The Squat-Pushup

  I call them squat-pushups:

You can begin from the bottom position or the top. Since I sleep on a firm 2″ close-cell foam mattress on the floor, I begin each day moving from a lying position into a squat position and sit there for as long as I want to — pushing my knees as far forward and down as possible to stretch the ligaments and tendons of the ankle, knee, hip and feet — and turn my head left to right to get the blood flowing to the brain, and am fully awake. Then I push my knees down with my hands to rise up to the Half-lift position. Then I place my hands on the top of my thighs in the classic athlete’s resting position (think football huddle), and lower myself into the full squat position again while maintaining that hand position throughout the exercise.

In that manner, I eliminate the least productive part of the squat movement — which is the half squat to fully erect position — while only doing the productive part, which is the full squat up to resting with the hands on top of the thighs close to the knees. That maintains constant tension on the leg muscles and back — and eliminating the fully erect position which is a bone-on-bone lockout and wonder why they get very little muscular development while experiencing a lot of back, hip and knee pain.

So you eliminate all the non-productive but problematical parts of the exercise and what remains is all gain and no pain — which is most people’s wish list. And although this exercise done in this fashion seems too easy, it is just the right amount of taxing and fatiguing for 50 repetitions yet light enough to be a perfect cardio workout as well. “Cardio” doesn’t only need to work the heart but any sustainable exercise for 50 repetitions (5 minutes) will raise the heart rate to the desired targets (60–85% of maximum), which is the more efficient way to do cardio — while also producing the muscle pump for muscular gains which conventional cardio doesn’t do.

This is particularly desirable for the aging person (athlete) to maintain productive exercise all their lives — rather than lifting too heavy that one fatal last time that brings an abrupt and unexpected end to their continued exercise and progress. That is as often as not the sad end to a lot of athletic careers — while those beginning even late in life and proceeding cautiously and thoughtfully — often pull ahead and remain that way for the rest of life.

That has been the leap that few have made — from vibrant youth to mature years — that have to continue to evolve as needed over time. It is not enough just to continue to do what young people do — thinking that will keep them young forever. Instead, that refusal to adapt over time will knock them out — for good, because they have learned no other way but doing things by brute force. But with age, one hopes to grow wiser as well — which means adapting and changing to stay vital and vibrant — and not demanding that the old days of their glory return. That’s not going to happen — no matter how many plates they slap onto the bar. Most athletes have to learn that lesson the hard way — but the fit always do. The unfit are those who insist that the world change to suit them.

So you make the squat as easy as possible — using all four appendages for the lift — instead of imposing artificial performance requirements that make it harder, and eventually impossible — particularly when they need it the most. That is what the survival of the fit is all about — doing what you have to do — by making it entirely possible, and not inevitably impossible so one can’t go on. Fitness is the total response to a challenge — and not tying all one’s appendages behind one’s back to prove how fit they are.

The Focus of Movement

 The critical importance of Arthur Jones' lifelong observation on exercise was ultimately manifested in his focus of muscular action around a single joint (axis of rotation) -- of which the largest are the shoulder girdle and hip girdle involving the largest muscles of the body.  That specificity seemed to enable one to work the largest muscles -- but more importantly, to work the most muscles in that singular focus.

The reason for that is because every muscle contraction is dependent upon the muscle contraction underlying it -- which is to note that the bicep cannot be fully contracted while all the other muscles are in a state of relaxation.  That is not how the muscular "system" works.  One of the primary tasks of every muscle, is to recruit as many other muscles as possible -- to make that task easier, as well as possible.

That is why the proper performance of every movement, should be to begin as strictly as possible with the muscle at the joint of movement, and eventually spreading the load over the entirety of the muscular system (network) as one has exhausted that specific muscle and requires the assistance of all the supporting and surrounding muscle.  Rather than being "cheating," that is the obvious and intelligent thing to do -- to recruit the most muscular activation and participation possible.  That is what any intelligent being and manifestation would do -- and not tie all their appendages behind their back -- thinking if they can survive that challenge in that manner, they will grow stronger for it.

Working out in that manner of isolating every muscle, then becomes even more prohibitive than most have time for -- as there are 600+ muscles in the body.  However, the secret is that the design and orientation of human expression and movement, is optimized by movements at the head, hands and feet -- while the muscles at the core -- including the heart and lungs, play mainly a supportive role and are not the primary means of expression and articulation.

The hands and feet are not just clubs and stumps -- so that one must immobilize those areas at the wrist and ankles -- rather than achieving the greatest range of motion possible at those areas of focus (expression).  I think most people who have thrown or hit a ball recognize this importance of turning their wrists to achieve the precise effect they want -- often "posing" for a few moments because it felt so right.  It would be even absurd to consider to do so without the proper articulation at this joint.

And so the whole design of the human body is focused on these fine, expressive movements at the head (face and neck), hands (grip strength and dexterity), and feet (to lever against the ground).  Thus it doesn't matter how many miles one shuffles their feet -- as it would be simply to articulate the full range foot flexion the ballet dancers are capable of achieving to obtain impressive lift and deftness.  Pound for pound, they are incredible athletes with power to weight ratios that most can only imagine one day doing.

But the purpose is not to make everyone into Zhakarova, who is truly gifted for that performance, but to take a few lessons from that range of possibilities -- because there aren't any other lifelong trained ballerinas who can duplicate that range of movement as much as they try.  But the same principles of movement still apply to everyone -- regardless of their genetic makeup.    

In one position, the muscle must be contracted, and in the other, the muscle must be relaxed -- and gradually and deliberately working to extend those ranges, causes the entirety of that body to make that possible.  Not only does that one focused muscle have to be entirely contracted but its fullest contraction will require all the connected muscles to be in that supportive state as well, and that is true for the relaxation of each individual focused muscle -- that it is dependent on the muscles it is interconnected to to also be in a relaxed state as well.

Thus by limiting the focus to the movement around only one axis, it is possible to control the state of all the others -- and the primary work being done, is to move the blood and fluids around the body back towards their purifying and recycling central organs -- and in that manner, ensuring the healthy functioning of that body -- and everything follows from there.  The healthy organism can do whatever it wants to do -- and is not limited by its own self-imposed disabilities and injuries.

One of the important markers of suboptimal circulation is the bloating and inflammation manifested in swelling -- particularly at the extremities of the hands, feet, and face (neck) -- often thought to be "natural aging."  That's why compression garments are effective in many people who have this swelling of their feet, legs, hands, arms, because compression is the same as contraction in making a volume smaller -- so less fluids can accumulate.

It works paticularly well at reducing the tremendous and acute swelling that accompanies many injuries -- to half the size or more from the resulting inflammation.  As such, many people with largely bloating and inflammation problems, can immediately reduce those conditions with compression garments as well as alternating rhythmic muscle contractions -- just as the heart does in pumping blood out to the extremities.  

But the heart does not pump the blood back to the heart and all the centralized purifying and recycling organs.  It relies on skeletal, voluntary muscles to achieve that effect -- and why people who are more active in this manner, are in better shape and condition than those who do not, or very little.  That should not be a huge secret but simply the proper understanding of biology and physiology.

Half of the circulatory process is automatic -- but the other half is dependent on what one actually does to effectively pump the blood and fluids back towards the heart.  That part is not automatic -- but willful, and effected foremost, by the proper understanding of this functioning.

The complement of circulation is respiration -- or the exchange of air within the body with the environmental air.  The proper understanding of this process is that the lack is not the breathing in, but the expulsion of the old air in the body -- that must be expelled first in order to make room for the new. 

Because like the blood vessels, lung tissues branch into finer vessels, which mean it must follow a fixed path in and out -- and why chest compressions obviate the need for breathing into the lungs because the atmospheric pressure will restore air into the vacuum caused by compressions.  But first, the old, residual air has to be expelled -- and that is the same for the fluids in the tissues -- they must first be expelled by these muscular contractions to have the greatest health-giving effect.

That's what muscle contractions do -- and then once that is done first -- the relaxation of that contraction allows new fluids a vacuum (space) to enter.  Thus the importance of both fullest contraction and fullest relaxation -- but that is not achieved attempting a one lift attempt, followed by any amount of resting (doing nothing).  Those people are likely to have high-blood pressures, and dangerously spiking heart rates.

And then their doctors will tell them, "No more heavy lifting," to which they interpret to mean no more exercise ever again -- because that is the only way they know and think productive.  There is a better, more productive, healthier, sustainable way -- beginning always, with the proper understanding of what one is doing.  Otherwise, more of the improper understanding, is not likely to achieve the desired results.

Exercising for Life

  The greatest reason for exercising is to attain and maintain one's optimal functioning and health -- and not to lift more, or to get big -- both in the long run, might be disastrous to one's lifelong well-being.  Lifting the most weight possible always comes with the risk of incurring a major injury that will haunt one for the rest of their lives.  Once injured, that remains a lifelong vulnerability -- but one takes that into account and works with and around it as best they can.

Only rarely can one claim to be 100% fully restored and better than new -- but one does their best to aim for it.  One learns to make behavioral adjustments.  In that manner, many formidable strong men overcame their disabilities and weaknesses they might not feel the need to if born fully competent and even gifted.  

People in such disadvantage know that their best gains come from going back to the basics -- and mastering them to build a stronger foundation for which to build further gains on.  It was the inattention to those details that might have inevitably led to their injury -- taking things for granted, or miscalculating one's abilities.

And so the proper course of rehabilitation, is to begin all over again -- as though one knew nothing, and have the advantage of doing it right from the very beginning.  This is particularly true for those starting off exercise late in life -- at which such miscalculations could cost them permanent and lasting injuries, and even death, if they miscalculate their abilities.

So the wise course, is to take nothing for granted, and nothing as known -- which might have been the very reason for their resulting predicament.  In this case, the people frequently in the worst shape and conditioning, are those who think they know everything there is to know about exercise -- that is obviously untrue and not working for them.  Some even go so far as to teach classes of people who are all in better shape and condition than they are -- because they have been duly "certified" to do so.

Most exercise instructors are not "certified" to be experts in any activity or event but have paid their fee to have an organization certify that they took a First Aid and CPR course as entrance to their weekend certification seminar -- of which much of the familiar jargon and misconceptions are indoctrinated and repeated -- such as BMI and Target Heart Rate.

All activity that can be sustained for five minutes is "aerobic," while those efforts that exhaust one in under a minute, is anaerobic because one cannot sustain such efforts without incurring an oxygen deficit.  That happens when one is not breathing deeply and fully to sustain that activity indefinitely.  It is just "one and done," or maybe even three repetitions at the most -- before one must deload and breathe more normally again -- often resting in this way most of their "workout" time. 

That is not the nature of work most people have to do -- and be productive.  Thus, most labor takes place over a course of an 8-hour day, and not just the one and done -- and they go home or do nothing more.  That is more likely not to be productive effort, but destructive effort.  It takes just that one moment of destructive force, to undo eight hours or even a lifetime of constant, steady, persistant effort.

That's how civilizations are built -- as well as individual bodies -- that unrelenting, unwavering effort -- and not the uncontrollable moment of thoughtless rage that destroys everything.  That's what human beings and bodies are designed for -- and what keeps them in good shape and condition all their lives.

It is the fullest articulation of these possibilities over a lifetime, and not the force exhibited in a moment.  So when it is asked what is the proper exercise for a human -- a single attempt or persistent repetitions, the better answer is the expression of strength as endurance -- to persist.  That is what gets most jobs done -- and ultimately, that is the purpose of any undertaking -- to be able to do it as long as it takes.

In most cases, that is taking it slowly and easily -- for as long as one has to, and not be one and done, and doing nothing for the rest of their lives -- thinking nothing more needs to be done.  That is the problem of most of the people who have fallen out of exercise -- they think that it is sufficient what they have done 20-40 years ago, and that should be enough to coast on in for the remainder of their lives.  It doesn't work that way.  

If that were the case, than one could rest on all those heart beats one expended earlier in life, rather than that it is just as necessary now and forevermore.  Those are the rules of life.  If one wishes to maintain those capabilities, one has to actually use (articulate) them -- and just the memories of having done so ages ago, will not suffice.  Every day anew, they have to articulate their fitness -- to go on.

But it doesn't have to be world record efforts and feats, as just the movements themselves -- without making them harder and more improbable.  But that is what most do in thinking of exercise -- not how to make movement easier and effortless, but how to make it increasingly and progressively more difficult -- until invariably, it becomes impossible and unthinkable -- especially for the old and infirm.

Rather than being unthinkable, it should be the first thing one thinks to do -- by first considering, what is the human body designed to do?  There is a good reason the body is hinged as it is -- to provide movement unique to the species.  No other species moves in that way.  That is true for all species -- they each have their unique possibilities of movements.

The obvious is not flying -- but no other animal can do a deep squat -- because their legs aren't hinged for it.  Yet many people think a deep squat is an aberration rather than what humans are built to do.  Many do everything they can not to ever go into a deep squat -- explaining that their tendons, ligaments, and bones won't allow them to.  More likely than not, they just haven't done it since childhood -- when it was the most natural position for them to attain.

But years of sitting on poorly designed furniture rendered them incapable of achieving those positions anymore.  Not only that, but their backs hurt -- and every other joint in their body because of the positions they put themselves in for overly long hours.  So the fluids in their body pool and stagnate rather than providing the optimal circulation to maintain working order.  That becomes the new normal -- of increasing dis-ability, and they think that is what Nature intended in the great evolution of beings.

The Key to Healthy Lifelong Exercise

  The key to sustaining healthy lifelong practices is to have the proper understanding of what one is doing. Once one has this understanding that makes perfectly good sense, then it is impossible not to do it — like avoiding touching a hot stove. One understands that perfectly clearly — and not that one feels lazy and so will rest their hands on a hot stove. The human body is a lot smarter than people think it is — innately, and so when they are clear on what they must do, it doesn’t make sense to do anything else.

But unfortunately, a lot of what we are taught to do, doesn’t make any sense, and so the body intelligence tells them to ignore that “instruction,” because it doesn’t make sense and can be confirmed by their own experience — which ultimately overrides what they have been told to do “for their own good.” However, that is not confirmed in anything they do — and so they don’t bother to waste their time — because they know better.

That is particularly true in developing lifelong exercise habits — because they seem so unconnected with immediate feedback — and one will be advised that if they simply keep it up, they’ll have miraculous results in one to three years — rather than immediately and thereafter. If that were the case each and every time, then one would be a fool not to do it — especially when one needs to — like getting up in the morning and recognizing that one can barely move or is experiencing pain in moving. At that, many think the cure is not to move at all — since it causes pain, rather than “exercising” caution in that movement — and getting back to the basics of that movement — which is the articulation of that joint through as full a range as momentarily possible, realizing that every articulation of that range, increases that functioning through circulation and lubrication.

And that is the whole purpose of adopting a lifelong movement strategy to maintain those fullest capabilities — rather than throttling back more and more each day until one is completely disabled and dysfunctional. Obviously, that is not heading in the right direction they want to go — let alone as they get older. Maintaining full range movement is the only thing that makes sense — to enjoy the fullest life possible — but the price one has to pay to maintain those capabilities is not as exorbitant as most instructors make it out to be — infinitely out of reach. That is the training psychology employed by most instructors by promising those results only and always in some distant future — rather than actualizing those capabilities in the present moment — when it is desirable and important to do so.

Contrary to what the popular media would have us believe, most people do not pop out of bed each morning ready to take on the world — beginning with running a marathon and setting a personal best weightlifting — which is daunting rather than encouraging. Instead, most people are at their lowest levels of energy and wish to bump that up incrementally until they’re “ready to go,” and that is particularly important for the weak, sick and disabled — to bump themselves up to that next level of increasing functionality and well-being. Otherwise, nothing happens, and nothing seems possible. Also, nothing makes more sense to do.

But that doesn’t imply or mean doing all the things that don’t make sense — thinking if they simply do it long enough and more — that it will magically transform a pumpkin into a golden carriage. Reality doesn’t work that way. It is not “magical and wishful-thinking” enough that gets one there. It has to have a sound basis in reality and experience — and produce direct and immediate results. One does not turn on a computer and hope to get the proper results a year or three from now. No one would buy one if that is the timeframe of their expectations.

Yet they accept those rationalizations from “instructors” who obviously cannot produce immediate and direct results — because of that disconnect from reality in favor of their theories and explanations. The simplicity of exercise is understanding the basics of vital functions — underlying breathing and circulation. They both operate by the fundamental principle of volume inversely related to pressure — so that as any volume decreases (contracts), the pressure increases and has to move where there is less pressure, and since every muscle contracts by moving the insertion (distal) to the origin (proximal), that action enhances the flow back towards the center of the body (heart) — while the heart pumps blood towards the extremities (but not back towards the heart again). That is what the voluntary muscle action does.

And so those who understand and merely effect those muscular contractions, enhance that obvious health effect — along with producing movement, and the familiar pump, as well as fatigue. All that is incorporated in traditional movements like running, jumping, walking, lifting weights — but also can be done deliberately just for that enhanced pumping effect — when one understands that that is the effect — whether one wants it to be or not.

So whether one is an astronaut or simply lives a largely sedentary life, they no longer have to labor from dawn to dusk to maintain optimal fitness — but can achieve those objectives “scientifically and systematically” by upping their understanding before undertaking more effort — without it. That addresses the great challenge of these times in how to maintain health in greater longevity — even and despite increasingly sedentary lifestyles. The answer is not standing up or walking all day — but simulating the alternating muscular contractions and relaxations that produce that effect — beginning at the known weaknesses of those effects at the extremities of the body — the head, hands and feet — that despite all the myriad of activities undertaken, are ignored in conventional exercise to begin at the biceps, quadriceps, and pecs instead — which is the lack of understanding and observance of how the body fails with age — most disastrously at the head, hands and feet.

The beauty of this is that even the most weakened and aged people, can still move their head, hands and feet — even in they cannot move at every other joint — nor is it necessary to do so to obtain the healthy circulatory (pumping) effect — because the fluids pumped from the extremities has to go through the rest of the body, but not vice-versa if the focus is at a joint closer to the core — as in the case of the biceps, quadriceps, pectoral muscles — while the vital organs of the extremities are left to languish in the familiar pattern of the aged.

An intelligent being would recognize it means little for the heart and lungs to continue functioning while the critical organs have perished for the lack of this vital circulation to maintain them in top (optimal) condition for the remainder of their lives.

A Word to the Wise (Old)

 The major advantage of the old and wise has been the benefit of learning from experience in one's own life -- and not just learning from one other -- who may not be the wisest person in the world. In fact, most come to question whether the person most influential in that indoctrination knew anything at all -- and not that they knew everything, as they maintained.  

That is a healthy skepticism leading one to eventually question everything, and find out the truth of such matters for themselves -- rather than simply believing everything unquestioningly on face value -- as long as they insisted they were the properly-designated authorities on such matters, and had the "credentials" to prove it.

The proof always, is in the actual results and difference it makes -- in every real world test.  The laboratory conditions, are invariably contrived to whatever conditions one thinks is important -- and begins with that flawed premise -- that it actually matters.  Otherwise, they would just test it in the real world -- and dispense with the highly manipulated conditions.  Often, as is frequent now, the results merely confirm with what those funding the study want to "prove," and nothing beyond that objective can be considered.

In fact, many are thought that the "scientific method" is to propose a hypothesis and prove it -- rather than more importantly, finding out the truth of the matter.  That might be that there are much more important matters to consider, and while one can prove their hypothesis, that may not be the most significant consideration.  One has only proven what one set out to prove -- which is usually a simple matter of excluding every other explanation.

That is definitively not science -- but simply believing whatever one wants to believe -- which is how most people operate, and then complain that what they are doing is not working.  It may be that they are exercising a lot -- but feel compelled to do more (because they are not getting the desired results).  But instead of thinking they might be wrong, they think they merely need to do more -- of what is obviously not working.

There is a belief among many people that a lot more of the wrong thing, eventually makes it the right thing -- rather than that the right thing manifests from the very beginning, and is self-evident immediately.  Thus we have the common belief that in a year from now, what they are doing now, will show favorable results -- rather than immediately, and thereafter.  Time is used in this way to disconnect from the present reality in favor of an imagined scenario divorced from the present reality.

In this way, many come to prefer their ideas rather than the reality -- which tells them they are wrong.  It is more important to such people to always be "right" -- no matter how wrong they are, and everything in reality tells them so.  So as they get older, they become more delusional -- and you can't convince them otherwise.  That's why it is so important to connect the mind with the body -- as the manifestation of the truth.

Can One Exercise Too Much?

  The problem with doing 500 squats a day is that it leaves less time and energy for working the rest of the body — although we usually see the opposite of this — in people who do 500 repetitions for their biceps or abdominals, while doing little or nothing for their legs. Most gyms are full of such people with lopsided developments that make them look grotesque rather than appealing. Another variation on the theme is to load a barbell or machine, and just let it sit there so nobody else can use it — and so one can pull ahead of everybody else in that manner.

But all sarcasm aside, the danger of such regimens is the thinking that any one thing is all that is required to achieve perfection in all things — rather than just the one thing that has become the limits of their universe — and that is true with running, weightlifting, gender identity, or any other one thing by which they hope to reduce and explain every other activity in the world. The whole rationale for exercise is that it enabled one to become as complete a well-developed individual as possible — rather than a caricature of a stereotype — even of oneself. That’s why it was the fundamental exercise of the ancient academies — and not all the smart guys went to one camp, and everybody else went to another camp, and further divisions and specializations as job security for the bureaucrats of every ambition.

Having discussed exercise with many of the great pioneers and researchers, I found that 50 repetitions of any exercise would provide the appropriate fatigue that simply doing more would not. That was true whether they were in the poorest condition or world-class condition. If one performed less than 50 repetitions the weight was too heavy, and if they could do more than 50 repetitions, the execution was imperfect — which in the case of the squat was dropping down and rebounding out of the low position — rather than actually “squatting” at any time — which is specifically, to sit in the bottom position for an extended period of time.

The movement from the top to the bottom is not actually squatting — if no squatting actually occurs — which is to rest in the bottom position for any extended period of time — which is a great practice for a count of “50.” In this definition, many squatters cannot even do “one” — but do everything possible not to actually achieve the squat, and are even taught to avoid ever getting into a proper squatting position by allowing their knees to move forward beyond their toes — which is an actual requirement for a proper squat. Thus they usually cannot go below a quarter of the way down — and activate dorsiflexion, which is the toes moving towards the shin or tibialis — which is how the human leg is designed to move (hinge).

Yet many exercise instruction actually teaches against moving in the manner the body is actually designed to move — while contriving many other movements that have no practical application other than performing that exercise. And so after a lifetime of performing such movements, as they age, the damage to their knees, back, and other joints become apparent if not crippling — when the very reason for performing proper exercise is to avoid injury, rehabilitate and strengthen beyond present capabilities her than the — as a lifelong practice.

In the “squat movement” particularly, that would be performing the bottom half rather than the upper half usually done by most — because the top of the bottom half is not a resting position as standing fully erect is. So even with bodyweight alone, the muscles must work to maintain that position, while in the fully erect position, it is a bone-on-bone lockout requiring very little muscle activation — which is the kind of weightlifting/training most people do — and so can go all day, every day — with liberal rests on top of that.

But if the purpose and understanding is to fatigue the muscles as thoroughly as possible (high intensity failure) to stimulate muscle growth, that should be achieved in 50 repetitions rather than 500 — to prevent repetitive stress injury and premature wear and tear to the joints — while doing very little for muscle activation and full-range articulation of the movement and muscle from fullest relaxation to fullest contraction at the focus of movement — which is the “pump” indicative of enhancing the circulatory effect that skeletal (voluntary) muscles direct in addition to the always reliable heart action.

Understanding Exercise

  People naturally have an aversion to anything they don't fully understand -- especially when it is coupled with the advice that they must do it despite not seeing any good reason for doing it.  The problem is a lack of understanding of what they are doing, and until that is fully grasped, there will understandably be great resistance -- to do what doesn't make perfectly good sense and is aligned with everything else they know to be true in their lives.

Frequently, that is because those who offer that advice don't understand themselves what they are talking about -- but that is what everybody else also says, and nobody asks if it can be proven right or wrong in the present moment and situation.  That's what makes anything "scientific" -- that those results can be repeated by anyone, and not just a small group of "experts" jealousy protecting their "secrets," that only they are privy to.

That is the same in every human activity -- the desire to be the smartest person in the room -- without having to demonstrate it.  In that manner, they hope to intimidate all the others who know even less than they do -- because real confidence is very hard to come by.

That confidence arises to the extent that what one believes and thinks, closely relates to how it predicts real world events and outcomes.  People told to do something that doesn't make convincingly good sense to them -- are understandably reluctant to charge into the battlefield -- while those who unquestioningly, are merely replaced by the next recruitment of newbies.

So survival would dictate that one would filter all new information and actions through the filter of the tried and tested -- or what has developed through life and eperience as the "scientific method," as well as self-evident truth -- which is to say that if it sounds too good to be true, it should be put through a more rigorous examination and stands the test the first time and every time -- and not just sometime in the future will miraculously transform into the truth.

Reality doessn't work that way -- and what we are trying to do in life is have our thoughts and ideas align with realities, rather than thinking one can impose whatever fanciful ideas one wants upon the existing realities -- and eerything will turn out hunky-dory, rather than the disasters we are witnessing so famously in declining civilizations, cultures and societies.

There is a reason they go extinct -- rather than having "survival value," which is the name of the game of life.  It is not about beating everybody else -- but simply perfecting one's own game throughout life.  However, it is not merely doing one's own thing -- as the immature think -- but actually doing everybody's thing -- and then some, to arrive at a greater synthesis and summation of all of life.

That means learning from everything -- and not just learning and doing the one thing -- as though it is everything.  Those are the specializations that have their moment and quickly flame out and move off the stage after their 15 minutes of fame -- to spend the rest of their existence in oblivion -- of which the most typical are the drug, sex, and other diversionary addictions that numb one from their sensitivities and awareness of what is important to do.

That which is important to do, must receive the highest priority among all the possibilities -- at every moment -- and not the "entertainment," which is invariably the fragmentation of life into the many parts that are less than the whole comprehension of it.  In that way, everything is made less meaningful and significant -- until inevitably, nothing makes any sense at all, and becomes merely arbitrary and the fad of the moment.

These fads are dictated by whomever is most motivated and funded to convince everyone else that their way of thinking is the only way that can be thought -- and one should consider no other explanations.  These campaigns usually appeal to greed or fear -- or the combination of the two which is the fear of missing out (FOMO) -- as though that truth might not last if one does not act quickly enough.

But the truth is that which endures -- and stands the test of time -- rather than what is easily forgotten as soon as the vested interests run out of money to promote them, and are displaced by the next fanciful ambition.

And that is why it is so important to begin each day grounding oneself in reality -- especially to see what one is momentarily capable of -- not only at one's peak, but importantly, at one's weakest -- because that is one's vulnerability -- that must be worked on and strengthened for the greatest integrity of that individual.  That is all one can do -- but that is what one must do -- to achieve the best of what their life is capable of being.