davidcayley.com History and the New Age
May 27, 2018
Father Thomas Berry, a theologian and eco-thinker, reflects on Biblical transcendence and nature's loss. Derek de Kerckhove, media scholar, links the phonetic alphabet to the rise of individual ego and visual, objectifying culture. Raimundo Panikkar, comparative religion scholar, traces primordial time-consciousness and how writing shifts life toward historical, future-oriented time.
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Primordial Time Values the Past and Present
- Raimundo Panikkar contrasts non-historical societies that reenact creation with historical societies oriented toward a future.
- He argues primordial time is interiorized and past-focused, making death less frightening and life about fullness now.
Writing Created History And The Separate Ego
- Panikkar and Derek de Kerckhove link the origin of historical consciousness to writing, especially the phonetic alphabet.
- Writing externalizes memory, enabling planning for the future and separating knower from known.
Phonetic Alphabet Made The Inner Actor
- Derek de Kerckhove contends the phonetic alphabet produced interiorized, actor-like minds by abstracting sound units from context.
- This abstraction fostered subject-object splits, theater, and a visual-dominant, self-reflective consciousness.