Where do we come from? The idea of human origins – the whole pattern of prehistory – has been through a revolution. The long-held Darwinian view purported to show how adopting an upright posture caused the gradual transition from animal to human. That theory has fallen apart spectacularly. Human orientation and equilibrium are now seen as a ‘biological new beginning’. Characteristics such as social complexity and artistic ability emerged with startling suddenness – in a Stone Age ‘cognitive explosion’. In place of Darwin, an entirely new history has emerged: a migration out of Africa and a Middle Eastern transformation. Crucial to understanding this is the discovery of our mystical-shamanic roots, as shown in the cave-paintings that dazzled Picasso. It has become clear that the cognitive leap was a spiritual revolution.
Not least, our supposed human uniqueness has been challenged by the Neanderthals, whose heritage has been hidden for millennia. In no sense crude ‘ape-men’, they were a highly intelligent, culturally advanced people whose history long overlapped ours. Without them, human evolution would undoubtedly be very different.
Over one hundred years ago, Rudolf Steiner spoke of two human types or species. This book illustrates how many of Steiner’s descriptions of human development coincide remarkably with emerging perspectives. His evolutionary thinking about humanity’s distinctive role can set scientific discoveries in a dramatic new light. His concepts concerning rhythmic phases and transitions – grounded in the formation and disintegration of continents – give authentic scientific expression to the myth of Atlantis. Welburn weaves Steiner’s perspectives with contemporary research in this ground-breaking work, exploring the turning-points of human consciousness. In doing so, he helps replace the search for man’s animal connections with the need to re-think the very meaning of being human.
By:
Andrew Welburn
Imprint: Clairview Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781912992690
ISBN 10: 1912992698
Pages: 356
Publication Date: 25 November 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Prologue: WHERE DO WE COME FROM? Chapter 1: EXPLOSION TO MODERNITY Ourselves in the Mirror of Time—The Neanderthal’s Gift—An Idea of Darwin’s Goes Extinct Intermission—MISSING LINKS—INTELLECTUAL REARMAMENT Evolution—Anthropic Science—Biological Imperative, Panpsychism, Complexity and What Next? Chapter 2: RUDOLF STEINER AND THE MAP OF ATLANTIS A World within the World—An Emerging Story and a Startling Map Chapter 3: STEINER’S CLAIRVOYANCE AND EVOLUTION Suppressed Faculties—Consciousness and Evolution—Clairvoyance and Evolution—The Archetypes of Life Chapter 4: ANIMALS AND ATLANTIS Unplatonic Ideas—Perspective: From Animal to Human—Animals and Atlantis Chapter 5: LEMURIAN CHILDHOOD Back to the (New) Beginning—an Improbable and Tenuous Humanity—Early Humans in Search of a Childhood—Material Progress? Chapter 6: NEANDERTHALS AND ATLANTIS Neanderthals: Living with the Dead—Memory and Music Chapter 7: ORACLES AND FLIGHT-PATHS: THE NEANDERTHAL WORLD Oracular Networks—The Dream of Flight—Territory and Conflict: Mythic Resolutions—Myths of Atlantis Chapter 8: BREAKTHROUGH OR BETRAYAL? ASSESSING THE ‘EXPLOSION’ Neanderthals: Who, Whence and Whither?—The Big Fish—A Birth of Images—Mind-Control and the Mysteries—Betrayal Appendix: TOO MANY MAPS The Mystique of Maps
ANDREW WELBURN is a wide-ranging author of works exploring the history and evolution of consciousness. Starting out with a thesis on William Blake and the Gnostics, his main concern has been bridging academic and spiritual perspectives. He has been engaged particularly with Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy and esotericism, through which he has striven to illumine the Christian imagination in poetry and art, highlighting the Romantic writers. In his books The Beginnings of Christianity and From a Virgin Womb he has studied archaic traditions concerning the ‘transfiguration of the world’ in their relevance to Christian origins and a vision of future reality. In his most recent work he is extending the bounds of his researches into evolution and prehistory. He has been a British Academy Fellow and Frances Yates Fellow in the universities of London and Oxford.
