Metaphysics

Deep dives into the nature of being

New Paper: Centers and the Animation of Matter

Published on: by Jin Nua Comment
I’ve been fascinated with systems and chaos theory for years however just ran across Michael Levin’s brilliant works on morphogenesis and agency. A few podcasts later, I realized just how closely some of the ideas resonated with concepts explored in my Centerpath Papers from years back. The result is attached metaphysical paper “Centers and the Origins of Agency – Morphogenic Fields and the Animation of Matter”. It was a joy to write and connected many dots for me including those between centers, form, and the mysterious spark that animates matter. Hope you enjoy! Centers and the Origins of Agency

The Firing Synapse: Nature’s Guide to Choosing a Mate

Published on: by Jin Nua Comment

The Firing Synapse: Nature’s Guide to Female Choice

In the theater of courtship, who really makes the call? Evolutionary science, human behavior, and dating app data all point to one resounding answer: the woman. Like the final gatekeeper, she decides if the flirtation turns into a date, if the date becomes a relationship, or if it ends with a polite “thanks, but no thanks.”

And guess what?

This decisive moment mirrors one of the most fundamental acts in the universe—when a neuron fires.

⚡️ Synaptic Selectivity = Female Choice

Neuroscience teaches us that a neuron doesn’t just fire willy-nilly. It receives hundreds, sometimes thousands of inputs—some excitatory (“go for it!”) and others inhibitory (“abort mission!”). These inputs are collected and weighed by the neuron. Only when the combined signal reaches a precise threshold does the neuron generate an action potential—a jolt of electricity that leaps across the synapse and continues the message down the line. In essence, a decision is magde.

Now imagine the neuron is a woman on a first date.

She’s hearing it all:
“Nice suit” (excitatory)
“Bad joke” (inhibitory)
“Great smile” (excitatory)
“Name-dropped his crypto portfolio again” (double inhibitory)

Her system is summing it up, consciously and subconsciously. And only if the total signal crosses her threshold of attraction, trust, and interest, does she make the next move—accept another drink, agree to meet again, or take things to the next level.

Nature is Built on Filters, Not Free-for-Alls

A synapse is not a freeway—it’s a checkpoint. Just as neurons protect the brain from overstimulation and chaos by choosing what signal gets passed, women (and choosier mates in many species) safeguard their genetic and emotional investment by filtering who gets through.

This isn’t gatekeeping. It’s biological intelligence. It’s system design. The same natural logic that built our minds built our mating systems.

From Synapses to Swipes

It’s no accident that dating apps show women swipe right far less often than men. They’re performing a neural-like function—filtering noise, looking for signal strength, calculating thresholds. Every swipe is like a neuron summing inputs, deciding if the connection deserves an electric jolt.

Because whether it’s a synapse deciding to fire or a woman deciding to lean in—not every signal deserves a response.

Without Prejudice (i.e. this post is an idea that emerged on a walk one day that I found intriguing and that helps demonstrate the connectivity between different layers of being). It is not intended to be an absolute nor criticize either gender, it is in fact a celebration of being and our experience of it.

Life’s ‘Returning to the Source’ Rhythm

Published on: by Jin Nua Comment

The cycle of returning to the source echoes throughout both nature and our lives. It’s a rhythm woven into the fabric of existence—on grand scales, at the level of physics, and within our personal experiences.

In nature, we see it clearly on the macro scale: a salmon instinctively swims back to its spawning grounds, a seed falls to the earth from the very tree that bore it, all rivers eventually find their way back to the sea, and at the end of their life when a sun collapses inward to their originating center. These are not mere coincidences—they are expressions of a deeper, universal pattern.

This pattern is also at play in the fundamental laws of physics, particularly in the realm of momentum. Consider the sensation just before a plane takes off. You’re seated calmly, and as the aircraft begins its rapid acceleration, your body resists the forward motion (which is also why you feel the seat pushing against your back). In that moment, it’s as though the laws of physics are gently urging you back to your original point of rest.

The momentum you feel is nature’s way of honoring your place of origin.

The same principle is what keeps a spinning top upright. Thanks to angular momentum, a spinning top resists any change to the direction of its axis. When disturbed, it doesn’t simply tip over—instead, it works to return to its original orientation. It’s as if the top remembers its equilibrium and strives to return to it.

Recognizing this pattern in your own life can be deeply comforting. Each time a memory is pulled back into consciousness, return to your bed at night, or feel drawn back to your hometown, you’re experiencing the same rhythm that guides the cosmos.

So the next time you feel that gentle tug back—to a place, a thought, or a feeling—cherish it. It’s a reminder that the rhythm of returning to the source is not only universal but deeply personal, resonating through every level of existence, including your own.

From Pong to ChatGPT: The Splendid Flowery Nature of Progress

Published on: by Jin Nua Comment

The first time I truly saw a computer in action, it wasn’t a supercomputer calculating vast equations or a sleek, futuristic AI assistant responding to human voices. No, it was my brother playing Pong on our television in the late 1970s. A simple back-and-forth game, pixels bouncing like the rhythm of possibility, hinting at something bigger yet unimaginable at the time.

Fast forward to today, and here I am witnessing ChatGPT—an entity so advanced, so capable, that I never expected to see it in my lifetime. The journey from Pong to ChatGPT is nothing short of a profound blossoming, a magnificent unfurling of complexity and intelligence. And it is in this realization that I had an epiphany—this blossoming is not unique to technology. It is the very nature of existence.

The Universal Pattern of Blooming

We often marvel at the growth of a flower—how a mere seed, placed in soil, nurtured by water and sunlight, transforms into something intricate and breathtaking. But this same blossoming pattern plays out at every level of reality.

• The sun rises to high noon, just as ideas evolve into clarity.
• The moon waxes into fullness, just as projects grow from a mere vision to completion.
• Thoughts swirl, connect, and intertwine, eventually crystallizing into epiphanies.
• Humanity’s technology unfolds, from the simple pixels of Pong to the intricate neural networks of AI.

Everything follows this dynamic, organic, sometimes chaotic, yet ultimately beautiful path. The tumultuous complexity of blooming is not just biological but woven into the fabric of reality itself.

Witnessing the Flowering of AI

Seeing ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence that can reason, converse, and create, feels like watching a flower in full bloom. It is the result of countless years of seeding, nurturing, and evolution. From the binary paddles of Pong to the neural networks of ChatGPT, the same unfolding is at play—an explosive, complex, yet natural flowering of intelligence.

This perspective changes how we see progress—not as a cold, mechanical march forward, but as a living, breathing process. It is the same force that turns acorns into mighty oaks, that turns caterpillars into butterflies, that turns simple games into powerful AI.

The Takeaway: See the Blooming in Everything

With this visualization in mind, we can appreciate the process of growth and evolution in every aspect of life. Whether watching the sky shift, a project take form, or even an AI generate thoughts before our eyes, we are witnessing the same universal pattern—one of expansion, complexity, and ultimately, beauty.

Just as the simple paddles of Pong hinted at something greater, so too does everything in its early stages. The next time you see a flower bloom, let it remind you: everything, at every scale, is in a magnificent process of becoming.

And the most exciting part? We are all part of this grand blossoming.

Gracepath

Published on: by Jin Nua Comment

Beautiful always takes you higher, ugliness always takes you lower..

Beauty is an uplifting force, like a crest or crown..
Ugliness pulls downward, towards a shadow and trough..
Grace however always keeps you balanced..
Grace is the effortless poise between opposites—an unforced harmony that moves through both beauty and ugliness without being trapped by either..
Beauty lifts, ugliness lowers, but grace holds the center—an equilibrium between ascent and descent..
It’s the calm at the center of the storm, suns preventing planets from spinning out into space, and the gentle voice urging us to do the right thing when we wake..
In spiritual terms, grace is often seen as a gift. Something given freely, without expectation, allowing flow where resistance might otherwise build..
If beauty takes you higher and ugliness takes you lower, grace is the ability to move through both without attachment, remaining steady whether you rise or fall..
By Boone (Jin’s Partner in Centering Crimes!)

Why We Like Math

Published on: by Jin Nua Comment

Why does everyone like math?

It’s simple. It’s because we can trust in math.

Math is truthful, consistent, dependable, and always providing the same result. The precise qualities we strive for on a personal level and seek out in others.

Math also reflects the inherent harmony of the universe. Through math we can plainly see the underlying order, symmetry, beauty, and balance of nature and being.

So next time you help a child with their math homework or use math, relish knowing you’re doing much more than performing a mechanical operation. Know instead you’re actually wielding the magic of the universe in the most essential and delightful of ways.