In
the root of this conflict is the notion of Gender, which puzzled
our ancestors. In the first chapter of Genesis we read that: 'God created
man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female
he created them' (2). Later we learn that God used man's rib to create
a woman. She was 'flesh of his flesh', which implies that she too was created
in the image of God, male and female. The rib might be regarded as man's
bud, or it might not be a rib at all. Genesis was originally written
in Hebrew, where the word rib 'tsela' has several meanings, like 'side'.
In Hebrew, an equilateral triangle, has three equal 'tsela' (sides). When
God created the woman he may have split the androgyne man along his side
'tsela', creating an androgyne woman.
This disturbing possibility
that Adam might be a primal androgyne led to profound theological
controversies. One notion regards Adam as a spiritual being, an androgyne
without a body, while our real ancestor was created later: 'Then the Lord
God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed onto his nostrils
the breath of life' (2). Adam was male, while Eve became a female. Two
opposite sexes, complementary to each other, dominated by the male.
Soul
The 'breath of life' which animated the human body with his soul. Some
view soul as divine and eternal. For Aristotle, soul was neither divine nor
mortal (3,4). Aristotle's 'Soul' is non other than an ancient version
of the Wisdom of the Body (WOB}(5). An androgyne wisdom operating in an androgyne
body. Each gender has all sexual characteristics of both sexes, only in different
proportions. In the growing embryo maleness and femaleness are equally
represented. Later, one predominates, while the other becomes less pronounced.
Each gender has two sets of sex organs, one pronounced, and the other less
prominent. Like clitoris which is the female counterpart of penis. The blend
of the sexual characteristics determines WOB gender .
Sex hormones
Male and female produce the same sex hormones, although in different quantities.
The two hormone types are regarded as complementary. Testosterone promotes
masculinity, while estrogen diminishes it. What is then the advantage for
a male to produce a quasi anti-male hormone? Simply because sex hormones
determine more than just sex characteristics. They are involved in diverse
metabolic activities. Testosterone maintains also muscle mass, and promotes
blood formation. Female hormones protect against
arteriosclerosis, and myocardial infarction.
Each process or structure performs more than one task
These examples illustrate an important principle that is applied here
for understanding the complexity of the organism: Each process or structure
performs more than one task. The name of a structure indicates only
its obvious task and does not capture its entire potential.
The importance of estrogen to our health may outweigh its importance as a
sex hormone. This may apply also to rudimentary male sex organs in the female.
Some like clitoris play an important role in sex life. Other seem unnecessary.
Still, do they have non-sexual tasks? 'Obviously not!', would be the
answer of the medical establishment, adding: 'What a ridiculous question to
ask!'
Appendix
Yet such narrow view clouds medical reasoning, like in the case of the appendix
(vermiformis). A wormlike intestinal appendage extending from the cecum. A
rudimentary intestine that shrunk with time to its present size. Its
poor fate was attributed to a change in diet habits. As man preferred
meat over vegetables he could use a shorter gut, and the redundant intestine
'degenerated' to an appendage. It becomes frequently infected
as appendicitis, and has to be removed surgically.
In order to prevent appendicitis, surgeons advised to remove healthy
appendixes. Some, routinely removed the appendix when performing other abdominal
interventions, like gall bladder surgery. One day it was discovered
that this rudimentary intestine performs important immunological tasks and
should not be needlessly removed. It looks like an intestine, yet
has little to do with food digestion.
Sex chromosomes
How does our androgyny determine our gender? Are the two sexes complementary,
or they differ only quantitatively? A male might be somewhat more masculine
than feminine. Medicine prefers sexual dichotomy. After all males are
equipped with a y-chromosome, which is missing in females. The female
has two x-chromosomes. In the male one is replaced with a y-chromosome.
The male has a structure which is absent in the female. A hallmark of masculinity.
Since both sexes have x-chromosomes, what is the hallmark of femininity? Here
we are stuck. In fact, the single x-chromosome of the male makes him feminine.
At the outset male may been a female, and only a loss of one
x-chromosome, together with the addition of a y-chromosome makes him
masculine. True, the y-chromosome is associated with maleness, yet the
association is incomplete. Masculinity varies from the shy male
with abundant female characteristics, to the full fledged male. And
so does womanliness. Remember the female athletes of East Germany. Apparently
gender is a spectrum of sexual characteristics, and we all find our proper
place in this continuum. We feel our gender.
Lesbian gender
The
gender of a typical male or female is obvious. But what is the gender
of a female who falls in love with another female? Since she courts
her lover like a male, she might be a male. On the other hand, since lacking
a penis she might be a female. After all she will never be able to produce
offspring. This dilemma puzzles feminists: which suggest that gender is not simply
the biological properties of maleness and femaleness. Masculinity and femininity
are also social constructions, shaped by a range of cultural phenomena.
In reality lesbian gender is an integral part of his/her biology. The lesbian
lover feels what her/his gender is, even if she/he cannot express this
knowledge (feeling) in plain language. Her/his WOB knows
exactly what his/her gender is, and signals it to the mind in various ways.
Since WOB controls all processes in the body, it knows the blend of
our maleness and femaleness an acts accordingly. Equipped with the drive of
courtship it directs the mind which love-object to court.
WOB and Mind
As long as WOB fully controls processes in the body it remains silent (5).
When its control loosens, it signals the mind that it needs assistance.
Like when losing control of water resources. WOB moves water through
organs. When we lose water, WOB senses that water becomes scarce and
organs are in danger. It sends to the mind a signal of thirst which means:
'I can no longer supply enough water to the organs, go and get me some.'
This is also the meaning of hunger: 'I can no longer supply enough energy
to the organs, go and get me some.' The same applies to love. It is
a message of WOB to the mind that it needs assistance in controlling
certain processes . Although we do not know yet what they might be, the
love signal indicates that they exist and operate.
WOB has a rich repertoire
of messages which are sent to the mind whenever it loses control (6). Each
message is associated with some processes operating in the body. The
message Love, indicates that there are processes in the body the
initiate this signal. As long as WOB succeeds controlling them it remains
silent (we don't fall in love), Yet when control loosens, WOB sends the
mind a signal of love which means: ' I need an object of love, go
and get it'. This is the medical interpretation of falling in love. Why
should medicine bother with this signal? Since it may be asked to
assist the WOB when love is broken.
The purpose of love is not to procreate
When WOB directs the
mind to court an object, it specifies its gender. Usually it won't be an
opposite sex, since a gender continuum lacks opposites. The
object-of-love indicates the gender of the lover. Love signal, and subsequent
courtship are not intended to procreate, since WOB lacks
any urge to produce offspring. It also is unaware of death,
and does not sense its coming. It knows only to sustain the life of
the organism in which it operates. Courtship satisfies some WOB needs to
sustain life. And so do sex organs. From the WOB perspective, sex organs
serve WOB needs to sustain life, and not to generate it. Procreation
is controlled be another entity, called Gaia (7).
A female fish produces yearly about a million eggs , and on the average,
only one will become a fertile adult. This may seem as a waste of resources.
To Darwinists this abundance indicates fish fitness to survive.
The more she produces the fitter is her trait. Both views ignore the possibility
that fish eggs may serve more than one task. Their obvious task is to propagate
'selfish genes'. Yet how do they serve WOB needs? How does egg production
aid WOB to sustain fish life? Since WOB is unaware of the fact that
it takes one million eggs to make an adult fish, what does it gain
from egg laying, and why is it not satisfied with two eggs/year? Darwinists
might answer that fish produces eggs as much as it can.
Gaia
Egg laying might be viewed as a purgatory mechanism, getting rid
of an undesirable agent. Or it may serve a 'nobler' cause, like contributing
to a food chain. We all are parts of a super-being called Gaia (7,8). A WOB
that controls processes in Nature and sustains (its) life on earth. It controls
also procreation. In this context fish eggs serve not only for breeding fish,
but also for feeding (breeding) all other participants in a food chain. The
entire food chain determines the amount of fish eggs that are produced.
The same applies to human procreation. We also belong to a particular food
chain and contribute to it. Following the fish-egg example we might wonder
how much energy we spent in order to produce one offspring. Think of
the energy invested in the many sexual intercourses that we have. What a waste?!
Or, might intercourse frequency be a measure of our Darwinian fitness, like
egg laying? Again, a sexual intercourse may serve more then just one task.
Besides propagating 'selfish genes', it may assist
WOB to sustain our life. Last but not least, all these secretions involved
in an sexual intercourse, feed (breed) many live forms in our food chain..
Paranoia
The conflict between WOB and society about the meaning of gender breeds
many modern diseases. Some like paranoia were exposed by Freud, who
claimed that it originates in an individual's repression of homosexual desire.
We prefer instead, that paranoia originates in the repression of 'WOB desire'
or 'WOB needs'. Paranoia results from the conflict between WOB and society.
The conflict starts when WOB control of processes associated with love loosens
and it signals the mind to get it a male love object. At the time of Freud,
WOB demand was unacceptable and dangerous, and could not be met. WOB
had to find an alternative solution for the loosening of its control of
love-associated processes, and created paranoia. In this context paranoia
is not a disease. It is a solution of a conflict between WOB needs and reality.
Paranoia cannot be cured as such. Neither with psychoanalysis nor with other
means that attempt to explain to the patient the nature of his condition.
Paranoia might be replaced by another solution which affords a better
quality of life. Since this conflict involves many processes, there might
be other ways to help the patient. Which is the major task of the physician
in paranoia, or in any disease. To assist WOB in finding a solution
for the conflict between it and reality. A solution that improves
its quality of life.
Broken bone
In order to clarify what is meant, imagine a patient with a broken leg. If
left alone, WOB can heal the broken bone without any medical assistance.
Yet the bone may become deformed, leaving the patient in a wheel chair. This
deformed bone is a solution for the problem which WOB faced. It may not be
the best, since the patient cannot walk. The task of the physician is to assist
the WOB to find another solution which offers a better life quality. He places
the broken extremity in a plaster cast, straightens its deformity and the
patient can walk again. The physician creates a better solution
to WOB problem. He does not cure. He merely assists the WOB, since if WOB would
fail to join the bone ends, the plaster cast would be of no use.. By the same
token, paranoia as described by Freud is like leaving WOB to heal the broken
bone by itself. In order to design an efficient 'plaster cast' for paranoia,
the physician ought to understand better WOB messages. Only then he may discover
a better solution.
Homosexuality
In the past, paranoia
was incurable, yet today it may be prevented. by urging homosexuals to 'come
out'. and by educating the society that love has many facets, all are natural
and their characteristics are determined by the WOB. Homosexuality
discovered new facets of love, and confronted the WOB with new tasks
which it was unprepared to handle. When
WOB faces new challenges it has to be trained in order to meet them. . .
It is like engaging in sport. Training is a message to WOB that it has to
prepare the body for new tasks. Training has to be gradual, otherwise WOB
is overwhelmed and fails. When WOB fails to cope with our demands, it
sends to the mind messages in form of aches, fatigue, and exhaustion
as if saying: ' At this rate I cannot mobilize enough resources to meet your
demand ' You stop exercising until WOB ceases complaining, and then
continue again. As long as WOB remains silent training may be intensified.
If one ignores WOB complaints, its messages become 'louder', like
pain in a frozen shoulder, or in inflamed tendons.
AIDS
Many homosexuals
who assume a new life style, ignore WOB messages of distress. Instead of training
it to support their new life style, they overwhelm it. Unlike in sport WOB
lacks 'loud' messages, like pain in the ankle. It weakens and lets opportunistic
infections in.
AIDS
is first of all a weakened WOB.
It involves not only immune deficiency, as it name applies, but many diverse
(non-immunological) processes. At any time WOB and infective agents
maintain a delicate balance. A strengthened WOB keeps invaders out, and vice
versa. Killing the invader will not cure AIDS since WOB remains weak.
Medicine ought to listen to the WOB. Since homosexual life style may be too
demanding for the WOB it ought to be modified until WOB adapts. Particularly
in AIDS. There are many ways to assist the WOB to resist AIDS, unfortunately
they are ignored by medicine.
Medicine ignores also the many patients that live with AIDS in good health.
What is their secret, and how do they boost their WOB?
Pedophilia
How should we deal with a WOB that sends its love signal to the mind asking
it to search for a child as love object? This may harm the child
whose WOB is immature. Since this kind love is forbidden WOB searches
for a solution of its conflict, yet in vain, and the pedophile
continues its hunt. Like in paranoia, the task of medicine is to search
for other solutions of this conflict. Yet in order to find them, the
physician ought to understand better WOB messages.
Transsexual surgery
This procedure may also be regarded as a modern disease. A male discovers
its feminine gender and adopts the distorted view of society which
defines gender by physical characteristics. He then attempts to change his
sex surgically, known as sex reassignment. This procedure needlessly
overwhelms the WOB. When WOB signaled the mind that it is feminine,
it meant feminine with male sex organs. WOB would never abandon
its male sex organs since they perform important non-sexual tasks.
Queer theory
Gay- Lesbian scholars are well aware of gender variability and the role
of society in the misery of the gay-lesbian community. However their attitude
is too apologetic. They fail to understand that gender spectrum is the 'real
thing', while maleness and femaleness are two of its many facets.
Some suggest that society determines gender, which is false, since only
WOB determines it. This shift of emphasis from gender dichotomy to
gender spectrum, reminds of the transformation that sweeps the exact
sciences. The transition from linearity to non-linearity (Chaos, (9)).
Newtonian physics which only yesterday were regarded as the 'real thing',
became a single facet in a non-linear continuum.
References
1. Zajiccek Wisdom of the Body. Medical Hypotheses 52:447,1999
http:
//www.what-is-cancer.com
2
New English Bible. Oxford University Press 1976
3 Aristotle.
On the Soul. Written 350 B.C.E Translated by J. A. Smith
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/soul.html
http://www.what-is-cancer.com/papers/wobstories/blindlady.html
4. Zajicek G. Medical Significance of the Wisdom of the Body
http://www.what-is-cancer.com/papers/medicalsignificance/medicalsignificance.html
5 Zajicek G. The Language of the Wisdom of the Body. Cancer J. 8: 291-292,
1995
http: //www.what-is-cancer.com
6. Zajicek G. The Decline of Daewinism. The Cancer J. 10: 2,
1997.
http: //www.what-is-cancer.com/papers/DarwinismDecline.html
7. Zajicek G. Evolution Theory from a new perspective. The Cancer
J. 6: 178, 1993
http://www.what-is-cancer.com/papers/EvolutionNewPerspective.html
8 Zajicek G. Chaos in Biology. Methods of Inform. Med. 30: 1-3, 1991
http: //www.what-is-cancer.com/papers/ChaosHeraclitus.html