My extended family
When is comes to human nutrition, it is a struggle separating the wheat from the chaff. Each era has its red hearing and blind alleys (or worse) of nutrition. What was once thought good for health may be found bad; what was once thought bad for health may be found good. In the 70’s I got ‘nutrition religion’ and wanted to find out the ‘truth’. I spent many hours at Stockholm’s main library searching for all information I could find on nutrition, great apes and tangential issues, e.g., biology, history.(1)
Continue reading ‘Omega-3 and Vitamin D’
Eligible bachelors
There is a curious thing I notice in the life of my two sons. They are not chasing girls like I was at their age. They aren’t gay either, so what gives? I look back on my youthful lust and see a disconnected lad looking for companionship that my ‘independent’ upbringing (plus innate nature, I suppose) never provided. All I ever really wanted was intimacy and acceptance. And the only path to that deeper sense of connection was through a boy-girl relationship. That was true of my wife and most everyone I know (especially in Western cultures). Ironically, our culture’s love of ‘independence and self reliance’ actually leave its people with just the opposite, deep down anyway. Continue reading ‘Significant Others’
Leaving Meiji park after yoga
After settling down in Tokyo, I began going the humungous Meiji park to do yoga in the morning before work. While standing on my head and watching people walking off in the distance, I noticed something very odd. The people had an obvious bob in their gate as they walked. Initially I wondered if they were walking that way on purpose for I’d never seen such a sight before. Then I realized I’d never actually watched people walking while doing the headstand.
All it took for me to see our human way of walking as it actually occurs was a 180 degree (upside down) change of perspective. These days it is difficult for me to notice this ‘bob’ in people, when I do yoga down at the beach. The novelty wore off; I guess familiarity breeds blindness.
Continue reading ‘Headstands and Apes’
It seems my mind is always tempted to look toward ‘tomorrow’, whether ‘tomorrow’ is five minutes from now or five week from now. I reckon it is the hunter gather instinct that is driving this, for I see it occurring in everyone I know. We are always jumping out ahead of the moment. Why? Because we can. The mind’s space is larger than most mundane moments can stimulate. It seeks greener pastures, i.e., the hunter gather drive to look for that tasty tidbit the certainly must lie ahead. Continue reading ‘The Future Takes Care Of Itself’
Of the two, students are obviously the most important consideration. After all, teachers can lead students to water, but thirst determines whether students drink. Thirst is the weak link. As chapter 41 puts it, When the best student hears about the way, he practices it assiduously; when the average student hears about the way, it seems to him one moment there and gone the next… and so on.
Never-the-less, cultures place great importance on the teacher, so what makes for a good teacher? Usually the answer centers on how capable the teacher is, and their command of the material. However, after home schooling my kids, I discovered the more important, yet under-recognized, side of teaching lay deeper. Continue reading ‘Teachers and Students’
A magazine's back cover c.1945
Today is my 67th year here on earth. The picture is a magazine’s back cover of me, at a lake in Arizona, in my birthday suit(1). From then until today, fate has been fortunate; I should have bitten the dust quite a few times by now. (I wrote about the first time in the blog Suicide Just Doesn’t Work.) As to my health, wealth and family, I couldn’t ask for more. Indeed, there are so many things to be happy for on this birthday, and every day. Don’t worry though, I’ll find a problem somewhere it that. Hmm, let me see… Continue reading ‘Keeping Birthday Happy’
'Dead men's words'
What is the difference between understand and know? Chapter 70 alludes to it perhaps when it states, ‘My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, yet no one in the world can understand them or put them into practice‘. Our cleverness at understanding is not matched by a comparable ability to know. The first, understanding, is theoretical. The later, knowing, is visceral. For example: Continue reading ‘I understand, but do I know?’
Future Shock
I just experienced something strange… the future now. About ten years ago our (humanity’s) plausible future became increasingly obvious to me. I saw our advancing technology leading toward a time of plunging human population, to a point where, for example, governments would support citizens during their parenting years. Now, when I travel on freeways or in the city I eerily ’see’ the time when they will be half empty and overgrown. Needless to say, I never expected to see any solid evidence of this future in my lifetime. Heck, I’ll be ‘lucky’ to see the impact of global warming. Continue reading ‘The Future is Now!’
Mother and sons
One curious result of using a ‘taoist’ model of ‘virtue’ to raise my kids is seeing how naturally ethical – even to a ‘fault’ – they have turned out. Given the laissez-faire upbringing they had, it is a little odd to see how rigidly law abiding they can be at times. For example, we headed down the street to order a sandwich at the corner deli. I grabbed a beer to drink (rare for me) as we walked there. They protested, saying it was against the law to walk in public and drink beer. I thought that nonsense. Drink and drive no way, but drink and walk? All my life I have only obeyed laws I agreed with, so they didn’t pick up their highly law abiding ways from me (obviously). And, given the circumstances of how they were raised, I doubt they learned it from anyone in particular. This may be a testament to the deep underlying pull of the ethical paradigm that surrounds everyone. Most conform, some rebel, but everyone feels it. Continue reading ‘Innately Ethical’
Finger Rock, Arizona
I was one troubled teenager for a time. I’d go off to the mountains for some peace and solitude. I wasn’t all that concerned with my safety either, life didn’t seem to offer much advantage over death. For instance, one year I climbed Finger Rock (photo right) without ropes. Going up was easy; going down was terrifying. Yikes! Was this a latent suicidal death wish? I guess not, primarily because I am not all that emotional by nature. Although, neither am I drawn to rock climbing or thrill seeking in general, so who knows. As a kid I heard stories about a guy falling off Finger Rock and breaking so many bones that his body turned to the consistency of Jello. Recalling that probably got me to turn around before reaching the top (and so saved my life, no doubt). Continue reading ‘Suicide Just Doesn’t Work’
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