The human body contains about 6.5 trillion viruses. They serve us without notice until a new virus enters the system—sometimes benign, sometimes a threat, but it makes one wonder—who is in charge here?
A recent study found that between 40 and 80 percent of the human genome arrived from some archaic viral invasion.
“That’s because viruses aren’t just critters that try to make a home in a body, the way bacteria do. Instead, a virus is a genetic parasite. It injects its genetic code into its host’s cells and hijacks them, turning them to its own purposes — typically, that means as factories for making more viruses. This process is usually either useless or harmful to the host, but every once in a while, the injected viral genes are benign or even useful enough to hang around”—Live Science
According to two papers published in the journal Cell in January, “long ago, a virus bound its genetic code to the genome of four-limbed animals. That snippet of code is still very much alive in humans’ brains today, where it does the very vital task of packaging up genetic information and sending it from nerve cells to their neighbors in little capsules that look a whole lot like viruses themselves. And these little packages of information might be critical elements of how nerves communicate and reorganize over time—tasks thought to be necessary for higher-order thinking”.
I understand god works in mysterious ways, but you may no longer be the child of god you think you are. Could god possibly orchestrate his greatest potentiates in such a manner? Or maybe that fuzzy confirmation that god is real, is just one virus to another.
Correct me if I am wrong, but are not viruses the smallest known living beings? Makes me think they were around before even bacteria. I guess that makes us all parasites, living off the host that is our planet earth, but with the capability of doing good as well as bad (god I hate those words!). Seems we are not so different after all.
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Humans think they are more spectacular than the sum of its parts. Bacteria and viruses seem to have evolved from a common ancestor.
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Everything evolved from a common ancestor, as far as I can understand life. I learned that from my travels into “thoughtspace.” (I just made that up, lol.)
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That’s 2 points you’ve earned now 🎯 and a gold star. ⭐️
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Wow! But…
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Agent Smith: I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You’re a plague and we are the cure.
~Agent Smith (The Matrix 1999)
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That makes me feel so warm and fuzzy when you talk about my ancestors. LUCA has nothing on my Progenotes.
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I always considered that statement somewhat hypocritical given that the machines used humans as an energy source and were thus also parasites.
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Parasitical is merely a point of view.
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What an awesome hat!
The virus and the bacterium are most definitely in charge. We should be worshiping them! With… eh… burnt offerings of our first borns. Or is that too old testament. Maybe we should just give them money.
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Thanks. The hat’s from Cozumel 2008. You don’t have to say to worship the virus. We just do, in many forms. Yahweh is a type and shadow of our heritage. Of course there is more to learn, but for now the evidence isn’t really very sexy. It’s like an advertisement for gear oil.
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Poor tree – to be damaged by those nails.
***The irony
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I thought that was funny too, Ken. But I guess it beats a chainsaw. We noticed quite a few of these little markers.
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I feel a rock opera coming on… 🎶 I’m infected by genetics! We’re all infected with consciousness. Why, oh why, oh why are eugenics such a bitch?
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Haha. Here, here my child. Have a cookie. And always be kind to your fellow viruses unless they don’t belong. And we don’t even have to tell you what to do, you just do. Maybe there is an evolutionary benefit to religion after all. Fighting mother nature by obeying her is a pretty neat trick.
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Nice.
It’s easy to see why the various watchmaker arguments (natural theology) were persuasive in the early to mid 1800’s, but seriously, they have no right to exist today knowing what we know.
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This may not be very sexy, but if you just follow the evidence? It also sheds a lot of potential light on how it’s actually possible, this evolution thing. and the virus goes very close to the beginning of life here.
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Marvellous things, viruses. Come to think about, all life is really a virus, in the end.
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In a John Hurt voice: I am not a virus! I am a human being!
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Hurt in his 1984 body, with the cage on his face!
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Look to the mountain. Cristo Redentor can heal you.
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What do we really know, John? One day a lawn dwelling ant finds itself inside a child’s tipped-over jar containing bits of crayons, buttons, broken shells, threads of various colours and a photo of her mom. The ant runs around all this amazing stuff then runs back to the ant colony to tell the rest all the wonderful things she learned on her trip. Result: the entire colony evolves… not!
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I’ve always been fascinated by this whole subject. If I remember right there are more bacteria and viruses living on and in us that we are dependent upon to survive than there are human cells. The same is true for most other animals as well.
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You can see the behaviors of these little guys replicated in our institutions and their treatment of outsiders. Ever wonder what happens if you take an ant from one colony and drop it into another? This model may be where Trump developed his immigration policy.
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Yo, Sombrero Man. Interesting topic. The more you know…
I do wonder what all those viruses and bacteria are worshiping. I am their world!
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Haha. Isn’t that some sort of self congratulation… Cambié mi gorra de béisbol por un sombrero. Le gusta mucha amiga?
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Si, es muy bonito, senor
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Well, so much for Google translate. Just for fun I used it – didn’t really have to but – this is what I got: I traded my baseball cap for a hat. Do you like a lot of friend? 😁
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Haha. I’ll work on my google Spanish. .
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excellent post! some of the scientific info was also presented in Frank Ryan’s book ‘Virolution.’ but I’m afraid that the improbability of evolution doesn’t kill the spiritual viewpoint. some forms of mystical spirituality interpret the visible physical things around us (including homo sapiens, say) as being reflections of source archetypes.
the journey from abstract, unmanifest (non-physical) archetype progresses via physical objects and events in a way that can always be described as a sequence of physical evolutions of some sort or other. but this viewpoint is strictly empirical and phenomenological. according to the mystics, the ontology is in the archetype and in the non-physical machinery surrounding it. in other words, to the mystic, the ‘master’ is the archetype, not the physical evolutionary processes we see in the world.
the situation is akin to a hand (the archetypal) in a glove (the physical). we don’t see the hand but without the hand, the glove is flabby and ineffectual.
through this change of viewpoint, an evolutionary process that seems wildly improbable, can be reinterpreted as utterly inevitable.
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I agree. Even if the whole thing is stems from a virus it wouldn’t decry the universal connection. Maybe even enhance it. I’m sure the virus is Hindu, Buddhist, or Taoist requiring no belief.
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everything in creation just wants to be. there is no will stronger than that. and apparently, it’s the only requirement. i find it ironic that the smallest particle could bring the whole world to its knees in a matter of weeks.
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Probably the most dissatisfying part of this existence is never being allowed to be. We spend our time playing someone else’$ game to collect junk that never satisfies anything. Some struggle there entire life to barely get by and then die having never really lived.
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the existence is your Being. that’s where the confusion arises. in feeling we are a person living a life. in fact, you are ALL awareness, not a person who is aware. but pure awareness itself.
it is very much like the canvas behind the paint that makes a painting. all this creation that we experience, with diff forms and shapes and sounds and thoughts, emotions, perceptions, feelings, everything you can possibly imagine… are merely the paint. they all lay on the surface.
none of these could exist if there was no canvas, could they? they must appear on something. that something is YOU. you were never the paint. you are and will always be the colorless canvas behind.
you, as awareness, uphold all creation.
get rid of the idea “i am a person”. find what remains
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one has to be ruthlessly dedicated to disappearing completely, and getting rid of any labels they attach to themselves. it is much harder than becoming anything
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I’m not sure about that. You can’t really chase this and let go at the same time. If one treats this like another task to be accomplished they have already lost. Quite possibly the less you learn about it the better your chances.
For quite some time I have abandoned all expert opinion and just sat back and watched. If you simply learn what this is and leave out the experts, the “methods” which are unique to each individual arise organically. But it won’t come by putting effort to it. Just be—and do. You can’t announce it.
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There are moments it is so obvious. I still get distracted too easily and forget to smile at the whole thing.
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If you think about the weaving of vibrations into consciousness into a projection/organization of the minuteness of physical particles there is no reason we wouldn’t share traits with everything.
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as clay can take any shape in pots or vessels, so consciousness takes any form in this world. the pot will always be clay, no matter what its shape or function. do you then say “this pot is clay, or is it a pot?”
the label “pot” exists due to the clay, but the clay exists independent of the pot, and makes all pots possible
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Everything still comes down to “interpretion” though, doesn’t it. It’s amazing we’ve come “this far” without learning anything factual, solid, permanent. Are “scientists” closer to the truth than theists? Only if that is how it’s interpreted. That makes me smile.
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there is nothing solid or permanent in the world. that makes me smile and happy😊
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Hi Jim and Monica,
Some may be asking, “If life is the “glove” that we see, what and where is the “hand” of evolution?”
I might have mentioned these before:
Indeed, we are made of stuff and lots of bacteria. Here are some fascinating points for us to ponder:
(1) To the surprise of many people, there are far more bacteria (including the gut bacteria) than human cells in and on the human body (from my memory, it is a ratio of 10 to 1, though some more recent estimates are lower, like 3 to 1). We are all far more “foreign” and less “human” than we previously thought.
(2) These bacteria are crucial and indispensable to the ecological balance and functioning of our health. The imbalance and paucity of these microbiomes can cause obesity and other health issues.
(3) These bacteria constantly communicate with and moderate our immune system.
(4) These bacteria can also influence our mood.
(5) The human skin is also the largest organ of the human body, and harbours different kinds of bacteria (and bugs) depending on location.
(6) Growing up in an overly clean environment increases the likelihood and severity of allergies and asthmas.
(7) The news about plastic-eating bacteria is true. Unfortunately, there are many kinds of plastic, and those bacteria can only handle a very specific kind of plastic, as far as I can ascertain. In any case, we may become increasingly reliant on bacteria to clean up the environment.
Bacteria will surely survive humans should we ever become extinct.
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all true! bacteria can get into one’s brain and dictate their behavior.
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I never knew my body was so popular. I got 6.5+ trillion followers. Who needs Twitter?
I wonder who’s job it was to count them.
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I think it’s an average. I wonder which one is the religious virus? Maybe a cure is in the pipeline…
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