Anthony Bourdain Passes Away

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

If you rely on your significance to your "other" giving you meaning then that can just as easily be taken away from you.

So gratitude is a bad thing?

I understand the idea of balance, but I do think socially acknowledging your dependence on the other is fundamental to a healthy and prospering society.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

2 A mental virus? Is it contagious?

Ever heard of 'mirror neurons'? Mirror neurons reflexively represent the behaviors in others that correspond to the actions of the self. They arise at the level of the 'cingulate' cortex, which is that part of the brain which emerged in mammals, and therefore, is that part of the brain which inhibits the defensive fight-flight tendencies of the deeper parts of the brain, like the amygdala.

In any case, what you observe with your eyes or hear with your ears, is simulated within your mind at the implicit level of preconceptual knowing. Objects 'mean' something because of this resonant activity of mirror neurons (aka spindle cells).

So, all social behavior is contagious. Ergo, when a negative, naive, and intellectually spurious belief system becomes possible, we may describe it as being a 'virus' because its structure (or logic, or persuasive power) operates in more or less the same way in every brain-mind that absorbs it.

a reply to: Plotus

And seems the responders below Vals words disagreed with you. Whats your point?

a reply to: Astrocyte

Co-dependence is the actual state which created you, so if you dislike it, wouldn't it make more sense to chalk it up to your developmental history, and notfetishize your conviction as "real", as in, "substantive". It seems sadomasochistic

For someone who claims to understand the mind you're certainly bringing disrepute to your profession.

How you get to say the above and twist it into a " fetish " and "sadomasochistic" with a straight face tells me enough about your claims to be a student of the mind.

www.psychologytoday.com...

The term became commonplace and evolved into a caricature of a passive victim, compulsive caretaker, controller, or enabler often blamed for causing the problem. Because codependency is often misunderstood, many professionals are seeking a new way to describe this pattern of loss of oneself and difficulty with regulating emotions—one that does not have a stigma or cause shame.

should take priority over your whimsical idealism

Why is my ideal whimsical - thats right you're a wordsmith. It was sufficient to say "idealism" without appeal to emotion.

a reply to: Astrocyte

Why do you think the myths of the past, created by egomaniacal shamans, are more coherent or sensible than the collective effort of millions upon millions of humans laboring under the name of 'science', to figure out reality in a way that is supported by the empirical evidence i.e. no free passes to the maniac who thinks he's special.

So a shaman one day woke up and created a myth. OK
You dismiss mythology out of hand using the example of despots - science would disagree with you.
Try again

sciencenordic.com...

Yet new myths emerge all the time, especially when it comes to our search for an identity as a people or a nation.

“Nation-building myths often develop in a time of crisis, for example if there is a war, or a period of great political or ideological upheaval,” says Roald E. Kristiansen, associate professor at the Department of History and Religious Studies at the University of Tromsø.


“True myths” Kristiansen points out that it is irrelevant to think of myths as “true” in a scientific or historic context. “However, they are ‘true’ to the extent that they contribute to realize the ideals they advocate,” he says. Similarly, myths don’t always have to be supernatural fantasy stories. Sometimes myths are based on real people or events, where the stories eventually develop a mythical character.

a reply to: Astrocyte

Gratitude is something we should all practice everyday.

My full text was with the example.

If you rely on your significance to your "other" giving you meaning then that can just as easily be taken away from you. eg Divorce, Fly-in Fly-out workers, long term hospital patients

You seem to be avoiding my premise that only we can give meaning to our "selfhood"

A lopsided relationship where neediness is thrown on the other (the depressed) in the hope of alleviating the state when the other is in that dark place will be short lived.

Bourdain showed weird habits at times but he held onto a cynical hedonistic lifestyle through most of his "public" persona.

a reply to: Astrocyte

2 A mental virus? Is it contagious?

When I wrote this I was being partly cheeky because you lump different ideologies together but with a shotgun approach.
What was your motivation in calling or implying that Bourdain practiced or held Satanistic tendencies?


It seems that the God spot in our brains has had evolutionary benefits.

www.independent.co.uk...