Our Metabolic Core is the most ancient aspect of our living self, sharing structural and functional characteristics with all animals, and at its deepest level, with all Living Things. This core receives nutrients and energy from the surroundings and inserts these into the cyclical processes that cumulatively create Life. The core comprises our organs, which all serve some role in this process. The Gut Microbiome, now appreciated as an essential symbiont required for wellbeing, is an element of this core. The Metabolic Core is distinguished from other attributes of ourselves because its structures and functions play unique roles separated from the other structures/functions found in our bodies. The cell type of this core, Endoderm, is the original cell type from which all other cell types in our bodies derive.
The Metabolic Core comprises those attributes of ourselves that we share most closely with the common root of all Living Things. Examining the life cycle of Plants clarifies its distinct function. Plants live purely in the present moment, having no use for understanding the passage of time other than to anticipate the cyclical qualities of days and seasons. Our Metabolic Core shares this absence of other than present moment experience. Plants also have no capacity for intentional movement (with some interesting exceptions). Plants persist in the point in space where they are. Our Metabolic Core shares this quality of hereness – it is here, now. When examined from the perspective of our complex, multifaceted conscious minds, the Metabolic Core – the function of our guts, may seem enigmatic and mysterious. However, a study of the foundational mechanisms of Living Things sheds some light on this system and how we can support its needs.
From the viewpoint of the Metabolic Core, all actions, all of the undertakings of all animals, are purely a mechanism for supplying adequate nutrients and energy now. The characteristics of the machinations needed to achieve this are irrelevant, as long as the mission is accomplished. It is like an Aristocrat who is entirely disinterested as to what is needed to run their holdings as long as the money keeps flowing and is clueless as to what to do when the money stops.
The emergence of the lineage of Animals from the root of all Living Thingssaw the containment of the Metabolic Core within a “sleeve” of locomotive structures and functions. Many of these attributes we share with all animals and some are unique to our species. These attributes are discussed in the sections on the other cores of our bodies.
MICROBIOME
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MICROBIOME
BREATHING
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BREATHING
PROTECTION
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PROTECTION
IMMUNE SYSTEM
META READING
A discussion on our core structural attributes:
THE FOUR CORES
A discussion on the models for our species presented on this website
EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGMS