The Beginning Was the End (1971 book)

Der Anfang war das Ende – Der Mensch entstand durch Kannibalismus – Intelligenz ist eßbar (English: "The Beginning Was the End – How Man Came Into Being Through Cannibalism – Intelligence Can Be Eaten") is a German-language book, written by Oscar Kiss Maerth, which details the author's hypothesis that human evolution was triggered by wide-spread cannibalistic encephalophagy by our ancestors, arguing that the practice provoked extreme sexual excitation (as a reward mechanism), a physical expansion of the brain with accompanying increases in intelligence, as well as the loss of innate psychic abilities that were replaced by verbal language. The book was translated and published in several languages subsequently: Dutch in 1971; French, Italian, Spanish, and English in 1973; with the English edition being first published in the United States in 1974.

Background
Kiss Maerth authored his book while in residence at the Tsing Shan Monastery (青山禪院), a Mahayana Buddhist compound at Castle Peak near Tuen Mun, Hong Kong.

Table of Contents
(For the English translation.)


 * 1) The Newcomer without a Memory "MAN IS A NEWCOMER ON THE EARTH. HE CAN REMEMBER NEITHER THE HOUR OF HIS BIRTH NOR HIS ORIGIN. FOR A LONG TIME HE FANCIED HIMSELF THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD AS HE IMAGINED IT, AND BY GOD'S WILL ITS APPOINTED MASTER. HE PLACED HIMSELF AT THE APEX OF AN IMAGINARY SELF-CONSTRUCTED PYRAMID, AND HE HAS HAD TO CLIMB DOWN FROM IT STEP BY STEP IN THE COURSE OF THE LAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS. HE STANDS AT PRESENT ON THE LOWEST STEP, BUT HE MUST NOW RETREAT EVEN FROM THERE. HE MUST LEARN THE TRUTH CONCERNING HIS ORIGIN AND HIMSELF."
 * 2) The Collapse of a Theory "MAN PERCEIVED THAT HIS FORBEARS WERE HOMINID APES. HE TRIES TO EXPLAIN HIS FORMATION ON THE BASIS OF THE THEORY OF NATURAL EVOLUTION. BUT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IS IN CONTRADICTION TO COSMIC ORDER. IT WAS SET IN MOTION BY MAN'S OWN SINFUL INTERFERENCE AND PRODUCED PHYSICAL DEFECTS DANGEROUS TO HIS EXISTENCE AND AN OVER-SIZED SICK BRAIN, WHICH MADE HIS SELF-DESTRUCTION APPEAR TO BE PROGRESS."
 * 3) The Empty Skulls "ONE APE DISCOVERED THAT EATING THE FLESH BRAIN OF ONE'S OWN KIND INCREASES THE SEXUAL IMPULSES. HE AND HIS DESCENDANTS BECAME ADDICTED TO BRAINS AND HUNTED FOR THEM. IT WAS NOT UNTIL LATER THAT THEY NOTICED THAT THEIR INTELLIGENCE INCREASED AS A RESULT. THE OUTCOME OF THIS PROCESS IS HOMO SAPIENS."
 * 4) The Great Changes "THE GREAT CHANGES WHICH TOOK PLACE DURING THE PROCESS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ARE SYMPTOMS OF DISEASE AND THE RESULTS OF CANNIBALISM. MAN WAS FORCED TO TAKE EMERGENCY MEASURES AGAINST THESE SYMPTOMS. BUT THEY CURED THE ILL IN ONLY A MAKESHIFT KIND OF WAY AND CONSTANTLY BROUGHT ABOUT NEW TROUBLE. THIS PROCESS WHEREBY BODY AND MIND BECAME SICK IS NOT YET CONCLUDED."
 * 5) The Damaged Brain "THE BRAIN WHICH HAD BEEN MADE TO GROW ARTIFICIALLY CAME UNDER PRESSURE AND WAS CRIPPLED, BECAUSE THE SKULL DID NOT GROW IN PROPORTION TO IT. IN THE BRAIN NETWORK A PHYSICAL SHORT CIRCUIT OCCURRED WHEREBY MAN LOST THE ANIMAL CAPACITY FOR EXTRA-SENSORY PERCEPTION. SINCE THEN HE HAS BEEN UNABLE TO PERCEIVE THE EXISTENCE OF THE IMMATERIAL WORLD, HIS TRUE SELF, WHENCE HE COMES, AND WHITHER HE IS BOUND. THIS IS THE SOURCE OF HIS SPIRITUAL TROUBLES WHICH, UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DELUSIONS WHICH ARE CONSTANTLY INCREASING, HE TRIES TO BRING TO AN END BY MORE AND MORE MATERIAL MEASURES. THESE, HOWEVER, BEGET NEW SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL TROUBLES. THE UNENDING CHAIN OF UNSUCCESSFUL MATERIAL MEASURES IS WHAT MAN CALLS PROGRESS. AS A RESULT OF HIS INCREASING ALIENATION HE WILL HIMSELF BE DESTROYED BY HIS ALLEGED PROGRESS."
 * 6) Speech "SPEECH IS NOT A RESULT OF HIGHER INTELLIGENCE, BUT A MAKE-SHIFT SUBSTITUTE FOR THE LOST ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE BY THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE. THE SOUNDS MADE BY ANIMALS ARE NOT RUDIMENTARY LANGUAGES, BUT ONLY ALERT CRIES CALLING UPON THEIR FELLOWS TO TUNE THEIR BRAINS FOR THOUGHT RECEPTION."
 * 7) The Origin of Races "THE FIRST HUMAN BEING HAD HIS ORIGIN IN THE CROSSBREEDING OF AN AFRICAN AND AN ASIAN HOMINOID APE. THIS CROSSBREED AND HIS DESCENDANTS POSSESSED THE RARE ABILITY TO INTER-BREED WITH THE BREEDS OF EITHER PARENT AND WITH OTHER RELATED BREEDS OF APE. THEY WERE THE FIRST CANNIBALS. THROUGH CROSSING WITH RELATED BREEDS OF APE THEY BECAME MEN AND CANNIBALS AT THE SAME TIME. MANY OF THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ATTRIBUTES OF THE VARIOUS BREEDS OF APE REMAINED VISIBLE AND OPERATIVE IN SPITE OF THE INTER-BREEDING. FOR THIS REASON THERE ARE MANY HUMAN RACES WITH DIFFERING APPEARANCES."
 * 8) Genesis "GENESIS DESCRIBES PICTORIALLY THE UNNATURAL DEVELOPMENT OF A HAIR-COVERED APE INTO A NAKED HUMAN BEING BY MEANS OF CANNIBALISM. SEXUAL DESIRE LEADS HIM ASTRAY AND THE FRUIT OF KNOWLEDGE IS EATEN. KNOWLEDGE GROWS, BUT IN THE BRAIN THERE COME TO BE DELUSIONS WHICH CAUSE MAN TO SOLVE IMAGINARY MATERIAL TROUBLES BY MEANS OF AGONIZING WORK. THIS IS THE INHERITED CURSE WHICH BEARS DOWN ON ALL HIS DESCENDANTS. MAN WILL DEVASTATE THE EARTH AND DESTROY HIMSELF."
 * 9) The Immediate Future