There’s something about the male way of thinking that directs men to certain types of devices. The things that are usually seen as “male” involve cars, sports and drinking. Now, these are of course only stereotypes, but there must be something that attracts men to fixing cars, making their hands dirty using Jeep parts, Mickey Thompson tires and Mickey Thompson wheels. What is it about us that leads males to want to enjoy these things?

One possible reason is that these are the things which we believe will attract females. Going back to the caveman time, and thinking exclusively in terms of evolution, males attempt to impress women with their abilities to lead, create and protect those they care for. These men would be the best mates, and be able to best continue the species with.

Now, it can be argued how much we’ve advanced from that point in our evolutionary development. There’s no doubt that we’re still trying to impress females, but an awareness has developed that there is more to life than just finding a mate and moving things along.

Our current society encourages immediate, visceral enjoyment, especially for males, and this is what a lot of the things men enjoy supply. Sports, for example, give sudden, visceral thrills that imitate the emotions experienced within a caveman environment. These involve the feelings of wanting to defeat another, satisfaction of destroying an opponent, and despair when we are the ones who have been defeated. Of course, these emotions are given outside of any real danger to us personally, and they are only a mimic of the real situation we were previously in.

From this, it can be seen that we’ve gone past our animal stage, and have been given access to a new part of life, beyond simply gaining satisfactory emotions. Our ability to be self-aware grants us an ability to manipulate our own thoughts and emotions to be what we would like. Since we also live in a highly advantaged society (at least if we’re wealthy in a developed country) we can buy each of the things we like. And yet there is still a lot of problems.

For example, levels of depression in men are at levels far higher than can be considered healthy. How is it the case that, if we’ve gained all this help, we’re still depressed? Perhaps it has something to do with the truth that the things we purchase, or the sports we watch, are only mimics of the things we have evolved beyond.

The challenge then lies in finding activities and things we can enjoy that go beyond our cave man era. One of the keys to doing this is to reject the visceral types of enjoyment that are encouraged by advertising and marketing. These false visions of life must first be rejected before we can find the fruits of what life has to offer us. When what we perceive to be the limits of our lives are taken down, we can be exposed to realities never before imagined.