week eleven

diversity in my immediate environment:

heard a noise in the yard as i was heading out last night and i turned my light, thinking it would be the deer who sleep below my window. instead it was a family of raccoons, with one especially feisty one considering charging me. (it didn't!) squirrels live here too, using the deck railing as a runway while they jump from one kind of oak tree to another. all kinds of birds. woodpeckers. hummingbirds. crows. turkey vultures. small finches. house sparrows. owls. heard a red tailed hawk the other day. squawking jays. lots of little moths and tiny flies and crickets and beetles and worms and ants and termites. many kinds of spiders. little lizards. mice. redwoods and bays towering over sages and lilies and lavender and oleanders. some native ground cover mixed in with yuccas and juniper and bamboo and pampas grass. huh? what a crazy ecosystem. little clover coming up in the dirt and mushrooms and a whole patch of annual flowers planted by my land neighbor. climbing ivy. endless houseplants. this beautiful gorgeous earth herself and rocks from this place, and those brought here from other places. water from the russian river, treated and delivered in pipes to us. humans and cats and dogs and all the insects and microorganisms we don't even really know about.....

cell links:

go bacteria! cells are so cool. where's the enlarge button so we can blow one up in 3d and play with it? i think the animal cell would make a very nice temporary pet.

week nine

ethics of gene therapy:

one huge red flag for me is this idea of doing ivf and messing with the genes before putting the embryo into mama's womb. most conceptions are already limited enough, based on urge fulfillment. sometimes involving a conscious desire to conceive. sometimes involving real love. rarely involving expansive heart opening and ecstatic spiritual connection, with a desire and willingness to receive an incoming spirit through the parents' own human spirit bodies. but at least when babies are homemade, all possibility exists. divine inspiration, heart connection, expanded sensual capacity and just plain love can imprint and activate the new being as it individuates from the whole. that potential just does not exist at this time in the lab. what the new human gains in physical or mental ease, it may lose in spiritual potential and a sense of connectedness to this wondrous adventure we call life.

sorry to be thriller movie minded, but what if governments said home conception is illegal, as is much home birth at the moment. "you're putting the society at risk and burden for caring for a less than perfect human being," insurance companies and governments refusing to ever provide care for homemade humans. sounds crazy yes. is this a crazy world? yes.

i've spent years working with people with different abilities. developmental, physical, metal and emotional. my independent undergraduate degree was focused on working with people with different abilities and integration.  through lots of work in outdoor programs, with people in their homes, and in alzheimer's units, i've gained a few insights. mostly been blessed to witness some of the freest expression and most present moment realities on the planet. of course small children are like this too, which is one of the reasons i appreciate them so much. talk about inspiration. anyone who can be fully alive and also gracefully receive the care of others continually throughout life just amazes me.

as one of my teachers once pointed out, the recognizable differences we see in others, allow us to accept that which is different within ourselves. so if we go about homogenizing all the differences away, what will we be left with? how will the expression and evolution of society as a whole be suppressed?

do i believe any one individual or family should have to live with serious and real health or ability challenges? would i wish that on any one? no. do i believe these realities have value? yes. i certainly feel a lot more comfortable with letting nature and spirit do their dance unrestrained, before playing with genes and attempting to heal any "abnormalities." and really getting down to fully receiving and honoring the gifts embodied by these beings who are different from "normal" would be extremely powerful for our western culture. the preciousness of slowing down and caring for people with different abilities and illnesses as a community would be truly caring for the "abnormal", injured or different aspects of all of us on a deep level. this is the kind of shift i would like to see. then maybe the use of gene therapy wouldn't be so disturbing, because the intention would be clearly about healing, rather than coming from fear of difference, fear of weakness, fear of dependence. we would already understand our interdependence and choose genetic healing out of love.

"chemistry of life" definition: 

"biochemistry is the chemistry of living beings." i guess "living being" has a very particular definition in western science. when i lay on a big slab of granite or walk through the sandstone walls of a redrock canyon and swim in its waters, i feel i am deeply interacting with living beings. the earth, sky, rock, river, and sun all communicate with my being and i feel their lifeforce healing, nurturing, nourishing, and activating my own. hopefully it's mutual. anyway, i think this definition of biochemistry is inaccurate, since, last i heard, they're not studying the rock, river, sun, sky or earth people as beings just yet.

  

animation review:

i looked at a lot of these and would have liked some voiceover or more written description of what was happening. but i have to review the one that said "enzyme-funny." after looking at the plain"enzyme" i was wondering what science humor would be like. hmmm... i guess they might like the movie spaceballs.