The Global Mind and the Rise of Civilization

The origin of thought is, oddly, not a subject of much thought. Carl Johan Calleman brings our minds to mind in a surprisingly accessible style, using ancient pyramids around the world and the Mayan calendar as a basis for speculations. The way Calleman tells it, human consciousness began with the straight line – and here most of us have been all excited about the wheel. Yet in this theory of quantum progression, human thought began at the straight line, moved on to the rectangle, formed the grid – and eventually evolved into the eight-partitioned shaped geometric model. Based on this hypothesis, the appearance of these shapes in architecture externalize the evolution of the human brain.

Much of what Calleman writes is really finding metaphor in ancient monument for human inner experience. The eight pieces of the tree of life, or the eight sections of a pyramid, or the eight pieces of the rumored tower of Babel physically demonstrate how humanity went from building to commerce to algebra to calculus. The bulk of Global Mind remains focused on the simplest aspects of geometry: line, rectangle, triangle, and perpendicular. He eschews more popular sacred geometry models, such as the flower of life.  Despite the heady concept of the book (quantum in any title often meaning “headache” for the casual reader) Calleman takes the basic concepts behind his thesis and supports it in clear, understandable, easy to digest steps.

Like many books of its nature, it takes sort-of known history and posits theories. Much may be disproven as we continue to dig deeper into our collective past. While rigorous academics isn’t necessarily expected in this branch of pop nonfiction, Calleman’s choice to use Wikipedia as a s source is problematic despite several safeties Wikipedia has put in towards source validation.  This unfortunately undermines some highly coherent ideas on a complex and often difficult to understand subject.

~review by Diana Rajchel

Author: Carl Johan Calleman Ph.D.
Bear and Company, 2016 (reprint)
pp. 299; $20.00