Our Bacterial Overlords: Why There Is a Survival of the Fittest

    The bacteria in our bodies are not as weak as we think. As the first life forms on Earth were single-cell microbes, it follows that each stage of evolution has been catalyzed by them to proliferate their rate of survival. In their view, multicellular organisms are merely vehicles with which microbes can improve their virility. The sponge, the fish, the dinosaur, and of course the primate, are highly mechanical modes of transportation and reproduction that microbes have used to their advantage.

    That is why we "battle" other species for territory and resources. That is why the males of many species will fight with each other over the courting of a female. That is why hunger will drive any organism to desperate lengths for the retrieval of food. The bacteria are using us as a laboratory for their optimal comfort. We are their slaves, to put it bluntly, for we cannot survive without the hidden garden in our gut where they thrive.

    What makes humans special is that we have commandeered them for our own comfort. Despite all the primitive urges that would satiate our bacterial overlords, we have the ability to make choices that would displease them. And they must listen to us, as long as they are to survive. It is a type of symbiotic mutualism not seen in other species, at least to our extent. Other species certainly have the power of choice, but in most cases, it is the primitive urges designated by bacterial survival that win out. 

    The very presence of religion in our society is more about training people to behave well, so that we may shirk the "evil" offerings of our "Satanic" overlords. Lust, gluttony, violence, etc.- none of these matter at the microbial level. That is the true meaning of "hell"; that it resembles our most primitive origins, in the bowels of a microscopic soup, where anything goes. Only in the inhospitable "light" above the habitable world can we fully escape its clutches, where enlightened minds focus on seeking harmony, or liberation from the cycle of rebirth.