25845
From: shatterbrain, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Did the Nytimes just DESECRATE EASTER ??
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You DECIDE: Decomposition: An Easter Story By Eugenia Bone March 31, 2018 I’m in the odd position of being someone who loves detritivores, that is, things that eat the dead. Believe me, it’s not an easy sell at a dinner party. Usually when I reveal my interest, people recoil. Often when I shake someone’s hand and I mention we are sharing mites that eat dead skin cells, I sense my enthusiasm isn’t mutual. I say I love detritivores, but I am especially fond of decomposers. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but technically, detritivores have a stomach: They ingest and digest dead matter, and decomposers don’t. Decomposers, like fungi and bacteria, break down the chemical bonds that hold the molecules of dead things together and release the main elements of life — carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur — from their corporal bonds, freeing them to be used again. That’s why I always start thinking about decomposers around Easter. Christ’s body was said to have been untouched by decay when it was resurrected; but for the rest of us, the resurrection part of the life cycle is performed by decomposers. We carry around the laborers of our own decomposition and subsequent resurrection every day. When an animal dies, oxygen stops going in and carbon dioxide stops going out. The acidity level increases and the cells collapse, releasing enzymes that break down surrounding tissues. “The enzymes that built us,” wrote William Bryant Logan in “Dirt,” “now undo us.” Without fresh oxygen coming in, the population dynamics of our internal bacterial communities change and our resident decomposers increase, and without a live immune system at work, they spread throughout the body. They consume the proteins in our cells and produce byproducts like methane and hydrogen sulfide gas that bloat and rupture the body. The nasty smells of the dead attract insects that disassemble the bulk of the body mass, and the altered acidity of our remains attracts fungal decomposers. If there are any pathogens on the corpse, microbes in the soil kill them, or they die of exposure or lack of food, which is why graveyards aren’t hotbeds of disease. All this can take months. And it’s not just happening from the inside out. Top predators are broken down by top detritivores. In a Tibetan sky burial, a naked human corpse is transported to the top of a mountain on the back of a relative’s moped, the flesh flayed and left exposed to be eaten by large carrion birds. The remaining bits are consumed by smaller detritivores like rats and beetles. Fungi and bacteria break down the molecular leftovers into life’s raw ingredients, and still other types of bacteria help recycle the building blocks of life back into the pool of opportunity. Sad as death is, it’s also about opportunity. So it takes a village of detritivores and decomposers to recycle a corpse. That’s why the designer Jae Rhim Lee’s Infinity Burial Suit — basically pajamas threaded with fungal spores bred to decompose bodies — can’t really fulfill its promise to ensure you a speedier decomposition. The suit costs $1,500, as does the Infinity Burial Shroud (there’s an “add to cart” button on Ms. Lee’s website, which I think is a much more sensitive choice than “check out”). But fungi are actually pretty bad at decomposing corpses on their own. We bury our dead deep, and fungi are aerobic. They need air. The truth is, not much will happen quickly to a corpse or anything organic if it’s buried six feet under the soil’s surface, because the diversity of decomposers drops off the deeper you go. If it’s efficient land-based breakdown you are after, it’s probably best to be buried under a pile of wood chips, which have lots of little air pockets to keep aerobic decomposers alive. There is life after death, and it is mainly microbial. Microbes like bacteria bridge the living and nonliving spheres of the Earth. Life starts with microbes that use energy and secure food from inorganic sources like atmospheric gases and minerals (this includes plants: The parts of the plant that do the work of photosynthesis, chloroplasts, evolved from ancient bacteria). Once those nutrients are in the bacterium, they become terrestrialized, and available to other earthbound critters, all the way up the food chain to us. And then, when we die, there are bacteria waiting to release those elements back into the nonliving sphere. Some of my friends in the mushroom world take this to its metaphysical conclusion. But it’s useful to remember that John Allegro, a Dead Sea Scroll scholar, pretty much tanked his career in 1970 by arguing that Christianity was originally a mushroom cult and Jesus was a beard for the Amanita muscaria, the hallucinogenic mushroom with the red cap and white dots. Though I admit, I myself am tempted to spiritualize decomposition. It kind of make sense that God wouldn’t be one great huge entity, but actually billions and billions of microscopic ones. But I won’t go that far at the Easter festivities this year. The truth is, detritivores and decomposers are physical phenomena, mortal organisms like you and me. They may resurrect the essential ingredients of life, but they aren’t a miracle. They just feel like one. Eugenia Bone, a former president of the New York Mycological Society, is the author of “Microbia: A Journey Into the Unseen World Around You.” |
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[25855] [25856] [25847] [25846] [25853] [25849] [25850] [25851]
25855
From: Akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: so what?(NT)
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25856
From: p!nk, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: so what?(NT)(NT)
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25847
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Did the Nytimes just DESECRATE EASTER ??
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The breath of the living God (the Ruach = wind, breath, spiritl) makes a physical being animated. The spiritual animates the physical. There is a process to overcoming death and Christ did that and taught that and to follow him to overcome death. Death is the last enemy to be defeated, Christ did that. The life of the flesh/soul is in the breath/blood...Oxygen. ---And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. ---For the life of the flesh is in the blood... ---The Resurrection Body …So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit. The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.… When the breath of life exists the vessel/body of flesh when heart stops pumping is when decomposition begins....When your heart stops beating, your body's cells and tissues stop receiving oxygen. The article does not address the spiritual aspect only the physical and that imo so it's kind of sad for whomever wrote this is out of touch with what truly gives life. When I think of Easter I think of the spirit of regeneration, revitalizing, the season of spring and the color green. One thing for sure I figure I know what all the air pollution is about though others may naysay I don't care...an unwelcome spirit (the one who came to kill, steal and destroy the principality of the air in this world) is busy seemingly to try to snuff out the Ruach. ---For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. ---Cast Your Cares on Him …Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ from article link above: Somatic Death Our body consists of billions of cells, all of which require two major components to live: oxygen and energy. The oxygen circulated to these cells by our blood is used in complex biochemical processes involving glucose or fatty acids to synthesise adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which, when broken down, releases a tremendous amount of energy. Because oxygen is crucial to the cell system, oxygen loss is critical and, unless rapidly restored, will ultimately lead to cell death and disintegration. The first thing to occur when a person dies is that their heart ceases to function1. Because the function of the heart is to maintain blood flow in the circulatory system, when the heart stops beating, circulation of blood ceases as well. Simultaneously, the person ceases to respire, putting a stop to the input of fresh oxygen into the system. Without a supply of oxygen, the cells begin to die one by one. The first cells to perish are those that are most sensitive to oxygen levels - the ganglionic cells in the central nervous system, responsible for transmission of information in the body. Brain death - the death of parts of the brain-stem, also known as the vital centres, involved in the maintenance of the respiratory and circulatory systems - occurs within minutes of anoxia2. Death of less sensitive cells follow3. Aerobic metabolic processes within these cells cease, although certain anaerobic chemical processes may continue for several hours after death. Ultimately, however, when the body temperature falls and waste products accumulate, these processes too will fail. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O269cn5aS0A |
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25846
From: RIG, [DNS_Address]
Subject: That was an interesting read... And how would this desecrate Easter?..
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I mean considering the modern Christian celebration and ritual is a desecration of Pagan celebration and ritual... So how can you desecrate the desecrated?... |
25853
From: Sue/Seattle, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: That was an interesting read... And how would this desecrate...
| Excellent point RIG |
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25849
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: That was an interesting read... And how would this desecrate...
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Well see you have something in common with modern Christianity...lol...birds of a feather fly together (?) Not every believer in Christ does the commercial rituals you speak of if you mean hiding eggs and a bunny that laid them, or run around looking for erotica in a forrest and jumping over bonfires, etc. They are perhaps ritual symbolisms that were incorporated into the season which spoke to regeneration in a different form and about rebirth in spring and there is something to that but much distorted. Anyways, it's wise imo to make the distinction. |
25850
From: RIG, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: That was an interesting read... And how would this desecrate...
| Now what's wrong with bunnies laying eggs?... ;) |
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25851
From: W, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: That was an interesting read... And how would this desecrate...
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nothing |
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