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Sorry for the late response:  our email was down yesterday......


Charlie:  I like your self reflection.  I'm not sure our beliefs  
randomly mutate, but would suggest rather it is an issue of one's  
perspective: are the influences internal or external?  are the  
mutations conscious accommodations or do they remain hidden from  
us....Which brings me to Ian's musings.

Ian, I like your tribal markings metaphor - if I understand correctly,  
it stands as shorthand for a cultural identity.  I would argue that  
here, too, it is a matter of perspective, meaning that our tribal  
associations are contextual rather than fixed.  Tribalness, like  
identity is spectral, multidimensional, and fluid.  For example, I  
grew up in the South.  My upbringing, my core beliefs, my language,  
and my worldview were shaped by where I lived and seemed perfectly  
normal, in keeping with what I knew, until I would go visit my city  
cousins in New York.....My beliefs were also shaped by other factors,  
such as influences of family of origin, my predispostion (introverted  
or extraverterd), my health, etc..... Of course my tribal affiliations  
have mutated over the years, subject to many influences.  To borrow  
and paraphrase from Charlie:  "cultural associations do evolve: they  
mutate according to reason and/or circumstance, are subject to  
selective pressures, and influence others as well as ourselves,  
(Charlie, I have to think about the 'ruthless' nature :).  Our tribal  
markings are not fixed, like the stripes on a tiger, but rather  
changeable, like the skin of a chameleon.  Coalescence of group  
identity often occurs when that which is most salient is perceived as  
being under threat.  That is why the argument between groups who feel  
strongly about evolution/divine origin will remain just that - an  
argument.  The more I perceive you as trying  to convince me that I am  
wrong, the more resistant to change I am likely to be....

Jeff C.

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