On CrossFit

On CrossFit

  With any training methodology it is first necessary, for any rational discussion, to distinguish between theory and application. Think of it this way: in theory, deadlifts will provide an incomparable stimulus for developing power and mid-line stability, in application, however, they can literally break you. But, to keep the discussion in the territory of logic, we must not observe isolated incidents of application as though they represent an entire theory, lest we wish to commit an inductive fallacy. In theory, CrossFit is the most effective strength and conditioning modality. Firstly, I’ll detail the theoretical components and then discuss how to move into application.

  CrossFit essentially distills into three elements: weightlifting, gymnastics and metabolic conditioning. I’ll detail the contents of these three variables later. Within this there is an infinite variety of challenges you can assemble, manipulating the intensity and volume variables as much as your imagination allows. Following the actual prescription of CrossFit inc. the structure of your typical program is as follows:

3 Day Cycle 1 Day Rest

Day 1: Metabolic Conditioning (Running, Rowing, Swimming, Biking, Skipping.)

Day 2: Weightlifting (Clean and Jerk, Snatch, Deadlift, Squat, Overhead Press, etc.) Gymnastics (Pull Ups, Dips, Muscle Ups, Handstands, etc.)

Day 3: Metabolic Conditioning, Weightlifting, Gymnastics.

Day 4: Rest.

   The pattern is that on day 1 you focus on a single skill, mastering the mechanics and concentrating on what most needs improvement. On day 2, you mix the two skills you didn’t practice on day 1. On day 3, you combine them all. On your successive 3-day cycles you select a different skill for day 1 and adjust days 2 and 3 accordingly.

   As with any program involving complexity, variety and heavy loads, practice mobility and stability drills and know when your ego is pushing you into danger. Be brutally honest with yourself; master the fundamentals with patience before progressing. The beauty of this methodology is that, after suitably gaining proficiency, it becomes absolutely liberating. Everything becomes feasible; you’ll never find yourself rejecting a challenge because it conflicts with your sport: CrossFit is the exploration of the unknown and unknowable. 

The Progression of Pondering

  I think a vital yet commonly deficient practice would be the internalizing of ones awareness. Our culture constantly bombards our existence with archetypes, products and expectations that seldom do we just retract our awareness internally and revel at the majesty of self. Immediately prior to writing this, I submerged myself in an Epsom salt bath with only my mouth and nose above water to procure air, with the lights off, for about an hour.

 Water is perhaps the most fascinating property of the universe, a transparent swath of chemicals that moulds around solid forms. With your entire head and body submerged, with the exception of the mouth and nose, all you can sensually detect is the sound of your heart persistently sustaining your system. You begin to feel the multitude that is self, with billions of individual yet integrated cells and organs constantly active. Simultaneously, however, you feel the self dissolve, it's a truly peculiar thing, to be so intimately aware of the self yet intimately aware of dissolution. 

 Once you have transcended the incessant sensual input we've been conditioned to expect, the brain becomes increasingly calm. As though a previously expended energy has now returned, capable of formidably addressing any deeply-imbedded question you may have. Questions regarding the nature of the individual self, your goals and desires, your ritualistic behaviour. You essentially acquire the focus that was previously spent on processing the incessant bombardment of sensual input and can now freely allocate it. Much like the moments before sleep, only in conscious meditative practices you can intentionally end the experience and translate what you thought. How much of your brilliant internal inquiry have you forgotten because you slept on it?

 Every single moment, since our birth, we have been subject to the temporal condition of day and night. We intuitively measure the passage of existence through the circadian rhythm of life on earth, determined by the length of daylight to darkness. To what extent are we most fundamentally tethered to this cycle?

 I have identified a correlation to distress and confusion that I think, combined with hydration, movement and nourishment, constitutes a cause. It seems that those who regularly practice alignment with the Earths circadian rhythm and joyously practice healthy eating, movement and hydration practices have a higher propensity towards kindness, serenity, tolerance and open-mindedness. It just seems to foster an ethically prosperous demeanour that encourages good characteristics. 

 The reason for this isn't solely identified in those practices, but in the type of behaviour and outlook those practices engender in the individual. Responding to and managing the fundamental conditions of existence creates the source from which you proceed into everything. Each problem that arises is consequently managed with clarity and focus, every interaction is managed with virtue (given the reciprocal conditions of your exchange,) and your daily thought patterns are generated from a vital and healthy source.

  Primarily, I think this is where our inadequate educational system commits its biggest deficiency. When do they properly foster the correct appreciation and attitude towards holistic excellence? When do they remind you that your body is an integrated system? When do they remind you that glucose, which is most abundantly derived from carbohydrates, is the necessary biological currency you require to function exceptionally? These are the most fundamental conditions of existence: how to manage and know yourself. 

 I don't necessarily want to accuse or blame anything for this, but if you're going to practically rob the first portion of my existence and impose pre-requisites upon me, you should be responsible for instilling the fundamental lessons necessary for life. Allow me to explicitly clarify now: I understand you have the potential of studying these things in college and/or university. That's completely aside from the argument, however, because these are lessons necessary at a young age. Not when you're navigating the minefield of university, practically structured to extract as much money from you as possible. 

 Neither are these practices that necessarily require quantification, with each student being measured against each other. These are just fundamental practices that influence who you are on the most intrinsic levels. They produce better people, encourage fulfillment and excellence.  They need not be converted into competitive strides to bolster ones pride.

The Anti-Writer

The Anti-Writer

 In the pursuit of cultivating a skill, often times we encounter a deterring resistance. For the case of writing, it appears as the "Anti-Writer." The anti-writer can be obvious thought patterns that detrimentally impose their force on your will to write or subtle forces that operate beneath detection. 

 Obvious ways in which your anti-writer wreaks its will on you would include any thoughts that counteract your desire to write. They are immediate and declarative. You have the will to write and suddenly you encounter an opposing thought. Perhaps, also,  you encounter your anti-writer in your daily internal dialogue frequently, confronting resistance every time you even think of writing. 

 Subtle ways in which your anti-writer sabotages your excellence is by operating in the subconscious, by surreptitiously influencing your behaviour. You set your alarm for 6am to seize an extra hour to write before work or school, but you stayed up later the night before by "accident" thereby hitting the snooze button repeatedly. Or you sit down to write but find yourself becoming excessively engaged in research (perhaps not even related to what you intended to write) and not actually writing. 

 Our daily behavioural decisions influence the sustained success of our desires. One means of cultivating a cognitive "smoke-detector" would be to create a repository for all of your immediate and declarative deterrents. Those thoughts that appear immediately when you have the will to write. Create this list and amass as much as you can in a period of two weeks. With each deterrent, generate a positive or neutralizing response. 

 Try implementing these responses proactively each time you encounter a deterrent. The goal is to, with time, have those positive responses become the default thought-pattern. Writing, or really any skill, begins first in our conception and conviction. We must be able to conceptualize our potential and have the necessary conviction to execute it. So the initial, default thoughts that appear are immensely impactful. 

Expressive Motion

The human form is profusely expressive, we've become so "civilized" that we've forgotten the captivating thrills of expression through motion. Movement isn't necessarily about calories burned and prestigious accomplishments, these are by-products, but not causes. The causal variable in highly active people is the beauty of mind-body integration, the inexpressible trance of being fully engaged. 

 Motion through landscapes can be perhaps the most romantic existential experience; being not only in the environment but integrating yourself with that environment. Breathing in the molecular products of nature inadvertently labouring away for your benefit. Intersecting and connecting your destinies with  unknowing critters. This is where I derive my motivation.  

 What the fitness industry has done is it has eloquently bottled up and sold what you can freely and naturally obtain with visceral curiosity. Find a natural landscape and plot numerous ways to navigate through it: be that climbing, running, walking, swimming,  or a mixture of all of the above. Rekindle your intimate connection to the Earth and relish in its bounties and abundance. 

I would of course first encourage you to learn the requisite skills and perform the requisite tension-release and postural alignment prior to this.

 When it comes to expressive motion (or "fitness") it has, experientially, been most prosperous and fulfilling to not entrench yourself exclusively in any single form. A specialty is necessary for mastery but within maintaining a mastery there can be many auxiliary practices. A runner can be a gymnast on the side, a weightlifter can be a track athlete, a gymnast can be a weightlifter. To immerse yourself without pretence is most resourceful.

Personally, the philosophical and visceral insights garnered through navigating forests (trail running, hiking) has yielded the most substantial mental and physical gains. I derive the largest sense of satisfaction from long distance runs in nature, be that with a small tribe of like minded individuals or by myself. Nothing can replace the visceral bliss of a sun-kissed run deep in the bellies of the rainforest geared as minimally as possible.

 

The Progression of Reflection

  

    At the beginning of this week, I committed to running a total weekly distance of 50km in the mountains. I surpassed my goal by 5km, which infuses me with a new sense of strength, capability, and determination. I'm exceedingly eager to see where I can take this ability and how many more goals I can accomplish. Prior to this week, I was absolutely unaware I could successfully complete 55km running up and down mountains and through winding, technical trails. 

   Running, to me, has become the most lively defiance of mortality that I've been able to experience. In my old age, I'll be able to say that, while I had it, I used it. I didn't squander my youth by constantly waiting for the opportunity, instead, I created the opportunity. I want to be able to say that I didn't let the enormous burden of mortality prevent me from exerting my youth to the fullest. 

 Environmental integration is also a massive part of why I run and why I choose to identify as a "trail runner." When I'm immersed in the bellies of the rain forest, exerting myself and breathing heavy, I don't feel like an anomaly that's just passing through. For the period that I'm in a particular area, I feel an intimate connection to that landscape. This sounds a little woo woo, perhaps, but I'm of the conviction that simply because my sensory magnification doesn't allow me to see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening. We're in a perpetual state of symbiosis with the environments we're in. We just can't ordinarily detect it. 

  Of course, also, running simplifies and purifies life by removing the trivial exigencies and restoring the basic necessities. When you're out there on a long run, the only thing you're concerned with is ingesting oxygen, drinking a bit of water here and there, and moving. You can only be concerned with the fundamentals of existence. I think it's what you'd call a Pure Experience. An experience absolutely unadulterated by prejudice or pre-conception, you're just living in that moment engaged in that activity because there's absolutely nothing else you'd rather be doing. At least, that's how it is for me. 

 

Authenticity and Free-Will

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHT-xeU1LEk

  Heidegger introduced the identification of the "Dasein," the part of yourself you're probably most familiar with as you're lying in bed waiting for sleep to overtake you. Dasein is the "you" that examines yourself almost as a separate entity; it's often been identified as a spirit.

  As a social animal and in our modern predicament where we're forced into social institutions from kindergarten until grade twelve, it's easy to become a construct of your social environment; to let the opinions and definitions applied by someone else dictate your character. Of course, as a social primate, the idea of living authentically, or separate from the social consensus, weighs heavily on our shoulders.

  So how does one live authentically? According to Heidegger, the first step is asking the question "What does it mean to be?" Because in the pursuit of this often tantalizing, often enriching, and sometimes depressing, question, we must confront our own mortality and conjure up our own meaning. No one can live your life or die your death, it's entirely yours to live and die.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tf6BS9B2pY

  Do humans possess true free-will? Or are our actions ultimately determined beyond our cognizance, giving the illusion of free-will? Personally, I'm a proponent of a sort of constrained-freedom idea, in that, at any given time the choices available to us are limited and our choice is determined by listless variables that likely operate sub-consciously and many that operate consciously.

  Furthermore, the ability to detect the contributing variables varies by the person. Some people are super-tuned, capable of detecting most of their motives and variables that factor into any given decision, whereas some people make immediate and irrational decisions in the absence of consideration. Given that mindfulness is a measurable skill, I'd assert that your level of active mindfulness would determine how "free" you are in deciding your actions.

 I think it intimately connects to what Heidegger identified as our "Dasein." The individual-awareness that we each independently possess, and how it can be trained. To illustrate a rudimentary analogy, imagine your dasein as a muscle. The more you exert your dasein and tread into previously unknown territory, the more resilient and tough it will become. As your dasein gradually becomes more resilient and tough, you'll begin to notice that you're consequently becoming more reflective about everything, from the minutiae of existence to the more grandiose exigencies of existence. 

 Certainly, there is always a limited pool of options for us to fish from, but as our dasein becomes increasingly competent, our fishing gear improves. We acquire sonar, an advanced fishing-rod and superior bait. We become able to select rather than allow, which fish we hook. 

The Progression of Pondering

  Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EB9avF1EXY

 The largest source of existential angst is the quest for purpose. It's a ubiquitous condition amongst humans, we seem to crave a meaning. Personally, when I was younger, the search for meaning weighed heavily on my shoulders and invaded every aspect of my existence. As I've grown older and actively pursued excellence in athletics and personal academic study, I've come to the conclusion that there is an important distinction to be made. There are two types of purpose, one of which being prone to fallacy: extrinsic and intrinsic.

   I've viscerally felt the connection we all have to the universe. I've spent much time amongst natural landscapes, breathing deeply and gazing at each and every inhabitant of these landscapes. Viscerally, I know we're all manifestations of the same source; perpetually locked in an everlasting cycle of forms, incessantly growing and decomposing. So, for me, a logical progression from there is that, through us, the universe acquires meaning and purpose. If it can be intrinsically-generated, then it exists.

   The confusion and anxiety I experienced when I was younger was a consequence of the notion that purpose is extrinsically-assigned. That we're each born with a destiny to fulfill. Indeed, the condition of purpose being an intrinsically-generated destiny is exceedingly liberating. Imagine if you were actually born into a pre-determined destiny, one which you had no agency in creating and were inevitably forced to follow. What a miserable, constraining existence an extrinsically-assigned purpose would be.

   I remember laying in bed at night sometimes frantically scrolling through potential "roles" I could fill. As though I needed to be the embodiment of some cerebral, cultural archetype. As I've come to intimately know myself through copious hours alone, I realize that the ego is extremely pliable. You could be a traveling bard one year, traveling through towns and strumming your favourite instrument, while the next year you could become an ultra-marathon runner. Of course, culture will tell you to buckle down, go to school, get a career, fill a role. Don't be silly, what're you? A hippy?!

 This existence, in this particular generation, is one of innumerable opportunity. Don't rush into university, you'll be so frequently bombarded with extrinsically-designated tasks that you'll be left scant time to discover your intrinsic nature. Discovering your intrinsic nature is fundamental to everything you will do in this life, it is the source from which you will proceed into everything you do. I've previously outlined many methods in which you can probe into your intrinsic nature, I do this purely as a service to you.

 The only inherent freedom you have in this existence is the ability to harmonize your mind and body to explore, learn, conquer and exert effort. After an arduous sentence in the public education system, I've realized we're doing it all wrong, especially in an era of amazing scientific progress. Humans are born naturally curious about the natural world. The absolutely most stifling thing you can do to this curiosity is to shove young humans into a classroom and force them to sit down and learn about the world through a book. The world is right there beyond the windows! Let them explore it! Isn't that a peculiar thing about our education system? It's absolutely devoid of experiential learning, which, in my opinion, is the most effective. I wouldn't assert that it's one or the other, a healthy balance of experience and book-studying would be much more conducive to progress.

Wander and Ponder #4

I like to provide a little musical-guidance with each of my articles. If you've read my writings before, you're probably already familiar with this. The song I choose to accompany the article with is the very song I mingled with in the writing of the exposition. So, if you'd like to experience the musical fornication that spawned this article, here you are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H43YApDQheI

The idea of the static-self is riddled with fallacy. Firstly, if you aren't continually revising, improving and refreshing yourself then, by definition, you're stagnant. Secondly, life is a continual experiential evolution, as you're exposed to new environments, activities and ideas, you change. Thirdly, be aware that, due to our inherently social nature, the people that comprise your extended social-circle will often attempt to "profile" you, or put your entire character into a box. Perhaps you've consequently encountered resistance to your personal evolution due to this, I know I have and know many people who also have. Despite this, always remember, this resistance is a product of their own attachment to an idea or concept of who you are. A true friend will encourage and nourish your personal-growth.

I think in order to fluently and efficiently evolve you must develop a strong spiritual connection. Before I continue, I will clarify that to me, spirit translates to sensitivity of self. It's a particular sensitivity regarding your personal habits, patterns and behaviours. It involves periodically scrutinizing yourself by examining your current situation in regards to your habits, patterns and behaviours. For me, this process is executed through a lengthy wander, preferably in the morning and at night, with the assistance of my favourite herbal ally. This isn't the exclusive means of achieving this, obviously quiet and motionless meditation is conducive to this, strenuous endurance-based exertion often helps me, or simply just spending time by myself near a river with an open word document/journal is effective.

Perhaps I'm an idealist or naively optimistic but I think the most potent means of inducing wide-scale change is by altering or assisting individuals in their personal journey. By illuminating the means through which one can attain what Aristotle termed "The Good Life," I think you could effectively produce a culture of fulfilled people.

Of course, the route to a culture populated by fulfilled denizens is arduous and demands a high degree of effort on the part of every individual. You can't passively expect fulfillment to arrive on your doorstep like a curious squirrel. You must actively exert yourself, challenge yourself both mentally and physically and engage in enriching and stimulating dialogues with other humans while being accepting of dissent. Indeed, dissent is incredibly resourceful for advancing your own set of opinions. The trouble occurs when you reject and insult dissent or, even worse, insult the person offering the dissent.

To abandon that digression and return to my original point, I'd like to delve deeper into the nature of identity and self as a dynamic and perpetually-evolving-thing. The patterns of existence differ individually in terms of the content but the context is generally the same, and has been for most of human-existence. I think it intimately intertwines with the seasons, with the wobble and orbit of the Earth. As the warmer and more hospitable seasons arrive, I've invariably experienced a massive outpour of energy from my body and mind, all of my energy wants to be directed towards exploration, growth, and exertion. As the winter season arrives, which typically, for most of European history (which is where my ancestry derives from) indicates the coming of a harvest and stockpiling and consequently, a type of introverted hibernation.

 I think a substantial degree of our cultural ailments in regards to psychological maladies stems from this notion that spirituality is "woo woo nonsense," and that science can answer all questions. I'm far from anti-science, I'm a science enthusiast. I just also think that enthusiastic existentialism and philosophical inquiry still have a major role to play in assisting our journey's towards our ideal-selves: free from psychological ailment, free from stress and living completely fulfilled and content in our situations. It's very important to develop an acute sensitivity to yourself and your impact on others, to listen often, to your heartbeat, to feel what it is to be alive. To take your shoes off once and a while and allow your fundamental connection with the Earth to be restored. To breathe deeply, move often, think more, develop rationality and adopt a healthy amount of skepticism.

 Plato likened the absence of awareness to being dragged dangerously along by a horse-carriage. In the absence of sensitivity we often allow our circumstances and emotions to determine how we behave and think. This is a very dangerous threat, indeed, one which threatens our autonomy and diminishes our potential.

Musings on Non-Violence, Time, Economics and Innovation

http://youtu.be/TTFm_fxeusA

When you utilize an attack-weapon, or kill-device or seek harm and initiate force, you manufacture a scenario of necessary response from the victim. Primally, I know that the wielding-with-intent of a weapon against me would induce a dominantly visceral response, not one of arduous logic. I would thereby expect the initiation to almost automatically create a violent scenario. 

 Once it has been initiated, either with a gesture towards the weapon, a firing of the weapon, a swing, or any other means of initiation, you have generated a fundamentally visceral and primal situation. These situations are resolved without foresight or lengthy reflection, but an instantaneous reaction, a reflex of survival.

This doesn't necessarily claim that it's resolved with a reaction of force, flight is a potential response in many cases. The undertaking of flight with the subsequent pursuit from the initiator is still a violent scenario. You're forced into a state of completely adrenaline-filled terror or, more accurately, desperation for survival while someone pursues you further.

Violence is an equation that begins with an initation. You could argue that violence begins with the formulation of motives but at the point it is yet to be violent. Also, motives can be subsequently abandoned and never enacted, therefore violence does not occur in the formulation of motives but in the initiation. Once you have initiated force against another, you have then manufactured the scenario of necessary response. In the absence of initation there is consequently an absence of violence.

Time, Economics and Innovation 

Time is the ever-receding resource of temporal form. Being a temporal form, but equipped with foresight, the utilization of time as a resource is inevitable. Hence our rigid work-schedules, set sleeping schedule, eating schedules. We harness it for immense efficiency, but efficiency is relative to the pursuit. Our current pursuit is one of economic development, of extracting and utilizing natural resources to continue to expand the economy. In the effort you manufacture tasks for people, with a particular reward. This reward would be money in our case. Money being a universally-identified thing of value. 

 When you look at food, intently and carefully, you see the slavery were all intrinsically bound to. We work for food and shelter, when living in a city. This food and shelter is provided for us so that we may dedicate our time to other means. But someone has to tend to our necessary demands, we just don't all have to. So an economy is reasonably an inevitability of city-life, which itself demands the need for lawful enforcement, sewage control, waste control, electricity.. We have a lot of nuanced tasks that need to be completed by somebody almost full-time. To abandon our economic model is to abandon a system that enables immense diversification by unifying every citizen under a common value. A value is necessary for the exchange of goods and services.

 Perhaps, though, our present economic system is creating values which are fundamentally unsustainable and harmful to the environment. Harming the environment is a fundamental wrong; you do not corrupt your sustaining force if your goal is sustain yourself and your offspring. It's fundamentally incompatible with even elementary logic; if you rely on something for sustenance and continuance, you do not corrupt it for immediate or near-by gains. Particularly so in the knowledge of a time-span that exceeds your own lifetime. One which stretches for eternity, through your offspring, and through there's until it cascades down into the infinite. Perhaps a perpetual existence is possible, firstly we need to preserve home base while we work towards expanding beyond a single resource-base. Makes sense, no?

Once we've reached beyond earth the instrumental adaptations that occur on the new planets will substantially individualize the separate planets, with each becoming its own breed. The environments we'd have to respond to are as of yet unknown, but that doesn't mean they're unknown forever. Discovery will happen if facilitated. Imagine all the foreign environments were simply yet to perceive through the senses, with no present clue as to how to manage them. Our ingenuity would be released into novel environments, manufacturing an entirely novel reaction. And as we've seen on earth, once we invent our tools, our tools become an inseparably symbiotic reliance. 

Responsibility and Accountability

In order for this tribe, or cluster of people unified under a universal currency and an ever-evolving moral theory, to exist peacefully and prosperously we need to be accountable for that which we are responsible. This moral-umbrella that we're sharing is of course not a static thing, rather a continually accreting and morphing thing. With new principles slowly weaving in and antiquated principles being slowly relinquished. 

If we're all going to implicitly agree to partake in the offerings of this culture and society, we should all adhere to similar principles and if not, at least adhere to non-aggression. Always, in the proceedings of evolving this thing, ideas trump violence. Indeed, ideas can prevent violence, this requires the agreement of non-violence of course. It may not be a contract but certainly we individually agree to behave within parameters that harm no one, so we can all function in harmony and prosperity. This is what civilization is, or at least should be.

When someone commits an injurious or debilitating action against another, what do we do? Of course, under our system of justice - punishing those that harm or debilitate - we respond. The response to evil, or wrongdoings or harm or debilitating actions, is necessary. We cannot avoid it. This doesn't grant that it's an inevitability of human-behaviour, but in the occurrence of it there must be a response. With this population-density combined with the dissociative nature of our tribes, evil,  debilitating, harmful wrongdoings are evidently present. 

So how do we respond?

 I wouldn't suggest that prevention is the one and only saviour, capable of entirely expunging evil from civilization, but it's an effective agent. Through early teachings in reason, logic and philosophy, by instilling dialogue as a means of resolution, I would assert that we would experience a lower frequency of inappropriately settled disputes, thereby reducing violence. Twofold, reason encourages compassion, reason permits rational resolutions of things. For this to occur we would necessarily need every citizen, or the overriding majority, to agree under some means of unification. 

 We all enjoy harmonious interaction with the members that form our closes bonds. A social mammal relishes in social environments. Not necessarily all social environments, but certain ones. That one friend you reciprocate with well, your group of friends, etc. It assures us we aren't alone, that we're all traveling through this nebulous journey together, figuring it out as we proceed through. That we will support each other and relinquish prejudice and censorious behaviour and coalesce. These qualities are indisputably beneficial, my own and your own experience confirm this. 

Earlier I mentioned that due to the density and dissociative nature of our tribes we experience evil. What does that mean? How could it be corrected rather than combatted?

 It's evident, through anthropological studies, that humans are tribal animals that rely on cohesion and alliances, that we thrive in tribes. In the tribe, each member must be responsible and accountable. If you are responsible for building the huts and they collapse on me,  you're accountable. If you're responsible for cultivating the food and come winter we suffer a famine, you're accountable. There's an intricate web of responsibility and accountability, with each member relying on each other. 

 What's essential for the tribe is that each member sustain a relationship with each other, in order to track their behaviour and ensure they're working for the benefit of the tribe. When a member commits a crime against the tribe, they're accountable to the whole tribe,  because civilization doesn't progress through delinquency. 

In order to ameliorate the present state of our tribes, I would argue we need to erect more incentives for communities to function like communities. This would include things like: more localized systems of government that focus on smaller constituencies, local food production, smaller schools with fewer students, and more accountability. As our population continues to increase I think it's vital that we focus on smaller communities because as it currently stands, government is elected by the majority of the minority. Constituencies are becoming too large to accurately account for everyone. 

Journaling the Ideal-Self

The concept of the ideal-self fascinates me. I think there's an inherent image contained within all of us that represents ourselves at our best. The you that wakes up out of bed and immediately steps outside onto the dewy grass, letting the blades caress the crevices between your toes while you listen to the birds and praise existence. The you that adequately tends to your health, ensuring your cardiovascular system is healthy and your body is mobile and free of any constraining tensions. The you that reads captivating and wise fiction, the you that reads philosophy and learns how to apply reason to your decisions. The you that periodically analyzes your own beliefs and scrutinizes your patterns of behaviour as to ensure you don't become ensnared by habit and ritual. The you that consistently exerts a commendable effort in anything you do and relishes in just that, the raw effort.

Our ideal selves may individually differ in the content but I think the context remains the same. The general route-to-reward involves the same tactic: journaling. I think journaling is a universally effective tool that assists in the pursuit of whatever our ideal selves would do. The journal not only records what you've thought but serves as a reminder of who you were when you wrote that, what your ambitions were and who you wanted to become. It holds you accountable for your intentions, whereas ordinarily you could dismiss them if they weren't written down. Perhaps the most beneficial and humbling element of the journal is the reflection; peering into the past and cognitively gazing at your previous self, feeling the remnants of your old self and relishing in the progress. 

 A journal, regardless of the form it assumes, is an extension of our internal cognition. It becomes the content of our brain; the intentions, thoughts and actions we experience internally are transmitted to an external extension of ourselves. If someone were to pick up your journal, open it and begin reading it, they'd discover at least a portion of the contents of what's internally capsulated within your mind. Now this is a riveting concept. 

Let's assume you kept journals for every minor and major goal you had in life. Every little task that needed to be completed, you first journaled about completing and contemplated the most effective or satisfying means of doing so. Including mundane things like vacuuming, arranging items in your room, what you wanted for breakfast. In the journal you’d reason about things and occasionally rant about how difficult it is to vacuum that one corner in your room behind your bed, how your pet instinctively avoids the vacuum by sitting high on your desk, monitoring the vacuum incessantly. If you had a treasure trove of these journals and left them in your attic or stored them in your closet, you'd have a vault containing the experiences of yourself. An extended source of all that is you, your feelings on things, your reasoning for things, your activities, your goals, etc.. 

This could feasibly become the most valuable source of connection for your progeny once you're deceased. Imagine leaving your children with a vault of your experiences, with journals that revealed your goals and the subsequent journals that had you reflecting on the accomplishment of these goals. For a temporal creature, aware of the inevitability of time, this is a mighty and influential bequeathment.

The Duty of the Citizen

The Duty of the Citizen

The dangerous element of democracy in its present incarnation is that the control and manipulation of the majority is the route to success. Success in politics is not contingent upon the most sound moral and logical principles but simply on the largest amount of votes. Moral and logical responsibility is not a necessary condition for a political candidate. If you want to be voted into power, the facts, evidence, and critical reasoning of the few is irrelevant. A scientifically- and logically-illiterate society is dangerous for precisely this reason.

It would be a drastically different issue if the state we're trying to disallow the people from any attempt at gaining scientific or logic literacy. Quite the opposite is true; libraries are abundant and educational institutions are accessible. The issue, I argue, is with the people, not the state. 

Given that is perfectly plausible for citizens to equip themselves with the requisite degree of reasoning skills and for citizens to study through the internet at their leisure, we categorically possess the ability to change our society. If you disagree with a particular moral stance of our society, provide sufficient reasoning and make your case, don't just disagree and scoff. If you feel your reasoning is sufficiently competent to challenge or inform  our politicians, do it! There are public meetings which are frequently held for the purpose of discussion amongst local constituents. 

Additionally, through the medium of technology, skilful argumentation is rewarded and shared. This is the "viral" phenomenon enabled by each citizen being equipped with a universally-connective device. If you really disagree, not out of pure emotion but ethically and reasonably, with a particular component or element of our society, you can challenge it. Anytime, anywhere. You could fight animal captivity on the toilet, or pollution while waiting for the bus. There's a word-processing app on every smartphone, it's not just an accessory, it's there for important reasons, one of which being the equipping of each citizen with the means to give input.

The duty of the citizen, however, is often a humble and unrecognized performance. It is a silent performance in many cases, a performance of choices. Society is a construct of collective individuals, with each individual's decisions contributing to the status of the state. For example, the task of reducing human kinds ecological impact first begins in the realm of collective individuals, with each citizen diligently recycling and earnestly working towards fewer emissions. More car porting and bicycling. It begins with the collective realm of individuals deciding they no longer need coca cola or any other arbitrary product which contributes to corporate-greed. 

The duty of the citizen, in an ideal democracy, is a cumbersome yet intrinsically rewarding task. It involves each citizen regularly expanding their reason and examining everything without prejudice. It often involves tasks for which there is no praise, no monetary compensation or congratulations. It doesn't involve the competition of capitalism but the unification under moral-law. Where we choose the most ethically sound course of action rather than the most immediately-satisfying course of action. It involves arduous studying,  a slow-development of rationality in each person. It is in our duty itself we find reward, it is from the duty itself that we slowly construct the ideal-society.

Wander and Ponder Entry #3

The recognition of my recent patterns of behaviour has been beginning to arise. A keen indicator of this would be my urge to walk. As the title of this entry would suggest, the most conducive activity to thoughtful reflection is an aimless walk, a lengthy wander. 

Over the past year, I've begun to recognize that my mind goes through energetic phases in which my desires steer towards strenuous exertion, activity, and play. The duration of these phases is usually,  based on recent observations, a month to three months. My phases seemingly reach a peak at the three month mark and then gradually transition into the next phase.

After those few months of exertion and outward expression I seem to fall into a type of introverted hibernation, in which I prefer to walk,  read, write and relax. This is a period of thoughtful reflection and thoughtful projection. A time to sort of analyze the mechanisms of my past behaviour and align my present for a fulfilling future. I think that this period has become an inevitability for me, a productive inevitability. 

Until now, it seems that this pattern has been happening without my agency. I've become a subject to my patterns rather than a master of them. Earlier this year when I was actively writing my blog I was performing an identification of these mechanisms. Following that period of identification I lapsed into a period  of unrestrained experience. I became a victim of these mechanisms. I suppose that period is conducive to the subsequent analyzation, perhaps even necessary for it. 

I think it's vital to subject your own patterns to scrutiny periodically. In the absence of periodic scrutiny you can become a victim to your patterns and if this persists for years you'll find yourself far into life in a position that is a product of habit and pattern-like behaviour. I think this is a pernicious threat to our emotional, spiritual and physical health. 

Employing the word "spirit" can often pit you in a confusing predicament. Spirit is one of those confusing words which meaning manifests in different forms to different people. Some believe that the spirit is this intangible essence that persists beyond death. Within this belief system you have sub fields. If it persists beyond death then it either incarnates in another physical form or it transcends this existence and moves into another realm. In other cases the spirit of everything is shared and universal. This is different from the other version because in the two systems I explained the spirit is an individual. In those other cases, however, the spirit is one with everything and every material manifestation of this universe is connected and inseparable. Furthermore, there are belief systems which intimately connect each of these beliefs and form a sort of unified system. 

Regardless of these established belief systems, there is something experiencing what the eyes see. There is something that is experiencing the phenomenon of existence. Although we like to imagine it as this separate and intangible essence, it's tethered to this being, indisputably. If you're body and mind are unhealthy or dissatisfied, so to is your spirit. This creates a bit of a conundrum because if our spirit were separate why does its stability so rely on our physical and mental well-being. Why can we become so snared by habit and ritual if we're supposedly this essence of consciousness that controls this incarnation?

Wander and Ponder entry #2

It seems that our, or at least my, energetic patterns are aligned with the environment in some mysterious and intimate way. It's as though my energy and desires are synchronized with the Earth's wobble, as the seasons change, the hormonal balance within my body invariably responds. During the summer it - it being my energy - grows into a vibrant wave, it's akin to the cycle of the trees. When the temperature and climate warm up my desire to assert and accomplish rises alongside it. 

Just as it rises with the climate,  so to does it gradually descend into the 'introverted hibernation' that I've now identified, an equally effective analogy is a sort of "character cocoon." This hibernation, as it were, begins near the end of September and around mid October it reaches it's steady state. Once in the steady state, where it balances and persists until the next rise, my desires steer towards calm walks, reflective thought, reading, writing, and meditation. The calm walk is a template for reflective thought and active meditation. Reflective thought is an inevitability after a strenuous or eventful few months, which occur during the summer. 

This pattern could plausibly become a source of confusion for many people. To follow the pattern smoothly requires sensitivity and a capacity to yield to your patterns. If it begins to occur in the midst of resistance or reluctance, you'll feel a strange sense of emptiness or inadequacy. It's normal and natural to experience a trough in your energetic patterns, you don't need to feel weak or defective. 

If you've set lofty goals for yourself which involve extreme and strenuous exertion, such as training for an event, don't feel weak when the energy isn't there. Especially if you've been exerting yourself for the past few weeks or months at exceptional levels. The pattern of existence is one with highs and lows, exertion and recuperation. Relent to the seasons and experience all the patterns of existence. 

Wander and Ponder

Sand People

We're literally a walking composition of our environment. We become products of the materials we consume, we are our nutrition. Perhaps this explains the strong and indomitable affinity that indigenous tribes harbour for their local environment, they are not only participants in their environment, they are their immediate environment.

The consequence of non-localized food is an apparent disconnect from the environment. We seem to be aware of the disconnect yet we're still snared by the disconnect, the evidence of this surrounds us, it's interwoven into our societal infrastructure. We value jobs above environmental stability, money above health, material above self. The fundamental structure of our society clearly indicates that we've gone slightly insane. The reason our insanity isn't blatant is because we create cultural consensus which enables behaviours that would otherwise appear ludicrous. We're literally allowed to temporarily poison ourselves (alcohol consumption) yet not allowed to relax with cannabis. We've literally allowed ourselves to meddle and menace with ecosystems in the pursuit of jobs.. If you remove your cultural blinders and just observe our actions as an animal of the environment, this is indisputably insane...

I'm not asserting our disconnect with the Earth is solely and directly attributed to our non-localized diet but I am suggesting it may play a key role. When you're foraging and eating within a radius that you are capable of travelling within, you feel the connection. If you're at least moderately active you can see and feel the difference your nutrition makes, and if you were a forager within your environment you'd have to be moderately active. You'd notice that when you eat a particular berry your energy soars. 

The molecules that comprise our entire form are constructs of our nourishment, our cells reproduce with the given materials. It would be logical to assert that if you're molecules are a construction of your surroundings, you'd have a fundamental connection with the area you inhabit. Your environment would come to rely on you to eat the berries, receive the nourishment and subsequently excrete the seed in another location, which enables the berry bush to extend its reach. You would become reliant on your environment to provide the nourishment. This is the symbiosis of life.

The Progression of Pondering #2

The rational and symbolic "third-eye" is not a mechanism through which we communicate with external realms but a mechanism through which we delve into the infinity of the internal. Consciousness, rather than a sensory sensation is the sensory sensation of sensory sensation; consciousness is not feeling happy but the feeling of feeling happy. It's the inexplicable and intangible phenomenon in which the subject is a subject of their own mind.

Controlling, and perhaps quelling impulse, is a component of cerebral-consciousness, it's the ability to detect impulses and then decide to enact that impulse or quell it. Gaining control over impulse is permitted through symbolic competency, for myself, that is actualized through linguistic symbols, but symbols have many forms. Additionally, some achieve cerebral-control through consistent meditative states or psychedelic experiences. I liken consciousness to observing the observer.

We, at least some of us, can observe the observer, but there's an intimate relationship between the two, they aren't mutually exclusive. They rely on one another to maintain optimal performance. I envision them as being connected by a hormonal and perceptual tether. The awareness of sadness doesn't reduce the sadness, it needs to be expressed. That's where the observer of the observer can contribute; the observer feels the sadness, the observers observer perceives and directs that sadness.

Compartmentalizing the mind is a tremendously empowering tool. Assigning impulses to their respective compartments is a way through which the rational "third-eye" can manage the impulses, choosing to enact some and dismiss others. There seems to exist three different yet universal compartments: mind, body, and spirit. Spirit merely serving as a linguistic symbol for that intangible essence; the observer of the observer. The mind is the compartment responsible for generating fear in response to danger. The body is responsible for our urge to copulate and exercise. The spirit has the objective seat of observation; the spirit operates in our best interest, although it can be suppressed by allowing the other two influences to gain dominion.

Fear isn't a necessary response to danger, so our spirit would tell us. Fear is a fabrication of the internal but danger is a very present puzzle of the external, that's undeniable. Danger doesn't demand fear but fear will certainly impel you to respond; fear will elevate your heart rate, release adrenaline and prepare all the mechanisms of the inner-animal to respond, but that isn't necessary in most circumstances. For example, fear of future events, fear that something may happen to you if you embark on a risky endeavour, fear that you might get rejected by the girl you want to talk to, whatever your fear may be. Fear is not a necessary response to many dangers, in fact, fear is a hindrance. Think of all the times you may have seen someone who you wished you had said hi to and now you'll likely never see them again.

Imagine danger as an obstacle with many routes, fear is our immediate-route because it can instantaneously impel a response; rumination is futile when you're immediately presented with a predatory threat. But, as I've said, it's not necessary. It's an animal-mechanism developed over billions of years; but our spirit knows better. The best cage-fighters aren't the ones fueled by fear or adrenaline, but the ones who maintain an inimitable composure, the ones who harness fear not become harnessed.

The material-pursuit, the pursuit of monetary success, is a mirage of the mind. The monetary pursuit certainly breeds or impels a certain form of excellence, but that excellence is often devious and conniving. Business, although it doesn’t necessarily need to be, is a realm of deception, where the cruel manipulation of a population’s ignorance is rewarded. This is particularly prevalent in the food industry. To become irreversibly infatuated with the monetary pursuit, when done unethically, is a behavioral symptom of little-spirit and large-mind, two of the three mutual qualities of a human. It’s an imbalance, an imbalance of character. The observing observer doesn’t care for profits or rewards; only insight, experience, ingenuity, kindness and sharing, because these traits propel a prosperous outcome for everybody.

Meditation is a harnessing of the spirit to conquer the mind-body impulses. Not so that you may become immune to their grasp or spell but so that you may harness it for growth and improvement, so that you may harness it to your benefit rather than allowing it to harness you for its benefit. Meditation comes in myriad forms, it’s not just silence and humming while sitting cross-legged; meditation can be achieved through any activity that requires the best of you. Endurance running has helped me achieve meditative states because your mind is unremittingly bombarding you with the urge to stop but your spirit denies the request. That, and writing, have been the most effective and enlightening forms of meditation for myself and many others.

The spirit is merely a linguistic symbol to depict the intangible essence that is capable of perception despite having no external sensory stimuli. The mind and body are capable of responding to external stimuli in the absence of cognizant consideration; like I said, when you’re faced with an immediate predatory threat rumination is futile. That particular stimuli relies on an immediate and instantaneous response, but the mechanism responsible for responding to that stimuli is inherent in all animals, including ourselves. That mechanism, even with the advent of modern-civilization rendering it nearly obsolete, is still present and still influences our behavior. Our linguistic symbols allow us to investigate our instinct and question it. Spirit is a symbol itself that encapsulates the notion that consciousness is not a product of stimuli-response but the response to stimuli-response.

Willful Ignorance - A (very) Short Story

In the stillness of the open meadow, all he could audibly register while he was intently gazing into the reaches of eternity were a few distant critters scurrying about. His backyard was an expansive field of grass in the distant country, very far from any light-distortion. As he lay with his hands resting on his chest, returning the gaze which was cast on all matter, he became acutely aware of his heart thumping in his chest. Each thump perpetuating his cognizant existence yet causing it to recede, the mortal paradox. As he was tuning into his internal chatter he felt his body dissolve and his spirit unshackle, he became a singular component of the cosmos, with everything else also becoming a singular component. Diminutive fragments of an unfathomably colossal cosmos. Everything, in this eternal moment of connection, radiated with elaborate harmony. The orbits of every star, the interactions of every molecule all amalgamated into a single symphony. It was as if he were partaking in the vastest symbiotic symphony conceivable; every decision spawning an infinity of possibility, contributing to the direction of the cosmos. In these moments he did not feel insignificant but inconceivably powerful, with the power to influence the course of eternity. He sat up, gasped, and walked inside.

Infinite Wisdom - A Short Story

Infinite Wisdom

Thump, thump, thump, the incessant chatter of his heart persistently reminded him of his mortality as he lay in bed. His thoughts constantly reminded him of the trauma, his heart constantly reminded him of his imprisonment. As he tossed and turned in his bed he concluded that sleep would remain elusive for tonight, so he sat up and reached for the light on his bedside table. Beside the light rested a bottle of Jack Daniels, the usual solace for a restless night. He grabbed the bottle and made his way to the kitchen, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. Once in the kitchen he reached for the cupboard which stored his glasses for occasions such as these. He began to pour the alcohol, watching it pour like a waterfall; seeking escape yet finding imprisonment. 

He regularly sought alcohol when his problems became unbearable, when his heart wouldn’t stop beating and his head wouldn’t stop talking. Although, and he realized this every time yet never changed, solace in alcohol is akin to entering the boxing ring against Mike Tyson with your hands shackled behind you. It never solves the problems, only revitalizes them and disables you from properly solving them. In fact, it would seem, alcohol only exasperated his problems. But his culture hadn’t equipped him with any other tools; there weren’t any resources within his reach.  There was a liquor store in every city, though. 

As his glass reached its capacity he hastily moved it towards his mouth and poured the first burning sip down his esophagus. When it reached his stomach he felt his entire body revile at the foul liquid, but his mind forced him to continue pouring it down. Sip after sip he continued to pour it down until his glass was empty and once his glass was empty he would refill it. Once he was pleasingly intoxicated he stumbled to his front door, haphazardly threw on his shoes and opened the door. Into the night he went, a lonely and troubled man who would wander with his thoughts until he passed out. 

As soon as he started the walk the thoughts bombarded him. Everything that ever traumatized him seemed to strike him all at once in an overwhelming whirlwind of assault. As the thoughts began to bombard him he began to talk to himself, telling himself he was a failure and all he was good for was how much alcohol he could consume before becoming intoxicated. 

When he was young his mother had abandoned him, she was a young female, perhaps too young, and she became overwhelmed by the responsibility of a child. She had walked out one night and never returned. His father, shortly thereafter, became depressed, seeking solace in alcohol. All his parents had instilled in him was that you can run away from your problems, and if that doesn’t work, you can numb them until they shut up. So here he was, the lonely man who never had a loving parent, who stumbled through the streets at night crying and talking to himself.

Now, he was sitting outside a local gas station, his head spinning, and a cigarette dangling from his mouth. In his head, an entire army of thought seeking to demolish him from the inside out, as he was staring down at the concrete with tears streaming down his face he overheard a person walking near-by, heard them drop something. He didn’t see the person because he had looked up too late but he saw what they had dropped: a journal. He stumbled towards it, tossing his cigarette mid-way, and picked it up. It was empty.

He began to stumble towards his house; it would seem sleep was now not so elusive because now all he wanted was to rest his head on his pillow. As he reached his front door, he sluggishly twisted the handle and opened it, stumbling into the entrance of his home and stripping his shoes off. Down the hall and through the door, now he was in his room. The world around him was spinning, as though he himself had a rotational axis and an orbit. He crashed down onto his bed, unable to even remove his clothing before he passed out.

He awoke dizzy and disoriented. He turned his head and saw a blue notebook lying on his bedside table where his alcohol usually rested. He must have put it there before he passed out. As well, he felt something in his pocket. He reached into his left jean pocket and extracted a blue ball-point pen. He couldn’t remember how it had found his pocket but it had. 

A year later our troubled protagonist was now fitter than he had ever been in his life and had a steady relationship with a woman who fulfilled every desire he had ever had, she comforted him and assisted him whenever he needed it and he would do the same for her. They became a symbiotic force of affection, the power of love had seized him and he willingly allowed it to. He had found a job working at the local newspaper, writing all sorts of articles but he particularly focused on self-help. 

That morning he had awoken dazed and disoriented he began a habit that eventually persisted through-out his life. When he extracted the pen from his pocket he began to journal. Initially, it was just a pass-time; but eventually it became such a fundamental habit that when he felt the urge to intoxicate himself, he would resort to the pen and paper. The pen was the tool of infinite wisdom, although it summoned all his demons it also equipped him with his suit of armor and sword. They do say the pen is mightier than the sword; perhaps it is also more powerful than any drug.