Chapter 5 - Evolution, Altered States, and the Creative Trance

Summary

We are creative primates who evolved from creative primates and as our cognition increased, so did the complexity of our creative trance. In the evolutionary history of our symbolic communication, even early works suggest altered states and transformation of the self. There are archaic artifacts with symbols that intimate initiation and life after death, prehistoric images on cave walls intended to influence both affect and reality, and talismanic objects linked to altered states, rituals, pain relief, and healing. Our toolmaking evolved from simple Lomekwian and Oldowan stone tools, to the increased aesthetic choices of Acheulean handaxes, to Paleolithic ritual objects with archetypal symbolism encoding spiritual rebirth. As humans progressed, their repeated cultural interchanges through the ratchet effect transformed a five-thousand-year-old Near Eastern hammered dulcimer into the modern grand piano. Beginning with everyday needs, our creativity advanced to plans that could alter civilizations, expanding human cognitive capacity with external memory devices like alphabets, computers, and the digital cloud.