Why do we stare at Fire?

Why Do We Stare At Fire?

Why Do We Stare At Fire?
Why do we stare at fire? We all do it, our minds captivated by the wonderful sight of some fossil fuel thrown into our fireplace on a cold winters evening generating endless type of flames. Surely it's not just some type of 'light show' that captures our imagination. On the surface maybe, but deep down it seems more like an innate fascination, something that pre-exists in our minds, deep-seated from days of yore. I wonder does our DNA carry the memories from our ancestors? Could it be a memory from the distant past, when we used fire to warm ourselves, protect ourselves, it cooked our food to sustain us. Controlling fire was crucial to our lives. It's not stretching it to far to say our very survival may have depended on our control of fire!

What is it with fire and flames that seems hypnotic and mysterious and almost spellbinding. We think we know or strongly suspect from the early days of human history we have sat around and stared into the campsite fire, beneath the starry heavens, telling and listening to stories, as language itself evolved and developed in the last 30,000 years? Minds and imaginations wandering, boundless. No doubt our Home Erectus ancestors have being sitting around fires since the days they began to control fire, as far back as one million years ago!

Could that memory linger in our DNA? Can memories be stored and passed on genetically in our DNA? Surely yes is the answer. DNA carries physical characteristics from generation to generation. DNA carries diseases and disorders from generation to generation. DNA carries that extremely powerful behavioural characteristic crucial to survival called instinct from generation to generation. Instinct is unlearned behaviour. Where does it come from? It's a behaviour passed through genes. It could be termed a genetic memory? Can other behaviours be passed genetically, such as a deep-rooted inclination to stare at fire?