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Our Past

While there is much we still don't know about our past, we are beginning to see history in terms much broader than traditionally conceived.  Written history, for example, only reaches back approximately 10,000 years.  And yet, we have much evidence that modern man has existed between 100,000 and 300,000 years.  Before that, we have evidence that our predecessors emerged as much as 3,000,000 years ago.

So, somewhere between 100,000 and 3,000,000 years ago, those qualities that distinguish humans from animals emerged.   Before that moment, we were driven by instincts and the pleasure/pain sensations in our physical body.  After that moment, we had a new tool called "will" in which we could chose our path, and a new motive force called "conscious" to drive our actions.

While there probably wasn't an exact moment when this occurred, we do know that for most of the last 100,000 to 300,000 years, we lived as hunter/gatherers in small groups called tribes.   We lived in harmony with nature, and shared its bounty with all creatures on our planet. 

In order to understand a world full of mysterious events (like night and day, heavy rains, and the seasons), we developed superstitious beliefs about our world, resulting in a plethora of different gods and spiritual beliefs among the tribes.

We also developed tribal leaders -- each with their own strengths and values. Some reflected male qualities like aggressiveness, physical strength, force and logic. Others reflected female qualities like love, nurture, compassion and feelings. And some reflected spiritual qualities like respect for the earth, respect for the sky, and respect for all life on the planet.

It was during this phase of human evolution that many versions of culture came to exists.  

Then came the 1st Wave.