Life Before Money continued

I suppose I have left virtually all trace of hunter behind me. However some traces, such as the wish to shoot seem not to have died out. This was the kind of activity not uncommon in the past two or three hundred years. Makeup and handicrafts are two things remaining from our traditional lineage. The first use of eyeliner or lipstick would have been many thousands of years ago and it has stuck. Handicrafts embody the imagination in everyday objects helping to give an inanimate tool a feel of familiarity. I wish to revisit these traces of the hunter-gatherer past and link them to recent innovative discoveries so bear with me. Essentially I am an organism that, like other organisms, has inherited physical characteristics designed to meet my needs for living. In addition I have a compliant psychology made up of a mixture of instincts and abilities. At the age of mid-twenties I am beginning to act maturely. My instincts and abilities have been trained in accordance with the demands of daily living (named schemas by researchers). Countless memories have been formed, I have inherited a morality, and I have learned to control my emotions. These include stored ideas of, for example, family, as well as unconscious memories for muscle and organ functioning. I am able to effortlessly utilize these memories in a logical order when, for example, driving my car, catching a set of keys, or speaking to someone in the street. The list goes on. I wish to link this with my ancestual occupation of a hunter.

I am aware that as I live the many things I am involved in doing, like those above mentioned, involve frequent new experiences involving new sense information and sometimes entirely unfamiliar objects and events. A significantly older person in my community will have a comparable knowledge of familiar things. That older person’s tendency to expect a greater range of experiential information is a magnitude greater than my own. Through encountering a larger diversity of scenarios and also repeating usual behaviours the older person has a more developed concept of what it is like to live.

the empty place

The city is a barren, empty place. People come here only to benefit from unnatural long life. They need no knowledge to come here only money. The creatures of the wilds petition against it: they detest its ugly ways. Barrenness is a sure route to death. To oppose nature is to mock it. She will not stand for scorning laughter. Man is to blame, with his failings and foolish ways. He will not venture forth and claim beautiful surrender. Your heart oh man will not relent, will never surrender to moderation, will not give in to compromise. Awaken oh man. Rise up and reclaim your dignity.

I will write in Life Before Money here and attempt to update it as well.

Life Before Money

What must have it been like all those years ago? People-watching today can be a simple but fascinating past time. According to researchers our kind lived in groups of small to medium size. Hunting was what kept them alive and was their key economic work. Although separated by around 12-15 million years, from our early ancestors and now possessing many life-enhancing aids and tools, our hunting psychology prevails. This is exhibited in hobby pursuits such as photography. In this pursuit, time of day and fine attention to details, often of animal subjects, are critical. Whilst observing a conversation between hosts and guests on a televised show the hunter-like control of the male host is striking as he leads the discussion. There is also an all-round curiousity from the group in the unusual topics that the conversation encompasses. This is the speaking situation.

Our distant ancestors did not face the competition to survive that our post-feudal, present day kind have had to endure in recent history, yet we are the same animal. Our human history reveals a dominant predator with a strong survival instinct. Peaceful intervals in history show that man may also be inclined to live in peace. Personally, I have no training in carbon dating, nor have I been involved in the excavation of important historical artefacts. But, I refuse to accept that man is a brutal and completely insensitive creature. I am interested in a man who coexists. Man of society is well-provided yet must sweat for his earnings. Historically man has sweated for provision alone. Personally, candidly, I am a man who struggles with the ghosts of his hunter-gatherer past. If you are interested to hear my unremarkable simple commentary then read on.

hard

Off the A40 western bypass it is hard for all types of wildlife. Walking down the bike path there is the thundering of traffic consuming the air. Birds dare not fly over the roads between the hedgerows at this rush time. Some do and risk death. Their bodies lie on the edge of the road in places. I pick one up and toss it closer toward the hedge. The tail feathers are beautifully irredescent and draw the gaze. I am reluctant to touch the rotting carcass but I venture to pull the primary wing feathers apart to reveal a strikingly marked white half-marking on each. I am staggered by this beautiful thing deep down although I can't explain exactly why. Of all the vice pulls of the city they are nothing in comparison with my passion. It draws on my mind continually. When I walk back in to the convenience of the city where I live it is a strange place. Everyone hides their emotions. In the country, all the creatures (plants as well as birds and mammals) do not hide their feelings. The plants, such as flowering weeds, show their characteristics for bees to source them for food, simultaneously showing that they are hardy, perennial (flowering every year), and perhaps even suggesting whether they are edible. But when I walk in the city, people hide their feelings, and rush. They live in a different system. I prefer the system in the country. It seems wiser somehow. It makes me sad that we do not take the time to appreciate the moments of life, as the creatures who live in the quiet places do.