CHAPTER 1 Prehistoric and Ancient Times (The Far and Near East)
Before civilization, humans were engaged in basic survival. The acquisition of fresh water and food, as well as protection from the elements and other organisms was most imperative. Early people were too susceptible to the biological dangers of dehydration, starvation, injury, infection, and dis- ease, as well as the environmental dangers of drought, famine, fires, floods, predators, and infestations.
Humanity had no user manual for civilization. People simply learned through successes and failures. While success might have helped them survive and progress for a year or so, failure was often costly and even fatal. Humans learned through trial and error but began making greater progress by making physical and intellectual adaptations to their lives and lifestyles, as well as teaching developed ideas and skills to their offspring.
Before written languages, people could only pass on learned information through art, physical demonstration, and/or oral communication. This means that we do not know the specific thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs of people who lived in prehistory, and we can only speculate about those thoughts, personalities, and cultures from artifacts they have left behind.
Even so, I cannot help but believe that these people had individual desires, and whether expressed or not, must have been aware that there were things they liked and disliked, with the innate free will to act based upon their own sensibilities and from the choices available.
Humans may have created civilization, but they were not free in the modern sense, mainly because humans have an instinctual order that usually begins with a dominant person, a leader who uses persuasion or force to impose their will on others. Enforcers are allies of the leader who recognize the dominant person as leader. The leader then projects his will in a convincing manner through persuasion, force, or threat of force with their allies at the ready to assist.
This exists at every level from family and friendship circles to tribal hierarchies and intertribal levels. Leaders and enforcers of prehistoric societies certainly noticed their own wills and the ability to impose them onto others.
Leaders and enforcers are important to understand because these people establish the basis and environment in which individual free will is exercised. Like furnishing a home, our expressions of free will are limited by the foundation and framing of the structure in which we occupy, and the foundation and framing of societies, for better or worse, are determined by leaders and their enforcers and followers/supporters.
Our Freedom Charters establish how leaders are chosen or appointed. They also establish legal limits on those leaders and the enforcers to eliminate arbitrary rule. Laws, not whimsical decisions, are the final authorities in our constitutional structure. Rights, responsibilities, and limits established by law for the individual, organizations, the population, and government entities are the foundation of the American republic and the keys to its genius, but what are they exactly, and where do they come from?
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Settled living likely occurred because it was more comfortable and secure than wandering with the migrating herds and the seasons. Permanent shelters meant greater protection from the elements, predators, and other humans. Early attempts at settled living required certain necessities, two of which required construction or modification of the land for food, housing, and defense and second, access to fresh water and grazing land. Hunting and gathering likely continued at some level, but for a settlement to be self-sustaining, food needed to be somewhat reliable.
While some early settlements were certainly successful and long-lasting, many more were likely shorter lived for various reasons, such as poor terrain, harsh or changing climate, limited access to food and fresh water, as well as other groups of humans who might have migrated into their territory and incorporated or subjugated them.
Societies that dotted the Nile, Euphrates, Tigris, Indus, and the Yalu Rivers were some of the earliest settlements that had long-lasting effects on human civilization and culture. For our purposes, the early permanent settlements on the Indus River are the most important, as the belief structures that were created in prehistory are still with us today in the tenets of Hinduism.
Hinduism is the oldest human religion. It has no original written foundation and can be divided into many sects. The Hindu belief systems were later documented in writings collectively called “The Vedas” and the book “Bhagavad Gita.” Hindu people believe in reincarnation of the spirit into physical bodies, and that each person makes choices that are “good” or “bad,” determining the individual state of following lives.
The greatest aspects and advancement of free will in Hinduism were the concepts of responsibility and consequences. A person was free to make choices based upon his or her assigned duties in life, and they would receive just rewards/punishments because of the choices made.
Although ancient Hindu people valued free will, they were still subject to the traditional expectations of family members, neighbors, and tribal officials. The social strata were very rigid compared to today, and their spirituality was much more entrenched in mysticism. Thus, the modern concept of free will and personal freedom was still very far ahead in humanity’s future.
One universal belief throughout Hinduism is the concepts of Dharma and Karma. Dharma are the duties one has in this life, i.e., responsibility. Karma is the far-reaching sum of the person’s choices, which reflects his or her behaviors from past lives, i.e., consequences. Each person in society had the responsibility to fulfill their role in that society, which was not determined by them and not always aligned with their own benefit. Even so, they had the free will to choose their own path along with the consequences those paths provided over several lifetimes.
Hinduism eventually spread its influence out of what we now call India into other settled areas, primarily east into what would become China and northwest into what would become Persia and Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian and Persian religions also benefited from contact with Hinduism and developed their own concepts of civilization and free will.
Even so, many of these ancient religions held the idea that our destinies were predetermined by a fate outside of our control. Interpretations of these fates could range from observing the formation of bird flocks, to the positions of celestial objects, to the health of organs in sacrificed animals. Most religions at the time taught that people were created to be slaves of various gods, and human lives were nothing more than pawns to be manipulated for the personal political games of these divine beings.
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As civilized societies became more successful and prosperous with the domestication of crops and animals, something new occurred: surplus. Surplus is the act of creating and having more than what is required to survive. As these surpluses grew and became more bountiful, certain challenges arose, two of which were storage and ownership.
Storage occurred through the construction of sturdy buildings, furnishings, or subterranean catacombs, and through the watchful eyes of armed and unarmed guards. The question of ownership was answered with humanity’s next great invention: writing. Writing was first invented to establish ownership, count inventories, and record business transactions. Tiny wedge shapes on clay tablets began in Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
At first, these wedge shapes were pictures, but later evolved into symbols called cuneiform, which represented a concept or object. An important aspect of human imagination is symbolism. Symbolism is important in writing, and of the human mind and culture in general. Symbols inform but also motivate and inspire people.
The invention of writing also changed the way humans organized societies. Societal planning became more sophisticated, and the specialization of skills became more pronounced. Construction, pottery, weaving, art, farming, and ranching became the sole work of certain individuals and their families who excelled in these areas, and written symbols became the identifying marks of objects and for ownership.
Societal administration also grew as organizations became more complex. One reason for this was the development of large-scale pasturing of grazing animals, fishing, forestry, and mining practices. As humans began to use the natural environment and resources in new and innovative ways, these human- and animal-powered industries projected human civilization to entirely new levels of sophistication and intricacy.
While the Mesopotamian societies (Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian) were not the only civilizations to invent writing, the structure and form of their early writings were of the utmost importance to human civilization in the long term. Mesopotamian writings not only established an early alphabet, but also established a base ten and a base six number system, which was essential for the tracking of time through the sundial (clocks) and planting and harvesting seasons (calendars).
Mesopotamian literature also had an impact on the human understanding of civilized living. Histories and stories, which had been transmitted through oral traditions, were tangibly recorded so they could be preserved for persons living in other areas and in future times. One of the most insightful works of Mesopotamian literature was a story entitled The Epic of Gilgamesh. This story suggested and pronounced the continuation of civilization itself as the key to “human immortality.”
The Mesopotamian system of writing was so successful that other settlements around the Fertile Crescent started using this method when it was brought to them through trade. Trade occurs when people and organizations exchange certain surpluses for other things they lack. With trade came even more surplus and diversity in goods, which led to writing becoming ever more important and sophisticated.
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It also was discovered in those early settlements that individual free will is a double-edged sword. While free will was essential in the creation and enhancement of civilization, it also can pose a threat to it. Unbridled free will means that if someone want something, he can take it regardless of to whom it belongs, usually by intimidation, deception, or force.
While each person is endowed with free will, the dynamic interactions between these individual wills create a dilemma for civilization. Societies cannot sustain themselves if people are simply behaving by any means desired; so there needed to be the establishment of written laws along with the means to enforce them.
Laws needed to be established to settle disputes and to protect lives, properties, families, and resources. It is important to mention, however, that laws in ancient times were more like what we call “principles” today. Ancient law codes set the ideals of what the laws were meant to achieve; they were not the steadfast statutes that we experience through governmental approval today. Ancient laws set the viewpoints and the expectations that the leaders of societies wanted to achieve.
Chaos occurred often in ancient Mesopotamia, so order became the primary concern of the leaders and enforcers as communities became larger and more prosperous. For this to be accomplished on larger scales, systems of administration needed to be established.
Warfare also escalated from small tribal battles and skirmishes to the recruiting, training, feeding, and retaining of larger military forces: armies on land, and navies on the water. These forces were required to assault, defend and guard the people and resources required to keep the administrative state operational, while special elite units were also used to police selected areas of interest. The leaders also created secret or low visible police, guards and bodyguards to protect the leaders and administrators through surveillance and investigations.
Administrative systems were established to effectively manage the enforcement of laws and the will of the leaders. As societies grew, and the first cities were established, the administrative structures became so necessary that they became part of the self-preservation of the society itself.
Thus, government systems with established law enforcement and militaries became necessary entities unto themselves for the sustainability of civilized society.
Leaders, enforcers, and administrators formed large organizations called bureaucracies that are necessary for administrating laws that the people must follow and for providing public services that people might require and may not be able to obtain by themselves. Laws also needed to be enforceable so people felt intimidated and protected by them, while the leaders, enforcers, and administrators worked to preserve society through “justice” as well as secure their places of authority by fulfilling the will of their gods.
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Ancient founders and framers developed various solutions for securing their authority, two of which were brute force and the concept of sovereignty. Brute force is physical, and the final authority to enforce any situation, and the enforcers of these laws would deliver with superior might through the backing of police and military entities. Once the leaders demonstrated their ability and willingness to use force, usually against other aspiring leaders and their families, they usually did not often need to use violence again for some time. Leaders required the loyalty of the enforcers to intimidate or inflict violence on others who might or did challenge their authority, while administrators managed the necessary bureaucracy that kept the enforcers supplied, sustained, and in place.
Sovereignty is psychological, and essentially the perceived rightfulness of power and authority. Sovereignty is a necessary perception for most in society to support and sustain the integrity and components of the government entities and structures. People will not follow those they do not deem to be rightfully in charge, or they will follow reluctantly, as they do not want to be targeted by the leaders, enforcers, or administrators for persecution. Convincing others that one was superior and worthy to be in charge became a psychological and sociological construct, which shaped the nature of ancient human societies and continues in various forms to this day.
Although easier to wield, brute force requires much effort, can be very costly on surpluses, and breeds resentment in people. So, leaders also invented a concept called divine sovereignty. Divine sovereignty was the idea that the laws and lawmakers were favored by the gods. The power and peaceful existence of the leadership often relied upon the belief by the populace that the administrative state was supported by a divine origin.
The Mesopotamian religion established why the leaders, enforcers, and administrators were ordained with sacred missions. The leaders presented themselves as servants of the gods by “establishing justice” among the population through the creation and enforcement of their laws. Finally, it also was discovered that these written languages could be much more useful than just establishing ownership and sacred laws. Written words themselves could in fact be seen as divine and sacred.
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Laws and the threat of force were always available to the leaders to protect everything within Mesopotamian societies, but laws themselves are also a double-edged sword when it comes to human freedom. While the administrative state was needed to protect the society from foreign invaders and domestic strife, they may not have always been seen that way by the populace, who could resent the perceived over-stepping of laws and authority. Especially when the populace were expected to yield portions of their free will and limited freedoms, while paying for it with their hard-earned surplus.
Leaders needed to take surpluses to maintain their administrative states, but people were not always willing to give up what they had worked for and owned. Thus, the will of the leaders and that of the people became a point of possible contention.
Laws were established not only to protect people from each other, but also to protect and sustain the administrative state. Part of this concept was the enforceable collections of taxes. Taxes can take on various forms, but until money had been invented, taxes were paid directly from surplus.
This, of course, was a problem when the surplus was small or nonexistent.
