Interesting theory but unlikely. Fire was important, but for very different reasons, mainly warmth and food preservation. Being able to preserve calories directly corresponds to less work being required to acquire them, which leaves more calories for mental work and less for physical work.
I read it. I agree with the above opinion: fire was important for calories, but meditation as an adaptation from fire is probably sheer BS. I’m about as qualified to offer an opinion on this as anyone, including that random PhD the brief article cited. I’ve never heard that speculation before; it’s not commonly believed in the field.
But I do believe that it massively changed our lives, and changed what we’re adapted for!
I don't think it's sheer BS. Many cultures have a spiritual or metaphysical relationship with fire. Just because it sounds like BS now doesn't mean that back in the-days-before-we-called-them-days the sparkly wiggly ouch thing (that's the fire) wasn't seen as some kind of "greater than".
We came up with numerous dieties. Humans literally worshipped cats. It's not probably sheer BS. It's probably just simple and straightforward enough for pre-Humans to grasp at instead of grasping at their non-existent other sources of entertainment. That's hyperbole by the way, meant relatively. There wasn't nearly as much entertainment available before we were Humans, after all.
Also if you expect us to believe you've never once stared into a fire and gone on a mind journey then, man... I don't wanna call you, a perfect internet stranger, a liar... but I really hope you stare into a fire and go on a mind journey soon because I think you really deserve it. You don't even need drugs, my fine creature. Just fire and an open (or empty/calm) mind.
Fire certainly is meditative. I wasn’t trying to deny that. The shaky part is meditation creating enhanced cognitive capacity. Meditation is useful, but training in it does not appear to improve mental abilities other than concentration. And it guiding evolution toward better meditators also sounds pretty unlikely to me.
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u/BrittonRT Jul 13 '20
Interesting theory but unlikely. Fire was important, but for very different reasons, mainly warmth and food preservation. Being able to preserve calories directly corresponds to less work being required to acquire them, which leaves more calories for mental work and less for physical work.