Thomas McNamara, in Evolution, Culture, and Consciousness, presents the first comprehensive theory of human perception and consciousness based on the generally accepted principles of evolutionary psychology. After explaining how we have all been programmed to preconsciously create meaning out of experience, McNamara shows how we can create a new and more successful way of thinking and feeling, resulting in a happier, more productive, stress free life.

The most important evolutionary development in the history of our species has been the gradual emergence of a radically new form of consciousness. The scientific understanding of the human mind has now advanced sufficiently to show that our present form of consciousness, rational self-consciousness, is simply a form of our original, primate consciousness. Seen from a scientific perspective, this normal way of thinking, which every culture inculcates in its members, is inherently conflicted and therefore unhealthy. It is the root cause of most of the individual and societal problems in the...