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this is tremendously encouraging for me...thank you, Kira!

your last paragraph beautifully states what i've long hoped and believed:
that a) we have it in us to transcend (or perhaps more fully embrace) our biology and actually learn to live together harmoniously, and b) that mandated morality will NOT work, EVER.

i agree: very good news!

I used to debate my friends endlessly on this nature verses nurture, in the way we behave, feel, think, love, aspire, inspire, sexual orientation and how we nurture our kids (yet to be).

I've concluded long ago they were right, I was thoroughly wrong, except in one way: I still believe that when we give positive affirmations to our children and others, whether we feel up to or not, that nurturing is better for them than not to experience it at all.

?Why are we so apt to accept that skin colour, hair type, bone structure and all the other physical qualities we define as the human form, are Genetic, passed down from two to one, without similar deference, to our very ability to think, to discern, feel, how we feel, mental energy, mental agility and all the Qualities we recognize as mental faculty?

I believe our Character is indeed the derivation of genetic coding itself.

That is not to say we can't triumph over our individual frailties of character. What I mean, we are not necessarily trapped. When we seek help from others inspired, by definition we are made better.

So when I read Kira's submission, it was another confirmation for me how right my friends were. The Hell I put them through, and was all so much fun.

Dearest Dana and Alyeska

You bring up such an important point. A pal of mine calls it "Learned DNA". That while our wiring might be initially coded, we can be easily "reprogrammed" by our environment.

Have you read the book, The General Theory of Love by Lewis, Amini and Lanan? They present the theory that our understanding of LOVE is hard coded by the age of 3. And it is likely, if left unraveled, that we will pursue this understanding of LOVE for the rest of our lives. The empirical evidence the book presents is dire and depressing as it spends many pages confirming the large number of children who are not raised with a self sustaining, postivie understanding of LOVE.

But the ray of hope in the study, and the point you bring up is that through meaningful, inspired RELATIONSHIP with others, we can evolve. And what might have happened to us early on can be transcended.
xo
k

Yes, evolution truly is intelligent design, isn't it? Even the randomness of it is part of the plan. Thanks, Kira. Your piece nourished both the biologist and the believer in me, the intellect and the heart that together make me the happily divided self I am. It makes me want to share an interview I did with Myself that ended up on the topic of evolution but I don't have a website and I'm not sure how to make it accessible to you or Evan or Dana or anyone else who might be interested via this post.

Hi Lanny,

I would love to read your interview. You could email it to me (kira.ryder@gmail.com) and I could post it on my website for others to see.

Or maybe Tyler has a better solution to allow it stay on the Ojai Post.

xo
k

Kira, you're more than welcome to post a 'guest editorial' on behalf of Lanny. I've enjoyed reading this thread.

Hi Lanny

Your self interview can be read at off my web page.

Thanks so much for sharing that piece!

xo
k

Very interesting self-interview. Didn't know people still had dictionaries... i use m-w.com, myself...:)

Thanks, Kira. Wow. all of a sudden I'm published. Just like that. How cool.

Yes, Tyler, I also use m-w.com and it comforms to the Collegiate exactly. But the context in the interview was what I would take to a desert island. I doubt that a laptop would do me much good out there, wireless card or not. :-)Seriously, though, I read the dictionary like a newspaper, in a kind of attention-deficit trance, following roots, getting distracted by other words on the same page, pursuing a new tangent. It suits my adventurous spirit, I guess. That's why I still like to get my news from a newspaper. I like the juxtaposition of different stories and photos, the speed with which I can rummage through different sections. I'm just old-school that way.

Great fun Lanny, I had a good ride, full of laughter.

Thanks

Dana

we are harmony,

at all levels of the laughter, song ...

proton toroid, electron lissajoid, atomic and molecular filamentary-helix,
dna-ladder, neural net, solar-planetary hurricane spiraling 'round and 'round Great Mother Galaxy ... she the same.

singing ...

is coming together!

..

Right on, MT. Your poem would fit well on Suza's poetry page. Or is that bad form on a post, to duplicate submissions? I'm still trying to figure out this post thing and all the correct terminology and etiquette. Is there a crash course around here somewhere for a novice?

yo, Lanny mate,
as we say down under.

in the "What Are You Pro" dialog, you mentioned your Goddess Moon Valley organic gardening activities from the 1970s ... and solar-electric (photovoltaics) promotion in a later message.

mayhaps, like a tribal brother, you can lend me a hand illustrating the difference between more consumerism (shopping consciousness) to readers here, and the true healing path of creating a sacred sustainable lifestyle.

ethics rather than politics as motivation and expression.

viz. solar electric is not a move towards a sustainable, healthy, respectful, Earth-healing lifestyle if it is simply an excuse to continue the same level of energy useage. only when accompanied by a dramatic energy-consumption reduction in your household ... then and only then are you reducing the amount of manufacturing, industry, land-use, and Earth-heating ... not to mention removal of solar lighting which could otherwise go to create gardens and forests.

perhaps you have other examples of the difference between technological 'fix's' (which aren't healing at all) and true lifestyle changes which bring back life to the Earth, as well as joy, consciousness, wonder and enlightenment to yourself and those around you?

Millennium

re. several post above--Kira, I have not read that book, will when I can. I find it interesting that they, in the study, focussed on the Morality aspect of the hard wiring. ?Do they actually call it Morality? ?Is empathy the forerunner of morality and defiance morality in mode?As in when the females would take up rocks to aid others. At a zoo recently, five individuals beat and scratched up a guy who was trying to kidnap a monkey. the police followed the trail of blood of the would kidnapper. It turns out that those who beat him up were the other monkeys of the tribe.

You mentioned Learned DNA. I remember in class and out, discussions that thoughts relevant to survival that were learned, being encoded in Genes that become part of the propagation of the species. Some would call instinct, but appears it's more than that.

Off topic but with MT. You hit something there MT, when you talked about our efforts at making energy less detrimental to the environment, but by using the same amount, we are still damaging the environment for all the use of the energy is by way all the consumerism employed, product, waste, landfill and all other aspects endemic to present modern society. I agree, just making energy, even if it were non polluting, the mere use of it is polluting on so many fronts.

Dana, I'm not sure to what you are referring when you say "off topic." In any case, methinks 'twould be nigh unto impossible to go off topic in this particular thread since the topic is Unity. And if all is One, then all topics are somehow related. Fortunately, we are blessed with the power to discriminate between different topics, objects, people, things, etc., and, by doing so, can create a multitude of diverse topics and entities, each with a distinguishing identity. Thus we have separate topics within the Oneness. Thank goodness!!

That being said, this ability to discriminate can be used for good or ill. ( See "discriminate" at m-w.com for its several definitions). We're familiar with the evil of discrimination against certain groups. But at the other end of the spectrum is discrimination defined as "good judgment."

Good judgment is what Gaea needs from us right now: discriminating judgment based on heightened powers of observation able to recognize the truth, discern what is right conduct, distinguish between reality and our own fantasies. Oh, I hear someone asking, who decides what's right, what's true, what's real? Lanny? Yes, Lanny and everyone else. Truth exists, folks. That's my truth and I'm sticking to it. It's up to us to perceive it. But the whole Truth can only be perceived by all sentient beings together. Each of us, from our unique point of view in Relativity, contributes our piece of the Truth to the whole vision.

Even our lies are part of the Truth because it's true that people lie. The Lie we all have been living is that we, Homo sapiens, can conquer Nature and live happily ever after. We are part of Nature so what foolishness to try to conquer her (and in the process destory her)! We are the ONLY species that is not one with its own nature. We speak of "human nature" but we use the term to explain both the basest and noblest aspects of human conduct, just like the monkey nature described in Kira's original post. Well, the rest of the species, whose only spokesman is the Lorax (and now, apparently, Dr. deWaal), are trying to tell us that they need us to step up and make better, more discriminating decisions about how we use our resources, how we affect our environment, where we leave our collective footprint. In fact, they are literally dying to tell us.

What the world needs now is some new means, some new technology, by which we can look into each other's minds and help each other realize the Truth together, realize our Unity, faster than we ever have before, so that we can save ourselves and the biosphere from extinction. It's become an evolutionary imperative.

Hey! Whaddyaknow! Is this it? Are doing it right here? Hmmm, maybe evolution is working. I like to believe it is, in spite of the bewildering contradictions that abound in my own life and the world at large. The ironies are staggering. Think of all the environmental and social costs of us running our computers, lights, etc., to have this virtual conversation about Unity in hopes of achieving it and making some unified decisions about our relationship with Nature. Will the ends justify the means? Only time will tell.

So, Millenium, my advice is nothing new. I repeat to my fellow humans, as I do to myself,"Self, to thine own self be true." And while I'm trying to be true I'm aware that Truth is bigger than the both of us and I can't see the whole picture because we all haven't united yet to enable me to peer through the collective eye. I'm humbled, then, by how little I really know from my singular, solitary vantage point. Still, I'm determined to keep on learning about me, about you, about Life, and not willing to allow myself to become disheartened by the enormity of our task.

!Wow Lanny! I stand by your thread, thereby I stand corrected.

When I said "off topic", I was hung up on the narrow of 'hard wiring' aspect of the conversation. In another vernacular 'my bad'. It was no attempt on my part to correct anyone (MT), it was my way to stay focussed on that narrow aspect of the thread.

Never in my entire life have I been so eloquently admonished.

Now back to the topic at hand...Yeap, I still have my sense of humour.

Wow, Lanny! Great post! I read it three times just to make sure I was soaking it all up.

I am also optimistic about the technology of the Internet ultimately working to connect us.

xo
k

bless you, Dana,

for seeing, knowing, speaking, these multi-spirit-assembling
forums (fora? for-i?) --

singing them as the chorus(es) of beloved family awakening --

that they, we, she, i, are ...