Writing - Speech and Vision Work Together

Writing

Writing was quite an amazing part of the development of our mind.  Writing became the strongest tie between vision and speech.  At its essence writing is the pictorial (vision and right brain) representation of speech (left brain).

An interesting thing about writing is that it seemed to occur independently and nearly simultaneously in several areas of the world.  It is highly likely that our mind skills were similar or the same throughout the world, and that the living situation of our species was likewise similar – thereby resulting in similar accomplishments and timelines.  This seemed to be the case with the development of agriculture and also with the development of writing.  

The very earliest forms of writing are considered proto-writing – because they are essentially pictographs, or drawing of things such as sheaves of wheat.  Such proto-writing has been documented as early as 6600 BCE in China (Jiahu Script) and 5300 BCE in Southeastern Europe (Vinča script).  However, this pictorial representation of objects does not really qualify as writing.   Perhaps words, verbally spoken, became associated with those pictures.  However, the pictures, by themselves, do not carry phonetic information.  This does not really meet our commonly recognized concept of writing. 

True writing, or phonetic writing, seemed to develop in several locations at nearly the same time – about 3400-3200 BCE.  This occurred in Sumeria, Egypt, India, and China.  These were languages in which pictures, or characters, represented sounds that could be pieced together in various combinations to represent speech patterns from which words are made.  The first forms of writing seemed more functional than literate; i.e. they were lists or short communications.  They did not capture a story or have a larger message to them.

Earliest literature

The first literature is not until 600-1,000 years after the first writing.  The earliest literature goes back to about 2,500 to 2,200 BCE.  This is really the first time that we are able to get inside the minds of the writers. 

Not surprisingly, many of the earliest pieces of literature that have come down to us are about God and about wars.

The earliest literature also already hints at differences in attitudes in people’s from different areas. 

The Bible

The first five books of the Old Testament are attributed to Moses, who lived approximately 1500-1300 BCE.  Many of the events, such as the creation story and the flood, occurred well before Moses; therefore he recorded stories that lived in the oral tradition at the time.  Apparently we were telling stories that affected fairly large portions of the population even before we were able to write them. 

The Epic of Gilgamesh

This epic tale of the King of Uruk (the first city) and his wild, untamed friend comes from Mesopotamia.  The oldest known writings of this piece of literature date to about 700 BCE, however the story is believed to be centered on a time approximately 2700 BCE.  For 2,000 yeas it existed in oral tradition or in earlier written forms that are no longer available or not yet discovered. 

The Iliad and the Odyssey

Homer, who is credited with writing the Iliad and the Odyssey, along wirt other Homeric poems, probably lived around 850 BCE.  However, the Trojan War, of which he wrote, likely occurred approximately 1180 BCE.  This is a classic Greek story abut the Trojan War begun when Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband, Menelaus, who was the King of Troy.  The story includes many gods, a war, and deception in war.  This story seems to have set the tone, or recorded the existing tone, of the Greeks at the time.  It seems a base from which sprang the Greek miracle beginning about 500 BCE.

The Vedas

The Vedas are the earliest literature, written in Sanskrit, that come from the northern Indian sub-continent.  They date from approximately 1700-1100 BCE.  They are a collection of verses, some of which are still recited today as part of religious ceremonies.  The Vedas contain mythological and poetic accounts of the formation of the world and have many prayers for life in general. 

“Veda” is derived from the Sanskrit word meaning “to know”.  The Vedas are considered words of wisdom and truth.  The Vedas have had a very large influence on the culture and beliefs on the Indian sub-continent.  The Vedas likely represent the beliefs of the peoples of that time and location, and those beliefs serve as the foundation for the current Hindu and neighboring cultures. 

A strong part of Hindu belief systems is that we can “know” the truth through self-reflection.  By contrast, Western Christian culture has taught that we can only know the truth through belief in God.

The Mahabharata

This is a large epic tale that contains approximately 100,000 verses.  The oldest forms of this text date to about 400 BCE, however a major portion of this epic is about a large war that likely occurred around 3,000 BCE.  However, considerable debate about authorship, dates, and events contained in the Mahabharata continues.

This book of verses was written in Sanskrit and is foundational to Hinduism in India.  It contains many philosophical discussions, including the four "goals of life" which are dharma (right action), artha (purpose), kama (pleasure), and moksha (liberation).

I Ching

The earliest known versions of this text are from about 400 BCE, however the writings seems to come from an era approximately 2800 BCE.  The writings of the I Ching have been very influential in the Chinese culture.

Early literature summary

These, and other early writings, have had very large influences on the thinking of large groups of people.  In most cases, the true authors of these documents are unknown, and they are often apparently written by several contributors.  On one hand, they likely represent the developing culture and belief systems of the peoples from which they came.  It is unlikely that the authors were writing thoughts inconsistent with the prevailing ones in their communities.  This is not to take away from their contributions as authors.  The people who wrote these early pieces of literature have given us a wonderful voice from our early history.  These early recordings of human thoughts are quite diverse, likely demonstrating the diversion that was already occurring between human groups and te developing civilizations.