Fanatics

Are we all fanatics about something? Frankel claims that being a fanatic about something is one of the modern  neurosis or signs of neurosis.

Is a LCHF person a fanatic? Some would say yes.

How about a religious person?

Atheist and the like think so. The like include those like myself who know there is no god. Gods were a hypothesis to explain the unknown, and religions have grown into a series of fantastic stories, many being a hypothesis in there own right. So does that make me a fanatic? Possible, since that is not the collective neurosis.

So what about those who think the Canada Good food guide has some value?

Some value but the recommendations present the food science/food marketing climate of a few years ago, not the science of the day or now.

So with all we know about obesity and its primary cause, overeating, when is there going to be action on overeating? Does that make me a fanatic?

How about my view on overpopulation being the primary cause of carbon dioxide rise, global warming, ice melt, and the like? We need to aim for a population that keeps carbon dioxide below 300 ppm. Does that make me a fanatic?

And so many other views that are not the collective view of society. Society has collective neurosis, and I have private neurosis; no I am just fanatic, a lunatic, a radical. Maybe, but I am in search of truth, that which the hypothesis can be demonstrated if not proven. Oh well, itewajda.   

Spirtual? No. Geist

We do not have an appropriate English word. Spiritual has a religious connotation. Geist is the German word but without religion connotation.

Paul MacLean came up with the triune brain, I did think we actually have a quadratic function, a physical interface primitive, an old automatic emotional portion, a rational part and a geist part where we do not question the stored automatic beliefs. But now perhaps, the geist part, being automatic may just be part of emotional part. The emotional part is more consistent and powerful than the logical/rational part, hence when these are in conflict, the emotional/geist part will always win in the long run. That explains a lot of why diets (rational logical) work in the short run and fail in the long run.

Now what is geist part of the brain all about for a "god does not exist" atheist? (I need to put it that way for there are also "I do not believe in god" atheists.) We do thing automatically that has been encoded into our personality and/or genetic/epigenetic makeup. There is no agreement on where these behaviors are encoded. It is in the automatic unreasoned part, and that causes the problem.

We do not want to overeat, yet all day we are bombarded with eat eat messages in the media. Marketing works, and it is relentless.  We are human, and therefore are generally cooperative with requests for a behavior, especially when we enjoy those behaviors. This cooperation and hedonic satisfaction drives resides in the emotional/automatic portions, which are stronger and more persistent than the logical/ration signal.  There is the problem, as long as  we are subjected to the emotional/automatic messages, we will suffer from overeating, and/or the urge to overeat. How about if we were able to move the "do not overeat" rule to the automatic/emotional portion of the brain and thereby increase the resistance? How does one do this? It it even practical? Is this what groups like Tops do with support, or just increase our investment?

The story hypothesis is a natural human response to wanting to know the why of events. We sapiens would rather have a likely wrong story that no story. Explanations in the form of hypothesis stories were told to us as children; we accepted them, and as we got older and tried to question them, were noted many adults claimed to believe these fanatic stories. Some gave up questioning and believed, others of us called bullshit under our breath, and carried on without ever getting logical answers. But is there something there in reality? The answer is found in the doing. It is easier to stay motivated in emotional belief than in knowledge driven reality. That is the difference; belief vs knowledge, and reason is the weaker force until we realize that motivation can come from truth as well. When rationally, there is no need of doing anything, there is still a need to do something so that we can be in the flow. Activity for no other reason than activity is valuable.      That  is not rationally obvious to some of us.

So where is this going? We atheists may need to create unquestioned emotional "truths" to deal with life where rational is not strong enough. Do not overeat at meals. Do not place ourselves in food rich environments. Do not eat between meals. And those around us who have a problem with these values, or rules will just need to accommodate us. Oh well, itewajda.

existential vacuum

how does one move out of a existential vacuum? there is nothing to push against. there is nothing to pull on.

Who has the right?

Does the government really have the right to tell us what we will or will not do?

We are all equal... well sort of... but not really. Those in power are not superior, they just think they are and lord it over us peons, who are busy doing other things, like making a living and living our diseased lives.

The government has the best of everything, they are the first that get paid through taxes. They have the best of quality of buildings, services, and are the first to screen that they need more, better, new. But what gives the the right to govern in the first place? Well they just take that authority. They govern because we do not resist them.

We need a bit of government, but we do not need as much as we have. We need police to keep the criminals in line, but if people want to self-destruct, we need people to pick up the bodies, but should we be preventing self destruction? We live in an over populated world now. Perhaps we should be teaching people how to overcome depression, frustration, anger, resentment, boredom, apathy, fear, anxiety, lack of direction, and similar "emotional" issues in school, and leaving them to there own devices after that. First, we would need to learn how to do this ourselves. That is the rub.

Schools, and religions are much more concerned about teaching there own philosophy than science, human sciences, and truth. Everything is hypothesis, story, until it is proven. It is teaching hypothesis as fact that created much of the problems that exist.

Once we understand that our expectations are a big part of the problem, and that modern media create these expectations, at the behest of big corporations, we can reduce our expectations. But there are more dream merchants. Religions. These massive organization control masses of people, and some collect up masses of money, much of which rubs off onto the administration, and there lifestyle and comfort. There are other organizations that provide for there people, but the people do not own anything. That is a lifestyle choice. It is the foundation of ashrams, communes, and the like. But do these provide value to the community or just comfort to their people?

So we are free to do or not do much, but not to do other things. What is wrong with doing drugs, alcohol, tobacco, excess food, etc? Do we individual humans still have value to our society? Or is the value in the cash flow required to keep us alive, healthy... well functioning? It appears that this is the real issue, the cash flow required to provide "services". The government is not concerned about humans, but the cash flow, which they depend on. The economy is the first concern, and that is just not the way it should be. It should be the people, next week, next year and for the foreseeable future.

That make sustainable environment critical, population control, and the like issues that the government should be more active in understanding and promoting that understanding to the people. Overeating has a huge impact on the lives of those who are inflicted with this issue; it has a huge impact on health care, and those of us in Canada, the public purse, yet the government does not take the steps necessary to clean our environment even a little bit. So if that is not evidence of where there interests lie, in the cash flow, what is?

 

Who has the right?

Does the government really have the right to tell us what we will or will not do?

We are all equal... well sort of... but not really. Those in power are not superior, they just think they are and lord it over us peons, who are busy doing other things, like making a living and living our diseased lives.

The government has the best of everything, they are the first that get paid through taxes. They have the best of quality of buildings, services, and are the first to screen that they need more, better, new. But what gives the the right to govern in the first place? Well they just take that authority. They govern because we do not resist them.

We need a bit of government, but we do not need as much as we have. We need police to keep the criminals in line, but if people want to self-destruct, we need people to pick up the bodies, but should we be preventing self destruction? We live in an over populated world now. Perhaps we should be teaching people how to overcome depression, frustration, anger, resentment, boredom, apathy, fear, anxiety, lack of direction, and similar "emotional" issues in school, and leaving them to there own devices after that. First, we would need to learn how to do this ourselves. That is the rub.

Schools, and religions are much more concerned about teaching there own philosophy than science, human sciences, and truth. Everything is hypothesis, story, until it is proven. It is teaching hypothesis as fact that created much of the problems that exist.

Once we understand that our expectations are a big part of the problem, and that modern media create these expectations, at the behest of big corporations, we can reduce our expectations. But there are more dream merchants. Religions. These massive organization control masses of people, and some collect up masses of money, much of which rubs off onto the administration, and there lifestyle and comfort. There are other organizations that provide for there people, but the people do not own anything. That is a lifestyle choice. It is the foundation of ashrams, communes, and the like. But do these provide value to the community or just comfort to there people?

So we are free to do or not do much, but not to do other things. What is wrong with doing drugs, alcohol, tobacco, excess food, etc? Do we individual humans still have value to our society? Or is the value in the cash flow required to keep us alive, healthy... well functioning? It appears that this is the real issue, the cash flow required to provide "services". The government is not concerned about humans, but the cash flow, which they depend on. The economy is the first concern, and that is just not the way it should be. It should be the people, next week, next year and for the foreseeable future.

That make sustainable environment critical, population control, and the like issues that the government should be more active in understanding and promoting that understanding to the people. Overeating has a huge impact on the lives of those who are inflicted with this issue; it has a huge impact on health care, and those of us in Canada, the public purse, yet the government does not take the steps necessary to clean our environment even a little bit. So if that is not evidence of where there interests lie, in the cash flow, what is?

 

Overeating, a Collective Maladaptive Behavior

Culture or society has a problem. Collective wrongs in our culture. These produce collective maladaptive behaviors that are learned and not examined by the individual, just learned. Who are we to question our parents? The radio? Television? You can see what era I grew up in. Oh well. These learned maladaptive behaviors and errors cause a collective neurosis or collective problems.

Is overeating at it's start a learned behavior? If our parents were heavy, yes. If our restaurant meals are large, yes. If we are encouraged to intake sugar water, "treats" and the like at every opportunity, and we are, overeating is a collective maladaptive behavior, a collective neuroses, a cultural problem, a societal problem. Oh well.

We as individuals can recognize this, and take action as individuals to redress this behavior, and separate ourselves from this behavior. Other similar collective neurosis include religions, some occupations, some behaviors, some ways of life. Oh well.

Here in Canada, we have a indigenous people culture problem where the young ladies are hitchhiking to get around, and make them prime targets for the predators that do exist. Until the natives realize and accept this, and start protecting themselves, the problem will continue. Our white culture does not take care of such goofy behaviors. This is another collective neurosis, part of a culture.

So to solve these collective neurosis, we need to turn the individual to realize that it is our specific society that causes this problem, and separate ourselves those cultural drivers of overeating. Society is just wrong. We need to step back, and realizing this wrongness, learn to live with truth. We need to live in a god free spiritual level, what Frankl refereed to as noölogic dimension. We need to have a clear and present meaning in our lives. We need to know the our culture has some wrong parts, and know what those parts are, and correct for those in our current life, the only one we get. Oh well, itewajda (in the end we all just die anyway).

and on another note: when we like doing something we are not good at, change happens. Managers get promoted on the basis of performance, and luck, timing of retirements, deaths, company growth. So the next in line is not good at handling personnel, or at project management involving many more people. Now what, a big unhappy staff. Stress, distress. Fountain Tire, are you listening, I have heard has a staff problem at some branches. 

      

Collapse

Collapse is occurring, and so far the changes made effect is about equivalent to rearranging the chairs, but also many are aware of the problem, and how much must be done to prevent the worst case possibilities.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/mel-wilson/are-we-simply-rearranging_b_12449078.html

The carbon dioxide levels have been going up since the 1960's so long term we must return to that level of Co2 production or figure out how to fix that much.

The obvious solution is return to 1960 population. Oh well, itewajda. 

Rant

http://www.drsharma.ca/when-the-risk-of-treating-exceeds-the-risk-of-not-treating-then-dont

But Sharma never says clearly "identify and deal with the causes". The overeating will continue if the causes of overeating are not removed.

It is a continual fight to live clear of bullshit, aka false hypothesis presented as fact by a person who does not care, know, or capable of separation of fact and false hypothesis.

Lots of people have a specific purpose in there life. Trump is self promotion and a search for power and money, both as ego boosters. He is all about building his ego. Trump is a great one for making statement that he cannot know to be true.  "I am the greatest."

Sharma does not have that issue, but is only interested in treatment that will generate revenue for him. His specific purpose in life has become to make money off obesity. He is not looking for a cure, but a treatment that will generate revenue.

I am in search of a cure, to cure myself, and to release that cure into the wilds of the internet, to perhaps cure or help others.

Noncompilance

http://www.drsharma.ca/total-ignorance-about-obesity-does-not-stop-doctors-from-preaching-about-it

http://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.ca/2016/10/on-tim-noakes-and-bullsht.html 

My first experience with the medical system. "Cut your intake in half." and when we are unable, we are labeled noncompliant. And that is where any help ends. Nobody ever bothered to figure out why I was unable to comply.

Food knowledge and quantity is only one part. It is essential but not sufficient for recovery. 

The why of overeating is essential for recovery. Each of the following are real and separate issues that must be addressed and resolved.

Food addiction must be addressed and overcome.

Similar to food addiction is insulin overshot which causes premature hunger, repeated hunger. this is a physiological issue and can only be managed, long term. This can be addressed through low carb diet, and should not be confused with either food addiction or emotional overeating.

There are physical issues that cause hunger. These must be addressed before recovery can be realized. Ulcers are bacteria/virus/germs/nasty buggers/ that cause hunger and the antibiotic cure is not any better.   

Emotional overeating, eating over stresses, abuse, indecision or out of habit in our youth can lock in an epigenetic switch, and that make recovery impossible. The cause of the emotional issue must also be resolved, for it may be ongoing even into adulthood. We may be living in bad situation, and are unwilling to resolve it, unable to resolve it, or similar issue.

I do not want to listen to the sarcasm and negativity toward me or others anymore. That is the introduction to personality issues as a cause. Cultural/society/family behavior can make recovery difficult/impossible. Many of us need to be able to stay on a diet while living in a sea of good food.

Oh and lest we forget a chemical called glyphosate that destroys our ability to taste. As a result we need more sugar to taste good, and leads to a physical desire for sweet things, and there is traces of this in all grain products now.

It is all just hypothesis anyway. Nobody knows for sure much.  Oh well, itewajda. 

     

Setpoint... well maybe

http://www.drsharma.ca/resetting-the-setpoint-is-there-something-to-learn-from-bariatric-surgery

So what is the setpoint really? It is a weight that our intake and output are equal, and therefore no change in our weight. Our intake, eating matches our output energy. So all those factors that effect our intake and output come into play.

So when we realize we are addicted to wheat and ban wheat from our diet, we have a new setpoint. Or when we injure our back and stop doing heavy physical work, our output decreases, yet we are in the habit of eating, so we rapidly gain until we make the effort to restrict intake, but then realize that our eating is epigenetic set now so we have a major struggle and are likely to lose the battle long term without a psychological shakeup and superhuman effort.

It is that psychological / educational shakeup that the medical industry does not understand. Neither does the diet industry. The exercise industry only promotes exercise which is all fine for the uninjured and healthy, but not for those with active physical problems. Some exercise is required for life, but not anything like the amount required to deal with a weight problem. Oh well, we are on our own with no government help. In fact, the government is working against us, both actively and passively.

The government goes on spouting wrong information about food and diet, they actively promote and allow other to promote overeating. Again we are on our own. The press promotes whatever without any concern for the correctness nor the effect. Many now know more of what is correct, but it takes an massive effort to get that information into the public's hands, and it must overcome the wrong information competing. Only one can be correct, and wrong side is still winning. Oh well, some of us know what is correct, and are trying to live it. It is difficult when those around us will not be persuaded of what we need.

Human society, as we live today is doomed. Oh well, the big effects will not be severe in my lifetime. Soon the wild fish will be gone, the oceans to acidic to grow much, oxygen producing plankton unable to keep up to our carbon-dioxide production. As the carbondioxide production is tied to population and lifestyle, and we are unwilling to give up lifestyle, the only choice is reduction in population back to the level it was when the oceans could keep up to our carbondioxide production rate. A return to 1960 population more or less. 50% of current. Oh well, itewajda. (In the end we all just die anyway.)

How will this occur. Our excess will shorten the lives of many. Those living in excess do not reproduce healthy populations, but others that live in excess. Religions will need to be banned or subjected to forced population control. All will need to promote birth control, one child families, and similar method of zero growth after the big reduction occurs.

What will cause the big reduction? famine in regions, war-civil and against immigrants or invaders, and disease... resistant bacteria may be a big item. Carbondixoide induced change in weather, and the inability to mount rescue missions, and those who are unable to deal with the high dioxide levels physically, emphysema and other breathing issues. We are unable to convince the governments into real effective actions, just token actions. Oh well, itewajda.  


 

Negative Negative Negative and Abuse

It is not just the diet industry that suffers from overstatement of the results.   Here are  prime examples. 
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/my-doubts-about-deepak-chopra-and-the-monetization-of-meditation/# 
http://1boringoldman.com/index.php/2016/09/28/faith-based-medicine/
 
The diet industry, meditation industry, the whole self-help industry, the drug industry all have this in common, they contain a bit of information/treatment but far oversell the benefits.

Obesity and the obese takes a great deal of abuse from the media and through the media. Obesity is caused by overeating which in turn has many causes. Comfort eating, to overcome the abuse heaped on by the media, is not helpful to this problem. Neither is the abuse.

Now the media may say that it is just reporting, but they manufacture much of the stories, hype them up, without understanding the actually the problem.

The remaining choice is to shut off all media.

Other reasons this may be a good choice is baiting for food by the food industry drives the desire to eat, and the obese do not need that, for to the obese it is additional abuse. It is not just fast food, for we can forbid ourselves to eat that but the commercials stimulate appetite in general. If the government wants to do something about the obesity problem, the first action should be to ban all food commercials. Period. Until they do, the government does not care, regardless of what they say. There actions and speech do not match. We as a population have not adapted to dealing with the new media effectively.

There are many industries, government included that are hype based, not reality based. Much of the strife that the "mentally ill" face is culturally based issues. Many of these "mentally ill" are really the ends of the normal distribution of personality characteristics. These occur naturally, and can be trained out with effort, should anyone desire to and take the time to figure out how to train it out. Much is a result of our modern culture, hype based industry, rush for money, greed is good society, of which I was part of for many years. Now that I have had some time to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest it, it is apparent that much is just rhetoric without foundation, currently referred to as bullshit.

Bullshit is spread by people who just talk without concern for the correctness of what they are saying. This is different than lying, for in that case the speaker knows they are wrong. The difference is in the knowing of the truth. Much is just bullshit.  Actually, the bullshit has a random chance of being correct, as the stopped watch is correct twice a day.

So after that digression, how does one separate the tails of the normal distribution from the mentally ill? Does it make any difference? Does anyone care?  How much of this is culturally driven? As it turns out, the definition of acceptable behavior is totally culturally driven. So any mismatch is a function of culture except where there is an organic problem, although adapting to a rapidly changing culture is not easy, and we may step between cultures in our day to day lives. Each occupation and even employer has it's own culture, as do families, nationalities, districts, ethical origins and the like.

We do change, and often in steps. We will no longer tolerate something, and switch off something. It can be sudden and dramatic or slow and gradual to the point we do not even notice. We can foster this change, or it can occur at a unconscious level. Obesity recovery is often a trained in change, and it may be unpleasant for those who do it, and also for those around those that make the change. Much is a necessary push against the culture we live in, and those around may find it unpleasant, but that is their problem. It is up to each of us to decide the kind of person we are going to be and then do it.

Food commercials are abuse to the obese, so the media are abusers.            

What is the weight loss key?

What is the key to weight loss... well it is not eating. So how does one do that for an extended period of time? now that is the real problem. LCHF may help, but until someone puts numbers on it, it is hard to know what they are talking about, and what about that desire to eat which LCHF people ignore, or do not acknowledge? Well that may be emotional driven, food addiction, chemically driven, epigenetic, habit, but that is not the LCHF concern, yet it is the overweight persons concern.

Back a hundred posts ago, I had it down to five areas that drive overeating: food and physiological knowledge, physical cause of excess appetite, environmental conditions, maladaptive eating behaviors as eating disorders (stress, comfort) , and food addictions. To this we need to add epigenetic and perhaps relabel these. So which one is driving today?

It is apparent that many people who do not have weight issues are driven into crazy eating patterns. So what is the natural solution? So where does the motivation come from? When we try to rationalize the desire to eat with Maslow's extended motivations...

Transcendence, self actualization, aesthetics, knowledge and understanding, self esteem and respect for others, love and acceptance, safety, physiological needs, but the higher portions are cultural driven... overeating must be in the bottom two someplace. Oh well, these do not seem to relate very well... but that is a issue with all these schemes... they are all mismatched.  It becomes we need to want, need, desire recovery more than the problem has a hold on the natural drives. The strongest force will win. Epigenetic pull vs will power. Is it even an even struggle? 



 

Dinner with Foodies

Last night I had dinner with a group of Foodies. It was obvious to me that Foodies have a special problem, they like there food and want it, want to talk about it, and that drives appetite. It is an unhelpful situation for me. I will avoid in the future.

Foodies are all about the food, they crave more, better, different. And among them are the one with weight issues. Not rational. Oh well. itewajda.

Offensive Maneuvers

Offensive Maneuvers, aka going on the offensive are not intended to be offensive to others, but often are when we consider philosophy and/or theology, it is taken as offensive. Religious people are just thin skinned; that is what religion does to people; they are not used to dealing with reality.  We personally relate to and are attached to our beliefs, and then some fool comes along and tell us we are just wrong and ignorant of the truth. How can that not be offensive? We anti-religious have been taking that abuse since we realized the religious premises are false.

Through history, people get some thing right and others wrong. Original sin, aka we are born ignorant, and must learn everything from those who went before or from first principals, or experiment. Some thing our ancestors, teachers, parents, coaches, professors, etc taught us were just wrong, that is how society and knowledge progresses. It it were all correct, there would be no progress. The assumption that any holy book could be totally right and not improved on, looking from this side is just ludicrous. Oh well, reality continues. As we ratchet through life, correcting one thing at a time, the best we do is to survive in a pleasant life, good life, meaningful life, a life with purpose... with ever increasing knowledge and truth. That does not mean that errors will not creep in, and fixes will be made. But admitting imperfection goes a long way to relieving stress. A worth while purpose is to correct errors in our thinking.

We are limited by our character, skills, strength, desires, energies, interests and the like. Some of us are unable to stop eating, and there is no help in many areas; further, it is not apparent that any human knows how to help some of us. We could be locked up and not feed, but short of that.... we will overeat. There is no one pitching a philosophical or psychological correction that has interest appeal, or universal acceptance, and understanding of the problem, other than eat less. That is not where the problem is. The problem is in overcoming desire to eat, overeat, and develop satiation. Telling our self falsehoods does not make this better.  

Some things I teach will also be wrong, but for different reasons than never questioning the belief. Better plans will come along, without a doubt. Our purpose can simply be to understand.  

Scams - misdirection

Chain of consciousness... 

Scams - misdirection are the most common problem of the diet industry. The real problem is how do we, on a long term basis, overcome our natural and epigenetic overeating selves? It is all fine to say only eat a little bit, but when we are unable to overcome our desires, it is all our fault, or so society says, yet they are unable to teach what we lack... will power... or so they say. Well just look around at the 2/3 of the population with this problem. How can you say it is all just a lack of will power? Has the human race in developed countries degenerated that fast? It is a lack of something in our culture, and that is time to communicate at a level to transmit some vital information at the appropriate age. I am suggesting that it is TV with entertainment and advertising that has created this problem.

But how does one abandon a lifestyle which has become so natural? And more importantly, what do we replace it with? Once we learn to sort real from false belief, and sticking with those people who do likewise, we are left with huge voids, people who do not want to understand, and little else. We cannot discuss this with people who do not care, and once we sort the garbage out, there is little need or purpose in rehashing those garbage concepts. These false premises must be just abandoned on the wayside, along with all that comes from these same false premises.

We will not win when we fight against our nature. It is our nature that must be changed. Can we reset epigenetic switches twice in our lives? Can we shut off the overeating switch with diet? Not likely, else we would not have the weight loss failure to maintain relapse rate. Where is this going?  Where am I going?

Lack of will power is not lack of power but rather lack of interest and successes in an undertaking, and lack of direction. How long should one keep pushing in a direction when we see so little success in that direction? Are we just pushing a big rock up hill, and when we stop, it roles back? If one could find something more interesting than eating, something we enjoyed more....

This reminds me of the decline of the churches. There theology has three major errors in the founding premises; there are no souls, when we are dead, we are dead; there is no afterlife, no reward, no punishment; there is no supernatural, no god, just luck of the times and our personal effort. So willpower is an effort at something that there is at least some potential of success at. When we are fighting epigenetics, all we have is struggle, and for each day of struggle, minimal success. One day of failure requires about seven days of struggle to overcome the effects of that one day of failure. 

Will power is about desiring the right things. Desire for food is natural and epigenetic, while the desire to be of "normal weight" is intellectual, hence is easily run over by the food desire. That is the core root of the problem. So will power must get aimed at not eating much, and not at weight. but bear with me here for I digress. Oh well, in the end we just die and become worm food- well that is just not permitted. To be green, we should be burred - unpreserved into the ground, but fear of disease and government regulations prevent this. Sky burial would be green also, but once again that is not permitted. There are no green methods permitted so the least damaging way is cremated, turned into Co2, a green house gas. Unless I just wander off and am lost in a bog or bush somewhere.

   

common useage

Denotation, connotation, definition and common usage are all different for lots of words. How can we keep it all straight? Well, we can't. Language is in a start of flux. Written is slower changing than spoken, and words vary over geography as well. For example, an American in America, being call a Yankee suggests that they are from the north. To the rest of the world, a Yankee is any American. Oh well.

Gluttony is the word that got me thinking. In biblical time, when ever that was- somewhere between 5000 and 600 years ago- gluttony was considered personal choice, and most have not examined this in detail since. We now know that it is epigenetic desire; we have little choice; that is why it is so difficult to lose and keep off weight.  In time of plenty, and of high sugar food sources, we overeat. That is true human nature. That does not mean that we can stop struggling against the weight gain, but rather that we will likely gain, long term so we lose long term. Gain is loss at the same time. Weight gain, life quality and quantity loss. Oh well. Myths are not true, however a general concept may be true.  

Biblical time are a wide range of time. On the start is oral tradition, before written works. The end is  because translation can put such a slant on what something actually says that we may not recognize the original after two translations. It is like the telephone game, the message is so garbled... And if the message was wrong to start with... the world was not created for humans - we are rapidly adapting opportunistic species that has flourished too well and overpopulated... The Co2 levels have been on the rise since the 1950`s, we are overpowering the natural correction of the planet. Oh well, we all just die in the end anyway.

Freethinkers bash religion, and there is a lot to bash and correct the understanding of. Oh well. Atheists do not believe in anything supernatural. Some even attended churches. Companionship and being seen to support the churches is/was important. Just look at the US election. Agnostics just do not care. And when we take things apart, there is some truth many things, and some outright false concepts. So when we start correcting what we think, and start to move forward in a positive way, what do we call ourselves? Humanists? Well perhaps, but even that term has drawbacks... It has been hijacked by groups who offer rituals for dollars. Militant atheist try correct everything that is understood wrong. Positive Psychologists accept spiritual existence and transcendence since these concepts can be powerful driving forces, even if in fact these concepts are hogwash. We are not driven by truth, but rather what we believe. Yet we claim to be truthful without studying, testing and cleaning our thoughts. We humans do not like to take responsibility for being wrong, yet we are and it is so natural. This may be what Socrates meant by 'we do not do wrong willingly.' Yet we have 20% sociopaths. 

Some of us are truth seekers, some are not. Some just rail against whatever, on and on, and never offer an alternative. That is probably the best term yet, a truth seeker, yet humanist manifestos are a collection of truths, more or less... presented in a positive way but without any moral reasons or explanation for each statement, nor defense for each clause.

Suppose we took the truths of the Stoics, Buddhist, Confucius, and modern sciences and mashed them together into a true and correct enmeshment. Note that Christianity and Islam are not in this list; it is doubtful that they would have anything to add. Buddhism has such a superior moral code. But that would be considering what people could be, not what they are. That has been the downfall of all the near socialist states.        


           

Or I could just sit and day dream

Mediation:

Jhana, in Buddhist terms, where meditation becomes effortless and enjoyable.

 calm the mind, ridding it of disturbing mental states such as anxiety, craving, and ill-will. the mind becomes more positive.  being at ease with ourselves. the calmness of mind allows us look closely at our experience, it’s possible to look deeply into a still mind.

Flow is where a person performing an activity becomes fully immersed, with a feeling of energized focus, undistracted presence, and enjoyment.  appreciate your experience undistracted This feedback loop keeps you in a stable, calm, alert, pleasurable, joyful, and focused state of mind, a self-sustaining flow of positive states.

Letting this flow state arise, to learn to calm the mind, to drop deeper into your experience of the body, to accept discomfort without reacting to it, to accept pleasure without grasping after it, and to allow joy to arise. Ultimately you have your whole life to work on this.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”