Interest in ancestry
People often pay no heed to their origins—until recently me being one of them. I even dismissed late close relatives in understanding myself as a person. However, I developed a casual interest in prehistoric people and culture, especially the events and conditions that made us human. Society as a whole has inherited traits beyond tens of thousands of years old, and understanding these gives perspective to very core parts of our being.
To begin with the dawn of humankind
Humility is necessary for a deep appreciation of our beginnings via evolution—we have been on the same path, and are subject to the same forces, as all other life. We still have myriad "primal" urges, bias, heuristics, focuses, and innate abilities. However, unlike most other animals we are incredibly social (though not as social as bees, ants, etc). We develop culture and bequeath stories of such, but there are stories to be found from within ourselves too. Our ancestors were shaped and selected by their environment—they are our survivors—with all their tastes and behaviours whittled down to who we are today.
Subsequently, aspects of our environment and certain behaviours are desirable to us as a species. I would like to opine on two I consider interesting: fire and the ocean. These are examples of me having caught myself in allure of something natural, pondering why this might be, and attributing it to evolutionary past. Bear in mind these are not academic conclusions but thoughtful fictions.
Fire
Our ancestors, and even some Homo cousins such as Homo neanderthalensis, mastered fire, and its benefits were essential to our success. If you are inexplicably drawn to the light of a candle, the heat of a bonfire, the power of arson, I feel our ancestors are the cause of this. These are people who survived, period, and a healthy relationship with fire would have been a major advantage. If their genes dictated baulking at the smell of smoke, pyrophobia, or apathy to arson, survival would be threatened. Yet also interweaved with advantageous caution of heat and flames makes fire an almost mystical experience.
The ocean
I think there are indeed many people who are awed by the sight, smell, environment, and potential of any vast body of water. I find it no surprise, as once again our ancestors that harboured such attractions would fair better. Hydrophobia, agoraphobia, or just simple boredom would have one miss out on all its good potential. Similarly, without respect for its life-threatening might, a survivor may instead have become fish food.
It’s all about perspective
There are many thoughtful fictions to be made. All courage, all love, all confidence and mastery passed down through our social species, some over one hundred thousand years old. However, we should still focus on individual heritage. While it has had ostensibly less impact on who we are as individuals than ten thousand generations, close family are more uniquely us. Understanding them gives a more social understanding of oneself. Rest assured we’re all part of the same family regardless.