A lot on my mind

I have broken from the didactic strategy I began with, to free-write some of the latest posts here. I think it has garnered a better reader response as well as freeing me from doing as much research. I want to break again today and who knows, it may become the main style from here on...

So, let's start with marriage because that is the most recent thing I have been thinking about. I was talking with my friend [edit] this weekend about dating and marriage. He said he would probably never get married and asked me about how things like relationships normally work in nature. I told him that the male of ANY species is designed to spread the seed, to perpetuate its (his) lineage. That started me thinking about how marriage is such a falsehood. It eventually led me to realize WHY 1 in 2 (50% is a fail in anyone's book, without a curve) marriages don't work. They are not evolutionarily viable. Any endeavor can work half of the time. I, as a scientist and you, as an informed being, should know that just because something works once doesn't mean it will ALWAYS work. I mean, how much sense does it make--from a natural standpoint-- for one man to mate with one woman for a "lifetime"? That only decreases the robustness of the gene pool. A more robust gene pool, or men mating with many women actually bolsters the insurance of survival. The more females that carry the seed, the more likely he and those women are to have viable descendants. I also read about some Indian cultures in a book called A People's History of the United States 1492-Present by Howard Zinn. He explained that the women and men in one particular culture were allowed to move in with anyone they chose. They were also free to leave that household whenever they pleased with no repercussion. That sounds like a wonderful place to me; a place with no marital pressure from society and freedom of choice with no time constraints as it pertained to male/female relationships. What do you think?

I was also thinking about a way to break away from the greater American society. Here's what I thought: buy plots of land in a central location. The land has to be arable and away from cities. I would then put a planned community there, based on basic principles of living. The only work one would have to do is toward producing food, clothing or shelter. All of the rest of your time can be dedicated to anything you like. How does that sound?

There was something else I was thinking about last week, but it's not coming to me now, so I'll end here.

"Control Issues"

People--or homo sapiens sapiens, which means wise wise human--have developed some control issues because of our "Taker" culture. I guess this is a good time to further explain the "Taker" term I have been using. In the book Ishmael, Daniel Quinn explains that we (civilized societies) are "Takers" and tribal peoples like the Alawa or the bushmen are "Leavers". What this means is that we have "Taken" the responsibility of our survival out of the hands of the gods and taken that task up for ourselves. We grow our own food in abundance, we eliminate any competition that stands in the way of our way of life and we believe that we have THE one right way to live. "Leavers" have left the responsibility of the care of Earthly beings in the gods' hands.

Back to my main idea... We as people have control issues! (Think about it) Our need to completely control our environment leads to all of the drug use, crime, mental illness (in some cases), suicide, physical abuse and other so-called dispicable behavior. This will be a hard habit to break in the future. Obviously a weaning process could be devised and begin with the next generation.

I, myself, have my own control issues. I constantly work out to control my physique, I have an affinity for planning into the future (the future is not promised, live in the moment), which as most of you know, cannot be predicted with any absolute certainty. There are other less desirable habits (to some) that I will neglect to mention in the interest of length. The point is that WE ALL DO IT! We plan that lunch with a friend for next week, or setup a movie date with our honey-bunny for the weekend. You may think this is normal. As far as we know, we are the only animal that plans out our lives from day to day. I mean, there are animals that store food for the winter or store fat to hibernate. That's not really a predictive behavior as much as it is a cycle of life for them, annually.

I am led to believe that this constant overdrive of our neural mass causes these behavioral side effect (drug use, etc). Have you ever heard the saying, "It's all in your head"? Its usually true. We make our problems (if they truly are a problem) out to be so much more they are in reality, in our heads. We need to learn to relax and enjoy the day. Seriously... stop to smell the flowers or watch a butterfly flutter. The natural wonders can bring you so much more pleasure than artificial wonders (TV, video games) ever could.

Side note: This delusion that people will become better over time is misguided. People, as in any other community, will always annoy you, want what you have, or take things they want without compensation. Trying to enforce laws that we know will be broken is backwards and contrary to the evolution of a better society. That doesn't mean the new society will be perfect. It just means that it will work AND be evolutionarily stable. If you don't believe in evolution (adaptation), say so, and I will gladly debate that point here.

Peace!