What separates us from the animals is that qualia lands in their bodies but it lands in our minds. That is, the stuff the senses may reach all the way to their brains, but it effects are instinctual – they merely react, or not. They are spellbound, while we areContinue Reading
Joseph Campbell, the beloved interpreter of mythical stories from around the world, said that rituals are re-enactments of myths. He also said, however, that technology has changed the world too much, and we need new myths. Conscious ritualing is a way to create new myths. Ritual is a universal activity, aContinue Reading
All of life communicates via the landmarks and pathways they have evolved to perceive. Presumably, most animal eyes see a tree, most prokaryotes discern temperature or light or some chemical flavor, etc. etc., but landmarks and pathways may have different meanings or interpretations depending on the species or the individual.Continue Reading
The naming of things has been central to making the human being what it is. Naming separates matter of things from the life, the motion, and the change which is their non-material essence. It turns subjects into objects, and objects into possessions (which, it turns out, own us). It takesContinue Reading
If we think of Little Dopamine, it’s kind of like all the little tiny creatures on the planet. I’m not talking about meek mice and anxious sparrows so much as the bacteria and microbes in the soil. Real tiny. We ignore them at our own peril – they play suchContinue Reading