Toggle menu

Oration at the Charles University

Eight years ago, while researching the curves of creativity in the history of human culture, me and professor Mikulecky found ourselves in a field, which might be called collective chronopsychology or chronosociology. We came upon an unexpected fact: great poets of China, Japan, India, Persia, Arabia as well as Europe do appear in all of these cultures synchronously and periodically every 500 years already since the times of Homer. Worldwide and long-term character of this phenomenon indicated a possible influence of a periodic cosmophysical factor impacting the neuroendocrine system of man.

Since the publication of our paper in 2004 this conjecture has been still confirmed in manifold ways. Every 500 years in history a cultural pattern is recurring, which is consequently corresponding to all traits of the maiden pubertal psyche. A kind of global pubescence. These are the times of romantic poetry as well as rebelling against authorities (revolutions increase by one half). Here originate the stories of famous lovers like Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Iseult, Layla and Majnun, Pyramos and Thisbe, Krishna and Radha, Liang and Zhu. The number of women at royal thrones doubles and kings assume the attribute the Fair.

We did not succeed to find a counterpart of this cultural rhythm yet, niether in the rhythms of solar activity, nor in the swings of earth magnetism, nor in climatic cycles. Mysteriousness and improbability of this phenomenon alone arouses opposition. The more, that ancient Babylonians and Egyptians knew this rhythm already 5000 years ago and explained it by saying, that goddess of love, Inanna or Isis, seizes the rule over the world regularly.

From many a colleague I had to listen to a plaint, that I mix religion and science illegitimately believing in angels and deities. The more I honour my elder colleague Prof. Mikulecky, as an example of a genuine spirit of an explorer, who does not stop in front of the apparently unthinkable. My cordial thanks belong also to the editors of Neuroendocrinology letters for courageously supporting a transdisciplinary research devoid of any prejudice.