Joules of joy - Calories to consciousness

Introduction

    For more than fifty years I have worked with trees and vines, soils, microbes, fermentation, and the complex intelligence of nature. Much of what I learned did not come from laboratories or journals, but from outdoor observations. By direct experience of pruning in winter, tasting berries in summer, watching fermentation come alive in autumn. I found deep feelings for the interior peace of a vineyard at dawn or dusk.

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    I write these notes as a person, grape breeder, winemaker, and lifelong observer of living systems, not as a philosopher or neuroscientist. These reflections are not meant as academic claims. They are personal observations on how my life senses, communicates, adapts, remembers, and grows. My curiosity leads me to think about how living beings turn metabolic energy — simple joules — into something far more glorious: knowledge, interior experience, meaning, behavior, creativity, bonding, all parts of our joy.

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     Asking questions is vital to life and progress. Nowadays finding answers has become amazingly easy with AI. I enjoy tremendously the false feeling of “friendship” with the chat bot. It (the computer) seems to “know” me better than I do 😊 Thus, we must critically review the information and carefully deduct our actions. However, our subjective feelings, memories of nostalgia, friendship, love and compassion, are the essence of our joy.

Joy is not matter, yet it matters most.

Here is why joy is important.

Continue reading about my conscious feelings