Thinking Differently
If one ignores most of the crises manufactured to keep an audience, the really BIG problem for the foreseeable future, is the rising tide of obesity and overconsumption, that left unaddressed, threatens the quality of life so none of the other measures are meaningful.
The answer for most, is not cosmetic surgery -- when most people have the capacity to shape their own appearances to a remarkable degree -- that they have never been taught, and may have even been discouraged from expressing. How many young people have been told to “wipe that smile off their faces,” to suppress their delight at anything? Eventually they lose that capacity for healthy expression -- building layers about themselves to hide their true feelings.
The plasticity of the human body is the musculature, that properly and deliberately trained, give the pleasing shape people desire to be in -- that is immediately accessible to those informed they have that capacity already. No matter how out of shape people appear to be in, they are not entirely devoid of muscles. Their muscles are just not “educated” and trained to be in the shape they want to be in -- and they have no idea of how that process works.
Invariably in the discussion, one produces a “black box” if when purchased and used faithfully, produces the results one is hoping for, and nothing that is immediately self-evident. That has been the tradition of physical education in the past -- largely a belief system in which if one does this, something miraculous transpires in six months or a year -- but never now, in the present moment -- which of course is ridiculous, because movement is a self-evident truth.
In the same way that competitive bodybuilders can shape themselves into the form that meets the judge’s approval, most people have the capacity to achieve a more modest transformation of appearing to be in shape -- or at least in the best shape they can envision. A lot aren’t, because nobody has ever given them permission to assume that posture -- as most of the people around them will be quite happy to deride their every effort for a high self-regard.
In particularly hierarchic cultures, this kind of self-nullification, is demanded -- and the whole purpose of their organization and activities, is just to reinforce who is boss. And so the postures assumed by all those in the organization, are those with a beaten down, bloated postures -- signifying no threat to the dominant person.
No amount of “exercise” is going to reverse that body language -- and what it says about that culture and personalities. Usually, they become their own worst victims -- with every dog looking to kick somebody lower on the totem pole. The epiphany is mistaking one as weaker who is actually stronger but doesn’t express the usual displays of dominance and superiority -- just as a show.
That distinction is being in shape as opposed to proving, and displaying one is so with certain actions. The discerning eye can make that distinction -- without the wastage of energy.
posted by Mike Hu @ 12:30 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I have a problem with the fat nutritionist -- or personal trainer -- or aesthetician -- athlete -- or artist -- or the editorialist.
Political correctness demands that we no longer make these discriminations -- even when that is the only meaningful thing to do, the only way to know whether that person knows what they are talking about. And that should be a minimal expectation and not the most unreasonable of expectations.
Here is somebody relentlessly giving people advice on what they ought to do -- and it has failed personally for themselves, who should be the best recommendation for what they are promoting -- as the truth of a superior way.
Often when we see the columnist make an appearance on television, we are shocked that the person claiming to have superior judgment to virtually everybody else in the community, looks like a person who has not had any human contact by which people can assess the responses to them. Those cubicles must be small indeed.
When one looks at the many infomercials on plastic surgery passing for documentaries, one should notice that even after the procedures are performed in the makeover, they provide extensive retraining in how to look attractive -- that is not offered before, which might have mitigated the problem.
But in many cases, a dramatic event needs to occur before one is totally committed to change; People seldom just wake up one day and decide to make wholesale changes to their lives. Usually there has to be a triggering event -- an epiphany, a moment of truth. For many, it is surviving a near-death experience, of which the most common are the heart attack, stroke, car accident, fall, etc. In such moments, one is willing to make any changes, if one survives that incident.
A large part of civilization is to eliminate the incidence of such events, and in fact, people come to expect that nothing deleterious should ever happen again -- including injury and death from wars or police actions. Many people become so risk-averse that they become insensitive to everything really happening in their surroundings -- in favor of what others tell them is happening, and unless somebody specifically tells them so, it’s not happening.
So there is great silence on many matters that should be acknowledged as the root of most problems -- rather than being alarmed at the end-results as though nothing got them there; it was just a spontaneous freak incident that “could have happened to anyone,” walking the streets at 4 AM, in a troubled section of town.
And so the indoctrination is, there is no reason for anything happening -- and it doesn’t matter if what is done now, was done before, or after. It is the liberal artist’s misunderstanding and denial, that there is such a thing as cause and effect, because all ideas are “equal” in validity.
From there, the next step is hypocrisy and outright contradiction -- that obesity and overconsumption are not only just as good, but may actually be superior -- in their standards-free world.
If this is the news and information they are reporting, it is not only useless but damaging. One needs to pluck out their eye in order to save the rest of the body and soul.
If one googles “obesity” and “overconsumption,” one encounters the term, “gluttony,” and further, the seven deadly sins of old -- that contemporary mass media culture has turned into the unspoken virtues.
http://www.whitestonejournal.com/seven/index.html
Pride (1)
Humility
Seeing ourselves as we are and not comparing ourselves to others is humility. Pride and vanity are competitive. If someone else's pride really bothers you, you have a lot of pride.
Avarice/Greed (5)
Generosity
This is about more than money. Generosity means letting others get the credit or praise. It is giving without having expectations of the other person. Greed wants to get its "fair share" or a bit more.
Envy (2)
Love
"Love is patient, love is kind…" Love actively seeks the good of others for their sake. Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive. Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times.
Wrath/Anger (3)
Kindness
Kindness means taking the tender approach, with patience and compassion. Anger is often our first reaction to the problems of others. Impatience with the faults of others is related to this.
Lust (7)
Self control
Self control and self mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation. Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete's muscles are: for maximum efficiency without damage. Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control.
Gluttony (6)
Faith and Temperance
Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. This does not pertain only to food, but to entertainment and other legitimate goods, and even the company of others.
Sloth (4)
Zeal
Zeal is the energetic response of the heart to God's commands. The other sins work together to deaden the spiritual senses so we first become slow to respond to God and then drift completely into the sleep of complacency.
MTV did a special in August 1993 on the Seven Deadly Sins which involved interviewing various well-known entertainers from the music and television industry. They pretty much all agreed these were not vices and the list was "dumb." (Sigh) Oh well.
If one can't talk about the roots of our problems because they've been placed off-limits by political correctness, then discussions become futile and meaningless -- and that is the problem with most of the mainstream media (public) discussions -- in which ONLY the irrelevant, unnecessary, and immaterial can be debated endlessly.
Over the last several decades, the major investment has been in that which perpetuates the problems -- because it is highly profitable to do so, while the elimination of problems, eliminates the possibilities for endless profits.
That's why profitable enterprises are not interested in health -- but in health care, which is the absence of it. When people are healthy, the need for health care diminishes greatly.
There is this built-in conflict of interest with many old-mentality institutions that regard the profitability and self-interests of their profession above the public good; in a previous era, corporate executives were proud of saying, "What is good for GM is good for the country," without distinguishing the distinct interests of the two.
There'll always be problems (challenges), but in healthy societies, they evolve to a next greater level, rather than trapping that society in an endless loop until they are extinguished -- or are forced to move on.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd62.htm
ELECTION 2004 CAMPAIGN ISSUE: HEALTH CARE
By: Devvy
September 5, 2004
NewsWithViews.com
Sandwiched in between this battle of Viet Nam who did or didn't do what, Kerry and Bush continue attempting to out shout each other on the issue of health care. Make no mistake about it, health care is a very important issue for a couple hundred million Americans. The real and only question that should be raised regarding health care by any Presidential candidate is this: does the U.S. Constitution, specifically Art. 1, Section 8 authorize Congress to legislate, regulate or control medical practice or health care within the 50 states of the Union?
Those same couple hundred million Americans don't care about the answer, they only know it's their "right" to get "free" prescription pills and health care from the government. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, but only a "hateful" person with no compassion would take such a stand in bringing up something so trivial as the law of the land. Beginning with FDR, the American people have been slowly, gradually, weaned onto government welfare programs disguised as "entitlements." Very clever word smithing to mislead the masses, but which is finally coming around to the breaking point.
Social security and medicare are taxing schemes that are doomed to failure. They are doomed to failure because mathematically, the numbers will always be in the negative column. Every day we hear that social security is broke and will run out of money in such and such a year (administrations change the numbers to adjust to poll results). Every day we read about how broke Medicare is and how billions upon billions of dollars have been wasted over the past six decades from fraud, waste and abuse. Yet, the masses continue to put their hands out crying, "gimmee, gimmee."
I do not pay into social security or Medicare because I won't apply for these programs later in my life. It's not my responsibility to pay for your retirement or your medical expenses, nor is it your responsibility to pay for mine. As a free, sovereign citizen, I will not be forced into a voluntary taxing scheme to pay for your retirement or medical care. This may sound hard nosed, but these programs are strictly voluntary and those who value freedom and independence do not want to be dependent upon government for anything.
No doubt my mail box will fill up with letters from slaves who can't hear their chains clanking, shouting that I don't care about the welfare of my fellow Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth. My parents are in their late 70s and are dependent upon these programs. Too late they realize what their generation has left mine, but I won't leave future generations the same mess I inherited. What's done is done, but let's get it fixed. Of course, those who make money off the system don't want it fixed, same as the IRS scam. Remember: there's no money in the cure, only the treatment. The only logical, reasonable solution is to let social security and Medicare die out a natural death. In the meantime, these programs must be funded out until we can end them. This can be done using constitutionally generated revenues as long as they are not stolen from protected trust accounts and put into the general fund of the treasury as has been done for decades, which is why they're insolvent.
Who ruined the best health care system in the world?
Congress and out of control lawsuits filed by, smarmy, shyster attorneys like John Edwards, current VP running mate of John Kerry. How ironic that the masses demand their "free" prescription pills and Medicare from the same politicians who are responsible for ruining the best health care system in the world. The seniors in this country (of which I am one now having turned 55 and qualify for senior discounts at various establishments), are a very loud, strong voice who make demands for more and more health care in exchange for their votes. It is most unfortunate they don't understand that Congress imposing its endless rules and regulations have destroyed the very system they demand serve them!
One of the most articulate, sane and accurate explanations on this issue is a book titled Code Blue by Edward R. Annis, M.D. Dr. Annis is the past president of the American Medical Association. Give it to a family member who has bought into the propaganda from John Kerry, George Bush, Jr and every politician on the stump about providing more and better health care for America. Both Kerry and Bush are hitting the college age voters real hard with their message about more and better health care as a right. While it's admirable that many popular rock stars are promoting 'Get Out the Vote,' the frightening part is that these young voters have been taught socialism in the government's indoctrination centers (public schools) and on college campuses. They have no idea what is constitutional. Tragically, they have been taught communism disguised as "liberalism." One of the finest works on this issue is Freefall of the American University, which should be mandatory reading for both parents and students.
Stop feeding the system
Back in June 2003, I wrote an article titled The High Price of America's Gluttony. That wasn't an easy article to write as tens of millions of Americans are overweight or out right fat and are very self-conscious about it. However, despite the massive amount of warnings by doctors via television, radio and books, the message is still being ignored. Just walk out your front door and all day long you will see fat teens and adults lining up at junk joints (fast foods) or in restaurants eating all the wrong food as if they don't have a worry in the world. They should.
Maintaining your weight isn't just about being unsightly, it literally is a matter of life and death. Overweight too often turns to fat and then along comes heart failure, thyroid problems, diabetes, pulmonary hypertension and arthritis. After decades of gluttony and abusing alcohol and drugs, one day Americans find their bodies are broken and then they expect me, my sisters, brothers and my daughter to pay for their health care costs in an attempt to cure decades of over indulgence.
It isn't easy, I know that. But, it is everyone's personal responsibility to take care of yourself during your life span so you don't become a burden to your family and society. As someone who has been into alternative health resources and a responsible, sensible eating lifestyle for decades, the medical industry doesn't make ten dollars a year off me and I will work to keep it that way. Wouldn't you like to be healthy and active instead of suffering from the effects of gluttony, poor eating habits and abuse of alcohol and drugs?
Those who ignore common sense and refuse to take care of themselves and expect everyone else to foot the bill are selfish and irresponsible. There's no other way to say it. Yes, the temptations are there everyday, but it's called discipline and will power. Yes, people get stressed out for a thousand reasons and stuff themselves with the wrong foods, but that cannot be an excuse to allow your body to become a toxic waste dump and then expect your neighbor to pay for your poor choices. It's not too late to get educated about your health and start taking care of your body. It is also vitally important that Americans get educated on substances like aspartame, and vaccines that are contributing to crushing health problems for Americans that can and are leading to premature, agonizing deaths. Let's not forget fluoride - another toxic substance sold as "safe" for decades - wrong.
Additionally, one issue that cannot be ignored in this discussion is what has been done to the food supply and here I'm referring to meat, chicken and pork. I strongly encourage everyone to visit a superb web site titled The Meatrix.com. There you will find disturbing information that all informed consumers should have before they buy at the grocery store.
The constitutional issue
Despite the pandering to the elderly, sick and outright lazy by slick politicians selling free health care for all Americans, health care is not a right. It's not a privilege. There is no constitutional authority for the federal government to fund health care or meddle in that industry. Health care is between you and a health care provider. This relationship can come about by direct contact with a health care provider or an employer should they freely choose to provide this benefit as part of your working package. That's the way it is in a free market society and that's what will keep costs competitive.
LBJ took the first step in dangling the carrot in front of the American people with Medicare and the mess has snow balled. The government has no jurisdiction regarding the practice of medical care within the 50 states of the Union. This isn't my opinion, it is the consistent opinion of courts including the U.S. Supreme Court:
Linder v United States 268 U.S. 5, 18, 45 S. Ct. 446 (1925): "Obviously, direct control of medical practice in the states is beyond the power of the federal government." U.S. v Anthony, 15 F Supp. 553, 555 (S.D. Ca., 1936) and U.S. v. Evers, 453 F. Supp. 1141, 1150 (M.D. Ala., 1978): "...the direct control of medical practice has been left to the states."
We can all remember when Marxist Hillary Clinton made her big move to socialize health care in America. The backlash was enormous, but there was one very important reason why attorney Hillary backed off that few American people were aware of, but deserve to know. I have in my possession a document obtained and reproduced from the National Archives titled: Memorandum for Walter Zellman from Sallyanne Payton, clearly marked: Preliminary Draft for Official Use Only. Do Not Quote or Release For Any Purpose, page 4, Health Care Task Reform under Hillary Clinton:. Please note these sections:
"(b) may the federal government use other actors in the governmental system and the private sector as its agents and give them orders as though they were parts of a prefectorial system? The short answer is "no." State governments are independent, although subordinated, sovereignties, not subdivisions of the federal government.
"Although the federal government may regulate many of their functions directly [as well, for example, it subjects state water districts to the Clean Water Act], it may not require them to exercise their own governmental powers in a manner dictated by federal law. The states may be encouraged, bribed or threatened into entering into joint federal state programs of various sorts, from unemployment insurance to Medicaid; but they may not be commanded directly to use their own governmental apparatus in the service of federal policy. There is a modest jurisprudence of the Tenth Amendment that seems to have settled on this proposition. See the DOJ [Dept. of Justice] memorandum for a fuller elaboration."
What does this mean from a constitutional position? It means that the government can bribe the states, they can threaten them, but in fact, the states cannot be forced to get down on their knees to the federal machine. Mrs. Clinton and Congress blew $30 million dollars and almost two years on creating a "national health care" candy store that flunked a constitutional test. Recall the words of the attorney who wrote the material above about there being a "modest jurisprudence of the Tenth Amendment"? That is why the courts ruled in the cases above the way they did - the Tenth Amendment.
Is there any solution?
First and foremost, get healthy. Your health is your greatest wealth and it's time every American began making their health a number one priority. Forget all the propaganda from well paid mouth pieces that it's okay to be fat and "get comfortable with your skin" nonsense. Learn about alternative medicine so that you don't have to run to the doctor for every little bump in the road. If you're on drugs, get off them. If you have a drinking problem, address it. In the long run, you will be a happier, more fulfilled member of your family and society.
Stop taking government hand outs. Stop applying for government programs, i.e. social security and medicare. Let these systems dry up and fold. Doctors are being driven out of the medical industry and are being replaced with less qualified third world foreigners hired by HMOs because of the collapse of this industry caused by Congress and over regulating. This is a national disgrace and a dangerous trend. Since Congress is responsible for this nightmare, this November vote out every incumbent in Congress except Dr. Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. Get the government out of all health care and you'll see market forces bring costs back into line.
If the people don't stand up for their own independence now, future generations will continue to be enslaved and health care costs will continue to blast into the universe. The tab for 2005's spending on colossal, monumental government failures - health, education and job training - will be $142.5 billion dollars. You might as well take that $142.5 billion dollars and burn it in the street for all the good it will do the American people. Stop the cycle of dependency now.
Late breaking notification of public access showing:
Understanding Conditioning (repeat) FOCUS (channel 49, Honolulu) 12/5/2006 2:30:00 PM A revolutionary new way of looking at exercise. Environmental/Health
It usually shows by popular request from viewers and as time allows. It's pretty much the classic as far as understanding conditioning goes.
The last query I had was that somebody noticed that I only breathed through my nose -- rather in that forced, labored manner through the mouth -- which is generally not seen except in these highly-contrived exercises prescribed by personal trainers.
Breathing by mouth is by definition shallow-breathing, and whenever one sees these grossly out of shape persons having great difficulty breathing while moving around, they are invariably mouth-breathers.
So one of the biggest improvements that could be made by people who are grossly in bad shape and especially with breathing difficulties is to breathe ONLY through the nose -- ensuring that they breathe deeply and in order to do so, must strengthen the muscles of the torso that produce the breathing action by modifying the volume of the lung cavity by the alternating relaxation and contraction of those muscles.
When breathing through the mouth, there is very little variation in the chest volume and all the contraction is taking place at the mouth -- shortcircuiting millions of years of evolution in optimizing respiration. The mouth is for eating and speech -- and the nose is perfectly designed for breathing.
Many people when young take up breathing through their mouth when engaged in a strenuous activity thinking that will aid them momentarily.
In Honolulu, this weekend, there will be the running of the Marathon, and what is pretty consistent in these races is that those guys way ahead at the front are not breathing hard -- or is one even conscious of their breathing because it is so natural and effortless -- not to mention they have to be highly evolved for this event, as most are in virtually every world-class event.
Way on the other end, at the rear of the pack, are those laboring mightily just to breathe -- let alone run or walk the marathon. This difference should be very apparent when one is looking for this critical difference.
To teach breathing as a conscious effort quite apart from the overall general movement(effort) is an indication that the instructor has no understanding of human physiology because if they did, they'd realize that every great effort (muscular contraction), effects the proper flow of air into and out of the body -- as long as no deliberate effort is made to control or stop the natural flow.
The teaching of "great effort" rather than "great understanding," is one of the great errors and misfortunes of human existence -- that many people have to be liberated from.
the proper pace for a person's conditioning activities is that rate in which one can breathe properly and deeply.
The original idea of what constituted "aerobics activity" was that level of exercise that could be sustained while carrying on a normal conversation -- because that was the benchmark that ensured that one was not exerting themselves dangerously.
But in the hands of the physical education people, that maximum became the minimum, because most of their understanding, is just wishful-thinking rather than any observation of real-world phenomenon. People of this disposition of imposing their will upon the world and others, were famously drawn to this vocation of inflicting pain and hardship on others -- as some kind of virtue in life.
The great teachers do quite the opposite and ultimately teach the wisdom of being one with the universe -- or in the flow which is the indication of the highest understanding and comprehension of everything, rather than everything being arbitrary and unrelated to anything else -- including that there is no cause and effect.
This kind of dichotomy of understanding exists in every field, and so those who understand, and those only pretending to do so, are easily distinguished by the discriminating eye and mind. So this notion of political correctness promoted largely through the media, schools and universities not to be able to make these discriminations -- are the reason for most problems experienced in contemporary life, and do not deliver the superior life or any justification except for the arbitrary exercise of power of one abusive person of another.
Shortness of breath is caused by mouth breathing -- and the cure for that is breathing through the nose, causing a deepness of breath -- and the depth of breathing is the indication of efficiency, produces calmness and clarity, while rapid, shallow breathing is an indication of distress.
Unfortunately, many physical educators regard the production of distress in their students as the ultimate objective of their instruction -- rather than the enjoyment of their doing. When one is in the flow of their activity, the sensation is one of ultimate attainment of being and doing, mind and body integration -- and not the mind telling the body what to do, creating the division and fragmentation that is the struggle of many people's existence, as effort that requires increasing amounts of discipline, energy and coercion. Finally a person gets to the point in which it all does not seem worth it -- consuming more energy than it produces.
That is the fallacy of most exercise regimens -- in consuming energy as the end in itself, which is a particularly critical concern for those who must conserve it -- as people get weaker.
The proper strategy to sustain participation is to make proper exercise as simple and easy as possible -- instead of going in the opposite direction of making it as hard and difficult as possible, ensuring in the end, that nobody can or will do it. the competitive mindset eliminates the participation until only one survivor is left. That's not the way a program of lifelong exercise would go.
Instead, it would make exercise and conditioning the only logical path to functioning better in one's normal activities -- rather than requiring extraordinary efforts.
I've seen this same kind of counterproductive mentality at work in virtually all the areas of human activity. A business that is desperate for new employees will create the longest job application form before talking to the interested person -- thereby discouraging all those prospective candidates coming through their doors daily.
They should reverse the process and conduct the job interview immediately, as their highest priority instead of not being bothered.
Post a Comment
<< Home