Re: Mitochondria

jabuddha, my jabuddy:

There are few books on the spirituality of mitochondria, and not many more on the chemical aspects of them.  Most of what I've seen are upper-year biology texts that are WAY over my head.  I've been hoping to find someone here at Zaadz who has given more thought to the matter, since I've always been uncomfortable believing that I'm the first to notice something like a physical source for this being of energy, this body of light, that walks every step with us.

The quest continues!

And if I could stop Zaadzing for a few days to get my books out of boxes, I'd have better resources to refer you to.  I'm not sure where I've gleaned the bits and pieces from, but I'm fairly certain William Loomis' book Four Billion Years provided me with most of the chemical understanding and Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale brought out some of the biology.

Re: Mitochondria

Thanks for the references Gen.

Re: Mitochondria

The more I think about this subject, the more I'm convinced I'm heading in the best direction for full integration of science and spirituality.  Today, I feel a little glum regarding this calling that has found me, since those firmly entrenched in either side seem to out-right dismiss the other. I find myself spanning the middle.  This is not an unusual place for me, but that doesn't make my chore any easier.

I admit to hoping that someone, somewhere has done some work on mitochondria as the source of spirit (as the alchemists called life energy, which they saw as different from soul), but there is a noticeable dirth.

The work must fall to me, it seems, and I have to come to terms with that.

For starters, check out this assertion that no one knows how the symbiosis began: http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/tr76/reviews/symbiosis/symbiois_review.pdf

Re: Mitochondria

Hey, Etc.,

I totally dig this.  Hubby was impressed that you got the scientific info right, too (he doesn't expect that from zaadsters).

I take it you've read the L'Engle trilogy?  I can't remember which book it's in, but in one of them the mitochondria are part of the plot.  Very cool.

They are clearly the source of our life energy…I don't know that “soul” actually exists, or how or why such a thing could or would manifest as molecular beings in our cells, but it's a nice idea, I guess.

Maybe you should call the pod “Poet with the Inclinations of a Scientist,” then you wouldn't be attached to the concept of “soul.”… (cackle).

Re: Mitochondria

Hey, thanks for the positive feedback!  I've been struggling in my head, wondering if maybe I was shouting at my own echo here.  I'd started growing fond of the tumbleweeds.

I've only read A Wrinkle in Time, but you're the second person to reference L'Engle, so now I gots to read the rest.  Be interesting to find out her take on mitochondria.

I don't know that “soul” exists either, even though it's in my pod name.  Finding out is the reason I'm here at Zaadz (and possibly here on Earth).  The mitochondria are certainly what the alchemists called “spirit” or life energy; that which animates us.  Soul is (at my current phase of thought) a pattern of energy that endures beyond the meat, having come from a time before the meat was formed.  So, yeah, it's just a nice idea.

Still trying to decide if “mind” and “soul” really have any difference.  

And inclinations?  Nah, just doesn't have the same punch. 

Re: Mitochondria

I do think “mind” and “soul” are different: mind is the process of the brain; soul is wishful thinking.  Before my body developed, I wasn't.  After it stops working, I won't be.

It's a tough worldview, but it strikes me as the only one that's honest.  And it's the one that makes me most likely to live each day fully, to be as kind as possible to those around me (if I screw this up, I won't get another chance!), and to be truly grateful for the opportunities that my short time here offers.

Re: Mitochondria

I fully admit the idea of soul is wishful thinking.  I was an atheist for a while until I stopped defining myself by the lack of something (a-theos = no God, for those into etymology) but I didn't know what that was until I came across my current appellation, and lo, the Etceterist unfolded.

What I wish is that whatever “I” am, I resonate at a frequency that has harmonies all the way up and down the magnitudes of existence in an “As above, so below” way, or using fractal geometries if you like.  A cosmic “chord” to maintain the metaphor.  My sense of awareness will never happen again, but I wish that my experience revivifies the harmonies of existence that allowed me to be.

Mitochondria provide the energy needed to vibrate. 

Re: Mitochondria

“Mitochondria provide the energy needed to vibrate. ”

What gives mitochondria its engergy needed to vibrate?