Tortoise wrote:
The reason I view it as an interesting theory is this: If humans thousands of years ago indeed had bicameral minds, then what they thought were "gods" speaking to them and giving them commands back then turned out to be, upon further evolution, just part of their own consciousness. Likewise, some modern-day humans have strange religious or psychedelic experiences that they interpret as God, angels, aliens, or whatever. But upon further evolution in the future, we may discover yet again that those "supernatural" or "alien" experiences were also just part of our own consciousness in disguise--a part of it that merely needed to be integrated with the existing mind to form a more accurate and expanded sense of Self.
Imagine you turn on your TV one evening and rather than American Idol there is an alien creature speaking like a British actor and he says the following:
People of earth, I am Zog from Orlog. I have taken over your broadcasting system to deliver an important message to the people of earth.
To begin, and as you will see in a moment, we mean you no harm. With that out of the way, let me proceed with the message I have come to deliver.
A characterisitc of the human condition is to experience a sense of longing and the persistent belief that there is something external to yourselves with which you need to have communion, or perhaps re-establish some long lost connection. This feature of the typical human experience of reality has given rise to countless belief systems, many of which have common features, including a belief in a higher being, a belief in minimizing the role of the self, and strategies for discovering truth and meaning in your lives.
You may look around you and see other animals and wonder how you could have such a similar body structure and chemical composition and yet feel so incredibly different from all other members of the animal kingdom. You may wonder how the same evolutionary process that led all other life forms to seemingly reach a relatively low plateau of intelligence, awareness and ability to think outside the bounds of survival, somehow led humans to develop this remarkable ability to seemingly transcend the natural world, and even intentionally attempt to escape it through various means.
I am here to provide you with some answers.
First, there are other dimensions to reality that your species occasionally suspects may exist, but which your current senses do not allow you to perceive directly. It is in these other dimensions that my people primarily reside, though we do visit your dimension occasionally, as I am doing now.
About 150,000 years ago, my people visited your planet and identified a species that had the potential for evolutionary development that could potentially lead to a manifestation of higher intelligence, though it was far from certain that this creature would actually be able to pull off this evolutionary feat, given all of the survival threats that can challenge even the most intelligent and well adapted creatures. We took members of this species and made certain genetic modifications that would result in rapid evolution of intelligence, consciousness and, most importantly, provide them with a subtle but persistent sense that there is some greater knowledge of existence to be gained through contemplation and seeking.
We did this because in many ways we view you as our creation, and we do not know how to raise a species from the position of what is essentially a purely instinctive animal whose meaning in life is gained from the next meal or the next night of safety from predators to a higher form of life except by creating a hybrid creature existing somewhere between the two original life forms. That is who you are.
Virtually all notions of a higher being that you have are essentially a grasping desire to acknowledge me and my people as your creators.
The bad news, I suppose, and I always end my broadcasts this way, is that the knowledge I have imparted to you this evening is not something that your mind is prepared to fully assimilate at this stage of your development, so approximately five seconds after the end of this broadcast you will completely forget that it ever occurred. We are doing this to protect the integrity of your mental structures, which are not yet ready for all of the answers we may one day provide. What you will take away from this experience is a subconscious memory of what you have seen and heard this evening, and that memory will continue to exist just below the surface of your consciousness. We periodically provide such communications with you because in a sense you are simply a manifestation of us, and we care deeply about that which we have created, and part of that care is expressed in a respect for the current limits of your own perception. The good news is that this capacity for perception will continue to evolve, and one day we may perhaps commune openly and the dimensional barriers between us will be completely eliminated.
For now, though, best wishes to you, our friends, our children, our creation.
American Idol comes back on TV as people look around for a moment like they might have heard a sound in the distance, and then they return to their normal programming.
