[stylist] writing outside our experience

[Donna Hill]

Chris,
That's an interesting explaination of the ancient texts and all the
references to hearing from the divine. So, you're having an idea in one half
of your brain and the other half, being not fully connected, interprets it
as coming from outside the self. It makes me think of mental illness where
people hear voices, and I wonder if it could possibly be a malformation of
the corpus colosum? While I don't know how to make a judgment as to whether
his theory is correct, I recognize that it could be, and even that it is
highly likely that sometime  -- perhaps further back than he suggests,
perhaps not -- there was an evolution of the connection between the two
halves of the brain. Fascinating. Thanks for sharing, you've awakened my
little brain -- both sides *grin*
Donna
 

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Christine
Malec
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013 2:34 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [stylist] writing outside our experience

It's all pretty abstract unless you're trying to write about it.
Consciousness can be really loosely defined as being able to think about
thinking, reflect on reflecting, observe about observing: something distinct
from cognition, intelligence or conscience. He believed that the hemispheres
of our brains didn't connect as fully as they do today, so when confronted
by a new situation, people would hear a voice that they couldn't distinguish
as their own, so called divine. He begins by sighting the Iliad in which
characters commonly claim to have been told by the gods to do things, and
other characters accept this explanation as unremarkable. I'm only a quarter
of the way through the book and I'm not convinced, but it is slightly
informing me in my attempt to write about people whose world is very small
in a way I can't really imagine. It's hard to imagine innovation without
consciousness, because innovation seems to be a lot about if/then statements
and projecting into a hypothetical future. My protagonist must go on a
journey in which she'll encounter many new ideas and choices, so I may find
a way to integrate some of Jaynes's ideas. 

Cheers,
Chris. 


_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://www.writers-division.net/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/penatwork%40epix.net