~Chapter Seventeen~                                                                                 OVER VIEWS--- "It's a shame that a species so broadly conceived should end with most lives so narrowly confined. Why should we waste childhood on children?" ---Terry and Renny Russell     We've found ourselves standing on a new shore, and after dipping our toe into the backwaters,we've decided that it feels inviting.  Water is the giver and maker of all life on this planet.  Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells that are not unlike those that first flourished in the primal seas.  These early single cells had learned a way to create crude copies of themselves.  They did this by bonding with the other free form carbon elements which abounded in the organic soup of the earliest oceans.      I don't want this to become another science lesson.  Considering how America's one of the most scientifically illiterate nations on Earth, I still think it's important that we find a way to make it interesting.  I want people to be intrigued by science, not put off by it.  Yet another reminder of what a difficult task I've chosen.  You might notice how much shorter this chapter is than the others.  Getting people interested in science is akin to trying to get a little bunny to come over to you, and to eat out of your hand.  Any sudden, drastic movement's going to send it running back into it's safe little hole. First, an historic and biological review, just to be sure we have our footing.  Then we'll be better suited to establish the viability of souls. In this plane of existence, a soul needs a body through which to do its work. Here's how these bodies were provided for us. To illustrate this admittedly vague principal, you need only look at the diversity of life at present.  This diversity isn't in contention, because every conceivable niche or void in the natural world has been filled.  It can't be argued, the broad variety of life and how it's come to be, but in its variation, there's a common thread to it all.  Aside from the comparatively bizarre world existing at the ocean floor, where there's not enough light for photosynthesis to spark , life above the waves shares a striking similarity with its constituents.  Fish specifically, the original vertebrates, have remained true to their original form.  Today's fish haven't changed all that much since the appearance of their prehistoric cousins in the fossil record.  A fish, whose final moment was captured in slate or sandstone millions of years ago, is easily recognized in the bass, trout, or shark of today.  Here are beings that have seen little alteration in hundreds of millions of years.  That's because fish are so perfectly engineered for marine living, very little change was ever needed, since the original design functioned so well.         We touched on this earlier, but considering the suggestion that fish and humans are more alike than different, is still a hard hook to swallow for the vast majority.  People don't find it very appealing  to think that all vertebrates, ourselves included, begin life looking like something you find at the local sushi bar. A fish has two eyes, and other than not needing eyelids to protect them, they function in the same way as ours.  There are two nostrils (that are seemingly unnecessary), and a mouth.  But what about the gills?  Early on, we have those too, until we start breathing in amniotic fluids shortly after the formation of lungs.  But the gill-slits of a fish are not unlike terrestrial lungs, especially in terms of function.  Gills extract molecular oxygen that's present in water, while lungs do the same thing with the air.  Fish have four major appendages projecting from their bodies (with additional fins acting as stabilizers), and a tail to aid in swimming.   Most mammals have retained a tail to aid them in balancing, while humans have lost theirs in favor of an  erect posture.  Nature has arranged internal organs and their function the same in all vertebrates, including humans.  Of course, there are negligible cosmetic distinctions between fish and mammals, which is predictable when taking into account the differences in respective environments.  To cite a more obvious exception, most mammals have no need for a swim bladder, for instance. Otherwise, beyond the small cosmetic differences already mentioned, all vertebrates other than fish are even more comparable to each other.  Each head contains 7 orifices, which might give a biological explanation for the mystical permutations of this particular number.  There are the same 4 bodily projections as well.  Nutritional requirements are so close among all living things, that any differences are rendered nearly meaningless.  That's because we all consume the same types of fuel to replenish our bodies, namely hydrocarbons.  Physical designs were first based on this principle. Then there's the mode of communication.  All animals have learned to send various vocalizations through the air, so all forms of communication are largely the same. We're not the only animals on Earth who have developed language skills.     These comparisons might be regarded as meaningless.  All life on Earth is so similar because everything lives in the same kinds of environments.  It's just as easy to discredit our shared traits with the other animals as it is to draw parallels.  All we have to say is, that since we all live on the same planet, our biology is bound by averages to be the same.     There are undoubtedly still those who have serious misgivings that all life on the planet has a common origin. We should remember that the overall message here, is that we can no longer separate ourselves from everything else.  That's because in the most intimate of ways, all is one. We all became conscious beings at the same instant, at least in this timeline.  In this case, it's the time line that began in the world's early oceans. All one needs to do is to take a closer look at the organisms on this world to see that the original design (or designer) is still manifest in all life that's still around today. There should really be no shame in accepting that everything is one from the biological perspective.  It's important that we recognize this basic tenant if we're have any hope of moving beyond it.  To acknowledge this simple truth is a step in the right direction.  If we're to see the connections that are more profound still, on the scale of the infinite (which is actually finite, as we'll see later), we must first credit our common origin.  Not to worry though.  We'll be keeping this chapter short.  Sadly, science is only acceptable in tiny bytes, at least in this country.        Let's just look at this short science lesson as payback for all the charity work done by churches.  On the surface, you get a warm cot and a hot meal.  Once you're invited in, that's when the sermons start.  Here, we're doing the same thing, only without the soup line.  Now we're swimming in the organic soup of our origins.  Even animals that live life on land, start out in the liquid environments of egg or womb.  Not only does this point to all life having a common ancestry, but also hearkens back to our humble beginnings in the early oceans.  The transition between land and sea is evidenced by our liquid incubation stage of growth.         Is that why we're so awestruck when we first see the oceans? Is there some part of us that still remembers it as home? In that event, then yes, we should be aware of these connections.  We should be proud to be a significant part of the whole. But even the recognition of the commonality between ourselves and the other vertebrates is still somewhat biased.  The heavy elements that led to life in the first place, was once released into the universe by dying stars.  Beyond our own geocentric demeanor, there's a cosmic connection to be considered as well. From the recycled bellies of dead stars, to the formation of DNA,  all living things are connected by an unbroken line.  On Earth, a perfect arrangement was made between plant and animal.  In a global pact, the waste product of one, is a life giver to the other.  This is your yin and your yang.  It's paramount that this balance be recognized, if the balance is to remain.  This is the physical relation of all things.  But now it's time to begin considering the equilibrium that exists on the scale of the universe.  We all became conscious beings at the same instant in this time line in the world's early oceans (actually, much sooner than that with cosmic expansion).  It's only natural then, that the original design is still manifest in the life of today.  There should be no shame in accepting that everything is one. This is certainly not in dispute on the biological plane of existence.  We need to acknowledge this simple truth, especially if we're to see the connections which are even more profound still.        Here's the funny thing about all of this.  Most adults consider the facts we've been conveying here to be at best, tedious and boring pabulum.  Kids on the other hand, find these kinds of things fascinating.  At least the kids of MY generation used to.  I guess I don't know about kids nowadays.  But I'd be willing to wager that if you introduce science in a way that's interesting and mind expanding, we'd have no trouble in exciting the imagination again in our youth.         The educational system of today seems to be doing a less than bang up job of stirring the imaginations of the restless young.  It's too bad that all that natural curiosity and drive is being suppressed today.  It doesn't bode well for the future of humanity, does it? I'm hoping that this dumbing down campaign is isolated to just the continental "United" States. United in that the bar's continuously being lowered by those in control.