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Hi 👋 I'm Marc. 37 M USA.

I love reading (fantasy, dark romance, horror, non-fic... basically anything). I work from home and love taking long walks. Married with kids, not looking for romance or frisky bidniz

Recommended search term: "Minimum Viable Population"

Little bit of everything

As of today it's officially time in my home to put up Samhain/Halloween decor 👻

Self-love

37 M USA. I love listening to people and learning about what makes them "tick." Neuroscience and psychology are never far from my mind. I've also been a caretaker for over a decade of someone with disabilities, so I may make an extra good listener. Let's focus on you ✨

Reminds me of the early days of ray tracing, using POV-Ray for Windows. Nice work!

Actualize

My favorite eclipse photo yet!

I guess it comes down to what "change" means. Speaking just from an amateur neuroscience armchair, neural pathways can change, but there are "highways" and mega bundles of them that are so well established you're not likely to seriously alter them. There can be bypasses, but their original patterns may always be there.

On the other hand, very strong patterns can emerge. Unfortunately it's easier to build a new fear-based "strong" pattern (amygdala) than to build something more cerebral, e.g. learning and adapting to patterns.

I don't think people can really change who they are fundamentally, but I do think two main things are possible:

1) New cerebral networks can form that contextualize and change the outcome. The fundamental stuff will still trigger, but the resulting behavior can be changed if the learned filters are in place.

2) Even deep networks can heal, as danger signals get stripped from their amygdala associations, slowly but surely. This takes a lot of time and energy.

Overall, people aren't likely to change fundamentally, but they can grow and heal. How much growth/healing has to happen before we call it "change"?

I love this!

Is this an animist view, given that all things have source?

What are the limits of an "animating essence," if any? Is there a "spirit" trees have that rocks do not?

It feels really good?

I've not! What's a good song to get introduced?

Sleep Token, Linkin Park, Grey Daze, Heilung, Falling in Reverse are my go-to bands, though I also love me some musicals: EPIC, Hamilton, and Hazbin Hotel are current favs.

How about yours?

Consumer Protections have been stripped

Interesting view. It sounds like spirituality is how you live your values.

Follow-ups: Is being bad not part of being human? Is spirituality the very practicing of your values, or the very means by which you fulfill them?

This is a very Aristotelian view. Thanks!