(The following is being posted according to Ken's generous offer. The posting of a submission doesn't imply that Ken or the editors of this site necessarily agree with any or all of it. Thanks, -Eds)

A Difficult Case

Keith Martin-Smith

www.keithmartinsmith.com

Blankets are pulled up tight against the dampening chill, and eyes close as the body settles and grows quiet. Consciousness begins to dim, releasing its hold over the more unruly, primal parts of the mind. Memories blend with fantasies and, holding hands, they dance in ever-widening circles. Sleep draws closer, with dreams awakening just below the fading intellect and occasionally coming into view. The waking mind, now flickering like a candle buffeted by an ever-stronger wind, finally, suddenly, blows out.

...

“What is a human being in a rage? On my sacred honor, nothing but a human beast! The next time it happens to you, look at yourself in the glass; and you will find your soul gone out of you at your face, and nothing left but an animal—and a bad, a villainous bad animal, too!”
Wilkie Collins
Poor Miss Finch (1908)

Animals have evolved numerous strategies and adaptations to display their strength in order to avoid predation. Certain birds will puff up their feathers to appear larger than they truly are. Gorillas will bang on their chests. The hair of dogs and cats will stand on end. In some cases these adaptations warn potential predators of real dangers. For example, poisonous frogs are brightly colored to warn predators that if they eat them, it will be their last meal.

However, in some cases animals will bluff their predators. They will exaggerate their strengths and pretend to be more deadly than they are. Some animals will evolve bright colors akin to those of poisonous animals, but they will not be poisonous themselves. Chimpanzees will fly into a rage and shake trees in order to convince others in the group that he is powerful.

Humans are no exception. We are governed by the same rules as the rest of the animal kingdom. We fly into rages. At the annual meeting for the Human Behavior and Evolution Society in Williamsburg, Virginia, Aaron Sell presented some research findings that indicate the adaptive value of human violent yells.

Sell found that: 1 strength is detectable from voices, 2 the detection of strength from voices is cross-cultural, and 3 strength is exaggerated when the voice is a violent yell. More specifically, when participants listened to a violent yell, they had a tendency to overestimate height, weight, and strength of the yeller.

The next time that you fly into a rage, take Wilkie Collins’s advice and look at yourself in the mirror. Maybe you will recognize that you too are an animal. Maybe it will change your perception of what it is to be a human.

The Stuart Davis Show - Pilot Episode - Open Marriage, Open Wound

This is the pilot episode Stu hopes will land him a highfalutin Hollywood TV contract. Marci offers to let Stu sleep with groupies if he gives her another baby, Stu discovers a very odd fetish and a horrible rash, and Marci hits the jackpot of hot with a Scientologist on the block. Co-starring Marci and Aja Davis, Steve Brill, Nicole Fegley, and the Clones, this episode truly represents a new benchmark in integral enlightentainment....

(The following is being posted according to Ken's generous offer. The posting of a submission doesn't imply that Ken or the editors of this site necessarily agree with any or all of it. Thanks, -Eds)

Dear Ken and all the staff,My name is Ivo Banaco, I'm 26 years old and I'm from Portugal. I have already told my "integral story" many times (from Fielding to I-I forums, etc). I just want you to know that I came from a deeply orange world, particularly in what concerns to my undergraduate studies in economics. However, in my way to my master degree in Economics an intriguing book (because of the modest title) called TOE simply made a revolution to my way of understanding the world, me...Everything! (TOE was (as far as I can tell) the first Portuguese translation of KW work. To your knowledge here in Portugal the newest translation is Grace and Grit ("Graça e Coragem", in Portuguese) with a...