Dopamine is rather interesting. The article which you linked to concludes, "So dopamine has to do with addiction, whether to cupcakes or cocaine. It has to do with lust and love. It has to do with milk. It has to do with movement, motivation, attention, psychosis. Dopamine plays a role in all of these. But it is none of them, and we shouldn’t want it to be. Its complexity is what makes it great. It shows us what, with a single molecule, the brain can do."

The last sentence, "It shows us what, with a single molecule, the brain can do.", would be more encompassing if it read, "It shows us what behavior can be achieved by manipulation of a single molecule in the brain."

Let's break that into two parts, the natural organic mind or brain, and the non-material or spiritual mind which exists apart from the organic structure and which can express itself through the organic mind as higher culture.

Pavlov shed light on this in terms of classical and operant conditioning. A good description of both can be found at https://study.com/academy/lesson/classical-conditioning-vs-operant-conditioning-differences-and-examples.html before the article fades into "Create your account".

It will be apparent to anyone who looks closely at nature that it uses both types of conditioning in the realms of both fauna and flora. The point that I would make is that the organic character operating at brain level is subject to the conditionings of nature and to counterfeit social conditioning. That conditioning can be summed as seek pleasure and avoid pain, or survival. The end result is the same. An external influence has established a reactive organic based behavior.

A spiritual minded person will use natures conditioning without being subject to it. If it hurt, then it will hurt again under the same conditions, therefore don't. Conversely, the pleasure is not appropriate, therefore don't. Its reasoned and not blindly reactive.

A spiritual person will be able to analyze the whys and wherefores of social stimuli and determine an appropriate personal bio-chemical response. The person doesn't begin slobbering or cringing just someone rings a bell.

Additionally, a spiritually minded person can set, in large degree, his or her own bio-chemical reward system according to higher preferences. However, things like external coercion and duress can have mitigating effects.

We could turn an additional lens on spy vs spy and say that the contest is whether or not the body belongs to spiritual mind or to the organic mind (brain). A peculiar thing about this is that you can take a detached point of view and see both sides of the contest and make decisions without being bully to either side as we have legitimate interest in both sides.

The warp and woof of the great cobweb of existence seems indeed to imply a dualistic principal in conjunction with a Weaver and the All. Might be fun to get into that sometime. You know, for the dopamine :-)

=======================================
: Greetings Mike,

: There are two facets to my musings on spy vs. spy and related
: topics - the significance of the symbology in my personal
: life and the larger objective context.

: It was my father who brought MAD magazine home when I was in
: my early teens. I might still have my favourite
: inside-back-cover fold-in somewhere; a family sitting in a
: kitchen having breakfast, with their new microwave sitting
: on the counter in the background. When folded in, they've
: all melted into green goo where they were sitting. I've
: never had a microwave! It was all interesting, but I
: couldn't understand the spy vs. spy, and my father had a
: very particular tension around it. He never fully
: "joined the club"... he never got the smugly
: confident swagger, and seemed more tortured by the issues
: than anything else. Spy vs. spy equals white vs. black hats
: and, with the debates on so many "historical
: narratives," it's clear that the truth is hidden.
: Those who seem to have escaped the oyster to any degree are
: often taken down one way or another.

: Then there's "good cop/bad cop," aka passive v.
: active aggressive - the everyday applications are
: everywhere. As is so often said (but seldom realized),
: think for yourself. It's about integrity, responsibility -
: along self-directed lines, providing opportunities for some
: degree of ontological fullfilment. The Way can't be to pick
: a side and join in the bullying!

: Dopamine and other addictions have always been politically
: manipulated. Back in the late 90's, there was a tv program
: (Canadian) called "Test for Success." In one
: segment they mention that the dopamine released when having
: an orgasm is exactly the same as when you learn something
: new. This article mentions the brain "learning"
: to associate various drugs, and many other things with a
: dopamine hit, but never mentions learning itself. The
: oyster only encourages simplistic good-for-me
: goals/desires. Learning itself became for most more about
: competition for personal material gain, whether through
: positive or negative pursuits - as you put it, selling the
: pearl.

: I see life having enough natural challenges, that we could do
: without the artificial ones, but I guess that the dualistic
: principle must exist on all planes/octaves, except the
: Great One And All.

: Lots to ponder when thinking about our collective situation.

: Sonar