Opening Up - Quareness Series 160th "Lecture".
A noticeable feature of public discourse during the past two stressful years has been the tendency to denigrate the messenger rather than engage in dialogue/discussion on the message. And perhaps inevitably we have seen the insatiable beast of intolerance tending to thrive in such an environment. As and when the degree of societal distress dissipates, hopefully we will witness a generally more open-minded approach to differing opinions/views being held and expressed. And for those genuinely committed to greater inclusiveness this needs to be the way forward.
In this spirit of inclusiveness perhaps it's now opportune to become more widely aware of the rationale for some alternative views of the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic which has kinda dominated life for so many since early 2020. To this end it seems we may need a greater appreciation of some fundamental differences in understanding the nature of viruses and their impact on our human health. May I now then, in the interest of learning, lay out some such I've come across for consideration...views that are genuinely held whether deemed correct or otherwise.
Inherent Nature of Viruses.
Humans have always been swimming in a vast sea of viruses constantly communicating information which has been essential for life to form and flourish here on Earth. The microbiome, for example, is a massive ecosystem consisting of trillions of microorganisms continually secreting viruses which serve as a communication network for some 40,000 species of bacteria, 65,000 species of protozoa, 300,000 species of parasites and between 3.5 and 5 million species of fungi inhabiting the environment around us and living in or on the human body. Every single organ in the body has its own microbiome and the purpose of the bacteria and fungi in our bodies is to nourish and nurture our cells, keeping us healthy and in equilibrium with the larger microbiome surrounding us. And all of this suggests that these viruses have always been here to help rather than hinder us.
The virome (assemblage of viruses) is the immense world in which Mother Nature's messengers exist. Our human virome alone consists of an estimated 380 trillion plus viruses produced by the microbiome. Despite this huge and complex interactive system, a virus is simply genomic information (either DNA or RNA) wrapped in a protein envelope (small strands protruding from the outer surface of this envelope are called spike proteins). Viruses are not living organisms, they don't produce their own fuel, they have no metabolism for producing energy and they cannot reproduce.
Viruses have been circulating globally above the atmospheric boundary layer for millions of years. Their genetic codes have been blanketing our Earth for eons, creating biodiversity and constantly seeking to adapt these codes for the purpose of inducing resilient health in all of the planet's life forms. They do not come in waves and then disappear without a trace, only to miraculously reappear later. Indeed they never leave or expire...they are ever-present inhabiting every element in the environment around us.
When there's an imbalance between humanity and the virome (e.g. because of our harmful actions towards nature) such can cause us to come into disequilibrium with a particular virus. Our innate immune system, which is the initial and primary means by which we interact with a virus, helps the body find a genetic balance with each new viral "update" presented to it. And the body doesn't need to replicate or reproduce the new viral information after more than four or five days of updates. This innate immune system functions on the many healthy boundaries within the human body. The adaptive immune system (= the secondary means by which our bodies interact with viruses) on the other hand mounts a highly specific response to a virus by utilising the body's white blood B and T cells. These white blood T cells are responsible for stimulating the B cells into making antibodies and it's the B cells which are responsible for releasing antibodies (specific targeted defences) into the bloodstream. Such antibodies are the body's second method of interaction with a virus after it receives a new viral update or after it develops an imbalance with a particular virus. They usually show up at the scene three to six weeks after the body's initial exposure and assist with cleaning out viruses and bacteria that are no longer needed.
Since a virus is not a living organism, it cannot be killed. Our innate immune system by replicating updates from a virus and by immediately responding to that viral upload, simply comes into genetic balance with a new virus. And once this new balance has been achieved, the system refuses to receive further updates. It would seem therefore that we cannot really prevent an epidemic or a pandemic from occurring, nor can we change the trajectory of either one. Furthermore, trying to do so through "by-pass" production of an adaptive immune system antibody response may not succeed in checking an "always-helpful" virus where such interferes with our innate immune system which is itself well capable of handling any virus with which we may develop a temporary imbalance. It's also the case that our immune systems retain a memory of the viruses our bodies have interacted with and of the genes that were inserted into our cells naturally upon receiving a new viral update. And the permanent records kept by an innate immune system are passed down to succeeding generations of humans to forestall their having an inflammatory-inducing reaction to a particular virus.
Biologically speaking, all life on Earth is built from the RNA and DNA molecular genetic sequences contained in viruses which are exquisitely designed genetic delivery systems essential to initiating and sustaining life here. When a geographic area with its associated ecosystem is disrupted by anything unnatural to it, viruses can become overexpressed in upsetting the body's balance with the virome and undermining our innate adaptation to all the genetic information surrounding us. But rather than causing disease, viruses are simply presenting the body with a new genetic adaptation option on foot of which our innate immune system can determine how much of the new information it needs to absorb...if our cells are in dire need of repair, the virus will trigger inflammation as the body goes through its regenerative process. And such a "viral infection" or "inflammatory event" is actually part of the body's healing process. Far from being separate from the virome and microbiome, we humans are integral to that vast complex ecosystem, and placing ourselves increasingly in direct opposition to the very living system (nature) of which we are an intrinsic part, hardly bodes well for our future wellbeing.
Relevant Timelines.
Before the Industrial Revolution, viruses dispersed themselves equally throughout the atmosphere. However, now that carbon particulate is ubiquitous in the air (mostly as a byproduct of burning fuel and chemical reactions) viruses are abnormally concentrating themselves around this toxic substance with which they bind. During the latent period late September to late June in the Northern Hemisphere, concentrations of carbon particulate and CO2 emissions and other potential pollutants that would normally be absorbed by trees, plants, oceans and soil are unable to be adequately absorbed. And this results in very high concentrations of pollutants travelling in an easterly direction with the prevailing wind currents. Every year now there's a huge plume of carbon material (which can be seen by satellite) floating from the heavily industrialised regions of the world and dispersing in an easterly flow pattern across the Northern Hemisphere. Strangely what we call "the seasonal flu" north of the equator coincides with this time period when nature goes to sleep...an annual inflammatory event taking place as our bodies adapt and come into balance with the industrial toxins in the environment. And when summer arrives around late June, nature resumes its regenerative cycle as the toxic plumes slowly dissipate and disappear thereby reducing our risk of respiratory illness.
The months leading up to 2020 saw a series of exceptionally large wildfires across the globe from Australia to the Amazon and from Indonesia to California which sent billions of metric tons of CO2 and carbon particulate into the stratosphere. And once in the stratosphere these poisonous "cocktails" was able to travel many thousands of miles from their source. Added to this were some of the most toxic substances generated by the combustion of synthetics such as plastics, nylon, wool and silk (whether caused by wildfires or industrial chemical reactions) e.g. high levels of industrial by-products like sulphur, mercury, arsenic, glyphosate and cyanide. Thus as we entered the Northern Hemisphere "flu season" in the latter half of 2019 and the start of 2020, we had an almost perfect storm of toxicity circulating the globe and creating ideal conditions for suppressing the innate immune system, especially in those already dealing with serious underlying medical conditions.
It appears that during these early stages of the COVID-19 "surge" health professionals in Hubei Province China (where Wuhan is), Northern Italy, the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere were dealing mainly with patients presenting symptoms of cyanide poisoning (which causes a condition known as histotoxic hypoxia) but absent any symptoms of either pneumonia or respiratory failure which would be expected if an infection was present. It's quite possible (even likely?) then that these early acutely distressed patients (many in their senior years) were initially suffering from hypoxia and the fatal pneumonia and blood clotting followed on afterwards when their innate immune systems had been so weakened that they succumbed to the cascading effects of secondary infections. It may be relevant here that all of the people who were acutely affected by SARS in 2002 and by MERS in 2012 seemingly showed these same symptoms of histotoxic hypoxia and not of viral infection.
Some doctors on foot of dealing with cases of severe acute respiratory illnesses during 2020, concluded it was unfortunate that we continued to regard this pandemic illness as due to an infection rather than a poisoning. They believe patients were being overloaded with carbon particulate bound to cyanide that was being trafficked into the lung environment and ultimately into the bloodstream by the virus which is naturally designed to enter the body through lung and vascular tissue and neural tissue like our nasal sinuses. In this view people were actually dying from environmental toxicity rather than from a viral infection.
Looking back now it seems we may have had two different scenarios taking place in 2020. In one we saw people with an inflammatory event marked by fever, congestion, loss of appetite, elevated white blood cell count and malaise...all symptoms expected when a possible new variant of a coronavirus or any other virus triggers the innate immune system (and eventually the adaptive immune system) to do what it always does to bring us back into balance with a new genomic update from a virus. In the other scenario we saw people with serious and sometimes multiple comorbidities eventually succumbing to a toxicology event. The coronavirus was present in both scenarios, but only benignly so. However, instead of differentiating between the two scenarios, public health authorities have mostly grouped them under the single category of COVID-19. And they did so by using an inappropriate and inaccurate RT-PCR test which its late inventor (Nobel prize winner) Kary Mullis insisted was never meant to diagnose disease but was designed simply to ascertain the presence of a viral load. Not understanding that most of these positive readings are false, that the term "positive case" does not really signify the presence of an infection and that asymptomatic people can neither have nor spread disease, the general public has been misled into believing that a dangerous pathogen is killing a large percentage of the population. In reality what we have witnessed is a pandemic of PCR positive tests, not of COVID-19 positive cases, which in turn has driven the still ongoing mass vaccination policies implemented worldwide.
Where to now?
We continue to be relentlessly bombarded by a belief that blames one virus SARS-COV-2 (including its variants) as the sole culprit causing a global health crisis. And this myopic view could be preventing us from understanding the true, helpful nature of viruses. It could also be blinding us to the real ecological disaster now more rapidly unfolding around us (which viruses may be trying to help us uncover and recover from) as humanity has intensified its war against nature during the course of this pandemic e.g. polluting microplastics ravaging the oceans from disposal of massively increased volumes of face masks, latex gloves, takeout food containers, as well as spraying disinfectant chemicals into the atmosphere in efforts to contain or destroy the feared virus, etc.
All in all we seem to be rapidly suffocating in a technocratic anti-science dogma which has taken on the typical characteristics of rigid religions whose adherents worship many deities. And with these new and "improved" gods of vaccines and technology, we could be facing into unprecedented times in which humans can be genetically altered beyond recognition and the healthiness of all aspects of the natural world could be ravaged beyond repair. However, it's never too late to envision a better way forward inviting us to accept that humanity has from our beginning been made to be an intrinsic part of nature. Learning from the errors of our ways (as our species has always eventually done to date) we can step back from the looming abyss of transhumanism and effective species extinction and embrace our beautiful planet with all of its glorious biodiversity.
Sean.
Dean of Quareness.
February, 2022.