Heard traces the gradual development of what he calls the group-sense—a capacity for collective devotion and solidarity—from its origins at the level of early primates through to its expression in groups such as the Quakers. His central contention is that humanity possesses an inner life as complicated and demanding as the outer world, and that for most of history, advances in one sphere were balanced by advances in the other. The crisis of modern civilization, in Heard’s view, arises from the split between analytic, conscious intelligence and the deeper unconscious mind—a fissure that has left material and technological progress dangerously uncompensated by corresponding inner development.
To address this imbalance, Heard argues that humanity must learn and practice deliberate psychological techniques. He marshals historical and anthropological evidence to support his claim that such techniques have been employed in the past, and that the survival and flourishing of civilization depend on the advance of religion and inner discipline rather than on material progress alone. The book concludes that only by resolving the individual’s inner conflict and recovering a sense of harmony with the larger order of life can civilization escape destruction.
The Source of Civilization is the middle volume of an informal trilogy of philosophical histories. It was preceded by The Ascent of Humanity (1929), which traced the evolution of civilization from group consciousness through individuality to what Heard termed super-consciousness, and was followed by Pain, Sex and Time (1939), which extended these themes into a broader theory of consciousness and human potential.
“Life starts in the sea. There it attains to an extraordinary efficiency. The fishes give rise to types which are so successful (such for instance as the sharks) that they have lasted on unchanged until to-day. The path of ascending evolution did not however lie in this direction. In Evolution Dr. Inge’s aphorism is probably always right: ‘Nothing fails likes success.’ A creature which has become perfectly adapted to its environment, an animal whose whole capacity and vital force is concentrated and expended in succeeding here and now, has nothing left over with which to respond to any radical change. Age by age it becomes more perfectly economical in the way its entire resources meet exactly its current and customary opportunities. In the end it can do all that is necessary to survive without any conscious striving or unadapted movement. It can therefore beat all competitors in the special field but equally on the other hand should that field change it must become extinct. It is this success of efficiency which seems to account for the extinction of an enormous number of species. Climatic conditions altered. They had used up all their resources of vital energy in adapting to things as they were. Like unwise virgins they had no oil left over for further adaptations. They were committed, could not readjust and so they vanished.”
Gerald Heard
• Title: The Source of Civilization
• Author: Gerald Heard
• Type: Book
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication time: 1935
• Publication place: London, United Kingdom
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