A Different Way of Seeing Things
by
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It might help in understanding these thoughts if it was acknowledged that all of the people on this planet are as passengers on a space ship. Why we foolishly exist in strife, at the peril of destroying our ship and each other, is neurotic and psychotic. We live in strife because of mindless and defective thinking. A current issue of our American society called “Same-Sex Marriage” is an example of such muddled thinking. The issue is not about sex or marriage. The issue exists because for centuries societies’ had and have an inaccurate definition of being human. The words same sex marriage show the inaccuracy of language, ignorance of history, the vapidity of knowledge about our reality as humans, and the mindlessness of humanity to use such a phrase in an attempt to communicate with each other about as important an element of our society as pair bonding. The thoughts presented in this writing offer a different way of seeing things that may enable us to begin a transforming dialogue. A dialogue that may allow us to become more helpful passengers to each other as we make our flight of life together on this space ship we call earth.

An examination of the issue “Same-Sex Marriage” will reveal that in 2014, why the definition of “human being” is erroneously defined. First, there is no such thing as same sex in our reality. Sexuality is the result of societies, from the beginning of recorded history, defining a human being as either male or female based upon visible genitelia. The communities ostracized those persons who did not have a clearly delineated sexual identity. Second, the institution of “marriage” as a social phenomenon is the result of centuries old presumption that a god had only designed humans for procreation. It was not until the Council of Trent (1545-1653) that the Roman Catholic men of the church invented the fact that their God instituted marriage between male and female for the ostensible purpose of procreation and made it a sacrament of their church. In England Church law regulated all marriages until Parliament passed the Marriage act of 1753. That is when civil government regulated relationships between “men and women.” The presumption that only men and women ignores our reality that the human condition of feminine and masculine spirits has more variations than the 3,245,794 combinations on a color palate of shades, values, hues, and chromo of color. Actually, humans have as many variations of gender mix as there are people alive on this planet.

Proving we all have a blended mix of feminine and masculine characteristics is easy in the 21st Century. Our scientists tell us the human body is composed of one trillion cells +/-. They also say we carry around eight trillion bacteria +/-that help, and periodically hinder, the body staying in motion. Molecules make up each cell, and the molecules are composed of atoms. Each atom has hundreds of subatomic particles. In addition, each cell contains 500 mtDNA molecules. Each molecule contains 16,569 DNA base pairs. There are 46 chromosomes and 3 billion nucleotides in each DNA. Of course, there is even more stuff that makes humans more complicated. However, you have enough to allow me to ask my rhetorical question. My rhetorical question is, “How much of all that stuff wiggling around inside your skin that makes you you, do you control?” My rhetorical answer is,–“NOTHING!” You cannot make one spoonful of blood. You cannot make one centimeter of synovial fluid, grow a hair, repair a broken bone, or repair a torn muscle. NOTHING! Let us face our reality. Our bodies are self-replicating automatons. You would not eat if your body did not tell you it needed nourishment. You would not drink fluids if your body did not tell you it was thirsty. You would not go to the bathroom, have sex, or come in out of the cold except your body tells you it is time. With that tidbit to think on you could reasonably believe a primary human emotion would be humility– but it is not. It should be, but it is not.


No humanity is still mindlessly defining humans. How is humanity defining what a human being is? The Encarta English Dictionary states, “human being [is] a member of the species to which men and women belong.–[is] the human race considered as a whole.” Sooooo, what is man? What is woman? Encarta says men and women compose humanity. I say our reality is, society is not composed of men and women. Society is composed of human beings all of whom have a mix of feminine and masculine characteristics. Some humans generate sperm. Some humans generate eggs. All humans have a right to life regardless of their reproductive ability or blended characteristics.

The final statement to support my claim that we are humans, not male and female members of the human species, is to show that all humans have “male” and “female” characteristics to a greater or lesser degree. Early in the fetus’ maturation, sexual development of the human organism begins. As powerful a force as gender orientation is in our humanness, gestation is not a perfect system. Just weeks after fertilization, for some reason and some how, testosterone is released. The presence or absence of testosterone, and apparently the amount of it present during the 9-month gestation period determines; brain size, brain aptitude, lung size, heart size, bone structure, all organs, muscle, skin, and of course genitelia. Thus, depending on the action of testosterone on the developing cells, a human could have a feminine torso with breasts, a micro penis, and an empty scrotum. Alternatively, the human could have a feminine brain and skin but have male muscle, bone structure, and genitelia. My obvious conclusion is there are as many combinations, in various degrees of intensity and blending of gender differences, as there are people on this planet. The leaders of our religions and governments have not recognized this reality. Our religions and governments are locked into a 6,000 thousand-year-old dogma that defines humans as male or female based upon their visually observed genitalia.

There is a primary reason why there is not common agreement on what it means to be human in the second decade of the 21st Century. That reason is past civilizations have erroneously defined what a human is by their religious beliefs. The definition has continued for thousands of years because citizens of societies mindlessly left it unchallenged. Today we are not human beings. We are male or female human beings. A concept defined thousands of years ago and continued to this day. Our visually observed sexual genitalia establish if we are human. The painful efforts of people, who today do not have clearly defined sexual genitalia, or emotional and physical delineation of gender, and who are living in societies whose governments and religions believe they have the right and power to tell another human being how and with whom they may have a sexual orgasm, proclaim, “There is no Liberty for us. There is no Liberty in determining the most elemental fact of life-Who we are! There is no Liberty because societies demand we fit a mold of existence that our bodies, minds, and spirits are unable to conform to.” Such a social attitude inflicts pain on everyone riding on this space ship we call earth. John Donne got it right when he wrote, “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”

This is not an essay for or against anything. This is an essay about our human condition and the social institutions, created throughout history, which regulate our personal interaction today as rigidly as governments do with criminal laws. My simplistic examination of the phrase “Same-Sex Marriage” might allow us, as citizens of the 21st Century, to gain a more accurate understanding of our human condition. If we do, then our governments and religions might modify their thoughts and actions about such an important element of our society as human pair bonding. After all, the men of the Roman Catholic church removed Christopher (The protector of travelers) from its list of saints, The men of the church today could just as easily remove marriage from its list of sacraments. It is my contention that although we are all passengers on this spaceship earth, we do not have to be victims of the institutions that mindlessly cause us pain.