At two years old, our infants suddenly start yelling and, as suddenly discover about lying, fantasy; we know these behaviours are the breakthrough of the repressed memories of events which happened to our ancient ancestors in the cultural infancy of our species; we know that there was an early maturation delay at that equivalent stage of development; we have rationally speculated why our ancient ancestors invented lying, fantasy in response to that maturation delay. We know that they yelled.
But why did they yell? It is important that we investigate. It is clear that our species has been yelling ever since our cultural infancy, and that fantasy/lying and yelling are closely connected in our human psyche, so it is important that we try to find out what we can about this continuing disturbance.
Were our early ancestors protesting against the imposition of maturation delay? Or against the invention of lying, fantasy? Arguing against nature, or against each other? We may understand that at the least they had serious doubts about the invention of lying, fantasy; and that it was an extremely important problem to them.
Sudden maturation delay would be an important and very serious problem.
We recognise that all species evolve natural laws, and that they must live within the laws of their evolution. Obedience to the laws of evolution is a natural law.
Another very strong natural law is the law of survival. A species or an individual within any species will fight to survive.
These ancestors were confronted with what they saw as the existential threat of maturation delay; they couldn't have babies, therefore they couldn't survive, as a species or individually.
Their evolutionary law insisted that they must survive.
Their evolutionary law also insisted that they must obey and therefore must not survive.
They had a profoundly difficult moral conflict.
They invented fantasy babies, superstitiously, magical thinking, a wish fulfilment, that is to say, that by apparently having babies the supposed 'authority' which they must obey, might relent and allow them to have babies; but this 'authority' must see that they didn't actually have babies, so they weren't breaking the law of obedience.
The maturation delay was, naturally, lifted, and our ancestors celebrated ecstatically, as we know from the Dionysian phase our 3 year olds experience now; and for our ancestors it seemed that their clever plan of fantasy babies had worked! At the trauma of the Great Catastrophe some time later (our 3 1/2 year old infants now) our ancestors used their invention of fantasy, lying, to try and make sense of this event.
And so we have gone on ever since. Our mindset now is just the same as theirs' was: we are naturally impulsive; we get brilliant ideas; we think (or feel) that we investigate all the possibilities thoroughly and completely, ask all possible questions and are perfectly sure that our ideas are sound then we implement our ideas and are plunged into disaster.
Our infants of two years old are vulnerable to constipation. We may rationally speculate that with the invention of fantasy, our ancestors felt anxious to hide their 'disobedience'.
There is another consideration: the energy of procreation was blocked by maturation delay, but that energy must naturally be released. The invention of lying, fantasy provided release, the mental activity, the cleverness and the comfort brought satisfaction and diversion, and something to do. It is very likely that our early ancestors felt that the 'authority', wanted them not to survive; and we may understand that the 'authority' was associated with the mother: they were infants and knew that only the mother has such power.
They were mistaken, of course. The maturation delay was a natural event, and nature doesn't think of the creatures who might suffer from it's actions.
And the mother also suffers the effects of trauma, and is concerned with her own survival. The infant's feelings are naturally centred on itself and blames the mother for its suffering.
Our ancestors played 'let's pretend', and this became fixed, a pillar of our psychological being.We still play let's pretend, still feel guilt and shame without knowing why, still launch into plans and schemes without any understanding of the consequences, still think we're very clever, mothers and daughters still fight.
And this is the beginning of becoming human.
And so
Recap: We have a conflict in the mind of our ancestors. They felt they had the choice between survival and obedience. They chose survival, and invented lying, to fool the supposed 'authority'. This strategy seemed to be successful. We have been lying ever since; we know it, it makes us uncomfortable but we still do it, because it seemed to be successful and seemed to be necessary for survival; and we like it. We like lying; we like being clever; we like inventing; we enjoy deceit.
It has got us into a terrible mess. And it's very difficult to know what to do about it.
Our early ancestors invented lying in the cultural infancy of our species, when they were mentally and psychologically the equivalent of 2 year old infants now. We've grown up as a species as liars, deceit is part of what we are, part of our mental equipment, part of our psychological selves.
We can't uninvent lying, it's too much part of us, too firmly fixed in us.
It occurred to me that we don't examine lying. We condemn it and we do it, but we don't examine it; so I tried to examine lying, but there is so much of it, and I quailed at the enormous task, a great solid wall of fantasy and deceit, and began to think that everything we do is made up, that we have even fabricated ourselves. And for a while I was frightened and depressed.
Until I thought of the one constant in my life: God; the idea of the magnificent creator God, that was explained to me when I was three years old; everything that was known about God was carefully and kindly explained to me; and it was wonderful, so lively and exciting. Marvellous. And that idea of God has always been with me.
And so I commend you to God.
And as for the human sphere, we mustn't let it overwhelm us, and we must keep our sense of humour.