The Book Of THoTH

Snakes and how they helped our big brains evolve:
May 1st, 2009

The threat of snakes gave primates superior vision and large brains -- and fueled a critical aspect of human evolution.

From the temptation of Eve to the venomous murder of the mighty Thor, the serpent appears throughout time and cultures as a figure of mischief and misery.

The worldwide prominence of snakes in religion, myth, and folklore underscores our deep connection to the serpent—but why, when so few of us have firsthand experience?

The surprising answer, University of California, Davis, anthropology professor Lynne A. Isbell suggests, lies in the singular impact of snakes on primate evolution.

FULL ARTICLE

I think the fear of snakes, or any other phobia that is unjust, as a societal fear is either from the irrational or rational negative focus on certain subjects through the media. Right from ancient times we were told that certain things were taboo for no apparent reason while others had legitimate ones. I think human nature is to be alert of danger & teach our young where danger lies, just like other creatures that rear their young. Just like in the wild, there will be individual personalities with stronger ones getting the upper hand. Any creature can be as strong & healthy as it wants but if it doesn't have determination, it will go nowhere. I can't say other animals do or don't act like us but, like us, some have stronger personalities & if they are amongst the right crowd, can make an impact on their desires & fears. Just like in nature, sometimes the leader makes the wrong choices & the group suffers but, like us, sometimes a leader can make the right decisions & prosper.

We have seen how some manipulate information for different reasons & fear is a very powerful tool. It is very useful in getting crucial information through but it can spread irrational or needless reactions if allowed to turn into a mole-hill. Fear is often used to protect something & we sometimes fear things we don't understand.

In regards to fear of snakes, if a person has never encountered a snake & doesn't know what it is, the person might be wary of it but I don't think it would be fear. I read somewhere a while back about phobias. I witnessed it in play for myself before & after I read it. It said that a small child has no fear. It will walk over the edge of a table or drink a bottle of poison. It will reach & try to cuddle a 150 pound Rottweiler. Sharp & pointy objects show no danger to them. It said many of our phobias occurred due to something that happened when we were small children unless someone does know where their fear originates.

Every animal on the planet has fine tuned their senses from their surroundings. Snakes would have been a reason for us to be sharp but there are countless others. I would agree with this article if it were shown that our earliest ancestors were bombarded on a regular basis with hordes of snakes throughout countless generations & all over their settled regions. I see this "world wide" fear of snakes as too recent in human history to be the cause of one particular part of our development. A large part of it yes. Not to the extent this article takes it though. Right on.

While the article is lacking and many regards, and sheer speculation by most accounts, it's speaking more about the THREAT of snakes to our ancestors than fear necessarily. Aside from the big cats and canines, snakes have probably always been one of man's greatest adversaries (but who can say whether this battle was first waged by the humans or the snakes?)...

Neandertals, going back hundreds of thousands of years, likely had a similar relationship with the serpent, in which case there is a very real possibility that the snake, in particular to all other creatures, served an evolutionary role within the human brain and development of social structure.

We can't deny the importance of the serpent's role throughout history and mythology, nor the proposed healing and medicinal benefits of snake venom. Obviously there is a prominent place for this creature in human belief systems for more reasons than one. What started out as fear, trepidation, misunderstanding, eventually turned into reverence and even "worship".

One of my points that I think there is no innate fear of snakes in the general population without an outside influence, unless there has been a traumatic personal experience, is just something I added to make a larger point. I've never encountered a snake of any kind but have read about them & watched countless documentaries & TV programs about them but I don't fear them. After all this I know to be wary of their actions if I do encounter one as even small snakes can be very dangerous. Just consider juvenile poisonous snakes. As an adult it might look fierce but as a young animal, it may look like something less dangerous.

I agree in full that snakes have played an important role in the development of humans but not to the extent of the article. With regards to how the snake became an influence on social structure, I feel that would result more from the threat of carnivores & large herbivores requiring a constant vigil. This in turn would lead to the need for cooperation & trust further leading to the concept of working as a group & the beginning of theorizing & planning. With this would probably come the forming of communities which would turn out to be a further benefit with the usage of numbers as a deterrent. Along the way somewhere would be the notion of hunting parties & teaching the youth the dangers of their environment. This would then be the setting for the development of any cultural relationships with the cohabitants of their communities. The snake would probably be a creature to very cautious of & it's mysteries would bring about the stories that developed into mythology & what not but I don't think it helped bring about social structure. Then we have to consider how strong the influence would be for more northern groups. How many dangerous snakes make up the population of snakes living in northern Europe, Asia & America? I'll have to have a look but I can't recall much on cave art about snakes. I may be wrong in that one so I'll try to find out. Right on.

I understand your point Trent. I think one of the reasons for historical fascination of this creature is because of the "phallic" nature of the beast. Slithering, strange, mysterious, hissing, mesmerizing. Surely there are many animals that helped humanity better understand itself and form social culture, but perhaps it is the terrible nature of death in which certain snakes can inflict, lingering poison, which held our early ancestors in such awe and respect.

In this phallic representation, sperm and venom, life and death, the shedding of skin, we see why serpents became such prominent figures in mythic traditions and religious tales of death and resurrection. Likewise, the form of the erect spine might have led to primitive beliefs that there were "snakes within each of us", an idea which would continue onwards for thousands of years later into the ideas of Kundalini meditations and awakening the "fire serpent" of spiritual consciousness and the third eye.

But BEFORE all this, BEFORE these myths were formed back in the days of our cave dwelling forebearers, it's possible that serpents served a role in the adaptation of brain structure in our early primate ancestors. There could be an argument in favor of that thread of research. Snakes have helped us to better grasp symbolic problems which we might have otherwise never understood, and in essence, affected the patterns of our brains.

But I agree, the article is largely speculation..

An Interesting little piece on "Serpent Shamanism":
http://www.rockart.org/gallery/rock14.html

What have found to be an interesting and seemingly factual underlying concept that most people are not aware of is; the tie that I have found with the world that we live in and the story of the Sumerian tablets of the Annunaki. This story would seem like conjecture if it wasn't for the fact that the story predates the bible and ties to gether all of the tenents that our archteyple thinking demonstrates. The part of the story that comes to play is the fact that the symbol for the Annunaki is the winged serpent. (see the american medical assoc shield).

While I won't go into the details of the story here. (it would make for an extremely long post) it is important to know that the story tells of two brothers that were sent here to watchover and produce the human race.

Annunaki are also known as the reptilian race.

A dispute between the two brothers on the ability to have been bestwed upon man lead to fighting. here you have the beginning of the adam and eve story as the reptilian side wasnted man to have the knowledge of the gods.
here you have the forever villan serpent snake.

There is nothing like picking strawberries or greenbeans in the garden and getting a handfull of snake. Although most are not harmful, it can sure make you hurt yourself. The fact that snakes hide in areas where prey might come by(i.e. food) may have led to the fear of snakes and our brains developing reasoning skills. Og bit here, look first. Now if I can only grasp that.