Chapter Nine~                                                                       DINOSAUR THUMBS --- "Rise so high, yet so far to fall, a plan of dignity and balance for all. Political breakthrough, euphoria's high, more borrowed money, more borrowed time. " ---Dave Mustaine    The potential for human growth has been with us since our beginnings, as the dominant life form on this planet.  But, before resting on our laurels, let's consider why it's us, and not some other species that's currently in charge. The fact that it's Homo Sapiens, and not some other form of life that's been assigned this role, is by sheer happenstance.  The most successful land animal up until now had been the dinosaurs.  If not for their reign having been ended after almost 200 million years, they'd in all likelihood, still be calling all the shots.  Most paleontologists agree (with the exception of mavericks like Bob Bakker) that there was a huge geological event, most likely an asteroid impact near what's now Mexico.  Whatever wasn't instantly atomized by the impact, or scorched by falling ejecta, died over the following few years of pitch blackness.  The sun's rays couldn't penetrate all of the ash and smoke that had been thrown into the upper atmosphere.  The once temperate continents were now thrown into a deep freeze.  Without photosynthesis, the food chain was doomed. There are several indications that such an incident did indeed take place.  Infrared satellite photos show that there's an underwater impact sight just off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula at a place in Mexico now called Chicxulub.  It's l50 miles wide, even after  65 million years of erosion and plate tectonic shifting. In addition to this somewhat incontrovertible clue, there's also a consistent presence of the rare element, Iridium, that's spread all over the Earth.   It's found in what's called the K/T boundary layer of sedimentary deposits (marking the end of the Cretaceous period), which is precisely where the bigger dinosaurs disappeared from the fossil record.  Iridium is rare on Earth, but is commonly found in cosmic debris like asteroids and comets.  It's easy to believe how over 70% of all life on Earth was exterminated on that fateful day, 65 million years ago.  That's 70% of everything.  Whether we're referring to ants, trees, or dinosaurs, most of each were completely wiped away.     If you're wondering why we've taken this sudden shift in direction, bear in mind that I'm presently in sort of a manic state of mind.  That means my thoughts are disjointed.  Also, these writings are supposed to, for better or worse, represent the bipolar mind.  Through thick and thin, my love for dinosaurs have gotten me through some pretty rough times.  They also serve as a poignant reminder of how fickle natural law can be.  Just because your species is highly adaptable, and overall, astonishingly successful--- is no guarantee that survival is a lock.  Take my friends, the dinosaurs.     I find the cosmic zap theory oddly reassuring.  Because dinos have always been heros of sorts to me, I can only accept their having been dethroned if something big happened to them. If it takes something like Kryptonite to kill Superman, then an asteroid sounds about right to take away my dinosaurs.  Like a parent who needs something on which to blame the death of a child, an extraterrestrial impact will do just fine, so far as I'm concerned. Only something so Earth shattering could have wiped out such a successful and inspiring collection of heroes. But what if such a disaster could have been diverted? What if the dinosaurs had sufficient time to develop the technology to deflect the killer rock?        It's not so far-fetched as you might think.  According to paleontologist Dale Russell, things might have turned out very differently on this planet than they did.  We'd be living in a very different world had the dinosaurs not vanished.  Actually, they'd be living in a very different world, not us.   He suggests that at least some species of dinosaur were well on their way to superior intelligence. He's proposed that a line of dinosaurs called Troodonts were showing definite signs of significant brain case expansion. They already had stereoscopic vision, with their large eyes arranged pretty much on the front of the face.  Who knows? In time they may have even developed a rudimentary thumb.        If the unassuming Troodons hadn't been decimated along with most of the other dinos, then they could easily have evolved into the technologies adopted 65 million years later by us mammals.  I wonder what the world would be like today, without the mammalian influence? I mean, the only reason it's us who are here at the wheel, is because of the evolutionary gap having been left vacant by the dinosaurs.     One thing's for sure. My obsession with mammary glands would be virtually nonexistent. How would my mind be occupied then? Tyrannosaurs weren't known for having expansive bustlines, darn the luck.  If we were evolved from dinosaurs, life would be very different here on this Earth.  Maybe I'd be on this agonizing quest for the girl with the most voluptuous tail. One with the right amount of lift, spring, length, or circumference.     From the female point of view, how long before going out on a dinner date, would she be in the bathroom preening her feathers? On second thought, despite my love for the dinosaurs; maybe it's a good thing the mammals were here to take over. I guess what's being suggested here though, is that it was largely through random events, that we're even here on this planet in our present form.     Natural selection is one of nature's methods of weeding out the weaker (or less fortunate) in favor of the stronger.  If that sounds cruel, bear in mind how we humans tend to attach human values to everything, including nature.  The reality is, there's only one primary law, and that's to evolve or perish.  Remember how the gears of natural selection don't pull any favors, or punches.  Given the chains of events which unfolded in the history of this volatile world, we should indeed feel fortunate to be here at all.  It'd be sad that if after what we've gone through so far, we decide to throw it all away in the end.  This is a time in history that finds us walking a fine line.     The Hindus have been preparing for this moment long before the old testament was even conceived. Their god Shiva, is their symbol for the human equation. He holds in one hand, a drum. It represents the beating of the heart, it's rhythm being the pulse of life. In the other, a pillar of flame, which symbolizes consumption and death. These are the choices bestowed upon us life and death. In the Hindu holy book, the Rig-Veda, are the words predating Genesis: "I set before life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life so that you may live, thou and thy seed." Evolution has beset us with this same choice.  This is a great gift, because the choice is our own.  It's left up to us as to which path we choose as a species.  Everything we need to survive is already within us. Frankly, it always has been. It's in the ground, under our feet.  It's in the air we breath, and it hides in the water that sustains us.  An even greater gift remains hidden so far, deep within us.  Vast sources of energy (physical and spiritual, or so it will be presented here) permeate the cosmos.  All this power rides out on waves of light.  Sticking strictly with matter though, consider the raw materials that have been here on Earth since it first condensed out of interstellar dust.  The stone for our tools, the seeds for our grain, the sand for our computers, anything we've so far conceived --- was always here. For the longest time in our history as a species, we were hunters and gatherers.  We lived off the land, and when resources became scarce, we moved on.  As we moved further from our home town in Africa, we found ourselves confronting for the first time, the harsher climates in the Northern latitudes.  A new approach in lifestyles was necessary in order to live.  There was too much at stake, and many good people were lost to the elements. In the face of new climates, it eventually became a wise precaution to stay near the safety of home. Animals were domesticated, and agriculture arose. We learned to protect ourselves with the skins of other animals (clothing wasn't something we were shamed into wearing by god).  That's how we kept warm. We'd watched how the lightning had brought us sparks of fire to keep us even warmer. Fire was always here, waiting for something to coax it forth. We discovered that meat, when cooked, tasted better and was easier to process  and digest. Our more primal senses began growing fainter, since we no longer needed some of them to such strong degree. Things like the olfactory process, the nerve center for smell, was less important to us because we began to raise our own livestock. We no longer needed to sniff the air in order to locate our next meal.        As the neo-cortex expanded, the foreheads of our ancestors became ever more prominent in height. Our once massive mandibles, which were built to house great, bone crunching teeth, grew softer.  Softer food meant smaller teeth.  They gradually were becoming the more fair choppers we have in our mouths today.   If you look at the skull of an early hominid (the ape like predecessors to modern humans), this contrast is evident. Their brows were heavy, with the eyes more deeply recessed. A more pronounced brow ridge and deep set eyes made perfect sense as a creature indigenous to Africa. It meant more shade for our eyes.     For the first two or three million years, we were in perfect balance with the other animals of the time, and were just as dependent on our primal senses as they were. Among primates like us, most of these senses (those of sight, sound, and smell) were processed in the occipital lobes. Primitive skull designs bore this out, with the rear portions protruding more prominently than in the skulls of the more modern designs .     As we became further sophisticated still, and as our animal senses dulled through domestication, we were gradually becoming beings of thought. We were learning how to live in the grace and comfort that could only have come to us in a world that we learned how to make bend to our will. There was to come, other physical changes and adaptations. Where the sun was less intense, the skin became more fair. The dark pigmentation of the past was no longer needed in the less direct sun, so melanin levels in the skin decreased. Our tendency to clothe ourselves added to this effect even more. Today, we're still covered with the same number of hairs as our more simian cousins.  Now it's become more fair, and less coarse.  Our feet changed to accommodate and augment an increasingly more upright posture.  The benefits of standing more erect outweighed the spinal and orthopedic consequences. On this point, I suspect there are those who'll disagree. People with aching feet, and protesting spines would contend that we're still not well suited to the rather arbitrary appearance of bipedalism in our lineage.  Chiropractors and pediatrists rejoice.  Human feet have changed as a way of adapting to an  increasingly more upright posture. The big toe found itself creeping ever forward to its present position as the foot's captain, which leaves the inside of each foot looking somewhat naked.  We no longer needed the feet like the monkeys and apes, who still needed them for grasping for a life in the trees.  We lost our tails too, which were once fully prehensile like those of the gibbon or the spider monkey, who still need them for climbing. Its vestige, the coccyx, remains, but we still refer to it as the tail-bone.       Every once in a while, a baby's born with a vestigial tail.  I can almost feel the repulsion felt in those who insist on the need to believe that we were created in god's own image.  What an insult evolution must be to those who choose to think of themselves as separate and apart from the beasts of the field.         This somewhat preposterous belief may only be a simple case of misguidance, but I suspect it's based more on a need for simple people to elevate themselves over the other beings who share the world with us. Here in the mid-western U.S., there's still a great many people who believe that the different races can be explained by a curse placed on them by god.  This is one of the many ways religion divides.  The flimsy argument that true humans were created in god's own image can still be forced into making some kind of sense to the faithful.  If I sound too harsh, and if I'm dead wrong, so what? It'd be clear that god's on their side, and I'd reconsider my views on religion.  But whether we're talking about religious division, or natural, there's no question that some kind of parting of the ways took place. That's true, whether when viewed through religious or scientific lenses.        This idea that a division of species occurred (once early humans left Africa) is troubling for some, because of its parallel to racism. We've essentially said that humans who were forced further from Africa, were also forced to evolve into civilization.  The master race lingered on more or less unchanged under the savanna sun. That idea can be pretty unsettling to some of us. The fact remains that such an evolutionary split took place.  All of the races seen today, are nothing more and are no less than the products of the environments in which they flourished.  This doesn't make one better than another, but only suggests differences on a theme.  Is a flute better than a lyre? Does a violin make a more pleasing sound than a guitar? Of course it depends on who's playing, but do they not all lend themselves well to working in concert?  Can they not each work together and bring us music? We started out together, but have now grown apart. Who could have predicted that the mammals with such humble beginnings, could have had within them such staggering potential and diversity? If anything, each of us has more to offer the other because of that reason. How far we've come.  Look at how our presence has so altered this world.  Its topography is dotted with the cities we've built, as the forests recede into the background.  Even from Earth orbit, you can see how we've engineered the surface of the planet.  City lights can be detected from space, with some amount of scrutiny.  One of the greatest feats of human ingenuity can be seen without any magnification at all, that being the great wall built by Chinese warlords.  It's a stark reminder of a shortcoming that still influences us today, the need to be separate. Pretty impressive work so far, and not all of it has been bad.  We tend to concentrate on the negative, but look at the incredible works of lasting beauty that've been created too.  The creative zeal of our species has permutations that spread through all of recorded history.  Look at all of that art, and those wondrous cathedrals, and works of literature.  Such forces of will demand that we acknowledge the enormous good that can be achieved, if given the chance. If there was a god looking down on all of this, it would be proud of what's been done, maybe even astonished. But god or no, it should be us who are proud.  Still, we've got some way to go before we can sit back and revel in our achievements.  The good and the noble that exists beneath the breast of all of us is slowly being starved by the people whom we've "elected" to represent us as a people.  It was Thomas Paine who wrote in his book of essays, "Common Sense" who said, "The cause in America is in a great measure, the cause of all mankind." Written when our nation was in still in diapers, this man knew that we needed to think more globally.       Yes, more globally.  In truth, we're already globalized.  It's just that here in America, there's this sense that to become global in our thinking is un-American.  The world has always come to us, so why should we go to them? While there's a certain amount of charm to this kind of naivete, it's now become tiresome.  We should be proud to be a part of the human race, and not set ourselves above those other members with whom we share it.  We need to set about finding how this can be made to happen.  We need more imagination than what's constantly being dredged up by old thinking. Idealism is a good quality, if those ideals lend themselves to evolving out of bad habits.     Speaking of being too idealistic, I genuinely believe that at the heart of any perplexing problem, is also the ability to imagine something better.  Imagination is the primary ingredient, because once you have a vision, the rest is easy.      If there's some better world awaiting us, all we have to do is to will it into existence.  If we can just imagine it,  then it's only a matter of time before we see the real thing pop into our reality somewhere.  That is, anything that can come to us in the form of thought can come to pass, so long as the wish is there to prompt it into being.  Maybe it's time for an example that's a bit more pragmatic.      Think any thought.  Notice how real the object becomes to you as it materializes in your mind.  If your especially adept at this practice, then you can begin to imagine how it tastes, smells, or feels as well.  Memories are a lot like this too.  Everything you've ever experienced in life is stored somewhere in your memory center, a place that I believe is called the "Broca's area." All you need do, is call this memory into your conscious mind, and viola! You needn't picture a pleasurable act (or an unpleasurable one) for very long either, in order to picture it in your head.         Whether it be food, drink, or sex, within seconds the object or act becomes just as real to you as if it actually existed in the world where you can cast a shadow.  If you're able to think it, then you can do it.  The trick then becomes, how to get it out of the mind, and into the third dimension.     You don't have to cook a favorite dish in order to imagine how it will taste.  Long before you fire up the oven, you're already relishing the taste. If thinking like this is too "head in the clouds" for you, then we can take it even further. The only thing between us and space, is the atmosphere.  Similarly, the only thing preventing a thought made real, is your skull and an ability to believe that such things can actually escape it.  Sometimes I still wonder if I should've gone off the Lithium. Let's consider dreaming.  All animals dream.  Dreams represent the twilight, the transition from thought to being.  Like we've already concluded, when having a dream, we're generally not aware that we're asleep.  Except for "lucid dreaming," where you're able to recognize the dream state while you're immersed in it, most dreams are perceived as reality.  And so it is a form of reality.  You are then quite literally, experiencing a reality that's normally kept quartered under your skull. While you sleep, a portion of your life unfolds within the confines of the mind as it rests.  When you watch a cat, dog, or even a fish as it sleeps, you can see that it's dreaming.  You get a kick out of seeing the legs or fins  twitch, or while watching their whiskers move around.  Depending on the dream's intensity, there's even vocalizations as they sleep.  It's relatively easy to take a guess as to their dream's content.  A dog or cat for instance, is living out some glorious hunt, as they give chase to their ethereal prey.  It's so real to them, that there is a physiological response as they pursue a rabbit or a squirrel.  The inherent reaction is visible, even while they sleep.  This is a parallel reality unfolding before you.  While we might be amused by such antics, we can't deny the fact that even the lowly animals are dreamers, just like us.  Also, don't deny that to them, it's not a dream at all. You may be inclined to suppose that such a silly display is to be expected among animals, once you've excepted that they're dreaming.  The conclusion is that they are too dumb to understand that it's only a dream they're having.  Do they actually believe that the quarry being chased is real, and not only a phantom, an illusion being generated by their simple mind? Ultimately, we dismiss them as just being a dumb animal.  Before you judge such silliness too harshly, consider the dreams that all humans have had at one time or another.  How many times have we felt as though we were about to fall as we drift off into sleep.  Indeed, that's what falling asleep means.  It's a remnant of when we dwelled in treetops.  While we slept, a grasping reflex was pretty important.  We still have it today.  That's what kicks in when we feel like we're falling, even while we're asleep.  We're then promptly snapped back to consciousness while trying to catch ourselves. As we dream of a fall, our body reacts.  As it turns out, we' re no better than a pet who chases an invisible bunny.  Your own sensation of taking a tumble is no less real to you than the dog's dreamed up rabbit. The fact is, we all fall for our dreams, hook, line, and sinker. But like I said, don't feel too ashamed.  You're not just having a dream.  You're experiencing a different type of reality.  As you dream, your soul, your life force is having a little fun as the physical body rests.  Only when the conscious mind stirs with say, the sounding of your alarm clock, does the soul feel that tug which signifies it's time to come back home for supper.  The soul's still hungry for the physical experience, so it can't help but heed the sound of the dinner bell.  Perfectly good dreams have been ruined simply because your mind tells your soul, "Alright, that's enough fun for now.  We don't have time for flying around the cosmos.  We've got kids to feed, walls to paint, and credit card debts to run up.  It's time to re-join the "real" world, and go make some money." You can have all the wealth in the world, but your soul craves something more.  The body which you're currently inhabiting is the vehicle of choice.  It gives form to the soul so that it can conduct its business here.  That job you have may pay the bills.  But at what price to the soul which needs no such distractions? The best times many of us hope to have as sentient and physical beings, are the times we spend in our own minds, so long as we are allowed to dream.    Most would argue that the dreams of human beings are a bit more involved than chasing things around or catching ourselves from falling. As much as I love animals, there's got to be a quality that we have as human beings, that's exclusively human.  Is not a dog a dog, a cat a cat, and a person a person?      Nature has given us a generous gift.  It's the gift of reason. It's what allows us to ask a question, and to search for an answer. This applies to all thinking creatures, and not only to humans.  The ancient Egyptians cited a specific example, and believed strongly that the cat held in its eyes, the window to the soul--- the truth of all things known and unknown.  They saw cats as the seasoned veterans in the mystical world navigated customarily by the enlightened soul.  To the average Egyptian, peering into feline eyes was to catch a glimpse of the world beyond our own.  A human could only dream of the experiences cats have already lived in countless lives before. Some believed that a cat represents a soul's reward to itself for having worked so diligently, and for having learned so much.  Even a soul needs a break now and then. Maybe your cat houses a soul that's on vacation.       I don't look down on cats, or any other animal for that matter.  Physically yes, since I'm taller than most of them, but I feel humbled from a spiritual vantage-point.  I feel honored that such creatures would share their lives with the likes of me. This attitude doesn't come from low self-esteem, but just the same, I wonder if animals sometimes laugh at us.  We fret and strut (as Bill Shakespeare once quipped), contemplating and anguishing over life's mysteries, inflicting such torture on our own will.  As we try to make some sense of all this mess we've made for ourselves, the animals have learned all that's needed to find peace.  Maybe they already know that the truths for which we so desperately search, have been inside of us all the while.       If we'd only learn to sit still for a while, we'd come to know that this propensity for peace exists naturally in all living things.  It's not a thing that we must sneak up and pounce upon.  A person's will isn't something that needs to be forced, because on every level of consciousness, molecular or spiritual, we're all the same thing.      We're all pieces of the same puzzle, and it wouldn't be complete without every single element that's peppered through all space, time, and dimension.  All of these are necessary for the whole to exist.  That's what I believe anyway.  But now I've placed myself in the uneasy position of having to find better ways to convey this overly simplistic sentiment, using a method of understanding that makes some sense.  It shames me to say it, but what if all of this figuring stems only from some kind of delusional fantasy? Am I then, no better off than those limited by dogmatic beliefs? It would help a great deal if we could put shame behind us for now, and learn how to welcome and accept our animal self.  It's the part of you that wants to have fun, and to relish in the life that's been given to you.  At the same time, be aware that you're a social being.  In order to get along with your fellows, there are certain rules to which you're held accountable.  No policy maker or man-made deity had to teach you this basic set of guide lines. They came with the package of electricity that you were born into.  You're allowed to get away with more in your youth, because you're still learning these rules as you go at such a young age.  But by and by, you come to learn that there are limits to what liberties you can take. This is the school of hard knocks.  Individual abilities are what make you unique, and that are then used to bring  society as a whole, forward.  But this can only work if that society is set up to reward individual merit.  In your society though, individual ability is usually overshadowed by how it's perceived by others.  Often, your sense of worth is based on how others have come to see you.  You forget sometimes that people only see what you project to them.  Then there's the unfortunate fact that nobody takes you seriously, unless there's a sufficient bankroll to back your credibility.     Opinions don't seem to be worth squat unless they're backed by wealth. And if you do somehow manage to become wealthy, others judge you as being snobbish or shallow. We look for someplace to fit in, but feel alienated from others, even  if we somehow manage to find a niche. How'd we get ourselves into this mess? Basic social skills come naturally with time.  The desire to fit in is eventually overwhelmed by your need to stand apart.  That's selfishness in the truest sense, and this kind of selfishness is what separates you from the pack. This trait is admired most in your culture, but is simultaneously the most despised.  This is the world that's been created for you.  It started a long time ago.  It's been your way for so long now, that not many bother to question this clash of the classes.  It all started because like most other primates, humans are made up primarily of followers.  Most people feel no shame in accepting this role, and actually prefer to let somebody else do their dirty work.  Patterns in your tribe eventually became more firmly established, and each individual excelled in certain skills.  As early primates, physical prowess was generally the most coveted such skill.  After all, you were hunters.  But not everyone was so adept, and most listened to nature's insistence that you survive, even if you deferred your own will to the hands of a skilled few.  That's when your early leaders were born.  That's when you learned to trust them. If you couldn't contribute to your group as a hunter- gatherer, there were other services you could render that were almost as valuable.  Individuals who mastered a sense of propriety for example, made the group function better as a whole.  You came to recognize that the more you cooperated with your tribe, the more important you became as one of its members.  More to the point, you were rewarded for your contribution.  You learned that it's perfectly fine to be selfish, so long as it aided your peers in some way.  Early law began to emerge, and it happened quite naturally.  Early hominids had little tolerance for the rogue, the trouble maker, the cowardly, or the needy.  Such aberrant behavior was punished, but passively at first.  More than likely, you were made an outcast, and in those early days, chances for survival were slim to none if you got ousted.  That meant you'd have to fend for yourselves.  That's when you feared being alone, and wanted desperately to belong. Natural law proved time and again, that there was safety in numbers.  Way back when, there was little room for the malcontent. Also present in such social groups, be they primate, lupine, feline, bovine, or any other "ines" in the animal kingdom; there came a "pecking order." Every social group have built into them, a system of dominance and submission, in males and in females.  Millions of years before wall street and congress, came an utter dependency on the notion of status.  In all societal groups there was a division into essentially two groups, the leaders and the followers.    We're supposed to be embracing our animal heritage so that we can get a better idea of how nature has created a nearly perfect form of unity.  Already, we've seen that division took place in our ranks from the very beginning.  If all we can do is see how separate we all are, then how can this help our case to create a world view that depends more on a sense of solidarity? Before looking at ways to get rid of our animal selves, we must first recognize our origins.  In the beginning this separation in status worked out well, because those who were chosen as "alphas" had the best interest of your entire group in mind.  These early leaders knew that if they treated their groups well, then they'd be offered the fullest  cooperation as the chief  providers.  Their top priority was to see that you and yours could eat well, sleep well, and be protected from those that might eat you.  You truly and directly had something in common with your extended family--- mutual survival.  Your alphas had proven themselves fit for duty, as your very existence  tended to bear out.  Back then, it was quite understandable that you should follow the pack, as it were.  It was a system that had been working for millions of years.  There was no reason to change at that point. Now cut to today, where despite cosmetic changes to both ourselves and our planet through technology, things really haven't changed all that much since our days of rolling around in the dirt.  We're still inclined to trust our alphas.  We assume that the officials we've elected (or have allowed) to govern our lives, still have our best interests at heart.  We find it tough to admit that they might instead have personal agendas and opportunities for personal gain and glory in mind. These kinds of leaders are completely selfish.  Our tendency to follow our alphas may have worked to our mutual advantage in the past, but there's no place for it in today's rush toward globalization.  Our instinct to trust someone else to handle our affairs is understandable, but such ways should be reconsidered if we're to continue on as a new species.  If we learn how to recognize our animal past, then we'll be better suited to exceed those limitations placed on us blindly by nature.  In order to illustrate how much more like animals we are than we think, consider the most primal instinct to procreate. With the arrival of heterosexual sex in the early oceans, things were irrevocably changed, and not necessarily for the better.  This is when the battle of the sexes truly was conceived, and there arose two diametrically-opposed factions.  From the male perspective, all that mattered was that he was permitted to pass his genes into the ever-widening pool of diversity, or literally die in trying. Males are biologically predestined to go off to war, with copulation rights as the prize.  Even as a single-celled organism, specifically, a sperm --- the war is waged to fertilize an ovum.  But before a sperm cell is permitted to negotiate this bond, it must first successfully come to  terms with billions of its brothers.  Imagine the pressure, knowing that only one of you will make it (except with identical twins), and that all the rest will die. Sperm cells would laugh at the odds of winning the lottery, when compared to the odds THEY faced.  Before a male is ever born of female, he must do battle just to get conceived.  And you thought it was rough for you to score.       It only gets worse from there.  Whether you're a peacock, a big horned sheep, or a human, the heat is on to secure a mate.  A prerequisite for male-hood, are copious amounts of testosterone.  Both males and female have it, but it's a matter of degree that determines gender. In fact, until after the first trimester of gestation, we're all female.  Simmer down now ladies. All that means is, if the imposter "Y"  chromosome decides to awaken at that time, then congratulations, it's a boy.      I'm inclined to claim this revelation as a small victory over the most of the creation myths, where a man was created first.  This once more demonstrates how man-made religions are in fact, a complete opposite of nature, most of which have decreed women as only second fiddle.  In myth and religion, women were either entirely dismissed, or socially undesirable.  As unsettling as it is to think, all of this can be reduced to a larger or smaller presence of male hormones? So it could be argued in a society that chooses brute force over patience, tolerance, and understanding.  While females may prefer to weigh all the evidence before taking action, a male is more apt to go charging, willy nilly, into the fray. In a society where aggression and competition gives a decided edge, women are less likely to be in charge.  It's hardly fair, but cannot be dismissed as a possibility. Testosterone is an extremely aggressive hormone.  Women bodybuilders who use anabolic steroids, an artificially derived drug that mimics male hormones, lose their femininity, if the drug is used in excess.  Facial hair grows, even as their musculature does.  Menstruation becomes irregular, or can cease altogether.  There is often a discernable alteration in voice pitch, and it gets deeper. Steroids used in men can sometimes have the opposite effect, and they can develop breasts.  Their testicles can shrink in size.  Too much male hormone in a system already male, leads to a battle over the endocrine system.  Male is predisposed to compete with male, even on a molecular level.  The testosterone already pumping through the bloodstream, views these new kids on the block (the additional testosterone produced by the anabolic) as a threat to their turf, so to speak.  A battle ensues, and many testosterone warriors perish.  This gives rise to an overabundance of estrogen (also present in both men and women), and the male takes on certain female traits. As I said, this testosterone is a very potent thing.  It's what makes an adolescent boy want to drive his first car faster than his learned ability to control it.  It's why boys pick fights, and are seen as a valuable commodity by a nation's military.  It makes the big horns batter each other senseless, while the detached and often unattainable ewe looks on in amusement.  Perhaps she laughs, in her own sheepish way, and marvels at the extent to which males will go --- just to win the honor of having her. Finally, and most sadly, there are tests in labs demonstrating how a rat reacts to increased testosterone. When injected with appropriate amounts of androgen (testosterone's precursory cousin), they'll kill every other poor rodent that gets in the way.  I hope this makes my point--- potent stuff, this hormone.       As animals themselves, humans are no exception.  The rituals and practices have been disguised somewhat as we've gotten more civilized.  Human males no longer have to butt heads, or display impressive plumage. Now that we've become civilized, the rituals are even more brutal in some ways. Males of any species are still deeply obligated to perform in order to win the right to mate.  There's still the occasional fistfight to win the potential for sexual gratification (especially where alcohol is added to the already heady mix), but this seldom works.  Besides which, there's too much risk in a world of concealed and deadly weapons.  The world has gotten too dangerous and unpredictable on all fronts, sexual or otherwise, to risk confrontation.  The perception is, that in order to partner up, you either need to make the most money, or to possess the most power.  What it actually comes down to, is how well a male can provide for a prospective mate.       Some women say they're searching for a man who's sensitive and intelligent.  They speak of their wish to meet a man who's humorous, or who loves animals and children.  But rarely are they forthcoming and honest enough to mention the bottom line.  Their true search begins and ends with his annual income, or his overall income potential. It's not that I can blame them for this.  Honesty may be the best policy, but this won't change the fact that some perfectly worthy males are being left out of the loop because of a lower financial status.     Trying to put my own shortcomings aside, there are times it seems when the other animal's rites of passage are preferable.  There's a kind of direct honesty about it.  An animal might still fail in the end to have a partner, but at least he's had the chance to be considered in the running. Meanwhile, the bleeding will stop--- eventually. Again, it's all part of the grand design.  Let's take the female's perspective for a moment.  How does she select a mate, really? Going back to our ancient clans, we can see that their priorities haven't altered that much either.  The early human females, with few exceptions, lacked the strength needed to bring down a given prey item.  Already, she was at a distinct disadvantage as far as rudimentary survival skills were concerned.  When she became mature enough to go in estrous (human females had yet to go into independent monthly cycles), she had to begin looking for a suitor that would most likely be able to provide for her, along with the offspring she would bear.  Really and truly then, it's in this light that today's woman should be re-examined. Ultimately, the only trait that divides early humans from their modern descendants, are the different ways in which status is attained in life.  For it's this status which roughly mirrors the old ways of providing sufficient security.  Today, if a man were to drag a freshly slain wildebeest into the apartment of a prospective girl friend, the result would be less than satisfactory, stain proof carpet not withstanding.  That kind of providing became extinct with the appearance of the first candle lit dinner.  But a man with a six-figure income? Well...that could buy a whole lot of wildebeest.  So you see, the merchandise has changed, but the rules of the game remain relatively unshaken by progress.       I've come to admire, more and more, the purity of spirit that can be seen smouldering behind the eyes of the so-called beasts. The vast majority of animals take only what's necessary for them to survive.  They fit perfectly into whatever corner of the environment that nature has provided for them.  They also do little to disrupt the delicate dance that's been established between life and death.      Sure, the other animals have their little rituals, particularly when involved with mating.  But this too was how it was set up for them.  When watching people, you can see that they too are operating on the same basic level. That's why I generally feel humiliated on a dance floor.  Until I can get as good at dance as the whooping crane, then what's the point?     Apart from all the ritual though, there's the added ability of humans to "reason. " This quality alone should guarantee success, so far as being able to separate ourselves from the other animals.  After all, we humans had broken the mold, and had corrupted nature's plan.  People have taken their natural gifts, and have tainted them with the imposition of human perception.  Which is to say, we've ignored the natural world, and have supplemented it with our own vanity.  We've gotten so caught up in our own way of doing things, that we've grown oblivious to the source of all life. We've all but forgotten our mother, Earth.