Polyamorous:

Somewhere inside every man, there lurks a Neanderthal. However, what makes us different from most other beasts is that we don't have to give in to those hidden urges and hedonistic, primitive ways of mating with whomever comes our way. Nevertheless, there are still those with that pre-historic mentality.

A prime example would be a couple that recently appeared in a special of ABC's Nightline called "Born to Cheat". The husband's business dealt in helping other couples to have affairs outside of their marriages. One of these affairs that he helped to create was between his wife and another woman, creating what modern society calls a "polyamorous relationship." The couple deemed this to be a happy and "open marriage." This episode of Nightline questioned whether man is inherently polygamous or monogamous.

Polyamory is the practice of having more than one intimate relationship with more than one gender-to the knowledge and consent of everyone involved. Certainly the general population of Utah is aware that polygamy is having more than one spouse and that monogamy is having one partner.

In the institute of marriage, everyone is only allowed to have one husband or one wife of the opposite gender. Even in the marriage ceremony, man and woman pledge to be faithful to each other "in sickness and in health, for as long as they both shall live." That makes open marriage an oxymoron, because marriage is consecrated as a closed and lifelong commitment.

The promiscuous couple and many others would argue that this sort of promise and union is not possible because "the natural man" is inherently polygamous. But who is the natural man? To answer this question, we must go back two million years to the time of the primitive caveman.

The popular image is a man that's hairy and hunch backed who communicates by grunting. This fine specimen hunts both his food and his women with a club. Through the years, man evolved to became socialized and civilized. Man now walks upright, uses a higher percentage of his brain, speaks in complex languages, and has impulse control.

It is through self-discipline, self-control, and self-moderation that we learn to become stronger and wiser people. "Giving in to the natural man" is a weak man's excuse to reject moral responsibility for his actions. There is still a beast dwelling in the depths of every man, but years of evolution have equipped us with the ability to curb those dark impulses. That is what sets us apart. Therein lays the beauty and fragility of monogamous relationships and our humanity.




credit: http://media.www.slccglobelink.com