In the fall of 1989 I took a class of SCUBA diving and for the next ten years I was quite active in a local dive club. During that time we made ocean dives almost every weekend.

Diving let me get a closer look at animal life, largely undisturbed by man, than I had ever seen before. Because the ocean water has nearly the same salinity as human blood living organisms don't require the skin protection that we land animals have to have. Indeed, under our skin our cells are bathed in water much like ocean water. For this reason it is easy to believe life started in the ocean, and in fact there are many more life forms in the ocean than on land. But, all animal life forms have to obey some very simple laws of nature. The ocean provides the best environment I have found to observe the rules of nature.

I observe three very fundamental rules for animal life. However, there seems to be an endless number of ways each different speicies accomplishing each rule.

Those three rules are:
1. Find food. Eating could almost be the definition of animal life.

2. Avoid being food. Animals will stop eating when they feel threatened.

3. Pursue sex. This is just as necessary for the survival of a species as the two proceeding rules. It seems for most animals sex is the luxury and reward for successfully accomplishing the first two rules. Often this seems so important that they will, sometimes at great risk, let it take precedence over the first two rules.

Why do most of us have jobs? And sell the best eight or more hours of our day?
Isn't it to provide food, keep the mosquitoes away, and hopefully be more successful with the third rule?

I have made each of the above links which expand on each concepts. I hope you find them interesting. I welcome your thoughts and contributions. You may want to contribute other examples of the varied and strange ways animals follow these rules, or point out where you think I have left something out, or you may disagree.

For example: An acquaintance, that I only know through Internet contact, pointed out: Many animals use domination as a means of successfully following these rules. I had completely overlooked the role of domination, and how much we see it in animal behaviour; and what a strong influence it is on human behaviour. Thanks to his insight, I have most of the following.

In man domination is so strong that we want to dominate every other animal on the planet, and if we can't then we will do everything we can to destroy that animal. Think about your attitude toward: bears, mountain lions, rattle snakes; or anything we cannot control.

Many want to be "a boss" or even "the President". We lust for power and control, but is that not really just a lust for domination? I believe that much of the motivation people have to keep pets is simply to satisfy their desire to have something they can dominate. I wonder if the desire to have kids, even if they have to be adopted, is not largely to satisfy the need for domination? Have I gone too far? Is the need for domination bad?

Isn't money hardly more than an expression of power?
• If you have money you can get the farmer to trade food for it.
• If you have money you can have the products of others, such as: automobiles, houses, boats, fancy clothes, computers, cell phones or a myriad of other things.
• And more directly if you have money you can have the services of others, such as: Medical care, legal assistance, a hair cut, an armed guard, or a back rub.
• And, in America if you have money you can probably even get elected to some political office!