Damien Marie AtHope’s Art We are emotional beings that only sometimes utilize the thinking strategy called “reason.” We are not rational beings, that only sometimes enjoy the amusement park of emotions. I strive to follow “Reason” and be a rationalist. Reason is my only master and may we all master reason. Emotional Hijacking: Amygdala hijack “We’ve all been there. Moments earlier, you were firing on all cylinders, ready to take on the world. But then everything changed. Where you were once full of energy, excitement, and confidence, you now feel unmoored and adrift. You want ..read more

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art ref ” A dying-and-rising god, life–death–rebirth deity, or resurrection deity is a religious motif in which a god or goddess dies and is resurrected. Examples of gods who die and later return to life are most often cited from the religions of the ancient Near East. The traditions influenced by them include the Greco-Roman mythology. The concept of a dying-and-rising god was first proposed in comparative mythology by James Frazer‘s seminal The Golden Bough (1890). Frazer associated the motif with fer ..read more

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref I think that it is most likely that an arcane Homo (from Latin homō ‘human’), the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens/Modern humans, split off of Homo Erectus in Northwest Africa sometime from 2 million to 750,000 years ago, then moved sometime after 750,000 to 550,000 years ago moving into Spain in Europe where it split into the genetics known as (Archaic Humans) Homo Denisovans and Homo Neandertalensis. ref “A group of humans diverged from the ancestors of modern humans some 600,000 years ago in Africa. Modern hum ..read more

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref Y-chromosomal Adam Mitochondrial Eve  ref “The former-Adam is estimated to have lived around 202,000 years ago, the revised one is thought to be about 338,000 years old.” ref Y-chromosomal Adam “In human genetics, the Y-chromosomal Adam (more technically known as the Y-chromosomal most recent common ancestor, shortened to Y-MRCA), is the patrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) from whom all&nb ..read more

Justine Warren has a BA in Anthropology and an MA in Near Eastern Art and Archaeology, focusing on Egypt, from the University of Chicago. Justine was ABD (all but dissertation) at Chicago when she had to withdraw due to my health. Justine did fieldwork in the US, Egypt, and Sudan. And she was an adjunct professor for about a decade before Justine finally had to give that up as well. Justine Warren is currently a disabled former Egyptian archaeologist & history & anthro instructor. To her, she sees herself as a perpetual smart ass, autoimmune & migraine battler, PTSD + abuse surv ..read more

ref, ref, ref, ref ref “Early human migrations are the earliest migrations and expansions of archaic and modern humans across continents. They are believed to have begun approximately 2 million years ago with the early expansions out of Africa by Homo erectus. This initial migration was followed by other archaic humans including H. heidelbergensis, which lived around 500,000 years ago and was the likely ancestor of Denisovans and Neanderthals as well as modern humans. Early hominids had likely crossed  ..read more

Direct Democracy? “Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are representative democracies. The theory and practice of direct democracy and participation as its common characteristic constituted the core of the work of many theorists, philosophers, politicians, and social critics, among whom the most important are Jean-Jacques Rousseau,&nbs ..read more

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info: (Pre-Animism Africa mainly, but also Europe, and Asia at least 300,000 years ago), (Pre-Animism – Oxford Dictionaries) (Animism Africa around 100,000 years ago), (Animism – Britannica.com) (Totemism Europe around 50,000 years ago), (Totemism – Anthropology) (Shamanism Siberia around 30,000 years ago), (Shamanism – Britannica.com) (Paganism Turkey around 12,000 years ago), (Paganism – BBC Religion) (Progressed Organized Religion “Institutional Reli ..read more

ref, ref Mesopotamia “Mesopotamia is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Mesopotamia occupies most of present-day Iraq and Kuwait. The historical region includes the head of the Persian Gulf and parts of present-day Iran, Syria, and Turkey.” ref “The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history&n ..read more

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art Most gods can be explained or linked to mythology, not fully reality; it was people giving human or animal attributes to the nature around them. I think this was motivated by animistic beliefs and their way of explaining natural phenomena as having a supernatural/spirit nature. Thinking that to the scientifically minded would at best be seen as wishful thinking, beliefs to gain a sense of control in a world they are powerless in. Dragon-Serpant Slayers? “A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they ..read more