ABSTRACT

Over the centuries, societies learn to reshape the relatively malleable putty of psyche to accommodate their drastic socioeconomic changes. Most of these adjustments are so subtle that they are hardly discernible. However, after the traumatic Late-Bronze-Age collapse, a more flexible and efficacious mentality emerged. This new psychological ability allowed individuals to take mental shortcuts by first interiorizing and “seeing” using the mind’s eye behavioral sequences before actually carrying them out. We can call this ability conscious interiority, and the purpose of this chapter is to delineate the features of this intellectual modification.