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The History of the World According to Grog

Let's begin with a journey.

I'm going to take you back a few years. Before settlers first appeared in Austin. Before Columbus "discovered" America. Before the battle of Hastings. Before the Greek civilization was born. Before Shiner Bock. Before we discovered agriculture. To a time when mankind was discovering fire. By some records, this was 10-15 thousand years ago.

This was a time when the air was clean, the water was pure, and the stars pierced brightly through the night sky.

We were living in the African grasslands. The best that scholars can tell, we had lived there for about 2 million years. We probably lived a lot like the Native Americans lived here in North America. Genetically we have been almost unchanged in the last 2 million years, more than 100 times longer than how long civilization has been around. We lived in groups of possibly 10 to 20 people and were surrounded by plants, trees, and animals 24 hours a day.

We ate raw foods, whatever we could gather, dig, or kill, the types of food we ate were meats, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The plants and animals that we ate lived near us, endured the same cold weather, felt the sun the same way. They were our friends. Life was not brutal or hard. Archeologists think that we worked an average of 2 hours a day for food, shelter, clothing, all our necessities.

The rest of the time we played, told stories, had sex, made crafts, investigated spirituality, sang, practiced stalking and hunting, and learned about all the living things around us. A couple in this environment produce a baby every 4 years or so. God to our ancestors was the plants and animals, the rocks and the soil, the weather, the web and complexity of life that they were a part of. God wasn't above them, He was everywhere and part of everything.

Now fast forward 10,000 years. Our invention of fire led to our eating grains as part of our diet, which led to cultivation, which led to small farming villages, domesticated animals, ranching, permanent buildings, cities, modern plumbing, electrical systems, and finally, Shiner Bock.

I believe that living in society is unnatural, unfulfilling, and is not in balance with our neighbor plants and animals. Advertising tells us that if life is unfulfilling, it's only because we don't own enough stuff, or that we own the wrong stuff. Camel cigarettes are what you've been looking for. Our stressed out thoughts and ideas bounce left to right and up and down without and cohesive theme or focus. Instead of a slow, deep spiritual connection to other life around us we lead schizophrenic, confusing lives. Instead of working 2 hours a day we often work 10 or 12 hours a day going to work, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, picking up the kids from school, and driving in traffic just to get our food, shelter, water and clothing.

Instead of deciding things in a group of 20 we have governments which decide things for thousands and millions of people.

The change in our diet led to an increase in population. Instead of a couple giving birth to a new baby every 4 years a couple will have a child every year. Instead of a female starting her cycles when she's 18 she now starts when she's 13. Instead of a stable population of a 100,000 or a million or so humans there are billions of us, and our population is continuing unchecked much like a malignant disease. We feed our populations by farming, which destroys the native plants and animals that were once our friends.

When we feel the sting of winter, instead of the deep knowledge that we've been through worse, and we'll make it through this just fine, we fear the weather, and run back to our houses. Instead of amazement of natural processes we have clinical depression. Instead of laughter and storytelling we have commercial TV. Instead of being excited we are comfortable. Instead of a deep spiritual connection we are left grasping and unfulfilled.

My path is to discover what I can of the lifestyle of the ancient peoples. Of course, I have no desire to starve myself or freeze to death. I advocate low-tech simplicity of lifestyle, yet I'm a computer programmer. I've tried to mold my lifestyle to fit prehistory. Every day, I only eat meats, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. I don't eat grains, beans, dairy, potatoes, or refined sugar. My body and my mind feel and work better than they ever have before. I live with a group of friends. I try to keep in a relaxed mental state. This isn't easy during rush hour on Mopac.

When we slow down we can observe a deeper connection to the living things around us, a different mental state, slower, more thorough. There are different levels of thought, different levels of awareness, each successive one is a deeper meditation, a stronger connection to other living things, a deeper spirituality. These deeper levels are where our ancestors lived.

I try to get outside and study the plants and animals around me. Whenever I'm in a bad mood, I take a walk, watch the squirrels, talk to the trees, and look like an idiot. I always end up in a better mood, though.

My parents explore and study genealogy, studying my family's immediate ancestors. When I talk to my dad, I get vivid images of immigrants and farmers, ranchers and horse thieves. Like my parents, I study my ancestors too, just a hundred or a thousand generations further back.

I was Lutheran faith, but I needed a religious group that gave me more freedom. That's why I'm a member here.

Now our journey to the past ends.

I wish I had a quick fix for our society but I don't.

I can only tell you things that have helped me, things that I strive to be, things that make me happy.

Spend time with your family and friends, try to become healers for our community, play with your children. Slow down your mind, lead your life with your heart and soul, not with logic. I know this sounds strange coming from an engineer.

Try to take less. Take only what you need. When my boss was in trouble with his wife he bought her a diamond necklace. I doubt that it made either of them happy. People need love and appreciation and warm hugs and friendship, not shiny trinkets.

I hope that all of you can take a piece of the lifestyle of the ancients home with you, and have a good day.