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Epigenetics combined with the philosophical idea of Determinism made me wonder if free will is—if not an illusion—a bit of a mirage. That, in addition to the environment we grow up in, the contour and texture of our lives are shaped—in part—by some form of genetic predetermination.
The idea of epigenetic inheritance has long been embraced in many communities. Native Americans have talked about living with generational trauma for as long as I can remember and a hotly debated study of Holocaust survivors appears to show a higher percentage of PTSDs, depression, and anxiety in their children and grandchildren.
limerence,
fetor
curare.
The Family by Ba Jin
lesson plan for toddlers is like a swimming plan for cats.
epigenetic
antipode
aa po’s
“We have many lives, Afong, but this life begins when we realize we only have one.”
proscenium
All because a loathsome empress with a clubfoot grew tired of being different, being looked down upon by her own subjects, and thus she dictated that all women of that godless empire be crippled just so.
She had tried to explain that many years ago, a dancer named Precious Thing performed on the tip of her toes, like ballerinas in America. A noble prince, Li Yu, was so smitten with her performance that other women adopted the fashion.
In America, a lie becomes the truth with sufficient repetition. I merely tell the crowd what they need to hear to be satisfied.”
“Women are born to lead lives of inconsistency.” She tried not to cry as she held Afong’s hands. “While it is our curse, it can also be our strength.”
She held up a flask, drained the last of its contents, then laughed and slapped Afong on the knee as though someone had told a joke.
quiescent.
Rupi Kaur:
howitzer
fried gao,
neuroplasticity.
leptospirosis
Louis thought the idea of inherited trauma was a joke.
epigenetics
The idea of treating trauma passed down from one generation to the next in humans was highly controversial, to say the least. Just the idea of historical trauma was argumentative, though the concept had been widely accepted in Native American communities for hundreds of years, or more recently, within groups descended from Holocaust survivors. Yet therapists and geneticists had been puzzled for decades, searching for evidence of what they called transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.
Sui Sin Far.
“The Heart’s Desire.”
timpani,
“We don’t have to grieve only those we know. Sometimes we grieve for that which was lost, that which was never allowed to be.”
ossuary
Lady Meng Jiang,
synaptic
ashram
engram.
methylation
morphic resonance,
“As the US poet laureate Anis Mojgani once said about toddlers: They cannot be understood because they speak half English and half God.”
“Hope is the most evil of all evils because it prolongs man’s torment.”
offal
valerian root tea,
calipers
praya
nushu—women’s
lou tung.
voms,
nehw daer drawkcab.
nescience.
nihilist,
mogodu
