Thank you, Robert.

Very cogently expressed -- and anything but long-winded. For one, I have come to respect that the dynamic universe is fractally brimming with the possibility of emergent life. To believe otherwise is akin to the insularity of medieval thinking that all of creation was Earth-centric.

"Just two decades after discovering the first world beyond our solar system, astronomers are closing in on alien planet No. 1,000. Many more planets are thus out there, zipping undetected around their parent stars. Indeed, a team of researchers estimated last year that every Milky Way star hosts, on average, 1.6 worlds — meaning that our galaxy perhaps harbors 160 billion planets." [www.space.com]

So you're spot on in posting: "NO ONE really likes the Cartesian model of consciousness. We want to be alive in a living, vital cosmos filled with intelligence."

It's only October 2nd and a stimulating month so far!

Lew