What does it mean to be a liberal?
Very recently, I had a conversation with a friend where he said:“I used to be a staunch atheist in high school, and used to argue with theists and religious people. But, after joining college, I became more liberal about people with faith. Now, even though I disagree with them, I welcome their views, and I respect their beliefs.”The key term he used - ‘liberal’.You know why am I telling you this ?Because, in mainstream media- liberalism and atheism are sometimes seen as sister-ideologies. Even though statistics support this claim [1], ideologically speaking - liberalism and theism does not necessarily oppose each other. Hence, such statistical correlation can not be extrapolated to an actual ‘ideological causation’.This argument can be extrapolated outside the atheism-theism dichotomy as well. Repeat after me :A religious person can be ‘liberal’ towards practitioners of other religions, or even atheists.A right leaning person can be ‘liberal’ about left-leaning ideas.A pro-life person can be ‘liberal’ about pro-choice arguments.Notice, how I used three adjectives - ‘religious’, ‘right-leaning’, ‘pro-life’ to exemplify liberalism while NONE of them resonates with the ‘market-definition’ of liberalism.I am not religious, I lean pretty left, and consider myself to be pro-choice (exact opposite of the three examples). But, none of these stances define my liberalism, even though most mainstream liberals have similar stances as mine.For me, liberalism means a single thing : Being open to opinions, that are opposite to mine. I am not pro-life, but I respect your right to have a pro-life stance, even if that is solely based on your religious beliefs. I will not agree to your views, but you are entitled to have an opinion.Now, in classic sense, liberalism might also encompass being open to discriminatory point-of-views and hate-speeches. That is where, I draw the line. You can’t get away with statements like ‘Brahmins/whites are the superior race’, or ‘all Muslims are terrorists’, or ‘All women are gold-diggers’, from me. Because, I am not liberal towards such statements, and I personally believe such beliefs are toxic for the society we live in. However, this is ‘progressive’ me talking, and not ‘liberal’ me.[1] Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics
Why does your chest hurt when you are heart broken?
I’ll share with you my personal experience. I’ll also add that I have a bachelor degree in biomedical science. I’ll try to incorporate the two.In September I met an awesome woman. For a reason or another, in December we had some problems. We both had to take a break. It was difficult for me. I was experiencing the pain you are describing.I felt she was a part of myself. I felt I didn’t lose a person. I felt I lose a part of me. It was a pressure. It was something that I couldn’t live without. It was hard to cope with the pain.I haven’t received particular instruction on this matter. But science as far from now know that there are some neurons in the heart. I did a research and here what I have found.There are approximately 40,000 neurons in the heart that communicates with the brain. Memory is a distributive process ,it’s not only localized in the brain. It was discovered by a neurologist from Montreal, Dr Andrew Armour.To support this claim the article cites 3 cases of heart transplants. I’ll cite one.A 47 years old Caucasian received a heart from an 17 African. He suddenly started to love classical music. The 17 years old African was a violin player that died in a drive shooting clutching his violin case in his chest.I would even go further and introduce cellular memories.A 8 years old had received a heart from a 10 years old who got murdered. She had nightmares of a man who would murder her donor. The images were very specific.Police and psychiatrist were involved. The murderer got arrested.There is also feedback memory.Neurons work in neural circuits. Output will increase the input signals. But if there is no energy that is circulating in the system. It doesn’t stop. What has been stored it still accessible. There is no just no flow anymore. It’s data stored.Here is the reference in case you want to check it out:Second Brain Found in Heart Neurons - Trust your Gut Feelings