Part 2

 

Continuing on in a more or less forwardly direction…

   The communication phase must have been amusing, deciding what grunt, or what groan,stoodfor this, that, or the other, and then remembering from day to day what each grunt or groan meant, (refer back to the nice buzz part. I mean who hasn’t discovered the secretofthe universeonly to come down later and find that they left it behind. ). Anyway the squabbling over semantics must have been very similar to our modern day political process of appearing civilized in a much uncivilized manner.

   The women probably had a big hand in the developing language, having so much to say and so few eons to do it in. Current belief is that women use both halves of the brain for communication and men use mostly the left half, so women can squeeze more words into the story faster than men, (which is inversely proportional to the male attention span). So I imagine women had the most influence in the development of speech, although grunts and groans still work quite nicely for men even today.

   

   If the left half of the brain is masculine and the right half feminine, then women are the only ones in their right mind, (a phrase coined by a woman no doubt).

   Speech led to a written form eventually, which consisted of pictures and symbols, probably facilitated by the male need to brag and catalogue his manly exploits for future reference. This ability to draw is decidedly a right brain function so men were either more in touch with their feminine side back then, or secretarial skills developed earlier than we thought.

   The reasoning behind this right brain function is that to understand the story line in hieroglyphics you need to look at the “BIG PICTURE” to really know what’s happening, (a skill we would do well to make use of today). Women are more adapted to this ability of seeing the “BIG PICTURE”, while men are more tunnel visioned, they tend to look straight ahead and go directly for what they want, oblivious to the reality of the situation. (A quality women use to their advantage quite well, for free drinks, jewelry, etc...). This tunnel vision is pretty much a necessity for any predator that needs to hunt for survival, but is a definite handicap when we need to see the “BIG PICTURE”. A modern day example of this handicap is NASCAR fans, and the Bush administration. (A nice buzz is fine once in a while, but you gotta sober up sometime). Maybe in 2008.

   Picture writing or hieroglyphics lasted for some centuries and is still in use today in oriental cultures, requiring the reader to look at several characters at once in order to determine exactly what’s being said. So picture writing is right brained, feminine, and requires a lot of characters to get the point across. Now modern day linear writing is decidedly left brained, male, and straight to the point. (No wonder that there’s a gender communication issue). More on the linear writing and left brain thinking and the possible causes and effects of this switch from right to left later.

   I should point out at this stage that a lot of these ideas are merely remembrances (right or wrong) of things I have read, seen, or heard, over the years. If anyone is the original thinker and actually reads this drivel, Thanks for the memories. I personally haven’t had an original thought for years and when I did I left it behind.

   I will say that I read most of the philosophers who were considered “cool” at the time, I’ve read all of Joseph Campbell, an insightful though currently deceased author, and an interesting book by Leonard Schlain entitled the Alphabet vs The Goddess. So as far as references are concerned, you can decide what came from where.

     (to be continued......)