rights for women to vote. At present, women work alongside men in the workforce and even either own or manage large corporations — positions that were absent from society a century ago. Women also own property, bank accounts, file for divorce, and do just about anything within the confines of lawful behavior. Comparatively, women also hold positions of power within the political sphere, including the first woman becoming a Vice President in America’s previous presidential term.

With this wealth of progress in such a short duration, it begs the question: how did all this progress transpire?

Feminism has contributed much to the transformation of laws that have provided the rights to women that now allows them to fully participate in society. The fundamental axiomatic idea within the ideological structure of early feminism was that women are as valuable as men and can thus contribute the same as men. This idea is fundamentally true; however, it is partial. How? Men and women can contribute the same value and impact, albeit, in different forms. A more elaborate answer will be articulated in later sections.

Present day feminism is fundamentally different than its predecessor as it has radicalized itself towards a new ideal — women not only can contribute the same as men, but they can do it better. Competition rooted in resentment is the fundamental axiom derived from Marxist’s ideals. Why did this shift occur? Feminism’s response to the tyranny of the modern patriarchal society was and is justified; however, it was a response nested in left hemispheric perception. It has articulated a narrowed interpretation of the overarching reality that is at play.

To understand precisely what has transpired over the past century regarding the progress of women’s rights, and the potential future they may unfold from this enlightening transformation, one must perceive this phenomenon in a holistic manner. With that said, men are fundamentally different than women both physiologically and neurologically — differences that have developed throughout humanity’s 7-million-year evolutionary past. These differences, however, do not promote inequity between the two sexes, but rather contributions of fundamentally different kinds that contribute to the conducive whole of humanity’s survival and success.

The key to understanding and promoting these diverse contributions is interpretational adaptation. As humanity progresses technologically, the collective’s perception is updated in accordance with these changes. Only then can a balanced value structure emerge that promotes diversity among the sexes in all its glory.

Evolutionary Foundations of Sex Differences

7-million-years have elapsed since humans last shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees, and from this time a variety of changes have occurred both physiologically and neurologically. From Australopithecus to Homo erectus, we grew significantly taller and slenderer, while also doubling in brain size. The transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens and those in-between revealed substantial changes, not the least being another increase in brain size and resulting cognitive complexity.

These developments in cognitive complexity are tangibly evident from the first rudimentary Oldowan stone tools dating from 3.4 million years ago to the more precise Acheulean tools that emerged around 1.6 million years ago and lasted until 200,000 years ago around the time that Homo sapiens first emerged. From there, tool variety and refinements accelerated that emphasized precision and utility (Tattersall, 2013).

Similarly, beginning in the Upper Paleolithic around 50,000 years ago in Europe, elaborate artwork began to emerge that further demonstrated the development of the psyche of evolving humans. Following this creative explosion was the construction of megalithic structures such as Gobekli Tepe, along with the innovative leap of agriculture and herding — characterizing the Neolithic period (Cauvin, 2000).

During the early Neolithic Period (PPNA: 12,000 to 9,600 years ago), religion was an ambiguous concept that manifested itself in the dichotic form of female and bull figurines and carvings. However, in the late Neolithic (PPNB: 9,600–8,000 years ago), refinement of these divine figures occurred with a more detailed female figure and the initiation of a male figure (Cauvin, 2000; Gimbutas, 1989). No longer were the conceptualization of the intrinsic nature of humanity portrayed in ambiguous, symbolic representations — rather, the ability for the psyche to properly differentiate the human species became apparent.

Though this ability of perceptual differentiation among the species may have become apparent in the late Neolithic, the actual physiological and neurological differences were evident millions of years prior to this revelation. The first evidence for sexual differentiation occurred approximately 200 million years ago with the first observance of anisogamy (Hamaji et al., 2018). As time elapsed, these differences, influenced by the interaction between organism and nature, emerged in a variety of ways — sometimes in significant, explicit characteristics while others in subtle form.

These differences between males and females are called “sexual dimorphism”, and in Australopithecus (4 million to 1.4 million years ago), sexual dimorphic differences were large. For instance, height and weight differences between males and females were substantial with males averaging height of 4’11” tall while weighing in at 92 lbs. compared to females of just over 3’ and weighing 64 lbs. Albeit, these differences have narrowed significantly since the induction of the Homo genus around 2.5 million years ago, and even further still since the emergence of Homo sapiens.

Sexual dimorphic differences are not restricted to anatomical features but rather include neuroanatomical differences as well. Recent evidence provided by Ryali et al. (2024) found a significant difference in the distribution of neural networks within the brain between males and females. For instance, one of the most significant differences were found in the Default Mode Network (DMN) — connections that significantly influence how males and females perceive and choose to interact with themselves and the world around them.

These physiological and neuroanatomical differences between males and females are predominantly influenced by hormones — specifically that of testosterone and estrogen. On average, men produce substantially more testosterone than women which not only influences physical strength and size differences but also impacts neurological features such as mentioned previously. Moreover, it is this hormone that helps initiate and substantiate intrinsic drive in men to move out into the world with the goal to explore and create. However, it can also promote status-seeking behaviors wherein individuals compete against one another (Losecaat Vermeer et al., 2020) — a common characteristic among our closest relatives the chimpanzees.

Due to this drive (testosterone) to explore and create, in conjunction with the evolving human psyche, and intergroup cooperation (oxytocin/estrogen-modulated), humanity advanced to an improved state of coherence and stability — that which was provided by the emergence of civilization nearly 6,000 years ago.

In Part 2, we will turn to how early civilizations, hierarchies, and ego development shaped what later became known as the patriarchy.

References:

Cauvin, J. (2000). The birth of the gods and the origins of agriculture. Cambridge University Press.

Gimbutas, M. (1989). The language of the goddess. Harper San Francisco.

Hamaji, T., Kawai-Toyooka, H., Uchimura, H., Suzuki, M., Noguchi, H., Minakuchi, Y., Toyoda, A., Fujiyama, A., Miyagishima, S. Y., Umen, J. G., & Nozaki, H. (2018). Anisogamy evolved with a reduced sex-determining region in volvocine green algae. Communications biology, 1, 17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-018-0019-5

Losecaat Vermeer, A. B., Krol, I., Gausterer, C., Wagner, B., Eisenegger, C., & Lamm, C. (2020). Exogenous testosterone increases status-seeking motivation in men with unstable low social status. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 113, 104552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104552

Ryali, S., Zhang, Y., de Los Angeles, C., Supekar, K., & Menon, V. (2024). Deep learning models reveal replicable, generalizable, and behaviorally relevant sex differences in human functional brain organization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(9), e2310012121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310012121

Tattersall, I. (2013). Masters of the planet: The search for our human origins. St. Martin’s Griffin.
Multivariant Nature of Perception: Interpreting Reality in a Holistic Manner

by

philosophy, psychology

“A comprehensive understanding of reality requires a multilevel perceptual framework.”

The Nature and Evolution of Perception

Human perception is a unique and mysterious function — a vessel through which consciousness becomes reality. Perception, at its most fundamental level, is an interpretational model by which we come to understand and act in the world. It is a mechanism that incorporates both meaning and utility; however, it is more than a strict dual mechanism. Rather, it is nested within a broader multivariant interpretational framework.

Our primitive ancestors began to develop perceptual frameworks perhaps as early as Australopithecus, around 3.4 million years ago (mya), where the earliest use of stone tools is evidenced (Tattersall, 2013). These early stone tools, called Lomekwian tools, were simple in design, with cores produced through unidirectional flaking (Finestone, 2025). Despite this simplicity, tool-making requires hand-eye coordination and the ability to precisely manipulate objects — a feature commonly associated with the left hemisphere of the brain (McGilchrist, 2019). It is here that proto-humanity began developing perceptual frameworks that allowed them to navigate and understand the world around them, including the early foundations of a sense of self.

The emphasis on left-hemisphere development was further enhanced — perhaps even earlier — through Australopithecus’s habitual bipedalism. This advanced ability requires balance and precision to remain upright while moving on two feet. Thus, both tool-making and bipedalism contributed not only to neural buildup within the left hemisphere but also to increased bilateral communication between it and the right hemisphere.

This increased hemispheric communication would have helped stimulate perceptual coherence through the development of large neural networks that coincided with increasing brain size. When Homo erectus emerged between 2 and 1.8 mya with nearly double the cognitive capacity of Australopithecus, this increased perceptual ability is evident. For instance, the tool-making abilities of Homo erectus improved significantly in design and variety compared to their earlier counterparts (Firestone, 2025). Not only were these newly evolved hominids producing more sophisticated stone tools in various forms, but they also began crafting bone tools from multiple animals (de la Torre et al., 2025).

Improvements in tool-making were not the only indicators of increased perceptual coherence. Other contributing factors include fire use, migrations, and improved hunting skills. All of these behaviors involved left-hemispheric precision and apprehension while simultaneously relying on the right hemisphere’s navigational abilities and peripheral vantage point.

Increased hemispheric synchronicity in Homo erectus developed further in Homo heidelbergensis (700,000–200,000 years ago) and Neanderthals (400,000–40,000 years ago). Neanderthals, for example, used sophisticated methods in developing their tools (Çep et al., 2021) and created some of the first art (Francesco d’Errico et al., 2025). Coinciding with these advancements were early indications of cloth-wearing (Wales, 2012), all of which imply an increased sense of self-awareness.

As Homo sapiens emerged around 200,000 years ago, hominid cognitive capabilities increased once again. This increase is not evidenced by overall brain size — which was somewhat smaller than that of their predecessors — but rather by increased complexity of thought tied to frontal lobe development (Pinson et al., 2022). With this complexity came a greater articulation of inner states of being — essentially, a more elaborated mode of perception.

Duality of Perceptual Representations

Entering the Upper Paleolithic age (40,000–10,000 years ago), humans began creating sophisticated cave art. These early depictions were often zoomorphic (antelopes, bison, snakes) and abstract (spirals, discs, zigzags) — symbolic representations of external observations and internal conceptualizations. Each motif was imbued with meaning designed by the individual or the group, while also reflecting functional components such as hunting scenes (Gimbutas, 1989).

A perceptual shift occurred as early humans transitioned from the Paleolithic into the Neolithic, when agriculture and herding first emerged (Cauvin, 2000). With these new modes of subsistence came a transformation of perception. No longer were humans relying solely on the immediate gifts of nature; instead, they were becoming the proprietors of their own destiny. For the first time in hominid history, control of subsistence was in their hands — from stone to plant, from animal to ritual, the ability to manipulate had increased dramatically.

This perceptual shift brought about new structures of meaning, manifested most strongly in the symbolic forms of the female and the bull. Although divinity had long been attributed to the female (e.g., Venus figurines), the Neolithic elaborated a dual dynamic: the symbolic meaning of fertility and creation paired with the utilitarian functions of agriculture and herding.

Development of a Multivariant Perception

Over the thousands of years that followed, humanity developed a more precise conceptualization of this duality of perception — particularly through the evolution of the bull into human form. This transformation produced the male counterpart of the ancient religious system. Not only did humans evolve the bull into a male god, but depictions of both female and male divine figures increased in acuity. Their physical features evolved from amorphous outlines into intricately differentiated forms (Cauvin, 2000).

With the rise of urbanism in Sumer and Egypt around 6,000 years ago, these deities expanded into multi-personage structures. Although various factors contributed to this development, a multivariant perception is a fundamental axiom behind it. This expansion reflects an evolutionary phenomenon brought about by increased cognitive complexity.

The outdated dual system of perception found in the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras was not discarded but expanded. A new perceptual system emerged — one that included duality yet moved beyond it toward a multivalent conception of reality itself. This shift paralleled the fabric of reality at the physical level (wave–particle duality). It enriched humanity’s capacity to comprehend the overarching structure of existence.

Each divine figure represented a facet of human personality and the forces of nature. These personages were arranged hierarchically, symbolizing a structured model of significance imposed upon various aspects of human nature and reality. This hierarchy constituted a value system — an ordering of utility, functionality, and meaning.

Certain aspects, especially fundamental ones, held greater value than others. For instance, Anu, the sky creator god of ancient Sumer, occupied a higher position than the lesser deities of the Anunnaki. Translated into human existence, this implies that the material substrate of reality holds primary value for survival, compared to other experiential modes.

However, this hierarchy does not devalue the other modes of attention — such as creativity, imagination, or contemplative experience. Rather, all facets are interconnected, and the exclusion of any disrupts the overall functionality of the system. In the psyche, such disruption leads to pathological shifts in perception and behavior.

Modernity and the Narrowing of Perception

As humanity progressed, certain facets of this interconnected perceptual system began to erode. This is especially evident in early Christianity. Although Zoroastrianism and Buddhism articulated elements of the unified psyche, Christianity was the first to express this unification in a coherent, holistic manner.

Christianity’s model was not incorrect in itself — it unified the diverse forces of psyche and nature into a coherent framework. It beautifully retained both the material (bull) and spiritual (divine feminine) aspects of ancient perception and integrated the diversity of deities through transformation and adaptation. Yet, the collective’s dogmatization of this interpretive structure introduced rigidity and ultimately fractured the coherence of the perceptual framework.

For Jung, this dogmatization represented an overaccentuation of the ego — a severing from the collective unconscious. Though intended to free humanity from primal instincts, it instead produced a constricted mode of perception that neglected the creative forces of the unconscious. This constriction was exacerbated in the scientific revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Nietzsche (1883) expressed concern that the revolutionary rise of science had eroded the ancient mythos, leaving only rationality in its wake.

This overemphasis on rationality has narrowed human perception. Precision has increased, but comprehension has decreased. McGilchrist (2019) describes this as overreliance on the left hemisphere’s functional mode. Similarly, Jung (1956) argued that modernity has overdifferentiated the ego, pushing humanity toward hyperrationality.

Without mythos, humanity lacks a navigational framework for confronting the unknown. The presuppositional structures that guided humanity for millennia have dissolved. Nietzsche proposed that humanity must become its own god — the cumulative wisdom of evolution incarnate — and create a new system of values. Yet such a task, in practice, is impossible.

Thus, we face the question: How can humanity reorient itself in a way that promotes survival and genuine development?

The Integration of Conscious and Unconscious Structures

The path forward is the reintegration of conscious and unconscious structures — both individually and collectively. To accomplish this, we must return to the catalysts that fractured our perceptual model: religious dogmatization and the scientific revolution.

Dogmatization is an expression of the left hemisphere’s need for control — its craving for certainty. Certainty helps reduce anxiety and creates a sense of order, but it is only a navigational assistant. True navigation originates in the right hemisphere, where context, meaning, and holistic understanding reside. Without right-hemispheric context, the left hemisphere becomes lost — yet paradoxically remains convinced of its own correctness.

Thus, although dogmatized Christianity offered believers psychological security, it produced far greater long-term harm by constricting perception. Science, in parallel, attempted to discard mythos entirely. Its overreliance on rationality stripped humanity of meaningful perceptual structures, even while maintaining absolute certainty in its own framework.

Both systems, when absolutized, become artificial structures built on limited knowledge. Both have produced immense suffering. And both continue to blame each other while refusing introspection — a classic manifestation of the left hemisphere’s rigidity.

What then should humanity do?

The solution lies not in choosing between religion or science, but in integrating the valuable aspects of both — and discarding their dogmatic elements.

Dogma must be stripped away from both domains. This allows the latent creative, unconscious forces to recombine perceptual elements into a more coherent holistic framework.

For example, the Genesis creation narrative has been confined by literal dogma, yet the text is inherently multivariant and can be interpreted through multiple valid lenses. If empirical evidence contradicts a given interpretation, one must revise the interpretation. The same holds for science. The evolution of the universe does not necessarily refute Genesis when approached metaphorically or psychologically.

Some scientists, such as Gerald Schroeder (2009), have shown how the evolutionary history of the universe aligns meaningfully with the Genesis account. This type of integrative synthesis is precisely what modern humanity needs.

Jung’s work also stands as a testament to successful integration — uncovering the evolutionary layers of the psyche within religious symbolism. With modern scientific tools unavailable to Jung, humanity can extend his project even further.

Ultimately, the key qualities required for this task are humility and openness — right-hemisphere virtues. Integration will require cooperation, dialogue, and synthesis across disciplines. But if humanity succeeds, it will reconstruct a unified model of meaning — one capable of orienting both individuals and societies toward authentic progress.

Within such a reconstruction lies the possibility of a unified understanding of reality itself — a comprehensive unification of the fundamental essence of being.

References

Cauvin, J. (2000). The birth of the gods and the origins of agriculture. Cambridge University Press.

Çep, B., Schürch, B., Münzel, S.C., & Frick, J.A. (2021). Adaptive capacity and flexibility of the Neanderthals at Heidenschmiede (Swabian Jura) with regard to core reduction strategies. PLoS ONE, 16(9): e0257041. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257041

d’Errico, F., Mauran, G., Pitarch Martí, A., Majkić, A., & Stepanchuk, V. (2025). Evidence for symbolic use of ochre by Micoquian Neanderthals in Crimea. Science advances, 11(44), eadx4722. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adx4722

Finestone, E. (2025). Early stone tool technology in hominin evolution. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. https://oxfordre.com/anthropology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.001.0001/acrefore-9780190854584-e-637.

Gimbutas, M. (1989). The language of the goddess. Harper San Francisco.

Jung, C. (1956). Symbols of transformation. Princeton University Press.

McGilchrist, I. (2019). The master and his emissary. Yale University Press.

Nietzsche, F. (1883). Thus spoke Zarathustra: A book for everyone and no one. Penguin Classics.

Pinson, A., Xing, L., Namba, T., Kalebic, N., Peters, J., Oegema, C. E., Traikov, S., Reppe, K., Riesenberg, S., Maricic, T., Derihaci, R., Wimberger, P., Pääbo, S., & Huttner, W. B. (2022). Human TKTL1 implies greater neurogenesis in frontal neocortex of modern humans than Neanderthals. Science (New York, N.Y.), 377(6611), eabl6422. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abl6422

Schroeder, G.L. (2009). The science of God. Free Press.

Tattersall, I. (2013). Masters of the planet. St. Martin’s Griffin Publishing. Wales, N. (2012). Modeling Neanderthal clothing using ethnographic analogues, Journal of Human Evolution, 63(6), 781-795, ISSN 0047-2484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.08.006
Reconfiguring the Self: How Perceptual Frameworks Shape and Renew Our Reality

by

psychology

“The Cognitive Transformation Underlying Personal Renewal”

Establishment of Perception

How we perceive reality is predicated upon the internal cognitive mechanisms we construct. This cognitive mechanism is known as a schema — a perceptual framework through which we interpret reality. The building process of schemas initiates, perhaps, even as early as gestation, when voices, hormonal changes, and maternal stress are received and processed.

However, this early cognitive initiation does not imply that one is born into the world absent of any preconceived schematic elements. Quite the contrary: we all possess ancient remnants from our evolutionary past, extending back some 3.5 billion years. These ancient remnants interact with more recent inherited dispositions from parents, grandparents, and so forth.

These inherited foundations — ancient and recent — are essential in the schema formation process. They form the substrate upon which personal experiences can build in a stabilized manner, however imperfect that foundation may be.

Bit by bit, schemas are constituted. This process becomes especially evident following birth. Not only are external stimuli felt and heard, but they also become visually acquired and internally organized. Attention, thinking, and categorizing are the fundamental characteristics by which schemas are formed. Information is systematized into adaptive, referential, interconnected sequences that emerge as the environment necessitates.

Neuroanatomy of Perception

Neuroanatomically, these processes unfold through an interconnected dynamic between the right and left hemispheres. Each hemisphere provides its own distinct means of perceiving and receiving information. The right hemisphere perceives the world holistically, specializing in pattern recognition and contextual parameters, while the left hemisphere is more precise, specializing in analyzing parts and categorization (McGilchrist, 2019).

It is through this interplay that an individual begins to make sense of themselves and the world around them. By perceiving and analyzing received information in light of both holistic and analytical mechanisms, one can construct a coherent and logically sound schema.

However, if emphasis shifts toward an inequality between the hemispheres — especially if the left hemisphere becomes dominant — a partial perception results. Over time, this partial perception becomes the finished product. Rigidity and stagnation follow, as the left hemisphere tends toward certainty in its own interpretations.

Evolution of Perception

Evolutionarily, the hominin lineage propagated and transformed into new species through adaptation. These adaptations were not simply behavioral or physical — though they resulted in both — but began at the more fundamental levels of cognition and epigenetics. As hominins engaged with the world, contending with the challenges emerging around them, these novelties interacted with both genetic and cognitive processes.

A prime example is the climatic shifts that occurred multiple times in our evolutionary history. One such shift occurred approximately 650,000 years ago, coinciding with the divergence of Neanderthals and Denisovans (Sánchez Goñi, 2020).

Environmental changes appear responsible for the emergence of these new hominins. How? Through a dual mechanism: perceptual shift and epigenetics.

To survive climate change, our ancestors had to reorganize their perceptual models because the world they inhabited fundamentally changed.

This reorganization occurred through the acquisition of novel information, which was then integrated into existing frameworks — sometimes to the point of complete reconfiguration. Behavioral modifications followed, supporting survival.

Over thousands of years of contending with this shifting environment, and through new patterns of perception and behavior, underlying genetic processes unfolded. These processes contributed to increased brain growth and other physiological changes that characterized Neanderthals and Denisovans (Libedinsky et al., 2025).

Individuation and Personal Schematic Transformation

Translated to the personal level, this process of acquiring novel information and transforming perception is the essence of individuation. For Jung (1956), individuation required that an individual contend with new information — symbolized as the dragon in myth — with conscious awareness. One must critically analyze novelty to determine how it fits within one’s current perceptual and conceptual framework.

This is akin to what our primitive ancestors underwent when facing the upheaval of their environment. Developmental psychologist Piaget described this process as “assimilation” and “accommodation.” Assimilation involves incorporating new information into an existing schema. Accommodation requires the schema itself to be reconfigured (Babakr et al., 2019).

Assimilation requires minimal cognitive effort, whereas accommodation demands substantial resources. In the ancestral context, climate change necessitated accommodation — a full restructuring of perception. Those who adapted survived; those who did not perished.

Accommodation emerges when there is a mismatch between the interpretational model and the new information. When received humbly, this mismatch leads to a transformation of both perception and behavior — the psychological equivalent of the hero’s ascent in Jungian thought. The psyche reorganizes, reorienting how one navigates the world.

As time elapses, underlying epigenetic processes unfold, leading to phenotypical expressions visible to others. In mythological language, this psychological transformation mirrors the resurrection motif — a descent into chaos followed by reemergence into a reconfigured mode of being. This transformation is evidenced not only behaviorally and cognitively but, to a degree, physiologically.

References

Babakr, Z., Mohamedamin, P., Kakamad, K. (2019). Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory: Critical review. Education Quarterly Reviews, 2(3), 517–524. doi: 10.31014/aior.1993.02.03.84

Jung, C. (1956). Symbols of Transformation. Princeton University Press.

Libedinsky, I., Wei, Y., de Leeuw, C., Rilling, J. K., Posthuma, D., & van den Heuvel, M. P. (2025). The emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution. Cerebral Cortex, 35(8). https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf127

McGilchrist, I. (2019). The Master and His Emissary. Yale University Press.

Sánchez Goñi, M. F. (2020). Regional impacts of climate change and its relevance to human evolution. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, e55. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.56
Appreciation and Apprehension: An Evolutionary and Neuroanatomical Analysis of Wholeness

by

philosophy, psychology

Exploring the dialogue between brain, being, and the pursuit of wholeness

Author’s Note

This essay is part of an ongoing exploration into the evolution of human consciousness — a synthesis of neuroscience, depth psychology, and symbolic archaeology. It traces how our perception, shaped by the hemispheric balance of the brain, has evolved from the mythic to the analytical, from the cave wall to the temple pillar. Through this unfolding, I seek to illuminate the dialogue between cognition and meaning — and the quiet possibility of equilibrium that awaits beyond our modern fragmentation.

Introduction

Throughout humanity’s evolutionary history, shifts in both intelligence and perception have occurred, often following periods of environmental upheaval. These shifts were products of novel adaptive strategies that caused incremental adjustments in cognition — the result of reoriented neural pathways and the activation of dormant genes. After thousands of years of implementing these adaptive strategies, humanity began to experience abrupt increases in both intelligence and perception (Libedinsky et al., 2025; Sánchez Goñi, 2020).

Such abrupt changes become increasingly evident as humanity progressed through more recent epochs, particularly from the Paleolithic to modern times. These shifts are visible throughout the Paleolithic period, when art first became a prominent practice among prehistoric peoples (Aubert et al., 2019; Srivastava, 2020). The Neolithic period then introduced dramatic innovations — megalithic structures, agriculture and herding, improved weaponry, and the formation of coherent religious systems (Cauvin, 2000; Schmidt, 2010). Each stage of development only refined these capacities, advancing precision and clarity in every domain.

Precision and clarity appear to be the hallmarks of enhanced cognition — and with them, the necessity for systemization. Why? Because both arise from neuroanatomical shifts and the intrinsic nature of curiosity. Three fundamental facets of this precise, systemized orientation are evident: cohesion, functionality, and progression. These facets apply not only to society but to the individual psyche as well.

Neuroanatomical Shift

Since humans and chimpanzees diverged from a last shared common ancestor approximately six million years ago, our brains have increased substantially in size and complexity. A major leap occurred in our transition from Australopithecus to Homo erectus some 2.2 million years ago — a near doubling in brain size. From there, expansion continued, reaching its peak with Neanderthals (Püschel et al., 2024).

With the emergence of Homo sapiens, however, a new trend appeared: instead of expanding in size, the brain increased in capacity. This efficiency is evident in the greater number of neurons within the human neocortex, particularly the frontal lobe — the seat of critical and complex thinking (Pinson et al., 2022).

Along with this cognitive refinement came a shift in hemispheric utility. McGilchrist (2019) revealed a fundamental distinction between right and left hemispheric modes of attention: the right perceives the world holistically and peripherally, while the left seeks precision and control. The right is imaginative and integrative; the left, analytical and categorical.

Humanity began moving toward the left-hemispheric mode in the Paleolithic era, with the introduction of artistic design. The precision required for symbolic expression suggests the growing involvement of the left hemisphere. This subtle reliance increased into the Neolithic, visible in the construction of monumental architecture, agricultural organization, and the emergence of figurative representation.

Sites such as Göbekli Tepe and Jericho exemplify this shift: architectural precision, sustainable agriculture, and the differentiation of male and female figurines all point toward the rising influence of left-hemispheric categorization (Cauvin, 2000; Schmidt, 2010).

As time progressed, this categorical and precise mode continued to shape civilization. Technological innovations, religious institutions, and hierarchical social structures all attest to an increasing dominance of left-hemispheric perception. At the heart of this development lies an enduring human trait — curiosity.

Human Curiosity

Curiosity has characterized human behavior since Homo erectus first migrated out of Africa nearly two million years ago (Bae & Manthey, 2025). Scrivner (2022) suggests that curiosity is an adaptive trait that enables humans to better navigate and understand their environment. This exploratory impulse fosters innovation — whether objective or subjective — as humanity continually seeks to improve its condition.

Whether driven by novelty-seeking or the desire to comprehend the unknown, humanity possesses an intrinsic longing to explore and apprehend (Scrivner, 2022). This propensity intensifies across millennia, especially as intelligence increases. Curiosity, as a facet of openness to experience, is strongly correlated with higher intelligence (Schretlen et al., 2010).

As intelligence evolved, so too did the desire to categorize the world for comprehension and control. This drive likely coincided with increased left-hemispheric engagement — the side that dissects, defines, and organizes reality.

Yet this same curiosity that propelled humanity forward can, if left unchecked, create imbalance. McGilchrist (2019) warns of pathological left-hemispheric dominance — an overreliance on precision that excludes wholeness. I seek to extend his observation through a deeper evolutionary lens.

Appreciation and Apprehension

From tools, art, and fire to agriculture and megaliths, humanity has long sought to understand both itself and the cosmos. This expanding apprehension culminated in hierarchical institutions, complex governments, and meaning-oriented religious systems — each amplifying the role of the left hemisphere (Cauvin, 2000; McGilchrist, 2019).

As with all pursuits, there are trade-offs. Precision and clarity have provided coherence to the human story, but often at the cost of individuality. Categorization enhances cohesion and efficiency, yet risks stripping humanity of freedom. Progress achieved collectively can impede the growth of the individual soul.

These trade-offs echo the state of modern society — an era that privileges institutional functionality over personal meaning. Trade-offs are inevitable in nature; however, they can be harmonized rather than polarized. McGilchrist (2019) proposes a necessary return to right-hemispheric balance — not by abolishing the left, but by restoring the dialogue between them.

Such equilibrium parallels Jung’s process of individuation — a dynamic oscillation between the ego (left hemisphere) and the collective unconscious (right hemisphere) (Jung, 1956). Through this process, both society and self can move toward a state of wholeness.

A civilization that helps each individual integrate these hemispheric and psychological opposites will foster empathy, creativity, and renewal. Through the interplay of apprehension and appreciation, humanity may yet rediscover equilibrium — and in doing so, usher in the next phase of evolution: the evolution of consciousness itself.

May we learn again to see with both eyes of the mind — one of reason, and one of wonder.

— Michael Thacker

References:

Aubert, M., Lebe, R., Oktaviana, A. A., Tang, M., Burhan, B., Hamrullah, Jusdi, A., Abdullah, Hakim, B., Zhao, J. X., Geria, I. M., Sulistyarto, P. H., Sardi, R., & Brumm, A. (2019). Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art. Nature, 576(7787), 442–445. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1806-y

Bae, C.J. & Manthey, C. (2025). Out of Africa I revisited: Life history, energetics, and the evolutionary capacity for early hominin dispersals, Quaternary Science Reviews, 370, ISSN 0277-3791, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109690.

Cauvin, J. (2000). The birth of the gods and the origins of agriculture. Cambridge University Press.

Jung, C. (1956). Symbols of transformation. Princeton University Press.

Libedinsky, I., Wei, Y., de Leeuw, C., Rilling, J. K., Posthuma, D., & van den Heuvel, M. P. (2025). The emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution. Cerebral cortex, 35(8), bhaf127. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf127

McGilchrist, I. (2019). The master and his emissary. Yale University Press.

Pinson, A., Xing, L., Namba, T., Kalebic, N., Peters, J., Oegema, C. E., Traikov, S., Reppe, K., Riesenberg, S., Maricic, T., Derihaci, R., Wimberger, P., Pääbo, S., & Huttner, W. B. (2022). Human TKTL1 implies greater neurogenesis in frontal neocortex of modern humans than Neanderthals. Science (New York, N.Y.), 377(6611), eabl6422. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abl6422

Püschel, T.A., Nicholson, S.A., Baker, J., Barton, R.A. & Venditti., C. (2024). Hominin brain size increase has emerged from within-species encephalization, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 121 (49) e2409542121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2409542121

Sánchez Goñi, M. F. (2020). Regional impacts of climate change and its relevance to human evolution. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, e55. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.56

Scrivner, C. (2024). Curiosity: A behavioral biology perspective’, in Laith Al-Shawaf, and Todd K. Shackelford (eds), The Oxford handbook of evolution and the emotions. Oxford Publications. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197544754.013.20

Schmidt, K. (2010). Göbekli Tepe – the Stone Age Sanctuaries. New results of ongoing excavations with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs. Documenta Praehistorica, 37, 239-256. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.37.21

Schretlen, D. J., van der Hulst, E. J., Pearlson, G. D., & Gordon, B. (2010). A neuropsychological study of personality: trait openness in relation to intelligence, fluency, and executive functioning. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 32(10), 1068–1073. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803391003689770
The Amalgamated Hierarchy of Consciousness

by

psychology, Uncategorized

Tracing the evolution of awareness from quantum entanglement to symbolic self-reflection.

By Michael Thacker

Author’s Note:

This essay explores the evolution of consciousness as an emergent hierarchy — from the proto-conscious field of quantum entanglement to the symbolic articulation of the human psyche. It integrates perspectives from physics, genetics, sensory biology, neuropsychology, and depth psychology to illustrate how awareness unfolds as a unified process across the scales of being.

Introduction

Consciousness has been a mystery to humanity since the initial emergence of writing — and most likely well into our evolutionary past, evidenced in burials of the dead beginning over 100,000 years ago (Zaidner et al., 2025). Early representations of humanity’s awareness of consciousness appeared during the Paleolithic period (≈50,000 BP) as stone carvings of spirals, snakes, and bulls (Gimbutas, 1989). These carvings symbolized “life energy,” or in Jungian terms, the libido (Jung, 1956).

Millennia later, the concept of consciousness evolved from an overarching field that inhabited all life into an individual soul that only humans possessed. The Sumerian word for soul or spirit was gidim, which translated to an animated spirit or ghost of the individual (Choksi, 2014). This concept was developed further in the Old Testament, where everyone possessed a nesama — the “breath of life” or soul. The New Testament writers expanded upon this with the Greek term pneuma to describe the soul of humanity — often translated as “spirit,” but best understood as the rational soul.

The introduction of a rational component to the concept of the soul was revolutionary — signifying a developmental step toward individual significance. This significance can be better understood by examining the evolving religious significance of the individual from Sumer to the first century ACE.

During the third millennium BCE, the Sumerians believed the king to be a god incarnate, possessing the power to govern all things. Centuries later, this concept developed to situate the king as a son of the gods rather than a god himself. However, both roles positioned the king to “inherit” access to dwell with the gods forever in the heavens after death (Neumann, 1954).

As the centuries progressed, so too did this concept of death and resurrection — one that eventually extended to all inhabitants of Babylon (Sumer). The Old Testament writers absorbed this idea, which was further developed in the New Testament. There, all of humanity possesses a “soul,” and through the death and resurrection of Jesus, those who believe in the “king” are granted access to the eternal realm (Neumann, 1954).

Though the symbolic understanding of consciousness (soul) has evolved throughout millennia, a scientific comprehension of this enigma remains elusive. It is therefore necessary to integrate this symbolic dimension within a multifaceted framework of consciousness. The symbolic significance is not a mere artifact of culture but an evolutionary phenomenon that may be directly related to the essence of consciousness itself. Other facets that must be considered include quantum physics, genetics, sensory modalities, neuroanatomy, and symbolism.

To understand consciousness as an emergent hierarchy, we must move beyond the isolated study of its components toward a model that perceives its interdependent strata as facets of a unified field. Each level — quantum, genetic, sensory, neural, and symbolic — contributes to the architecture of awareness in ascending complexity, while remaining rooted in the same underlying continuum of reality.

Hierarchy of Consciousness

These five facets of consciousness — quantum, genetic, sensory, neuroanatomical, and symbolic — are best understood as an amalgamated hierarchy rather than separate qualities. The most fundamental level is the quantum realm, where proto-consciousness resides. This level is followed by the genetic structures inherent within multicellular organisms that help “activate” aspects of consciousness into existence. From there, consciousness is experienced and further developed through the sensory and neuroanatomical systems. Finally, it emerges into symbolic articulation — the self-reflective expression of awareness.

The Quantum Foundation: Proto-Consciousness and the Field of Entanglement

Quantum physics pertains to the realm of particles and their subcomponents — a peculiar realm of unpredictability where particles exist as both wave and particle simultaneously (Li et al., 2023). Only when an observer (consciousness) interacts with these particle-waves does the wavefunction collapse and the particle aspect solidify. This solidification gives rise to the tangible reality we engage with daily — from trees and buildings to one another (Codex, 2023).

Multiple experiments over the past two centuries have demonstrated that a particle must be observed to solidify. The first was Young’s famous “double-slit” experiment, wherein photons shot through double slits produced a wave pattern, revealing the paradox of wave-particle duality and the instantaneous, communicative nature of reality (Kim & Ham, 2023).

A later study by the Weizmann Institute of Science (1998) used a sophisticated detector to spot passing electrons and found that — even without human observation — the particles “knew” they were being detected, collapsing their wavefunction. This not only illustrates the entangled nature of particles but also suggests the presence of proto-consciousness.

A more recent experiment by Vedovato et al. (2017) supported this view. Their satellite-ground interferometer extended thousands of miles into space, reflecting photons through complex mirror configurations. At the final moment, the photons collapsed from wave to particle — seemingly aware of the measurement decision through a phenomenon known as retrocausality.

The accumulating evidence supports the idea of a proto-conscious awareness capable of communicating with itself across time. This instantaneous, interconnected communication suggests a fundamental field of proto-conscious activity from which higher forms of consciousness emerge.

Genetic Mediation: The Biological Encoding of Awareness

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) — the double-helix molecule that underlies all life — encodes, transmits, and expresses information (Openstax, 2021). Through epigenetics, genes can be switched on or off depending on environmental factors, allowing traits to manifest as genotypes or phenotypes (Meza-Menchaca et al., 2024). Over roughly 3.8 billion years, this process has driven life’s evolution (Kitadai & Maruyama, 2018).

DNA sustains an organism’s biological functionality across generations, yet this continuity is adaptable. Environmental pressures can activate or deactivate genes, producing new physical and behavioral traits (Meza-Menchaca et al., 2024). Over time, this process gave rise to major evolutionary transitions — such as the first fish adapting to land through genetic activation that eventually produced limbs and lungs (Gregory, 2008).

Epigenetics also shapes cognition. Libedinsky et al. (2025) revealed that shifts in gene expression correlate with cognitive advancements, such as the divergence of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals roughly 600,000 years ago — a period marked by dramatic increases in brain size and complexity.

Because these biological structures are composed of subatomic particles, DNA itself may participate in the same proto-conscious field. Thus, as organisms grow in complexity, consciousness likewise evolves into a more intricate, self-referential structure that enhances survival and adaptability.

Sensory Integration: The Embodied Gateways of Awareness

Evolving from this genetic-environmental interplay were the sensory modalities essential for engagement with the environment. These include visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and vestibular systems (Frangeul et al., 2016).

Sensory systems allow organisms to gather and process information necessary for survival — locating food, identifying threats, navigating terrain (Roca et al., 2025), and making adaptive decisions (Zheng & Gu, 2024). As sensory modalities evolved, so did the capacity for multisensory integration, enabling organisms to analyze and interpret complex stimuli (Kanemura & Kitano, 2023). In hominids, this refinement paralleled the expansion of neuroanatomical features responsible for perception and thought.

Neuroanatomical Integration: The Architecture of Perception and Experience

Human cognition evolved alongside the brain’s structural transformation — increases in cortical folding, myelination, and hemispheric differentiation. This allowed greater information processing and more nuanced perception of reality.

McGilchrist (2019) highlights this hemispheric differentiation: the right hemisphere perceives holistically, attuned to ambiguity and relational context, while the left is analytical, focused on precision and control. The right hemisphere perceives patterns and meaning; the left isolates and defines.

This dual architecture mirrors the wave-particle duality of reality itself — the right hemisphere reflecting the wave’s uncertainty, the left embodying the particle’s stability (Codex, 2023; McGilchrist, 2019).

Symbolic Expression: Consciousness Reflecting Upon Itself

Perception is shaped not only by neuroanatomy but by the internal dialogue of thought. As humans evolved, subjective processing deepened — culminating in the symbolic articulation of internal experience.

Around 50,000 years ago, early humans began to carve and paint symbols on cave walls, transforming inner perception into external representation (Neumann, 1956; Srivastava, 2020). These were not mere depictions but expressions of consciousness becoming self-aware.

Developmentally, the human child follows a parallel path. Around age four, children begin expressing inner perception symbolically, later refining this into language and abstract reasoning (Babakr et al., 2019; Yu & Nagai, 2020). Such self-expression signals individuality — the emergence of a meta-aware self capable of reflection and empathy.

Through millennia, symbolic articulation matured — from cave art to writing, myth, religion, and science — each an externalization of the psyche’s evolution (Jung, 1956).

Entangled Awareness: The Unity of Consciousness and Reality

The five facets of this amalgamated hierarchy — quantum, genetic, sensory, neuroanatomical, and symbolic — collectively compose a coherent architecture of awareness.

Connection with reality begins at the quantum level, where the wave-particle duality allows matter and mind to co-participate. Through quantum entanglement, this wavefunction interacts with the organized particle systems of living organisms, forming the basis of consciousness as a dynamic field of interrelation.

As this system grows in complexity, it acquires the capacity for self-reference and reflection. Organisms with advanced sensory and neural systems not only perceive their environment but interpret it — shaping and being shaped by it in turn.

At higher levels, consciousness interacts within the overarching quantum-entangled field, allowing each individual awareness to be both unique and unified — an independent locus of perception within the shared web of existence.

Consciousness, therefore, may not merely observe reality but participate in its unfolding — each act of awareness a mirror in the cosmic field reflecting itself into being.

References:

Babakr, Z., Mohamedamin, P., Kakamad, K. (2019). Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory: Critical review. Education Quarterly Reviews, 2(3), 517-524. doi: 10.31014/aior.1993.02.03.84

Choksi, M. (2014). World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/701/ancient-mesopotamian-beliefs-in-the-afterlife/

Codex, Y. (2023). The role of observers in physics: Shaping physical phenomena through quantum information theory. Yubetsu Codex Quantum physics, 1(2). https://codex.yubetsu.com/article/2260bb6fff034a859acc020441a50f31

Frangeul, L., Pouchelon, G., Telley, L., Lefort, S., Luscher, C., & Jabaudon, D. (2016). A cross-modal genetic framework for the development and plasticity of sensory pathways. Nature, 538(7623), 96–98. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19770

Gimbutas, M. (1989). The language of the goddess. Harper San Francisco.

Gregory, T.R. The evolution of complex organs. Evolution Education Outreach, 1, 358–389 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12052-008-0076-1

Jung, C. (1956). Symbols of transformation. Princeton University Press.

Kanemura, I., & Kitano, K. (2023). Association between different sensory modalities based on concurrent time series data obtained by a collaborative reservoir computing model. Scientific reports, 13(1), 173. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-27385-x

Kim, S., & Ham, B. S. (2023). Revisiting self-interference in Young’s double-slit experiments. Scientific reports, 13(1), 977. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28264-1

Kitadai, M. & Maruyama, S. (2018). Origins of building blocks of life: A review[J]. Geoscience Frontiers, 9(4), 1117-1153. DOI: 10.1016/j.gsf.2017.07.007

Li, J. K., Sun, K., Wang, Y., Hao, Z. Y., Liu, Z. H., Zhou, J., Fan, X. Y., Chen, J. L., Xu, J. S., Li, C. F., & Guo, G. C. (2023). Experimental demonstration of separating the wave‒particle duality of a single photon with the quantum Cheshire cat. Light, science & applications, 12(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-01063-5

Libedinsky, I., Wei, Y., de Leeuw, C., Rilling, J. K., Posthuma, D., & van den Heuvel, M. P. (2025). The emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution. Cerebral cortex, 35(8), bhaf127. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf127

McGilchrist, I. (2019). The master and his emissary. Yale University Press.

Meza-Menchaca, T., Albores-Medina, A., Heredia-Mendez, A. J., Ruíz-May, E., Ricaño-Rodríguez, J., Gallegos-García, V., Esquivel, A., Vettoretti-Maldonado, G., & Campos-Parra, A. D. (2024). Revisiting epigenetics fundamentals and its biomedical implications. International journal of molecular sciences, 25(14), 7927. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25147927

Neumann, E. (1954). The origins and history of consciousness. Princeton University Press.

OpenStax. (2021). Biology 2e. OpenStax, Rice University. https://openstax.org/books/biology-2e/pages/1-introductionm

Roca, M., Eren, G. G., Böger, L., Didenko, O., Lo, W. S., Scholz, M., & Lightfoot, J. W. (2025). Evolution of sensory systems underlies the emergence of predatory feeding behaviours in nematodes. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2025.03.24.644997. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.24.644997

Vedovato, F., Agnesi, C., Schiavon, M., Dequal, D., Calderaro, L., Tomasin, M., Marangon, D. G., Stanco, A., Luceri, V., Bianco, G., Vallone, G., & Villoresi, P. (2017). Extending Wheeler’s delayed-choice experiment to space. Science advances, 3(10), e1701180. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1701180

Weizmann Institute Of Science. (1998). Quantum theory demonstrated: Observation affects reality. ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/02/980227055013.htm

Yu, L., & Nagai, Y. (2020). An Analysis of Characteristics of Children’s Growth through Practical Art. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 8(2), 109. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8020109

Zaidner, Y., Prévost, M., Shahack-Gross, R., Weissbrod, L., Yeshurun, R., Porat, N., Guérin, G., Mercier, N., Galy, A., Pécheyran, C., Barbotin, G., Tribolo, C., Valladas, H., White, D., Timms, R., Blockley, S., Frumkin, A., Gaitero-Santos, D., Ilani, S., Ben-Haim, S., … Hershkovitz, I. (2025). Evidence from Tinshemet Cave in Israel suggests behavioural uniformity across Homo groups in the Levantine mid-Middle Palaeolithic circa 130,000-80,000 years ago. Nature human behaviour, 9(5), 886–901. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02110-y

Zheng, Q., & Gu, Y. (2024). From Multisensory Integration to Multisensory Decision-Making. Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 1437, 23–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-7611-9_2
Göbekli Tepe and the Dawn of the First Parents: The Emergence of Dual Consciousness

by

psychology

Tracing the evolution of the human psyche through the meeting of the feminine and masculine principles in the world’s first temple.

By Michael Thacker — Part III of “From Venus to Marduk: The Evolution of Sacred Consciousness” Research Series

Author’s Note: This essay continues an exploration of the evolution of consciousness through the lens of symbolic archaeology and depth psychology. Building upon The Feminine Ouroboros and The Younger Dryas and the Dawn of Consciousness, this installment examines Göbekli Tepe as the threshold between undifferentiated unity and the first emergence of dual awareness — the encounter of the First Parents.

Introduction

Approximately 12,000 years ago, a megalithic structure was constructed in the southern landscape of modern-day Turkey known as Göbekli Tepe (≈11,600–10,800 BP). The site consists of several circular enclosures outlined with massive T-pillars hewn from limestone, each weighing between 10 and 50 tons and standing roughly 3.5 meters tall (Judkins, 2025). The purpose of this structure remains a mystery; however, many scholars believe it served as one of the earliest temples. This is supported by a wealth of animal bones discovered at the site — indicative of ritual sacrifice (Schmidt, 2010).

Before Göbekli Tepe, humanity lived in a hunter-gatherer mode of being that required mobility and adaptability — a time known as the Paleolithic period (≈50,000–12,000 BP). Caves provided shelter and community, and within them, humanity began translating experience into abstract expression through paintings and carvings. These depictions often portray hunting scenes, likely representing either actual events or symbolic rituals (Srivastava, 2020).

Among these scenes are abstract motifs — spirals, parallel lines, and zigzags — later associated with the Divine Goddess in the Neolithic and Copper Age. This symbolic continuity, along with the widespread discovery of Venus figurines, suggests a Paleolithic emphasis on the divine feminine. The relative absence of masculine imagery outside of hunting scenes reinforces this interpretation (Gimbutas, 1989; Srivastava, 2020).

The transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic (≈11,800–8,500 BP) marked a profound cultural and environmental shift as hunter-gatherers began settling into agrarian life. This transition followed the Younger Dryas, a climatic reversal lasting from 12,800 to 11,500 BP that brought cold, arid conditions and resource scarcity. The subsequent return of warmth and moisture revitalized flora and fauna, catalyzing a resurgence of human creativity and the birth of agriculture (Munro, 2003).

Throughout human history, such climatic fluctuations have repeatedly triggered evolutionary leaps. For instance, the transition from Australopithecus to Homo erectus involved not only tool use, cooking, and bipedalism, but also major environmental change — a crucible that produced taller, leaner humans with doubled brain capacity (Sánchez Goñi, 2020; Wrangham, 2009).

Modern research echoes this pattern: novel environments — whether physical or informational — stimulate neuroplasticity and activate dormant genes. Studies in evolutionary epigenetics have found striking parallels between past climatic shifts and major transitions in hominid cognition (Libedinsky et al., 2025; Sánchez Goñi, 2020).

The impact of the Younger Dryas on human cognition is evident not only in the advent of agriculture but also in the construction of Göbekli Tepe. The site’s earliest phase (Layer III) immediately follows this period, ca. 11,600 BP (Dietrich et al., 2013). Its architectural sophistication, unprecedented in the archaeological record, suggests a major cognitive and cultural transformation.

Human consciousness had evolved in an exceptional way — producing the skills, imagination, and symbolic capacity to build monuments to the unseen.

Göbekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple

The precise function of Göbekli Tepe remains debated, yet most scholars agree it served as a sanctuary. Evidence of animal sacrifice and ritual feasting supports this view (Judkins, 2025; Schmidt, 2010).

Carved into its pillars are intricate symbols — animals, crescent moons, handbags, and abstract designs such as a recurring H-shaped motif. Nearby sites like Nevali Çori reveal similar architectural and ritual features, indicating a shared cultural tradition. The absence of domestic structures further reinforces the interpretation of Göbekli Tepe as a site of pilgrimage and worship (Schmidt, 2010).

Klaus Schmidt (2010), who first excavated the site, proposed that the T-pillars represent divine beings. Each pillar bears stylized arms folding above a belt, suggesting anthropomorphic figures. Schmidt and others identified them as male, citing parallels at Nevali Çori — a slightly later site whose anthropomorphic statues feature belts, robes, and loincloths. Additional evidence, such as ithyphallic statues and the “Phallic Man” of Karahan Tepe, appears to support this masculine association (Black, 2024; Verit & Verit, 2020).

However, such conclusions may be incomplete when the site is considered as a whole.

Male and Female Divinity

Viewed holistically, Göbekli Tepe and related sites evoke a more complex cosmology. The T-pillars bear striking resemblance to the so-called “stiff nudes” — columnar goddess figurines found throughout the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. These elongated female forms, characterized by fused legs, stylized arms, and diadem-like headdresses, become especially prominent in the late Neolithic (Gimbutas, 1989; Lbova, 2021; Nishiaki et al., 2025).

The parallels between these figurines and pillars in Enclosure D are too pronounced to ignore. Since such figurines predate and postdate Göbekli Tepe, they suggest continuity in goddess symbolism rather than its replacement.

Nevali Çori provides further evidence. One totem from the site depicts a vulture atop two female figures flanked by vultures below — a clear echo of goddess and death symbology seen in both Paleolithic and Neolithic art. The female figures mirror the form of Göbekli Tepe’s pillars, complete with diadem-like crowns. Additional finds, including bird-headed human figures, recall the archetype of the bird goddess — a symbol of transformation and renewal (Schmidt, 2010).

Excavations at Nevali Çori also uncovered roughly 700 figurines, 90% of which are anthropomorphic. According to Schmidt (2010), male and female figurines appear in nearly equal number, marking an emerging balance between masculine and feminine religious representation. Given the temporal proximity of the two sites, it is plausible that Nevali Çori carried forward the ritual traditions of Göbekli Tepe.

Symbols of vultures, boars, bulls, snakes, and diadems found at Göbekli Tepe are all linked to the goddess tradition (Gimbutas, 1989; Dietrich et al., 2014). These motifs persist into the Copper and Bronze Ages, reflecting a deep continuity of sacred feminine imagery across millennia.

Göbekli Tepe thus represents not the end of matriarchal worship, but its transformation — the point where the masculine first emerges alongside the feminine, not in opposition but in complementarity. This synthesis marks the beginning of a new psychological era — the dawn of rational, structured consciousness.

The Emergence of the First Parents

The shift in consciousness embodied by Göbekli Tepe can be interpreted through a depth-psychological lens. Jung (1956) described early humanity as living in a dream-like participation with nature, immersed in the collective unconscious. As awareness evolved, symbols once lived became symbols reflected upon. Consciousness differentiated, giving rise to what Jung called the ego — the center of individuality.

This differentiation, symbolized by the mythic separation from the “first parents,” marks the beginning of self-awareness. In mythic language, the ouroboros — the eternal feminine that contains both creation and destruction — gives birth to duality. From this unity arise the first masculine and feminine forms — the primordial parents of myth (Jung, 1956; Neumann, 1954).

Within this framework, Göbekli Tepe represents the emergence of the collective ego from the collective unconscious. The circular enclosures function as symbolic wombs, while the upright T-pillars embody consciousness rising from the undifferentiated whole. Through these forms, humanity began to recognize itself — to separate subject from object, self from nature.

No longer confined to the cave walls of symbolic dream, humankind stood upright and inscribed its reflection in stone.

Conclusion

Humanity’s story is one of adaptation and awakening. Across climatic and existential thresholds, our species has repeatedly reinvented itself — not only biologically, but symbolically.

Around 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged as the sole hominid species on Earth, ushering in a creative explosion of art and myth (Srivastava, 2020). Yet it was not until the end of the Younger Dryas, nearly 12,000 years ago, that humanity achieved a new threshold — the conscious construction of meaning in stone (Munro, 2003; Schmidt, 2010).

Göbekli Tepe stands as a monument to this emergence: circular sanctuaries like wombs encasing pillars that reach skyward — the first architecture of awareness. In its synthesis of feminine and masculine symbolism, we glimpse the birth of self-reflective consciousness: the moment when humanity, for the first time, began to see itself seeing.

Closing Note:

Göbekli Tepe stands as both monument and mirror — a reflection of humanity’s earliest attempt to give shape to the ineffable mystery of being. Within its circular enclosures, consciousness began to divide and reflect upon itself — the first glimmer of the masculine and feminine as distinct yet interdependent forces.

In the next installment, I’ll explore how this differentiation gave rise to the archetypes of the Great Mother and Great Father throughout the Neolithic and Bronze Age imagination.

References:

Black, M. (2018). The Shaman Phallus. The_Shaman_Phallus.pdf

Dietrich, O., Köksal-Schmidt, Ç., Notroff, J., & Schmidt, K. (2013). Establishing a radiocarbon sequence for Göbekli Tepe — State of research and new data. Neo-Lithics, 1/13. (PDF) Establishing a Radiocarbon Sequence for Göbekli Tepe. State of Research and New Data.

Dietrich, O., Köksal-Schmidt, Ç., Kürkçüoğlu, C., Notroff, J., & Schmidt, Kl. (2014). Göbekli Tepe. Preliminary Report on the 2012 and 2013 Excavation Seasons. Neo-Lithics. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260325619_Gobekli_Tepe_Preliminary_Report_on_the_2012_and_2013_Excavation_Seasons

Gimbutas, M. (1989). The language of the goddess. Harper San Francisco.

Judkins, D. A. Göbekli Tepe in Early Civilization Development: A Reassessment of Neolithic Origins.

Jung, C. (1956). Symbols of transformation. Princeton University Press.

Lbova L. (2021). The Siberian Paleolithic site of Mal’ta: a unique source for the study of childhood archaeology. Evolutionary human sciences, 3, e9. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2021.5

Libedinsky, I., Wei, Y., de Leeuw, C., Rilling, J. K., Posthuma, D., & van den Heuvel, M. P. (2025). The emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 35(8), bhaf127. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf127

Munro, N. D. (2003). Small game, the Younger Dryas, and the transition to agriculture in the Southern Levant. Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte, 12, 47–72.

Neumann, E. (1954). The origins and history of consciousness. Princeton University Press.

Nishiaki, Y., Safarova, U., Ikeyama, F., Satake, W., & Mammadov, Y. (2025). Human figurines in the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition of the South Caucasus: New evidence from the Damjili cave, Azerbaijan,
Archaeological Research in Asia, 42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2025.100611.

Sánchez Goñi, M. F. (2020). Regional impacts of climate change and its relevance to human evolution. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, e55. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.56

Schmidt, K. (2010). Göbekli Tepe — the Stone Age Sanctuaries. New results of ongoing excavations with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs. Documenta Praehistorica, 37, 239–256. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.37.21

Verit, A., & Verit, F. F. (2021). The phallus of the greatest archeological finding of the new millenia: an untold story of Gobeklitepe dated back 12 milleniums. International journal of impotence research, 33(5), 504–507. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-020-0300-2

Wrangham, R. (2009). Catching fire: How cooking made us human. Basic Books.
The Feminine Ouroboros: The Emergence of Consciousness and the Venus Figurines

by

psychology

Tracing the origins of human self-awareness through the symbols of fertility, death, and rebirth in Paleolithic art.

By Michael Thacker — Part I of “From Venus to Marduk: The Evolution of Sacred Consciousness” Research Series

Author’s Note: This essay marks the beginning of a four-part exploration tracing the evolution of human consciousness through its earliest symbolic expressions — from the Venus figurines of the Upper Paleolithic to the myth of Marduk and Tiamat. Each stage reflects a new step in the differentiation of the human psyche from the primordial whole.

Introduction

The mysteries of consciousness and its emergence within the human brain has captivated scholars for centuries, and yet after decades of research, little is understood about this phenomenon. From Australopithecus to Homo Erectus (≈2 million years ago), dramatic physiological and neurological anatomical changes have been observed such as taller erect bodies and larger brain size — in fact, brain size nearly doubled during this transitory period. Another leap in cognition was observed approximately 700,000–500,000 years ago with the emergences of Homo Heidelbergensis and the subsequent divergence of Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals (Libedinsky et al., 2025).

Evolution of hominid cranial capacity

Most of these changes have been due to adaptative strategies in contending with novel environments through either migration or climate change. Adapting to these environments necessitated novel strategies such as fire use, advanced tool making and hunting methods. Recent research by Libedinsky et al. (2025) found that these adaptive strategies and their resulting innovations were due to the emergence of underlying genomic variations. Over time, these genomic variations led to increases in fluid intelligence.

Beginning approximately 40,000 years ago, intelligence in primitive humans experienced another dramatic increase (Libedinsky et al., 2025). At this time, humans began to articulate conscious thought through in a novel way — by etching symbols on cave walls and creating elaborately designed figurines. For the first time, human consciousness elevated to a level beyond simple tool making and fire building to a stage of abstraction. Symbols imbued with meaning became physically present; narratives were sketched for the eyes to behold (Aubert et al., 2019).

These symbols were not for simple entertainment purposes but were a means of communicating something that primitive humans did not understand — something deeply embedded in the collective unconscious. In this collective unconscious domain lay the necessary building blocks for the full emergence of the individual consciousness — the ego. The symbols created by these early humans were the first attempt at differentiating the ego from the collective unconscious with the earliest representation being anthropomorphic designs and Venus figurines (Neumann, 1954).

The Venus Figurines — The Feminine Ouroboros:

Beginning in the Upper Paleolithic (≈40,000 years ago), humans created intricately designed anthropomorphic artwork and figurines. Among these designs were the Venus figures — female depicted as either obese or pregnant (Vandewettering, 2015). Early human artists emphasized the buttocks and breasts of these figurines which symbolized the nurturance provided by the Goddess. Other distinctive features included an enlarged vagina, indicating pregnancy. After thorough investigations, Gimbutas (1991) interpreted these figurines as fertility Goddesses that were created with the intent of reverence and worship. Venuses symbolized the death and rebirth of life that was commonly observed by hunter-gatherers — a process that was later symbolized in the ouroboros. Other primitive symbols that relate to the divine feminine ouroboros include spirals, discs, and snakes. This ouroboric phase of death and rebirth represented in the Venus figurines was not merely a creative aspect of cognition, but an articulation of unconscious elements.

Through a Jungian lens, the ouroboric state was the most primitive stage of consciousness. This stage represented a full immersion in the collective unconscious wherein the individual consciousness was undifferentiated from the whole (Neumann, 1954). In parallel, Jung (1956) noted that this state of conscious awareness was akin to that of a young child who existed in the realm of dreams. Just as a child is one with the parents, so too was the primitive consciousness one with the parental essence of the tribe of which they were a part of.

Paleolithic Spirals and Venus Figurine with Spirals

At this stage of development, differentiation through the process of individuation is crucial. Individuation requires that the individual (or the collective during primitive times) acquire novel information that is often achieved through struggles that transform the individual. Transformation is equated with ego development — a differentiation from the collective (Neumann, 1954).

The first stage of individuation is symbolized through the fight with the first parents that exist within the ouroboric state. These first parents are symbolized as the feminine and masculine aspect of the ouroboros. Thus, the Venus figurines and related symbols are an encounter with the feminine aspect of the ouroboros. As humanity progressed in consciousness over the next several millennia, they encountered struggles that demanded innovative adaptive strategies to overcome. This newly acquired information helped differentiate the collective from the feminine stage of the ouroboros to the masculine — the final touchstone stage of struggle and knowledge acquisition transpiring during the Younger Dryas period (≈12,900–11,600 years ago) (Munro, 2003; Schmidt, 2010).

Closing Note:

In the next installment, I’ll explore how the circular sanctuaries of Göbekli Tepe gave rise to a new masculine principle — the first emergence of conscious order from the feminine ouroboros. You can read it here: https://michaelthacker.blog/2025/10/07/the-younger-dryas-and-the-dawn-of-consciousness-climate-crisis-and-the-rise-of-gobekli-tepe/

References

Aubert, M., Lebe, R., Oktaviana, A. A., Tang, M., Burhan, B., Hamrullah, Jusdi, A., Abdullah, Hakim, B., Zhao, J. X., Geria, I. M., Sulistyarto, P. H., Sardi, R., & Brumm, A. (2019). Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art. Nature, 576(7787), 442–445. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1806-y

Gimbutas, M. (1991). The language of the goddess. Harper San Francisco.

Jung, C. (1956). Symbols of transformation. Princeton University Press.

Libedinsky, I., Wei, Y., de Leeuw, C., Rilling, J. K., Posthuma, D., & van den Heuvel, M. P. (2025). The emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 35(8), bhaf127. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf127

Munro, N. D. (2003). Small game, the Younger Dryas, and the transition to agriculture in the Southern Levant. Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte, 12, 47–72.

Neumann, E. (1954). The origins and history of consciousness. Princeton University Press.

Schmidt, K. (2010). Göbekli Tepe — the Stone Age Sanctuaries. New results of ongoing excavations with a special focus on sculptures and high reliefs. Documenta Praehistorica, 37, 239–256. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.37.21

Vandewettering, Kaylea R. (2015) “Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines and interpretations of prehistoric gender representations. PURE Insights: Vol. 4 , Article 7. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/pure/vol4/iss1/7
Graduated — Bachelor of Science in Psychology

by

Uncategorized

A few weeks ago, I graduated from the Psychology Bachelor’s program at Capella University, and today I received my diploma in the mail—a small piece of paper that carries two years of intense study, late nights, and the continual balance of family, work, and self-discipline.

For me, it’s more than an academic milestone; it’s a symbol of transformation. I’ve moved from the chaos of addiction toward clarity, meaning, and responsibility. The journey is far from over, but this moment reminds me how far order can rise from disorder when purpose guides the process.

I’m deeply grateful to everyone who supported me along the way—your encouragement and feedback made a lasting impact. I especially want to thank my wife, who has been both my greatest cheerleader and my sergeant—encouraging me when I needed strength and reigniting my intrinsic passion when I lost sight of it.

I now look forward to continuing my work, both within and beyond the academic world—through my upcoming peer-reviewed paper and graduate studies. As Jung wrote, the privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are—cheers to the lifelong work of becoming.