But identity that obliterates our connection is not healthy. Identity
and personality are real. It is the ego that clings to autonomy that I
have trouble with.
Marie Foster
He responded:
> I do not allow insects into my "personal space". It is not that I hold
> any immediate fear of the little beasties. It is simply part of the
> culture I was raised in, and seeing little harm in it, I make no effort
> to change it. The reason it is part of this culture is that not only
> does it thwart infestation, but it might save your life.
>
> Seeing the universe as divided into "us and them" has the drawback of
> negating possible benifits from nature, but it has the distinct
> advantage
> of removing debilitating influences, such as disease.
>
> Members of a group that have this mentality will propogate over
> those that do not IF nature holds threats that are greater than
> the advantages. Otherwise, members without this mentality will
> genetically beat out those that do.
>
> The faults of the world cannot be laid at the feet of identity.
>
> Corey A. Cook
> ccoo4825@student.ks.devry.edu
Neurons go off the chart again... I do not wallow in the mud either...
I think that I said that identity and personality were not a problem but
ego and autonomy are. There is a big distinction there.
I like irony. If I have any ability to create new ideas it is that I
have this strange sense of humor for the ironic. Mostly what I see is
that our greatest strengths often become great weaknesses in other
contexts. There is a great difference between personality - identity
and the kind of autonomy that eliminates the ability to see our
connectedness to the *not us*.
I have said this before in previous messages but it deserves repeating.
When I was a child conventional medical science believed that the mind
and the body were separate... And while I think I am the elder member
of CoV ;0) I am not that old. This was a recent SCIENTIFIC belief.
I had this romantic view on being able to unscrew my head or looking for
the gap in my neck... Well, of course this idea is absurd. Part of the
reason for it I contend was the need of physicians to maintain their
position in the fabricated hierarchy they created...
I asked David who disagreed with me that the "I" meme was the first,
what he thinks the first meme was. So far he has not responded. But it
seems to me that we continue to be blinded to the truth and that
blindfold is due in large part to our continued clinging to our
*specialness* in the universe. You know the story. We used to think
that we were the center of the universe. Then we discovered that the
sun is really the center... (hmmmm aside here... need to look up the
history of the word center) of the universe. Perhaps David thinks that
*specialness* might be more clearly the first meme.
I still believe that when we truly see that we are not separated from
any aspect of the universe... and yes this includes insects...* then we
will be able to see how we really fit into it all. And Wade... given
this understanding then wouldn't 32 or 42 be as good an answer to the
question as any?
*Corey you may think you do not live with insects. However, it is my
understanding that none of us could live without them... and despite
your desire (which I share BTW) to not live with them you have more than
a few even on your body as you read this... (I do not like that answer
either but it is the truth.)
Marie
"To infinity and beyoned" Buz Lightyear