THE GLOBAL SYNCHRONISM OF THE PSYCHO-PHYSICAL PROCESSES

THE GLOBAL SYNCHRONISM OF THE PSYCHO-PHYSICAL PROCESSES

Keywords:
Cycles, Globalism, Noosphere, Sociology, History of Culture, Historical Psychology.

Brief summary:
Historically, human activity has had pronounced fluctuations, similar to daily and seasonal cycles (night and day, winter and summer).
Psycho-physical processes change globally and synchronously.
This change is similar to a repeating cycle, which may be used for making long-term predictions.

The idea of world’s integrity appeared a long time ago.
Periodically, it intensifies, becomes topical, then steps back and fades away.
In the XX century, new terms appear almost simultaneously: ‘anthroposphere’, ‘biosphere’, ‘noosphere’.
These terms reflect the growing sensation of the globalization of life, and the increase of its role in natural processes. But on the other hand, they separate life processes, and regard life as different from the whole, as an independent and formative factor.
But is it really so? And what are the bounds of this independence?
What determines man’s will and the expansion of life in nature?
Man’s will and plants’ vital power are great, and can do great things, but under one condition – they must take into account world’s geometry, its lines of power.
Everything submits to this law, including all the living things.
We see confirmation of it every second, every hour, we only need to look around. For example, - in the morning a great number of flowers (as well most people) wake up, regardless of age and sex as well as cultural, national and party identity. The state, the ‘mood’ (if we may say so) of plants as well as animals and people are all subject to change and all submit to a certain natural rhythm. The scale of these rhythms changes in an undulating way, alternating gradual rises with falls. It resembles a musical gamut or a colour scale.
In our example, both the state and the ‘mood’ of living things will constantly change: at the beginning of the day it is the state of increase in activity, and then energy processes decrease and slow down.
Accordingly, these states can be described either through numbers, as on a clock-face, or verbally, using descriptions or mottos.
Moreover, there are steady verbal definitions of temporal intervals of the day: morning, day, evening, night; and of the year: spring, summer, autumn, winter.
And if we find ourselves in the thick of events and facts it is difficult or even impossible to make sense of, we can use our experience to determine their nuances. These nuances show in which period of day and year they take place.
The states and moods of days and nights, as well as summers and winters, are very typical, and their specificity has a global character.
When we look at human history, we are struck by the abundance of facts and events that seem completely chaotic and complicated.
Here we may get a feeling of complete lack of logic in what is going on. But is it so?
Can me transfer our knowledge of daily and annual rhythms to longer periods of time?
Does experience tell us anything about it?
Certainly!
Even from the experience of our own life we understand unique ‘moods’ of different periods. Thanks to television and radio, newspapers and magazines, we know that they had a global character and, like epidemics, embraced the whole world.
But the same things took place even earlier, long before the appearance of modern communication.
We know that not only decades, but also whole centuries had their unique, specific nature, their own mood, their own style.
Each one of us, even if he or she is not a specialist, sees a big difference between the 20th and 19th centuries. And the latter, in its turn, seriously differed from the 18th and other centuries.
I think that few people can deny that the specific nature as well as the mood of the century are reflected, in one way or another, in entire countries and all the cultures.
If we cast a wider look at the history of mankind, we will see enormous, centuries-old periods when the world simultaneously experiences very similar states. Let’s remember the periods of ‘dark ages’, ‘middle ages’, ‘renaissance’, ‘absolutism’. We will try to compare them with the modern days.
If we consider it from this point of view, the distinctions inside these periods are pushed to sidelines, and we start seeing a surprising, recognizable similarity of lifestyles, moods and ways of thinking in people belonging to different regions as well as different traditions.
I will give another example of this surprising synchronicity – when significant events take place in different countries and antique cultures simultaneously.
I’m talking about the establishment of philosophical academies in China and Greece in the 4th century BC, which crowned that long, synchronous way of thinking. At that point the world opened up to people of different cultures in all its integrity and grandeur, richness and variety.
No one can confuse that "classic" world with anything else. Both the style of thinking and the mood are recognizable and typical of this unique time.
And if nowadays the synchronicity of moods of global events can be explained through mass communication, and in the ancient world we can imagine (albeit with a certain difficulty) the existence of relations between China and Greece, then it is absolutely impossible to explain the parallelism with cultural events on another continent – in America (not yet discovered back then).
I’m talking about the gigantic drawings in Peru (Valley of Nazca) from approximately 500 BC. That is a symbolic, geometrized image of unfolded, soaring wings of a bird – given from bird’s eye perspective.
We can compare that wide scope and the globalism of thinking with the Greek vibes felt in the fronton sculpture (appr. 530 BC) - "The Battle of Gods with giants". At the the same time (490) Greeks defeated Persians in Marathon and we could witness the flourishing of Heraclitus’ philosophy with its absolutization of movement and its "conflict of oppositions".
The famous "Winged bulls" from Iranian Persepolis (about 495 of AD) date to the same period.
The winged elatedness of art and the raising of global, large-scale questions in philosophy are also extremely typical of this time.

Perhaps the idea of synchronism can be emphasized by the example of contrasting time – in relation to the time period in question.
(One reservation, though: in great segments of history we can find separate facts which do not coincide with their respective spirit of time; these facts can be ahead of their time and anticipate future, or feel sentimental about the past. Still, they don’t determine the general mood of an epoch. Incidentally, the ideas of Christianity appeared despite the materiality of the time-spirit, and were realized much later. We need to add that transitions from one time period to another are quite vague.)
Christianity became state religion in 353 AD. That same year the monastery ‘The cave of thousand Buddha’ was founded in China. There, in 386 AD, Confucianism was substituted with Buddhism – ‘mortal nature of all the living things, endless reincarnations of men, humility, patience, rejection of struggling…’.
In both cases it is a principled departure from the optimistic faith of the classic antiquity and the possibility of achieving a happy and just life on earth.
Even before 249 AD, the Chinese philosopher Van Be expounded ‘rejection of all actions’ and ‘respect for nonexistence’, and in Egypt before 305 AD, the first hermit, saint Anthony, propagated ‘the strictest asceticism’.
In India, after 450 – ‘internal wars, decline of agriculture and trade - feudalism, division of land, cast segregation - system of firm, unshakable dogmas and recipes…’.
In 390, in Alexandria, the famous scientific center, the Museion, was destroyed. In Byzantium the Olympic Games were prohibited in 394. The Constantinople library was burned down in 475, and in 529, the Athenian academy was closed under the decree of Justinian.
Sad, weeping moods prevail at that time period. The feeling of catastrophe – ‘the world split up and gave so many cracks’ (382-3). Art’s goals at that time were ‘to sweeten the bitter taste of commandments" and to ‘find…comfort’, ‘sad hymn’.
Since 410, Rome suffered from constant pillage by Goths, Vandals, and Huns – “there is not a single country that didn’t have Roman exiles”.
The death of the Western Roman Empire dates back to 476, and in 484 there was the first schism of church, which was divided into ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’.
The head of the Athenian academy – Proclus (died in 485) – was described in this way: ‘…despised carnal pleasures…liked moderation’, ‘didn’t care for either human life or human death’.
In the Chinese cave-temple of Yungang (appr. 495), inside the head of Bodhisattva, we see ‘isolation, half-smile, … life that is hidden inside…’, and in the relief of the Longman cave-temple - ‘Donors’ - ‘ritual, measured motion… of a face with downcast eyes, the recurrent motif of clothing". (500-23).
Of the mosaics of Ravenna flatness and simplicity are typical – ‘the figures are cut from one pattern …ritual static nature… shimmering smalt’(526-47).
In the statue of Buddha from a Japanese monastery we find ‘decorativeness, ritual motions of hands… eyes are closed, the folds are… symbolic and symmetric’ (623).
The sculptural head of a warrior from Palenque (Maya) dates to the same year – ‘integrity, generalization - silence – immersion in his own self – it is symbolic, decorative, ornamental…’, and ‘The mask’ from the temple of the Sun in Palenque – ‘focus on the internal’.

We have considered that example of the extreme periods of human life. And if we proceed from the idea of nature’s cycles that reflected in these moods analogical to daily or annual rhythms, then in our cycle, apart from extreme states, we should find intermediate, or transitional, ones. Like spring and autumn in the annual cycle, or morning and evening in the daily cycle.

Indeed, such periods exist in human history! Let us consider them:
If the period that is simultaneous with Chinese and classic Greek philosophy can be called ‘the summer’, or ‘the day’ of mankind (with activities and struggles typical of it), then the second one, simultaneous with the wide spreading and establishment of Buddhism and Christianity can be considered ‘winter’, or ‘night’.
Then the period of history in question – let’s call it ‘spring’ – will be found after the period of ‘winter’ that we have already considered.

Now let’s briefly describe the period of human life which we code-named ‘Spring’: this is the mood of awakening, return of interest in reality, appearance of hopes and return to the values rejected in the period of ‘winter’.
- In Indonesia, at the beginning of the 9th century, prince’s sculptural head expressed ‘beauty of internal life,…tenderness, refinement, cleanness…light half-smile…’
In Caliphate, before 809 AD, court poet Harun al-Rashid, Abu Novas, describes feasts and drinking bouts. In 832, in Baghdad, “House of Wisdom” was founded. “Caliph’s grandiose palace… ornamented with interlaced grape vines …images of dancers, riders and hunters’ (836-883). Since 845, in China, ‘persecutions of Buddhists… more than 40 thousand monasteries are destroyed…’ Since 907 - "canonization of Confucius’ texts’. In 955, the Roman Pope – ‘licentious life and orgies…’ In 950 - "In Europe… trade is reactivated’. In 962 - ‘the reinstatement of the Roman Empire’. Electing "antipope", -
- ‘…Rome needs power’. Appr. 1000, in Europe, - ‘rise of agriculture …growth of cities’. At the same time in India - is ‘rising form of the dome’ of the Shiva temple, and ‘fantastic and cosmic’ temple of Lingaraj from Bhubaneswar. In 1049 - ‘the Pope is… a zealous reformer’. In 1090, Chinese painter Go Si urges to ‘reproduce the reality as it is’, says that ‘nature is a living thing, like man…’. In 1096 - ‘The First crusade’. At this time, in France, ‘crowds’ at lectures delivered by ‘by the pleiads of scientists’. Before 1120 - appearance of ‘scholasticism’. In 1122 - ‘anti-dogmatic thinking’ of Abelard. In 1158 - first university (Bologna). Appr. 1200 - guide-book ‘The Wonders of Rome’, ‘beauty…of naked Venus’. In 1206 – Chengis Khan. In 1208 - ‘asceticism and begging’ of Franciscans. In 1215 – ‘The Great charter of liberties’. 1240-80 - The temple of The Sun of God in India. 1254 – Japanese sculpture - ‘distinctness, realism’. 1260 – Italy - the relief by Pisano - ‘rational and separated materiality, imitation of…antique cultures’. 1265 - England – first "Parliament’. 1265-73 - ‘Sum of theology’, by T. Aquinas and ‘Thomism’. About 1270 - ‘Perspectiva’ (treatise by Witelo). In 1270 – France - ‘Roman de la Rose’, development of ‘mannerism and exquisite style’. Before 1291 – Iran – poem by Saadi, ‘The Rose Garden’. In 1292, Dante writes ‘The new life’, - ‘lamentations’, ‘ardent and full of passion’, ‘new sensual style’ (till 1304). 1296 - ‘On wonders of the world’ - adventure novel by М. Polo. 1290 - Japanese graphic arts - ‘motion, ebullience and fuss of peaceful life’, (the same ‘ebullience’ can be found in the reliefs by Pisano in 1301). 1300 – ‘mature Gothic’, is ‘filigree and trembling’, ‘rosette in the form of a butterfly’s wing’. 1304-7, Dante – ‘Cognition is a higher perfection of our soul’. In 1322, Petrarch ‘meets Laura’, ‘…earnest desire to see much". In 1341 – ‘he is crowned with laurels on the Capitol’, ‘freedom, sweet and desirable good…’, ‘…tried to live with his soul in different ages’ (1374). About 1350 – "The Decameron" by Boccaccio. In 1367 - banishment of Mongols from China – waiting for ‘the messiah – the King of Light’ (the dynasty of Ming Van - ‘light, enlightened’). In 1380 - Parisian intellectuals ‘are enthusiastic about ancient authors’.

And at this stage of ‘spring’, we see synchronicity and deep, fundamental similarity between processes which are going on in all countries (countries that we know about, that is).
We see gradual transition from the dogmatism of the previous period and the gradual growth of interest about life as well as increase of emotionality.

We’ve considered three stages of human history. They are correlated with the mood of summer, winter and spring. Now we need to look for a stage we missed – the stage that corresponds to ‘autumn’. In theory, it should be found between the stages of ‘summer’ and ‘winter’ which we have already considered. And if it is hyperactivity that is typical of ‘summer’, as well as animation and struggle, ‘winter’ presupposes rejection of practical activity and dogmatic stiffness. As for ‘spring’, this stage is characterized by transition – awakening and gradual increase of activity. During the stage we call ‘autumn’ we can expect the increase of hedonistic moods; we sum up the results of what we have done. Rise of conservatism is also typical of this stage.

Thus, the stage of ‘autumn’ is the time of harvesting, time of summarizing results. This is the period when we work out our principles that will give the basis for a ‘new era’. One of these principles is division of reality into the matter and the spirit. While the material aspect prevailed in public life, Taoists and Platonists simultaneously developed the idea that we should ignore material reality and let the spirit dominate our lives. These ideas were quite different from the widespread mood of ‘hedonism’ - (About 365 BC - the Cyrenaics, and before 360 BC - Yang Zhu – ‘it is necessary to enjoy life while living’. In 307 BC – ‘The Garden of Epicurus’ – ‘here pleasure is the greatest blessing’. The theme of the Goddess of love is very popular in art - ‘Aphrodite’ or ‘Venus’.) Also typical are unifying processes – ‘Hellenism’, ‘cosmopolitanism’, ‘citizen of the world’. (Conquests of Alexander the Great – 332-25, consolidation of India after 322, the Roman republic in 260, consolidation of China - after 256). ‘Globalization’ contributed to economic and cultural prosperity. Many constructions of this time are included in the list of the legendary ‘Seven Wonders of the world’ - (These are the grandiose Mausoleum in Halicarnassus - 351, and the 45-meter colossus, ‘Helios Rhodes’, 291.) Remarkable cultural establishments are created (in 283 – the foundation of ‘Museion’ including the famous ‘Alexandrian library’, in 241 in China - under the direction of Lu Bu-Wei; more than 3000 scientists worked on ‘the encyclopedia’) But gradually the society begins to doubt the realization of the ideals of beauty, harmony and justice on Earth. Regardless of how much material wealth you’ve got, it is never enough. Appeals for moderation and search for the ‘middle way’ can be heard. The atmosphere of ‘skepticism’ is everywhere (in Greece - ‘pyrrhonism’, 275; in China, before 250 – Gongsun, philosopher – ‘aporetic’ (debater) and ‘teacher the other way round’.) In pursuit of material goods, society becomes cynical. The famous phrase ‘Money has no smell’ dates back to this period. Strong moralizing trends - Christianity and Buddhism ripen gradually, then comes ‘stoicism’. In 74-3 BC, in Rome – ‘everything is shaking from revolts’, which leads to dictatorship. Then, in 24 BC the creation of the Roman Empire. Everybody predicts the coming of the ‘Golden age’. Sermons and crucifixion of Christ in 33. In his ‘Moral letters’ Seneca (63-5) advocates ‘contempt for pleasures’. Apocalyptic atmosphere of 68 exists side by side with the construction of the grandiose ‘Coliseum’ (75-82), at that time the famous slogan appeared – ‘Bread and circuses!’ Buddhism and the new system of chronology are introduced in India (78). Rome gives up new conquests (117), construction of ‘Rampart of Adrian’; Epictetus declares: ‘body is but dust and ashes’ and calls for ‘patience and abstinence’. Eclecticism of the middle of the 2nd century. ‘Stoicism’ of М. Aurelius (161-181) – ‘we mortals are but shadows and dust’, ‘look inside oneself’. In the 2nd century in India –we see ‘isolation, half-smile, somnolence’ on Buddha’s face.

We can see that the cycle is closed. One can argue about the beginning of this circle. But our examples show that the analogy with annual ‘seasons’ works well.

Resume: 1. Moods and human life are subject to a regular, objective rhythm. 2. The dynamics of the complete cycle of human activity is analogical to the annual cycle: gradual transition from maximal summer activity, to minimum in winter. Therefore, this ‘large cycle’ can be divided into four stages (like seasons of the year). 3. Changes of cycle (increase or decrease of human activity, change of mood, lifestyle) - has global and synchronous nature. (Winter and summer can’t change places. ‘Stages’ of human life are imprinted in the ‘geometry of the world’ - as if subject to some law).

Within an article it is impossible to cover all history of human world known to us, but we can consider examples which either confirm or refute our seasonal scheme. Earlier we’ve considered the ‘summer’ stage of human hyperactivity that corresponds to classic Chinese and Greek philosophies time-wise. Afterwards - the transitional ‘autumn’ stage, where the activity decreased from the maximum of ‘Hellenism’ to the minimum of Buddhism and Christianity. Then the stage of ‘winter’ - development of Buddhism and Christianity, rejection of practical activity and mental dogmatism. Then “spring”, awakening of interest in reality and gradual increase of activity; time of caliphate expansion, time of ‘crusades’ and ‘universities’.

Thus, we’ve considered four stages, or the complete cycle. Logically, the cycle must repeat itself. Which means that we can predict what expects us at the next stage. For instance, after the stage of ‘spring’ we can expect the period of maximum activity, struggle and increase of interest in reality – like it was in the previous stage of ‘summer’.

Time-wise, this period is close to us and is so saturated with active life and significant events that it makes the task of compact exposition very complicated. But despite the contradictive nature of the stage, I will try to present its general ‘vibe’. Indeed, both activity and emotionality of the international community are growing rapidly. This is the time when a man feels that he is ‘at the center of the world’ (1487). In China Buddhism gives way to Confucianism. ‘Book-printing’ (1447) opens the door to knowledge. Growth of enthusiasm – in 1505-6 Michelangelo decides to ‘carve a colossus from a mountain’. Both Europe and Japan simultaneously experience the difficult transition from the anarchy of feudalism to unifying processes. This leads to the appearance of national states as well as ‘absolutism’.
The odious names of Ivan Grozny, Henry II and Bloody Mary appear practically simultaneously (1547-53). In 1585 J. Bruno writes about ‘Heroic enthusiasm…’, and in 1600 he is burned at the stake. There is a series of revolutionary transformations in all spheres of life – not least in social. Political rows are flaring up. In England the sect of ‘Dissenters’ appears, then comes the execution of Charles I and the establishment of the Republic (1649). In France, the opposition of ‘The Fronde’ and the king ends with the famous words: ‘I am the state”. Fanfares, globalism of mature Barocco, and the Gravitation theory (1667). The pulse of society becomes more frequent. Mood swings are typical. This is ‘Age of Enlightenment’ (1740-80) and ‘Encyclopedia’ (1751); time of ‘sentimentalism’, which is taken over by ‘planetary and titanic’ moods as well as by ‘Storm und Drang’ (1773). ‘The French Revolution’ broke out to the sound of Mozart (1789), which ends in the dictatorship of Napoleon (1799). Napoleon's wars and Beethoven’s music. Time of numerous great philosophers which only this period could produce. Man of this time keeps running to extremes. From Wagner’s ‘Twilight of the Gods’ and ‘Cosmic philosophy’ of Fyodorov to Peirce’s ‘pragmatism’ (1877). The characters of Dostoevsky ‘are solving global problems’. The questions of morality are discussed - from ‘non-resistance to evil’ (1880) to ‘ the amorality of Ubermensch’ going ‘to the other side of good and evil’ (1886). Moods of the society are pulsating - yearning for ‘freedom’ reaches its extreme point. ‘Theory of relativity’ turns science upside down (1905). Art turns away from what is ‘absolute’. In 1910 ‘Abstraction’ appears (‘emancipation from nature’). Time of huge ‘totalitarian’ units. As early as 1927 Japan nurtures the ‘plan of achieving world domination’. In the USSR – period of ‘collectivization and industrialization’ (1928). The bloody ‘World war II’ breaks out, which finishes in the explosion of the atomic bomb (1945). In 1957 the ‘Earth satellite’ is launched, ‘mobile camera’ is introduced in cinema; new art movement – ‘Performance”. Periodically the society gets stirred up: ‘negro rebellion’ in the USA - ‘Afro-American civil rights movement’, in the USSR - ‘nonconformists’ (1965). ‘Cultural revolution’ in China (1966), in Paris - ‘student revolt’ (1968). After a short period of conservative moods (1981) comes the increase of activity: ‘acceleration, publicity and reformation’ (USSR, 1986). ‘Falling of the Berlin wall’, ‘bloody crackdown on the demonstration’ in China (Tiananmen, 1989), and Russia’s ‘shock therapy’ (1992).

We’ve considered a big period of time, and we’ve almost reached our days. As we suggested earlier, this example confirms the regular, logical repetition of changes in ‘seasonal’ activity of human life. We see that in terms of its vibe, activity and scale of tasks being tackled, the period under consideration is analogical to the ‘classic’ period of antiquity and can be called ‘summer’.

But we can’t stop the time. Even though the stages we’ve considered have no distinct boundaries and the transition from one to another is gradual, we can make more or less clear predictions of the future. Relying on our knowledge of cyclic recurrence, we can assert: we are expecting a fruitful and prolonged stage that corresponds to ‘autumn’. And the same way as autumn is divided into months (where each one has its unique features), the upcoming stage of ‘autumn’ is divided into a number of very specific and relatively predictable cycles (same as other stages). Unfortunately, the size of the article doesn’t let me give the reader a more detailed account of the chronology of synchronous cyclic changes in the history of mankind.
The details will be given in the forthcoming book (currently in print).


Gregory Nesterov Byelorussia (Belarus), Minsk 5.6.2012

(P.S. Given the abundance of historical material, I’m not giving any footnotes and only mention the dates; otherwise, footnotes would take up more space than the actual article).


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