How long have humans been around? The case of the Olduvai skeleton.

In 1913, at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, a fellow by the name of Hans Reck, a paleontologist and geologist at Berlin University, found a reasonably complete human skeleton that was anatomically modern. This skeleton was buried in Upper bed II at the gorge, which is 1.5-1.7 million years old. 

Olduvai gorge; image from Wikimedia Commons

Debate about this finding went on for decades, until finally, in the 1970's, a professor at Frankfurt University named Reiner Protsch, claimed to have tested the skull from the same skeleton discovered by Hans Reck back in 1913, and had come up with an age of 10,000 years. 

So if this skeleton is only 10,000 years old, why was it unearthed in a layer of earth one-and-a-half million years old?

Most evolutionists will challenge, with an air of snarky self-assuredness, as I myself regrettably have in the past, "To disprove evolution, you just have to find one fossil out of place!"

My first thought was: maybe this person was buried long ago. In archaeology, this is referred to as intrusive burial. The problem with that hypothesis is that, as you would imagine, there would be evidence of disturbance surrounding the burial, especially directly on top of it. In this case at Olduvai gorge there were no signs of intrusive burial.

It also turns out that Reiner Protsch, the Frankfurt professor who dated this skull to be 10,000 years old, ended up resigning after a Frankfurt University committee revealed numerous radiocarbon dates he had falsified. (Quick digression: one has to wonder what the incentive would be to do such a thing, no? I mean, why do that?)

The theory of evolution claims that modern humans, people who look like us, evolved around 300,000 years ago. Though the influences of the time we live in shape what we passionately defend to be true, and the average person possesses a strong normalcy bias and fears social ostracization above all, at this point in all I've read, I would warn anyone against thinking of Darwin's theory as a fact. 

The above is only one small finding to ponder, there are many more which I'll share soon.

Amusing ourselves

At first, the attraction to arcana is born of curiosity and intrigue, and probably boredom. Ones ordinary life gets injected with a newfound glimmer, feeling secrecy and mystery now surrounding him. This is only an initial, immature phase of esoterism; and we mustn't linger there.

In the West, fascination with phenomena and mystery keeps one trapped at a lower level-- nevermind the fact that the experience of 'phenomena' certainly doesn't point to having experienced anything of a higher level whatsoever. Your own nature determines whether you stay at this level or are qualified to rise higher, out beyond ordinary life. The trappings of awe are such that they keep us in the psychic realm of amusement-seeking, which is inferior to a truly spiritual domain.

"...how could they affect one who, seeing all things in their principle, knows that no matter what the appearances may be, they are ultimately only elements of the total order?" 

Currently reading

 A new book and a new knitting project, too- finally learning cabling!

The divine state

Abandoning all desires, acting without cravings, free from all thoughts of I and my, that man finds utter peace. This is the divine state, Arjuna, absorbed in it everywhere, always, even at the moment of death, he vanishes into God's bliss.(Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, verses 71-72)

Today's hike up the mountain

One of the joys of hiking is the noticing- rocks, bones, leaves, blossoms, birds, prints, smell of pine, of sage, sound of birds, wind. But we can take it beyond this when the trek up the mountain becomes a micro spiritual pilgrimage. Whether it's one or the other of course depends on our individual constitution. With each step taken toward the ascent, the senses noticing fades to a peripheral blur and the walker and the symbol merge, joined by the hazy euphoria of detachment that washes over when we let the petty fall away, the mundanities of a chattering mind. Timelines intersect- the very long, very large, geographical ones and our own small biology passing through, so relatively short and transient, we bring our whirling minds along the trail, until finally we merge with the symbol and the hike becomes just another practice. Of course it is! The trail up the mountain is a representation of the journey upward, full of struggle, dangers lurking, breathing hard, carrying a heavy load, sun beating down on us... we stumble and are humbled, and we smile, even if consumed, because in our strife there is meaning, purpose, connection, an experience far beyond the ooh of an interesting rock, bone, or leaf. And death is no fear.

Does it matter which path we take to reach the top of the mountain?

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