energy

Energy Flow
It is the persistent habits of thought which mold the brain. Consciousness is a flowing stream. The mind constantly generates thought-energy. Much of the energy goes to waste. Much is misdirected and causes harm. It is only common sense to harness and direct this thought-energy. This is the first step in self-help. Your mind is your own; you are liberating this energy and yet you have been wasting and misdirecting it for years to your own harm. Now you must take control and make this energy serve your purpose.

The Machine and Moral Imagination
Gravity, electricity, and nuclear energy were all unharnessed at one point. Once we had discovered certain fundamental laws of motion, mechanics, electromagnetism, and an understanding of the elements, we were able to put these forces in our service.
Just as a machine must be planned in accord and with reference to the laws of motion and mechanics if it is going to be able to use the energy supplied to it, so must we plan and control our thought-energy with reference to fundamental laws of Thought if we are to use that energy to advantage. If a machine is not properly constructed or placed, not only will it not do its work, but it will eventually damage its own internal structure. This is the same thing that happens with a wrongly directed mind – it won’t work the way we need it to and this will have an effect on our nervous system. There is a normal way of thinking and a normal way of responding to the things that present themselves in our environment. Some of these things we remain ignorant of and some things are well known to us. In our day-to-day relations, we have a fairly good idea of how to conduct ourselves and we generally (except in war and certain business situations) follow the blueprint. For the most part, we act like the social creatures we are. This way of being is so seemingly natural for us that we miss sight of how subtly we balance these relations. Our thoughts of people count for or against our peace of mind as well. We may fool other people , but we are not as good at fooling ourselves and we never deceive our brains. We can pretend all we like but throughout, our real motives are molding our brains and establishing neural pathways that are quite at odds with our pretensions. The “normal” attitude to our fellow humans should be one of love, kindness, and forbearance – forbearance, because if we understood the conditions that have made them what they are, we would no longer be so inclined to judge.

Theory of Everything
The Theory of Everything was originally an ironic description of the links that connected all known physical phenomena. It also claimed to be able to predict the outcome for any future experiments that involved the physical world. Science no longer regards it as an ironic over-generalization. It is now regarded as a legitimate path to the truth of the way things work. It is in that spirit and new awareness that I introduce my theory of everything.

Education, Food, Personal Development
This post is just an introduction to a few of the things I will be talking about in some future posts. The main topics are education, food, and personal development. I will talk about these in the context of personal justice. I will be sharing my thoughts and those of others who are more cogent and insightful in the respective areas. A couple of these people are Kenneth Libby with his Schools Matter blog and Robb Wolf who talks about the Paleo lifestyle in his podcast and blog.

Oh! By the way, these thoughts were prompted by some recent musings on the world of diversity. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that issues of economic justice are purposely ignored. In this country, it is poor people who suffer. Topics like affirmative action and diversity have become convenient diversions to ignore those who are not even in the game.

Food
Big agriculture receives its subsidies and it’s poor people who reap the harvest of diabetes, high blood pressure, and other lifestyle diseases ( read anything by Michael Pollan for some of the politics)

Education
The wealthy advocates of the charter movement pretend that high standardized test scores are a sign that the achievement gap is being closed and that poor children are receiving the same quality of education that their children are receiving (rant avoided for now).

Personal Development
This Howard Thurman quote sums up my thoughts in this area: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

These three areas are not just “feel good” subjects. I believe they are the key to our strength as a country. Cultural autism (for more on this, read “Last Child In The Woods,” by Richard Louv) has removed us from our natural environment, contact with our true natures, and the things we have in common as a human community.

More to come.

Nutrition
Food is today’s subject. I will finish talking about Well-Formed Outcomes later in the week but the subject of nutrition has captivated me for quite a while and it demanded a voice this weekend. Some of the motivation may be my struggle with Cartesian dualism combined with ADD. The major motivation has been some of my wife’s recent health complaints. I have talked about health in other posts and I am interested in everything that has to do with human performance, but I was really on a mission this weekend.

My Interest In Nutrition
I remember speaking to the creator of the Zone Diet, Barry Sears, about 15 years ago. I talked with him about getting a deal on his meal replacement bars for the students in my middle school. I instituted a once a week vegetarian menu for these same students. I’ve had a feeling for quite a while – and confirmed by research, that food is one of the most powerful drugs out there.

Food and Drug Conspiracy
Poor people are the specific victims of the food and drug industries. Read Michael Pollan , Nora Gedgaudas and Lierre Keith about the business of industrial farming, “organic” food” and mono crops. What I know is that even poor people are presented with an unprecedented amount of food and choices and…

Reality
NONE of them are good. The USDA Food Pyramid drives us into the arms of big farming. The label “Organic” means less every year in terms of healthy options. Many of us are dying from our addiction to carbohydrates. The gluten found in wheat has negative effects for many people that are on a par with a two-pack-a day cigarette habit. Skim and lowfat milk prevent our children from getting the fats they NEED for proper brain function. 75% of people who have heart attacks have NORMAL cholesterol levels – Lipitor, anyone? We can function using either fat or sugar as fuel. Ninety cents of every dollar is spent on processed food. We have been trained to use sugar as our main source of fuel and it’s killing us.  The presumably healthy alternative, soy, can wreak havoc on our sex hormones and our thyroid. These things have led us into record numbers of lifestyle diseases that could be avoided if we knew the truth about our food.

Paleo
It takes 40-100,000 years for our bodies, physiology, genes, to adapt to major changes. We became an agrarian society over the last 10,000 years. For the approximately 2 million years prior to this, we were a hunter-gatherer society. This is what our bodies are built for – meat, fat, seeds, fruit (in moderation), and vegetables.

Look up gluten, celiac disease, cholesterol, leptin, and insulin resistance. My wife and I have gone Paleo. I have lost three pounds in the first week. We’re going to pay attention to our energy, how our clothes fit, our blood sugar levels, and blood pressure over the next couple of months. We’ll let you know how it’s going.

My body is not just the chauffeur for my brain. Let’s talk and please sign up in the blue box on the upper-right side for more in-depth discussions and information.

Warning: This video is not safe for work and family.

This was my motivation for today (and I’m guessing for a few days going forward). I’m getting comfortable with the theory that people like me will end up offending most of the people I come across. My audience is all the others.

This is a short guest post from one of my former students – Tiffany Pagan. She’s on her way to big things! Also, if you sign up for my newsletter, I’ll give you FREE access to a 15-minute audio recording on relaxation and performance.

HERE IT IS:

“I wrote this and wanted to share it with a few people who I believe know the real me! Enjoy!

When you act a certain kind of way your whole life, no one ever expects you to have a different side. When all people see you do is laugh, the world is surprised to see that you cry, too. Life is not about how others see you, but how you see yourself. If you know that your heart bears love, hate, laughter, tears, pain and joy, then you have nothing to fear. If you know that your mind has the potential to make a person smile or make a person cry, then you must always be conscious of the words you use with the people who love you.

Life will bring you light and life will bring you darkness. Life will inevitably bring storms, but after every storm, life will always bring back the Sun. And when the Sun shines upon you it will enable you to shine upon the world. You can guarantee that everyone will always and forever see you for who you really are: A ray of sunshine who will always surpass the clouds.”

– Tiffany Pagan