Civilization as the Sum of the Parts of Men

Every animal is a composite creature. Humans are too. Our consciousness seems to be a unitary thing, but it's really multi-layered. Our brain and body consist of multiple systems that are distinct, but integrated. Consciousness, especially speech based consciousness is just one part of it.

It's very common to for the speech based consciousness to slip into the background. When a person dances, for example, or balances on a narrow beam, or performs a complex task like juggling, that lingual consciousness goes to sleep. In an emergency situation--like trying to avoid a car accident--the non-verbal consciousness can take over instantly. In most sports, the verbal consciousness plays no part when action is underway.

If man is composed of multiple parts, then groups of men are composed of multiples of multiple parts. Obviously, different circumstances or arrangements of people could emphasize different parts. The corporate consumer world emphasizes specific elements of that composite to emphasize. A world that's based on warfare would select other elements to emphasize. A world that's based on hunting and gathering would select yet other elements.

It's unlikely that those elements can be arbitrarily selected, though. The world of man is malleable and can be manipulated by those with wealth and power, but only to a degree. Self-directed "evolution" won't work, because there's no such thing as isolated evolution. All creatures co-evolve. This is probably why civilizations just collapse rather than change.

Civilization gets way out of balance with the pace of nature. It is inherently unstable. It loses the connection to the self-regulating aspects of nature and tends toward forms that are too structured and organized so it crumbles easily.