You wanna see "intelligent design," take a botany class (or just buy a plant.) You get to observe adaptation first-hand. Plants can be: -phototropic (light) -hydrotropic (water) -geotropic (gravity) -thigmotropic (directional growth in response to touch) These can be positive and negative ("towards" or "away from".) I use plants as an example because it's not only observable to our eye in a short period of time, plants have no apparent brain or decision-making capacity...they just "are." They just "do." I make nuts and seeds more digestible by soaking them overnight and then dehydrating them again. This is because the food source within them is protected from decay by enzyme inhibitors (which inhibit our digestive enzymes when eaten.) When they get water, they figure it's time to sprout, so the enzyme inhibitors dissolve in order to to make the seed's food source available to the anticipated sprout. Miraculous stuff. Regarding the circadian nature of humans...I once read that it takes a full two week for one's rhythm to set to a new beat. In other words, at the end of your two week vacation, you have just adapted away from the rhythm of the work week. One week's vacation doesn't cut it. Europeans who take their 30 day holiday get to enjoy the last 2 weeks of it in their new state of being...of course, adapting back has got to be tough.
It's all true, the thing that amazed me about plants some testing that was done where a person comes into a room and destroys part of a plant they put a lie detector on the plant and when the same person walks in the room a week later the lie detector goes crazy. I read where a tomato plant if a certain percentage (I can't remember how much) of the plant gets destroyed they send out a chemical to fight off the pest. I enjoy reading or watching shows that show the unusual when it comes to Nature.
The form of the question -- can he -- prompts me into thinking whether it is appropriate or advisable to continue living some of these lifestyles as framed. Certainly one "can" but will that be considered a sign of dementia after a while, an inability to accept reality, or an unproductive way of grieving the loss / end of a productive career? Some of us, me included, can tend to over-identify with what we DO vs who we ARE. This is even encouraged in our society; after all, what is the quintessential question at every cocktail party but what do you DO as if that says something significant about us. And maybe it does to those who invest in status instead of real connection. I haven't yet posted a membership intro yet. In part I'm struggling with what my identity is now, beyond RETIRED, as if That describes anything definitive. Do I need you all to know my past careers that I may at times still wear like a worn out shirt? Can I still be "something" if I'm not "doing" anything but posting on social media? Is there a label for that that fits with my other "careers"? Stay tuned for the answers. LOL
Make an intro if so inspired and just keep it general. See what others want to know about you and then select what you want us to know. I see you are from the PNW. Many here with relatives in the PNW and a few have lived here.
Thanks Faye. I'm hoping to get time to work on that today. So much easier just to poke around and respond to various threads.