Barry wrote:
>>Or, perhaps a revival of an old religion. I'm thinking that many of
>>our problems would be relatively easily handled if we took seriously
>>the 7 generations idea of many Native American cultures.
>>
>>*********************************************************
>>
>>
Could you please list the principles of the 7 generations idea? And
how you think they could be resurrected effectively? This could be an
overwhelming request, but perhaps you feel strongly enough about it to
see a way through today's dispirited affect on youth.
Speaking of old religions, and then something much older that science
finds awesome indeed, two news-worthy items you may have heard:
>Ancient Botswana's python would qualify to be reinstated as a god. Canadian
>archeologist Sheila Coulson, working with U. of Oslo, told CanWest news that a
>six-metre-long serpentine rock carving made 70,000 years ago by a prehistoric,
>python worshipping people was discovered in the petroglyph-rich oasis of rock
>hills in the middle of the Kalahari. This discovery, reportedly pushes the
>roots of religion back some 30,000 years, and moves its origins from Stone Age
>Europe to ancient southern Africa. Two metres of sediment below the icon
>revealed evidence about the age, and unearthed stone carving tools used for
>the piece.
>
The find deems humans to have been more organized than previously
thought; that they had the capacity for abstract thought at a much
earlier point in history. I suspect they'll have to push that date back
further still, in good time.
In the alternative, the discovery of a meteorite in 2000 on frozen
Tagish Lake, on the B.C.-Yukon border, may claim first place for object
worship. Rather, the stuff of which it is comprised, some may consider
rather more interesting: globules, clumps of the most basic chemical
compounds from which life on earth is made -- including, of course,
amino acids. It had been drifting since before the solar system formed,
and helps support the theory that others like it could have kick-started
life here by literally dropping to Earth. The Tagish Lake meteorite is
estimated to be 4.5 billion years old, and somehow escaped contamination
from Earth's own organic materials, or even from collisions with other
space rocks.
Unlike most other meteorites comprised of hard chunks of nickel or
iron, this one was softer, largely ordinary carbon, and far older than
any asteroid, planet or even our sun. The first in-depth analysis shows
tiny, hollow carbon spheres mixed with hydrogen and nitrogen -- organic
material. It is the first study identifying structures older than the
solar system. And we didn't have to spend billions to retrieve it!
Natalia
>
>
>
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