The Male Human Animal

Opening Words

Meditation

Before we begin to look into the nature of the male human animal, I thought that it might be helpful to create some space, some mental and emotional space within ourselves to receive new thoughts about a complex subject. To encourage this expansion of interior space, I have chosen this poem by Philip Larkin called "Continuing to Live." I request that we each let some space open within us and, after I have read it, sit for a minuet in silence, in meditation, or perhaps in prayer.

Continuing to Live
Continuing to live -- that is, repeat
A habit formed to get necessaries --
Is nearly always losing, or going without.
It varies.

This loss of interest, hair, and enterprise --
Ah, if the game were poker, yes,
You might discard them, draw a full house!
But it's chess.

And once you have walked the length of your mind, what
You command is clear as a lading-list.
Anything else must not, for you, be thought
to exist.

And what's the profit? Only that, in time,
We half-identify the blind impress
All our behavings bear, may trace it home.
But to confess,

On that green evening when our death begins,
Just what it was, is hardly satisfying,
Since it applied only to one man once,
And that one dying.
--Philip Larkin

Reading: This House

This house is for the ingathering of nature and human nature.
It is a house of friendships, a haven in trouble, an open room for the encouragement of our struggle.
It is a house of freedom, guarding the dignity and worth of every person.
It offers a platform for the free voice, for declaring, both in times of security and danger, the, full and undivided conflict of opinion.
It is a house of truth-seeking, where scientists can encourage devotion to their quest, where mystics can abide in a community of searchers.
It is a house of art, adorning its celebrations with melodies and handiworks.
It is a house of prophecy, outrunning times past and times present in visions of growth and progress.
This house is a cradle for our dreams, the workshop of our common endeavor.
--Kenneth L. Patton

Sermon

Several years ago, I began to follow an interest in what makes me tick. Specifically, I was interested in what activates me? How do I function? The behavior of our primate cousins also fascinated me. Then there was a flood of articles on subjects related to brain functions and behavior. The more I have read the more amazing it has become for me. So I stand here this morning with some trepidation at the prospect of speaking to you about the realities that are being uncovered about us human animals and how we function. It is such a vast field I can only skim the top of it.

Specifically, of course, I wish to address the male human animal; I have some intimate knowledge of it since I am one. I think I am on safer ground talking about what I know best rather than attempting to talk about the female of the species. I know something about it but not nearly enough to speak about it.

Throughout my sermon this morning, I will make statements that might seem to be really off the wall. What I ask of you as listeners is to take what I am saying a face value and hold it for a while; don’t discard it out of hand. My purpose is to bring to your mind a brighter understanding of this complex creature we call man.

The head is a good place to start. Located on the surface of the head are sensors for the visible and audible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. There sensors for pheromones as well as odors, taste buds for flavors, and surface nerves to sense pressure, heat, and cold. Inside the head is contained the master of the entire machine, the brain.

In the past few years, the pace of brain research has accelerated greatly. We now understand quite a bit about how this complex bundle of nerves works. What has enabled this research has been the technological breakthroughs that permit us to look inside this amazing mass of nerve cells. We can begin to determine what portions are responding to specific stimuli.

Scans using Computer Aided Tomography (CAT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have allowed us to look in detail at the structure of the brain. More importantly, Positron Emition Tomography (PET) scans permit us to look at the detailed operation of the nerve cells in the brain as it processes information and as is doing what we call "thinking."

Imaging this amazing organ is only half of the story; the other half is studying the behavior of this animal as it is affected by the activity in the brain. For example, it is a well known fact that the corpus callosum (the bundle of nerves that tie the two halves of the brain together) of the female is considerably larger that that of the male. While it appears to have an influence on the ability of the female to better integrate its thinking, its precise functioning is not clear.

But much research has been done using subjects whose corpus callosum has been surgically severed in an attempt to control epileptic seizures. These studies have revealed the some partitioning of functions between the two halves of the brain.

We can summarize these finding by saying that the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa. In addition, the right half of the brain is more ideational and the left half is more linear and rational. It is also clear that the female is much more capable of integrating information from all senses, memory, and thought processes than the male.

As I have said in previous sermons, there are structures within the brain that perform specific functions; how these areas perform their specific functions is not known. However, some of the areas of specialization are known and there are significant differences between men and women.

In the female brain, the areas that provide language and spatial skills are distributed between both the right and left sides. In the male brain, the left side of the brain is set aside for verbal abilities. The right side is set aside for spatial skills. If a male brain is severely damaged on the left side, speech and understanding of speech are likely to be lost; whereas, if the same damage we done to a female brain, an almost complete recovery might be expected.

This distinction between the sexes is typical of the general difference between the male and female brain. In the female brain functions tend to be distributed over the entire neo-cortex (the outer "rind" of the brain); whereas in the male brain each group of specialized functions appear to be focused in specific areas of the brain.

Just as in all biological realities, there is a continuum of variation of these male – female differences. The more female the brain the more diffuse these functions are. The less female the brain, the more concentrated these functions are.

To further expand on this theme, here is a quote from "Brain Sex" by Dr. Moir and David Jessel.

"What makes us better at one thing or another seems to be the degree to which a particular area of the brain is specifically devoted to a particular activity – whether it is focused or diffuse. Men and women are better at the skills that are controlled by specific areas of the brain – but different areas of their brains are focused for different things. This means that the male and female pattern of brain organisation has advantages and disadvantages for both sexes. The male pattern, with more brain functions specifically organised means that men are not so easily distracted by superfluous information."” (Page 44)

I would add that while females may be more easily distracted, it is also true that they have a greater capacity to absorb the implications of several sources of information simultaneously. For example, when I was acting as the pilot of an aircraft, I had to integrate information from sources external to the airplane, internal to the airplane, instruments in front of me (showing engine function, navigation data, communication data, and target data) as well as information my body was giving me. The better I was able to do this, the more capable I was as a pilot. So it is not surprising that the champion acrobatic pilot is a woman. It is not surprising that women are now flying navy combat aircraft and landing on aircraft carriers. Also, it should come as no surprise to see that the Pilot and Commander of the latest Space Shuttle mission was a woman.

There are many ways in which the organization of the human brain differs between male and female. There are differences in perceptual skills: women are better at integrating sensory information. There are differences in particular mental skills: Men are better at mathematics and linear thinking because these functions are focused in one area of the brain. Women are better at creative arts. NOTE here that some of the most brilliant artists were homosexual males – that is physically they were males, but they had female brains.

Up to now we have been remarking on the differences between the brains of males and females, but we have not said how these differences occur. The maleness of a brain is determined in utero. It is determined by the timing of, the concentration of, and the specific type of, the male hormones to which it is being exposed. Some male hormones direct the destruction of some areas of the proto-female brain and the expansion of others; some trigger the development of male genitals, while others determine sexual self-identification and sexual orientation. To explain this, I will again quote from Dr. Moir and David Jessel.

"If the embryo is genetically female (with XX chromosomes), nothing very drastic happens to the basic pattern of the brain. In broad terms, the natural template of the brain seems to be female. In normal girls it will develop naturally along female lines.

"In boys it is different. Just as male gender depended on the presence of male hormone, so a radical intervention is needed to change that naturally female brain structure into a male pattern.

"This literally mind-altering process is the result of the same process that determined those other physical changes - the intervention of the hormones.”

The influence of hormones on the human brain does not end here. For, at puberty, another flood of hormones bathes the brain which results in what we all recognize as teen-age behavior. There is little or no choice in these behavioral patterns. They can be influenced but they cannot be turned off. They are not significantly changed by training or by culture. To illustrate this most powerfully, here is another quote from Dr. Moir and David Jessel.

"The Case of Juan, née Juanita

"Juan is one of a group of cases, most of which have been discovered in New Guinea and the Dominican Republic.

"At birth, his scrotum had the appearance of the female labia, his infant phallus was tucked in like a clitoris, and the testes were pouched out of sight in the abdomen. It was assumed that a baby girl had been born, and the child was brought up in accordance with the explicit, sex-specific female role of the primitive society village.

"At puberty, Juanita's parents came in for something of a shock - as did their daughter. Her voice deepened, testes suddenly popped out and descended, and the penis rapidly grew.

"It was clear that Juanita was no girl.

"Intriguingly, in spite of having been brought up as a girl (and, according to old behavioural theories gender identity is firmly established by the age of four) Juanita/Juan and nearly all the children who turned from girls to boys said that as early as twelve years of age they began to become concerned about their sexual identity. By adolescence, the suspicion had become absolute: they simply didn't 'feel' like girls. They changed their clothes, and fell in love with girls.

"There was nothing in their environment to give them a hint of what 'feeling like a boy' was, and strict social taboos kept them to their assigned gender identity - but, deep inside them, they knew they were not girls. And they were right."

As the authors say, this ought to be the final nail in the coffin for the debate between nurture and nature. But I suppose that there will always be more arguments.

It is helpful, I believe, to think of the male brain as having circuits that produce male specific behaviors. When male hormones are present, it is like putting an electrical current into these circuits – it is like putting fuel into this engine for sex-specific activities and emotion. Take away the fuel and the fire dims.

At puberty, most men’s voices deepen just as Juanita/Juan’s voice did. [I was a beautiful child soprano.] For decades, the Vatican Choir directors so loved the vocal quality of some of their child sopranos that they encouraged them to accept castration to prevent the loss of it. As a result, they not only kept their beautiful voices but they also didn’t exhibit the typical male behavior at puberty. [As a side note, the Catholic church would not allow these castrati to marry because they could not contribute to the creation of children.]

But even after the male human becomes a fully functioning sexual animal, it is still possible to make a major impact upon its behavior. If a male is too aggressive, or a pedophile, or a rapist, a solution is to castrate him; cut off the supply of testosterone – take the fuel away from the fire. This has been done at the request of a convicted pedophile in Texas, and the subject has said that it had the desired effect.

What I can tell you from my own experience is that there are some effects just due to the age related decline in sex hormones. What doesn’t decline with age it the structure of the brain. I still am a male animal in every respect. I still love women.

After listening to what I have said this far you might be asking yourself: "Is he saying that it’s all sex?" If we are speaking about the differences in the basic behavior patterns between the sexes, that is exactly what I am saying.

While in the womb, sex hormones create the organization of the brain. In puberty, they act on the brain to elicit behavior that reflects the sex-specific organization of the brain. Culture and nurture will influence how these urges are expressed or suppressed but these behaviors originate in the brain and are under the influence of hormones. [I can sew, but I don’t do it well, I can touch tenderly, but nothing like the touch of a woman. I am wired differently.]

Where does this leave us in appreciating and coping with the differences between the sexes? We might fall back on that book title that says it all: "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus." And, this is not too far from the truth; for men and women have dramatically different brains. So, is it any wonder that we behave differently.

The influences that hormones have on the development of the brain are so profound that it seems to be unreal. In fact the authors of "Brain Sex" go so far as to say the following:

"…,[I]f hormones are really that influential, what have we done, what may we still be doing, and what could we do to the brains of our unborn children? We are standing on the very brink of pre-natal mind-control, social engineering now made possible by the administration of hormones which can change the way we are, the way we behave, and the way we think.

"If we are really unhappy about the way men and women are, and if we truly want to engineer a society in which traditional gender roles evaporate, there is clearly an easier, synthetic solution than teaching boys needlework or girls metalwork It could be done with a syringe."

There you have it. This would go way beyond the "Brave New World" envisioned by Dr. Skinner. It goes beyond anything previously imagined, even the aborting a fetus if it is not the right sex.

What does this all have to do with understanding the male of the species? Just this: The people with female brains need to understand that the people with male brains really are basically different and vice versa. These brains are different in structure, function and design. While two people with different brains can talk with one another, what they understand from their conversation and how they express themselves may be dramatically different. It all arises from the brain.

Childhood training, social conditioning, and life experiences do modify the circuits of the brain and hence behavior. Change is always possible but some basic design patterns are unchangeable. Metaphorically speaking, you can cut off the fuel but you cannot change the engine.

I have been talking all this time about the brain; and I haven’t mentioned the mind. This is because most neuroscientists are convinced the mind is in no way separate from the brain. The mind is the brain functioning.

This means that all of the activities we exhibit arise from electro-chemical interactions among billions of neurons in our brains. We are living out the activity of our brains. It is all meat.

There is no evidence of anything else in there. The functioning of the neurons is both necessary and sufficient for all physical and mental activity. What this means is that there is no duality (no separation of body and spirit). Then there is no finger of God animating the human mind (it is all neurons). All of our thoughts, feelings, and actions arise from the activity of our brains.

But how is it that we think that everything is so real? What is happening inside out heads to make this happen?

Many scientists now believe that the brain basically works by simulating reality. The inputs from all of our sensors – sights, sounds, and touches – flow into the brain where they are put into the framework of what the brain expects. This expectation is based on previous experience and memory.

There are two conclusions to this statement. We can’t know anything we are not prepared to know; and, reality is what we create in our head.

What I have said thus far is not an attempt to excuse the brutish behavior of some males. The basic nature of a male brain leads to that kind of behavior, but it is no excuse for acting out on those impulses.

So, to the guys I say this. The urges are present; that is real. However, unlike our simian cousins, we can make choices. We can follow those instincts or we can choose some other course of action. This higher order brain function may not be uniquely human but since we have it, we can use it to make our lives and the lives of those we love more pleasant.

Grossing out in front of the TV while watching a football game, is merely self indulgence. At some point, we need to answer an important question: "In our heart of hearts, what do we really want to do?" How we behave needs to be based on the answer to this question.

To the gals I say this. You are not going to change the design of his brain, unless you are a brain surgeon. What you can do is call upon his higher order processes to address your needs. There is goodness in all of us. We all need to call upon the divine spark in all of us to elicit the best in us.

So let us sit down and reason together. Let us listen and learn from each other. In this way we can proceed to construct our world in a fashion that pleases us. Remember, our world is of our own making – the creation of our own brain.

I will close with these thoughts. As a male animal I am either a depraved beast or a divine being. If I start as the former, I can only reach the latter state through the intervention of an external being. If I start in the latter state, I am unbounded. As for myself, I was raised as a Catholic, so I lived my early life in the former category. In my later life, I have transitioned into a new place. I now hold that I am a being with a divine spark. I am self-directed and responsible for my own actions. This is my understanding of what it is to me a male human animal, and it is the place from which I have prepared this service.

Namaste.

Closing words