A teaser:
Buddhist monks live and work at a monastery because if they ever had to drive on a public road they could never achieve Enlightenment.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Bra(i)n Flush
This post is particular to a person, so please forgive the direct nature of it.
I think that there is a huge lack of understanding about our bodies that begins from an early age. By the time you are old enough to actually learn and remember, all primal biological knowledge begins to be “educated” out of you. In the process of adjusting to this societal structure we live in we need to reject many biological urges, but not all of them. Your body knows what it needs, and it even knows how and where to get it. Sometimes these needs cause addictions, sometimes they cause avoidance practices. If you train your body to crave the release of chemicals in the brain, you have created an addiction. Whether it is for caffeine or conflict, it’s there. Being mindful of this allows one to recognize the habits we have that fall into a cycle of addiction. This sounds a bit odd to compare heroin and, say, a bran muffin, but there is a physiological basis for this comparison. Obviously, heroin becomes wildly addictive almost immediately and is very dangerous. But a bran muffin can become addictive too, but tends not to be as dangerous--unless it is really old and you are throwing them at people… Anyway, your body knows if it has a problem or need. If you need bran in your system, your body sends off signals to the brain. The brain in turn knows what was last eaten that filled this bran need and sends a little blip on your radar saying: “Hey, I’m a bit hungry. Oh, I know! How about a bran muffin?” In turn, off you go to hunt for the sudden craving you had. These of course can be adjusted (read the previous two posts) for both better and worse. If you relish the effects of large quantities of bran in your system, you will hone that need to a clear craving and eventually turn it into a habit. With that brief outline of your body, and a quick mention about how unprepared we are to use our body, here are the three most important things we can do for the body (in my opinion).
1. Eat (healthy preferably, but sustenance of some sort)
2. Exercise (nothing major necessary, walk around, deep breathe, even meditation)
3. Sleep
To keep the body running we need these things. We take them for granted since they are essentially impossible to go without. We no longer forage for food or have to build a shelter for us to sleep in. Of course, if we did we would take care of the exercise part but those basic needs have been filled in our society. Once the importance of those elements has been diminished, it ceases to be instinctual, much less taught. Boy Scouts may be able to make a lean-to, but why? So they can show it to their Daddy’s when they come to pick them up in his SUV with Spongebob on the DVD player? I love my Tahoe by the way, so I am not condemning the niceties of this existence, but the body is a machine like your SUV. It is in fact the most complicated machine in the universe, except for the universe itself and that’s debatable. Each cell as it divides passes on its traits, and your habits. If you like bran, the next time the cell divides, it will provide more receptors for the chemical that the bran produces, thus increasing your desire for bran. This will continue, and moreover, the added receptors for your habits will actually reduce the receptors of that cell for other chemicals. Even the ability of the individual cell to expel waste can become hindered by the increased habitual receptors. The three important points I made above are necessary to keep your body aware of its internal chemistry. Adequate and preferably healthy food will allow each and every cell to function at its best. Exercising physically keeps everything flowing, but even if it is meditation, it allows your brain to “normalize” its chemical production. Finally, sleep, is one of the most important activities or in-activities you can provide to your body. All of those millions of cells need a rest. When you are asleep your body gets to relax, your muscles rebuild, your brain releases all kinds of good chemicals, and your subconscious gets to come out and play. Use this post as an excuse to sleep. Lie down and wallow in the comfort of your bed, push your brain to rehash your day. Think about what happened, how healthy you ate, whether you had too many bran muffins. Then, as your eyelids droop, think of all those cells that are either winding down or winding up for your rest, and let them help you drift off to sleep.
I think that there is a huge lack of understanding about our bodies that begins from an early age. By the time you are old enough to actually learn and remember, all primal biological knowledge begins to be “educated” out of you. In the process of adjusting to this societal structure we live in we need to reject many biological urges, but not all of them. Your body knows what it needs, and it even knows how and where to get it. Sometimes these needs cause addictions, sometimes they cause avoidance practices. If you train your body to crave the release of chemicals in the brain, you have created an addiction. Whether it is for caffeine or conflict, it’s there. Being mindful of this allows one to recognize the habits we have that fall into a cycle of addiction. This sounds a bit odd to compare heroin and, say, a bran muffin, but there is a physiological basis for this comparison. Obviously, heroin becomes wildly addictive almost immediately and is very dangerous. But a bran muffin can become addictive too, but tends not to be as dangerous--unless it is really old and you are throwing them at people… Anyway, your body knows if it has a problem or need. If you need bran in your system, your body sends off signals to the brain. The brain in turn knows what was last eaten that filled this bran need and sends a little blip on your radar saying: “Hey, I’m a bit hungry. Oh, I know! How about a bran muffin?” In turn, off you go to hunt for the sudden craving you had. These of course can be adjusted (read the previous two posts) for both better and worse. If you relish the effects of large quantities of bran in your system, you will hone that need to a clear craving and eventually turn it into a habit. With that brief outline of your body, and a quick mention about how unprepared we are to use our body, here are the three most important things we can do for the body (in my opinion).
1. Eat (healthy preferably, but sustenance of some sort)
2. Exercise (nothing major necessary, walk around, deep breathe, even meditation)
3. Sleep
To keep the body running we need these things. We take them for granted since they are essentially impossible to go without. We no longer forage for food or have to build a shelter for us to sleep in. Of course, if we did we would take care of the exercise part but those basic needs have been filled in our society. Once the importance of those elements has been diminished, it ceases to be instinctual, much less taught. Boy Scouts may be able to make a lean-to, but why? So they can show it to their Daddy’s when they come to pick them up in his SUV with Spongebob on the DVD player? I love my Tahoe by the way, so I am not condemning the niceties of this existence, but the body is a machine like your SUV. It is in fact the most complicated machine in the universe, except for the universe itself and that’s debatable. Each cell as it divides passes on its traits, and your habits. If you like bran, the next time the cell divides, it will provide more receptors for the chemical that the bran produces, thus increasing your desire for bran. This will continue, and moreover, the added receptors for your habits will actually reduce the receptors of that cell for other chemicals. Even the ability of the individual cell to expel waste can become hindered by the increased habitual receptors. The three important points I made above are necessary to keep your body aware of its internal chemistry. Adequate and preferably healthy food will allow each and every cell to function at its best. Exercising physically keeps everything flowing, but even if it is meditation, it allows your brain to “normalize” its chemical production. Finally, sleep, is one of the most important activities or in-activities you can provide to your body. All of those millions of cells need a rest. When you are asleep your body gets to relax, your muscles rebuild, your brain releases all kinds of good chemicals, and your subconscious gets to come out and play. Use this post as an excuse to sleep. Lie down and wallow in the comfort of your bed, push your brain to rehash your day. Think about what happened, how healthy you ate, whether you had too many bran muffins. Then, as your eyelids droop, think of all those cells that are either winding down or winding up for your rest, and let them help you drift off to sleep.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Don't let the door static latch on your way out.
My prior post ended a bit prematurely. I got a little mired in the subject and was having a hard time transitioning so I figured I would just post and go. I will now endeavor to explain the affect of logic on experience and the affect of experience on your core beliefs.
If your stroll through a single day was examined, you would see the millions of decisions you make as you go. When you “static latch”, every one of these decisions, or at least as many as you are capable of processing, needs to be examined. For every decision examined, a logic filter is applied, and depending on experience and your core beliefs, you make high and low quality decisions. The cyclical aspect of logic and experience is important to note here. Your logic dictated your decisions yesterday which created the experiences you apply your logic to today. Thus, a continual evaluation of your decisions directly affects your experience and aides logic in its attempt at providing high quality decisions. On a side note, not all decision making is conscious, so there is more to this, and I will discuss it later. So, your repetitive actions, which can be dictated by your logic both high-value and low-value, are the essence of your experience. A daily movement through the world creates another day or piece of experience for you to draw from. Actively applying logic will help you to create experiences, thus logic creates your path through the day and the resulting experience can affect you core tenets. The long-term effect of this is a shift of cores. The entire template can adjust completely and move your “self” to a better or worse place on the quality scale. This theory is obvious but describing the process sounds convoluted. The point of this becomes convoluted as well. Never-ending questions of why we would want to change, who should change, and what the “higher Quality” would embody. This isn’t the post where that gets discussed. So simply define this theory yourself, as it applies to you, if you think it applies to you. Enjoy…
If your stroll through a single day was examined, you would see the millions of decisions you make as you go. When you “static latch”, every one of these decisions, or at least as many as you are capable of processing, needs to be examined. For every decision examined, a logic filter is applied, and depending on experience and your core beliefs, you make high and low quality decisions. The cyclical aspect of logic and experience is important to note here. Your logic dictated your decisions yesterday which created the experiences you apply your logic to today. Thus, a continual evaluation of your decisions directly affects your experience and aides logic in its attempt at providing high quality decisions. On a side note, not all decision making is conscious, so there is more to this, and I will discuss it later. So, your repetitive actions, which can be dictated by your logic both high-value and low-value, are the essence of your experience. A daily movement through the world creates another day or piece of experience for you to draw from. Actively applying logic will help you to create experiences, thus logic creates your path through the day and the resulting experience can affect you core tenets. The long-term effect of this is a shift of cores. The entire template can adjust completely and move your “self” to a better or worse place on the quality scale. This theory is obvious but describing the process sounds convoluted. The point of this becomes convoluted as well. Never-ending questions of why we would want to change, who should change, and what the “higher Quality” would embody. This isn’t the post where that gets discussed. So simply define this theory yourself, as it applies to you, if you think it applies to you. Enjoy…
Scrutiny
I admit to putting off adding a post. I freely, unashamedly, admit my procrastination. I think it would be impossible to honestly submit any thing new regarding the intended direction of this post without knowing the destination myself. One of the most trying things about progressing in all this is maintaining the idea/ideals in your daily life. The expression “static latching” (from Pirsig) is what I use as my phrase for stopping and trying to make some tangible connections between the new concepts and the existing template I live by. The process of pausing to make real the new concepts or awareness, creates a void, temporarily usually, where you are reliving the ancient and comparing it to the current and tossing out anything that does not fit the new template. This is an odd time. If you have ever in your life done or said something that five minutes later you worried may have been wildly inappropriate, you know the feeling during this “static latching” time. Unfortunately, this concern is not a minor fleeting occurrence, it is a pervasive consciousness. It rules all that you do, from how you say “hello” on the phone to how you kiss your fiancé goodnight. The process of studying your actions to such a degree is exhausting. Your mental processes are on full alert, they are studying the outside world, the inside world and the in-between world. If you are fully aware of your new ideas/ideals and you are fully aware of your old template, it still isn’t easy. The ability to toss out old thoughts and emotions so you can act in the new direction usually touches far deeper than some superficial need or urge. It tends to have a root down into the core of who we are, and especially what has made us this way. If in fact you believe in there being one or more core tenets that a person is created by, then you also believe that any of these changes affects one if not multiple core beliefs. The ability to successfully make that change is aided by what I said earlier about knowing the higher value of the new, and recognizing the lower value of the old, but that is not all there is to it. It should be, though. Logically, it would be all that is needed. In a good versus bad distinction, choose good, it seems simple. Ultimately, logic does not apply directly to those core beliefs. It seems that the logic helps you change your actions, but not your beliefs. Look for experience in relation to all this soon…
Monday, March 06, 2006
So I says to myself, I says...
I will open this with two quotes:
Instinct leads, intelligence does but follow.
If a flood goes above one’s head, its absolute elevation becomes a matter of small importance; and when we touch our own upper limit and live in our highest centre of energy, we may call ourselves saved, no matter how much higher some one else’s center may be.
-William James: The Varieties of Religious Experience
The first of these quotes can catapult us into the metaphysics realm, while the second one can call us back a little and help pace ourselves without a loss of momentum.
At this point however I am questioning the catapult method. I think that if one is open-minded, being told the truth can be enough. Having someone sit down and tell you a theory that unites every thing in this universe in one sitting can be enough to have you start working on it yourself. On the other hand, approaching with skepticism, you can never me made to see an inter-connectedness theory in one explanation. No amount of obvious or intuitive measures will allow you to change the exemplar of your world, merely because some one said “Hey, this is how it really is, pay attention.” Thus we move into a slow stream of examples that should, if I am even remotely capable, give you a new outlook on some things, maybe even all things.
Taking on this task means that I will have to think a bit about what I am going to say, so please bear with the potential delay in posts or worse the multiple daily posts. For now, I will let my opening points simmer for a bit, drink some coffee, and listen to Dvorak.
Instinct leads, intelligence does but follow.
If a flood goes above one’s head, its absolute elevation becomes a matter of small importance; and when we touch our own upper limit and live in our highest centre of energy, we may call ourselves saved, no matter how much higher some one else’s center may be.
-William James: The Varieties of Religious Experience
The first of these quotes can catapult us into the metaphysics realm, while the second one can call us back a little and help pace ourselves without a loss of momentum.
At this point however I am questioning the catapult method. I think that if one is open-minded, being told the truth can be enough. Having someone sit down and tell you a theory that unites every thing in this universe in one sitting can be enough to have you start working on it yourself. On the other hand, approaching with skepticism, you can never me made to see an inter-connectedness theory in one explanation. No amount of obvious or intuitive measures will allow you to change the exemplar of your world, merely because some one said “Hey, this is how it really is, pay attention.” Thus we move into a slow stream of examples that should, if I am even remotely capable, give you a new outlook on some things, maybe even all things.
Taking on this task means that I will have to think a bit about what I am going to say, so please bear with the potential delay in posts or worse the multiple daily posts. For now, I will let my opening points simmer for a bit, drink some coffee, and listen to Dvorak.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Poor Unfortunates
It always disappoints me when people don't understand what they read. In my title, for example I have the word 'it'. Now one could assume that 'it' is the emprical 'it' that we all live everyday in the metaphysical realm. Or one could know that I work in the IT field and have, as of late, felt a little behind the times and meant 'it' as Information Technology. I guess it just goes to show that folks will interpret whatever they would like to from some things.
On the IT side of things, I have just finished teaching a course on a database mangement software suite. All in all, I believe it went well. The ladies I was teaching were excellent and quite adept at the whole thing. The actual teaching of it was a bit tedious for me (I can't imagine how the poor people I was teaching must have felt) since I was without any formal training with the software myself, compounded by a lack of data to actually enter and manipulate. I do think, however, that they got a good feel for the system and will be able to move ahead when they arrive home.
As a friend would say: Ciao Mario
On the IT side of things, I have just finished teaching a course on a database mangement software suite. All in all, I believe it went well. The ladies I was teaching were excellent and quite adept at the whole thing. The actual teaching of it was a bit tedious for me (I can't imagine how the poor people I was teaching must have felt) since I was without any formal training with the software myself, compounded by a lack of data to actually enter and manipulate. I do think, however, that they got a good feel for the system and will be able to move ahead when they arrive home.
As a friend would say: Ciao Mario
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Open and Close
Here's what I have to say: Negative Space.
Enjoy what I haven't written down yet as much as what I have put to words.
Obnoxious, I know, but fun for me.
I have decided that my endless rants about metaphysics deserve a voice besides a dry-erase board and bored co-workers, so here we are. Presumably there will be more to come, and this won't be a passing fancy. I also may begin to only use one space after my period. Maybe.
Enjoy what I haven't written down yet as much as what I have put to words.
Obnoxious, I know, but fun for me.
I have decided that my endless rants about metaphysics deserve a voice besides a dry-erase board and bored co-workers, so here we are. Presumably there will be more to come, and this won't be a passing fancy. I also may begin to only use one space after my period. Maybe.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)