Conceiving God - Lewis-Williams

Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion

by David Lewis-Williams

Publication date March 2010

A must to read - contains recent research by Jennifer L Dornan/re: cultural neurophenomenology.

lowergate wrote:Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion

by David Lewis-Williams

Publication date March 2010

A must to read - contains recent research by Jennifer L Dornan/re: cultural neurophenomenology.

Hmmmm....sounds worthwhile! I'll certainly have to get misself a copy & give it a go.

I assume that he's gonna be continuing his theme along the development of early symbols via neurology. And whilst I like reading this material, I've gotta say I don't go along with everything he says - certainly when it comes to the explanation to cover the creation of all rock-art. However, the spin-off his work has created, by opening a lotta people's approaches into other investigative domains has gotta be applauded. I certainly like the way some academic arenas have developed as a result of him & Tom Dowson's original African rock-art research.

It'd be nice to talk more about the development of this approach a lot further, as there are some very important ingredients here - but they can get a bit bogged-down by the demand of 'proof' when exploring the subjective domains that Lewis-William's material evokes. And when we hit this 'necessity' (I suppose we should call it), we have to considerably widen the parameters relating to our perception of what constitutes 'subjective' domains, without imposing traditional (unconscious) judaeo-xtian responses to arenas that don't 'fit' with what we believe constitutes reality.

Judeao-xtian/western investigative patterns that explore such domains are notoriously limiting and restrictive in many ways. More recently, I've began describing such investigative purviews as, simply, childish. Some of the criticisms of Lewis-William's work certainly contradict natural scientific enquiry.

Anyway I'm waffling! Let's see what Lewis-Williams tries to expound. On a similar line (perhaps) is the book Paul Devereux has coming out soon, Mind Before Matter. Let's see what that says!

All the best - Paul

Forget the 'acid' side of L-W, for most the main points are:

He is one of the 1st to take up the issues Colin Renfrew brought up over 25 years ago on the nodal & continuity aspects of passage graves/tombs in relation to long-distance trade and territorial divisions within a 'confederated' indo-European 'society/age' c. 3500 BC up to the late Iron Age.

These overlapping networks of trade, when sought and interpreted, give us a more realistic picture of how ideas et. al., after germination, spread and aide/codify human economic/political/social evolution etc ...

The neuropsychological model has to come into the equation - but it is far from the end game

The 'jig-saw' puzzle we are locked into last lifetimes! - a much better use of 'earth time' than a Rubic Cube or stamp collecting ...

Best regards

John

Many I know will hate this book as it devastates much, if not all, of their thinking & ways.

I for one loved the book, though some of the analysis is on the poor side.

Cognitive Archaeology is still in its infancy - but it cannot be ignored. Neurology has now entered the equation.

Well worth a read 8/10

Guest wrote:Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion - by David Lewis-Williams (Publication date March 2010)

A must to read - contains recent research by Jennifer L Dornan/re: cultural neurophenomenology.

A brand new but nice cheap copy of this (check eBid for such bargains) has just dropped thru mi letterbox this morning. I'll let y' know wot I think. Curious that there's no mention of the likes of Charles Tart, Grof, etc., who I thought he might look at. Still, let's see what he sez...