Not much more than approximately 50,000 years ago, humans looked like humans but were behaviorally primitive and indistinguishable from other extinct hominids such as the Neanderthals or Homo Erectus. Prior to this period, the abundance of complex artifacts, such as artwork and bone tools of the period that many anthropologists refer to as the “The Great Leap Forward,” appear in the fossil record after 50,000 years ago, but are absent from the fossil record prior to 50,000 years ago. This seems to indicate that earlier hominids lacked the cognitive skills required to produce such artifacts.
During this period called “The Great Leap Forward,” modern culture began to change at a much greater speed. The ability to use highly complex language from this time is indisputable. More complex language led to the ability to form more complex social relationships. The tools that human beings used became more intricate. They began to cook their food. They began to create artwork in abundance. They began to decorate their bodies with tattoos, paints, and jewelry. They began to exchange goods and materials over long-distances. They created musical instruments, and accompanied the playing of these instruments with singing and dancing. They began to bury their dead, and created funeral rituals that demonstrated they were developing notions of religion and an afterlife.
What is interesting about this period is that there is an ongoing debate – not about the fact that there was clear evidence of some sort of transitional circumstance that influenced the evolution of mankind, but what exactly was that transitional circumstance? What caused humans to evolve? Here is where the debate comes into play. One side believes that a major genetic mutation took place as a result of a biological reorganization of the brain. In other words, some believe that the “Great Leap Forward” was an actual physical change in our systems that made our brains work differently and allowed us to take in more “information.” Interesting.
The second theory holds that there was never any single technological or cognitive revolution. Proponents of this view argue that modern human behavior is basically the result of the gradual accumulation of knowledge, skills and culture occurring over hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution. In other words, we evolved because we just got smarter systematically.1 Wikipedia, Behavioral Modernity, Human Evolution
Either way, there is no argument that there was an abrupt change in human behavior approximately 50,000 years ago that is referred to as the “Great Leap Forward.” What is even more interesting is that after doing a little more research on the subject, I find that one of the accepted reasons as to what could have caused this abrupt change in humanity is that the Cro-Magnon were in the midst of gradually replacing Neanderthals as the more modern version of humanity. Although the Neanderthal were bigger and stronger, the Cro-Magnon were able to use tools, spoke and probably sang, made weapons, lived in huts, wove cloth, wore skins, made jewelry, used burial rituals, made cave paintings, and even came up with a calendar. Eventually, the Neanderthals were either “conquered” by the Cro-Magnon or interbreeding took place, which could potentially lead to cultural and genetic exchanges, which in turn would eventually lead to the termination of the weakest and most useless genes. Since the Neanderthals were unarguably the less advanced of the two, if any type of interbreeding did take place, the Neanderthals, due to the rule of survival of the fittest, would be the more likely to pass Cro-Magnon genetics, which were apparently the stronger genetics, to their offspring and so on, thereby resulting in the eventual extinction of the “Neanderthal.” Another interesting theory is that the Cro-Magnon were better equipped to handle the climate changes at the time.
Whatever theory you want to accept, the fact remains that something happened in the Universe approximately 50,000 years ago causing physical, intellectual and moral changes in the human species as a whole. The changes caused humans to need other humans. This need either came from the natural intelligence that hominoids acquired over time that led to more intricate systems of production which necessitated the need for human labor, or there was a physical or mental change of some sort that caused us to feel the need for human companionship and from this need we began creating environments that would encourage human contact. What is particularly interesting to me is that two of the significant changes that took place at the time were in language and expression. These two areas are absolutely unnecessary in a world that each man lives only for himself. A man that lives in a world with others, but who can only care about himself, will not ask for what he wants, he will just take it. There would be no need to have to express any sort of emotion at all except detachment.
This is how I imagine the world before the “Great Leap Forward.” Before there was a need for another human, each “man” had to live only for himself. He had his personal survival to worry about and could not be bothered dealing with the survival of others, especially if it would interfere with his own survival. Suddenly something happened, and our minds opened up in some way and we were able to evolve in a way that encouraged us to include others in our exclusive world.
Earlier, I stated that there are two sides of the debate as to whether or not the “Great Leap Forward” came from some sort of rewiring of our brain or a systematic increase in intelligence. There is also a third side that is very possible and more than possible, probable. I propose that both happened simultaneously. Right at the time the Life Force of the Universe decided to prepare humans for the next phase of evolution, free will still reigned (and still reigns) supreme. Some hominoids decided they wanted to expand their knowledge of the physical land so they developed according to that path. This was a necessary path to explore, despite its disastrous effects that we strongly feel today.
Other hominoids were more faith-based and didn’t worry about exploring that path as much as trying to understand the natural flow of the Universe and live within that system. This, I believe, may have allowed the Life Force of the Universe to open up the minds of these hominoids, because that is what they wanted more than the understanding of the physical land. Each side used their free will and got what they wanted. Some hominoids chose the “spiritual” path while others chose the “physical” path.
A spiritual path, in this case, means that you attribute all experiences that you have to the creative powers of the Life Force of the Universe. A “spiritual” person knows that there is some sort of higher purpose operating within them as well as outside of themselves that is guiding the entire Universe and every being in it to a new level of evolution. With this in mind, you can try to imagine how easy it would be to flip something you may want to initially interpret as “bad” into a good thing - if only you could really believe this is true.
Accordingly, “physicality” would be the opposite of “spirituality.” A person that is more easily pulled by the physical polarity of the Universe (as opposed to being more easily pulled by the spiritual polarity of the Universe) would be very interested in growth in things like medicine and technology. This interest is not “bad.” I may be presenting this idea as if I think a person attracted to the physical polarity of the Universe is a “bad” person, but that is not how I believe or anyone should even remotely believe. Without all of the people throughout history that have made enormous contributions to science and medicine, we would still be in the jungle, hitting others over the head for dinner.
Humans had to evolve socially in order to relate to other humans more effectively. These changes needed to occur in order for humans to successfully continue their journey through history. Whatever affects the Universe in the most positive way will be kept and treasured, and anything that affects the Universe negatively will be disposed of mercifully. You can understand this any way you want, with fear or otherwise. My advice to you is to take everything that you read and hear with a grain of salt, until you experience what you have read and heard for yourself.