Ptolemy was one of the most influencial scientist of the around the time of the Bible around 150 Ad. He developed the concept of the earth centered universe that pravailed until Copernicus and Gallileo a thousand plus years later.
Back then the 6 then known planets would move in the sky randomly and in fact that's what planet means "wanderer". He then wrote about this mystery was, that it was the work of the gods in the sky and we are mere mortals down here on earth. It was the boundary of what was known and unknown in the universe at the time. "i know that i am mortal by nature and ephemeral, but when i trace at my pleasure, the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies, I no longer touch earth with my feet. I stand in the presence of Zuess himself and take my fill of ambrosia". Elloquence and emotionally religious feeling at the limits of his knowledge.
Some of the greatest minds that preceded us have done just this. Gallileo said in 1615, The bible tells you how to go to heaven , not how the heavens go." I don't feel abliged to believe that the same god who endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use".
Isaac Newton one of the most brilliant men of all time. Developed calculus in 1687 to explain why the earth and planets had an eliptical not circular orbit around the sun. He explained the law of gravity and motion (F=MA) of objects that could about for the influence of the other planets on our path through space. Before him the motion of the planets was given to God. But even he could not account for all the minor effects of all the bodies in space nor could he account for the stability of the solar system. He said "But is it not to be concieved that mere mechanical causes could give birth to so many regular motions. This most beautiful system of sun moon and planets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being." He is invoking God at the limits of his knowledge and understanding.
Huygens not long after figured out the motions and calculations that could account for what Newton could not, God was not required. But when he discusses biology and life, something not well understood then -"i suppose nobody would deny but that there is somewhat more of contrivance somewhat more of miracle in the production and growth of plants and animals than in lifeless heaps of inanimate bodies. For the finger of God and the wisdom of divine providence is in them much more clearly manifested in those living things. " He doesn't say that about the orbits, but in a place where no one really has the answer. It made sense for the time and for some it still does. So even for these brilliant minds when the limits of knowledge are reached and god is invoked, then discovery stops.
So what we have with sexual orientation is at the limits of our understanding. We know its not a genetic dominant mechanism , it does not follow on one site in the DNA. Darwinian concepts do not account for why some people would be attracted to the same sex, therefore they will not reproduce. That makes no sense. right? But and this is a big butt, Identical twins have a higher rate of concurrence of gay brothers than in regular brothers or fraternal twins, so the must be SOME kind of link. Indeed we know that gay members in a family is likely to have some other gay members being uncle, niece etc.
Gay men have brain pheromonal responses more like heterowomen, in that they are attracted to the scent and androgens of men. They have a startle response somewhere less than str8 men but not as much as str8 women. lesbians are also more like str8 men. So researches using mathematical models have determined the best evidence is for EPIGENETICS. Changes that happen in urtero or in the developing fetus possibly early infant. An example is baby rats raised by non nuturing mothers grow up to be non nuturing mothers too. ITS NOT THEIR FAULT.
There never will be a so called gay gene. There will likely be and is more than one cause and determinant of sexuality but epigenetics and hormones and other factors. Hell if we dont get enough of a testosterone wash later in our gestation we would all be women. It but at the same time, the leading scientists in the field of the genesis of human sexuality such as Dr Qazi Rahman, a psychologist at King’s College London.
‘Sexual orientation really isn’t chosen. We need to almost stop having the discussion,’ he says.
‘It’s a bit like talking about whether gravity exists? It does! We don’t need to talk about it anymore, but the implications we do need to talk about.’
The reasons behind wanting a biological explanation of sexuality are clear according to Dr Simon Le Vay, the world's most famous pioneer of this research.
‘No one cause is intrinsically more desirable than any other cause: logically, it shouldn't affect how people value homosexuality. However, in the real world, people do take causation into account when judging traits.
‘For example, if homosexuality were shown to be caused by something bad, such as sexual molestation during childhood, that might well lead people to conclude that homosexuality itself is a bad thing.
‘And in past times, when homosexuality was broadly condemned, a biological explanation could be seized on to argue "it's not our fault" we're gay, or that our children are gay.’
The benefits of such research are also clear, Rahman believes.
He argues if we understand our sexuality is a biological fact, it makes it easier to accept it – even when society is against us – reducing psychological distress.
Science is a philosophy of discovery, religion is a philosophy of ignorance. In other words a god of the gaps. If we dont know , it must be God. This is something that happens to even many of the greatest minds in history. So it is understandable why that happens to us mere mortals. But dogma stops the conversation.
In the case of sexual orientation and sexual identity, no one can currently say what the exact reason we are one way or another is. With further research, likely there will be greater understanding in time, with more specific and clearer rationales developed. What is clear is that we have to give ourselves a break. It does not matter what the cause is at this point. We don't need to justify or rationalize or think we can change it. It is clear, we can't. it is pointless to waste energy asking why we are str8, bi or gay. We can behave or act a certain way, we can live a certain lifestyle be it sedentary, capitalist, technophile, back to nature birkenstock wearing granola stoner. Gay, str8 or bi is not a lifestyle, its who we are. Our job now is to chose whether we want to live whatever OUR little truth is, nothing more. Leave the search for bigger truths to others, as survivors we have already been through enough.
As Sam Harris puts it: " this opposition to reason and everything else is fundamentally spurious. The idea that there is love on one hand and the cool soulless rationality of science on the other is a false dichotomy. And yet its pervasive in our culture. There is nothing irrational in principle and practice to value love, trying to live a life that maximizes those treasured experiences."
Further: "Understanding love or why or who we love at the level of the brain is not going to deflate its importance for us. The fact we understand the molecular make up of chocolate does not make us want it any less. But where we have to call a spade a spade is where in gratuitous claims to certainty about invisible realities and the moral structures to the universe about a God who so hates homosexuality and homosexuals that He will whip up tsunami's in defence of chase heterosexual. This is a vision of life that is animating millions of our neighbors and indeed many of us, and we have been cowed into not criticizing. We need culture on all sides at large to make it fundamentally embarrassing to hold these kind of certainties."
Its almost comically tragic in a shakespearian way, especially given one of the only areas of New Orleans to survive the flood was the red light district and the gay zone. And it would be so if it really were not tragic. We have all already had the tragedy in our lives, its time has passed.
Edited by 1lifenow (10/02/1304:23 AM)
The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. Dalai Lama
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