The Brain-Mind Relation, Religious Evolution, and Forms of Consciousness: An Exploratory Statement'

from a bicameral mind to consciousness corresponds roughly to Roben Bellah's "his-toric " stage of religious evolution. This synthesis provides a perspective for relating the physiological level ofbrain organization, the subjective level of religious experience and consciousness, and large-scale patterns ofsocial organization and change. Jaynes ' model of language and brain processes is compared briefly with our contemporary understand-ing (derived from Mead and others) of the internal conversations that are pan of the subjective experience. As an alternative to evolutionism, it is suggested that both Jaynes' and Bellah's theories can be applied to alternative forms ofmentality that may exist in any historical stage with varying degrees ofacceptance. A major distinction among different people in this regard is their need for external authority and their self-autonomy, espe-cially in coping with stress. Briefly stated, the major purpose of this paper is to suggest a synthesis between Julian Jaynes ' (1976) provocative thesis regarding the historic transition from a bicameral to a conscious mind and Robert Bellah's (1964) model of the stages of religious evolution. Like Bellah, Jaynes deals with the relationship between religious experience and patterns of socia