On a beautiful summer day, when I was six or seven, my grandfather took me swimming. This gave me the opportunity to examine every feature of his body. Previously I had already noticed that, unlike any other human being I had laid eyes on, grandpa distinguished himself by growing extremely bushy and wavy eyebrows. Not long before this swim outing I had heard somewhere that human beings had evolved from ape-like creates. Now I discovered my grandpa’s crooked toenails. I put two and two together and became convinced that his grandfather was an ape.

Great many facts presented themselves in the years gone by, telling me very strongly that my great-great grandfather was not an ape and human beings have been as intelligent we are today for thousands years. But my brain continues to fool me into thinking we are very different today from human beings who lived only a hundred years ago. Didn’t 19th century Victorians lack cars, stereo systems, TVs, washing machines, computers, airplanes, cell phones and iPods — all the things that we enjoy today. With all this technological progress it is easy for my brain to fall into the erroneous belief that human beings have changed radically in their biological and cultural make-up during the last three generations.

When I think about the Middle Ages in Europe, my brain tells me that the people then were even more backward than the Victorians. I also assume that the Christian church completely dominated people’s mental life. Yet a few years back I saw an exhibition about Free Masons in the 17th century Europe and I realized all across Europe leading public figures belonged to this society that saw itself in opposition to the church. My brain also tells me that people in the middle ages would not have dared to talk about sex in public. But look what painting I discovered from this era.