5.6 Four perception eras
In the age of craftsmanship not only business was practiced within concrete confines but all human perception was conditioned to see the world through lenses of concreteness. Theories about the Universe were burdened by limits of naive concrete imagination. Social structures were perceived through the concreteness of their leading figures (king, pope, landlords) whose concrete moods ruled the life of human communities. The societies resembled a pyramid with one ruling person at its peak. People fought other people because their rulers ordered them to do so.
Typical paintings from those times excellently illustrate individual persons, specific objects and details of still life. However, images of general perceptions, like the countryside, look bizarre and childish. One would sometimes doubt if our ancestors even lived on the same planet.
Later the paintings of landscape and general atmosphere began to look more realistic and concrete details lost their importance. General scientific theories emerged and competed to explain the workings of the world independently of religious dogmas marked by limits of concrete imagination.
New institutions like stock markets were founded as general mechanisms, thus escaping the influence of concrete rulers. Human communities started to form general groups called nations and fought other groups for reasons of general national interests.
The abstract painting freed artists from the boundaries of concrete and general worlds. The abstract way claimed the privilege to exist by itself and to serve its own perfection. Autonomous scientific theories transcended general assumptions about time and space. Abstract artists and scientists were persecuted by regimes based on the dominance of some general social or national affiliation.
With the transition from a general to an autonomous stage, the organization of human communities started to be founded more on autonomous democratic principles of civic society and individual human rights rather than on general national or social interests. Political, economic and other social institutions became depersonalized and denationalized and began to autonomously influence the world as if by themselves. The autonomy of many activities and processes was increased with the appearance of the Internet.
In times before and after civilization life is focused on getting basic commodities needed for survival. This “basic” era applies not only to the prehistoric man, but also to the decline of ancient civilizations, war and post-catastrophe times of modern societies.
Shifts in business, technology, science and culture impact people’s psyche. It seems that people need wars to complete these shifts on a mental level as well.
Note: See also the chapter 9.2 “Development of societies”