L.I.F.T.

This post is about the story (or stories) we tell ourselves.

I just read Semiotics: The Basics, by Dan Chandler.

It was a fascinating book. Semiotics is the study of signs. Not just “traffic signs,” but anything that signifies something else, and how that signification functions.

There were bits and pieces throughout the book that have given me a new perspective on the way(s) we (actively) construct our world and our lives. One of the claims made by semiotics is that, in language (and perhaps in “thought”) we construct opposites like:
good/bad (or evil)
light/dark
male/female
science/art
reason/emotion
man/nature
nationalism/individualism

What’s interesting about such opposites is that one is always preferred over the other. I’ve put the opposites above in the preferred/non-preferred sequence (or at least, how I perceive those to be in our culture).

What’s even more interesting, is that, once we tell ourselves a story (with its inherent opposing-pairs), we eventually forget that we made up those opposites to begin with. That is, we determined the preference based on something. There is no “objective truth” to the determination of those opposing pairs.

What that forgetting leads to, is an assumption that our story is reality itself. But how “real” is this “reality?” As we’ve seen throughout history, the story changes. In different cultures, different realities, and different preferences within those opposing pairs, prevail.

Again, the story we tell/create/manufacture is what will guide the way we use whatever technologies we develop or embrace, and also how those technologies will use us.

The way I see this process is this – we experience something, then we create a “reason” for that thing happening – we tell a story to ourselves (and/or others) about what happened, and why.

As soon as we’ve told the story, we believe in it. This is called “faith” in certain circles. In order to believe in it, we have to forget that we created the explanation/story ourselves…that is, we made up the interpretation of events that we now accept as “truth” or “fact.”

Why do we forget? I think it’s a matter of efficiency. If we had to question every assumption or “rule” that we follow every time we follow it, we’d never get anywhere. We’d be stuck in a mire of endless self-reflectivity.

Beneath it all, is Reality itself. I think. Semioticians aren’t so sure of this (having accepted their story as reality). To me, there is a common ground that we experience – Nature, Reality…whatever you want to call it. It is how we can create language. We reference the same “ground.”

Are some “realities” (stories) more “real” than others?

I’ve often wondered why European methods prevailed over Indian ways in America. Why did the Indians not fight? Surely, for one, they couldn’t imagine what their future would look like. But I think what lies beneath this is a deeper story.

Science is a tool of the mind. It is a way of grasping reality, taking it apart, and using it to achieve our ends. Any “technology” is a tool – a way of taking reality apart – separating ever-flowing “being” from the process of continual becoming/unfolding – and using it.

Your Personal Story
The other book I’m reading on this, which I haven’t finished yet, is Jim Loehr’s “The Power of Story.” Loehr has taken this process of story-telling, and provided a way for readers to unearth and re-write their personal (or “business”) story. It’s a powerful book, a powerful technology. I highly recommend it.

Ultimately, our story-telling process, our sign-making process, is a technology. It’s a tool we created somewhere in order to be able to survive.

The end to which any technology is always used is that of Life itself. That end, or purpose, is – to expand, to live, to grow, to become.

If we look at all of life, it is all constantly striving to become more of what it is. It acts to LIVE, regardless, in spite of, or directly against the circumstances in which it finds itself.

Having given life to our technologies, they too, like Frankenstein’s monster, seek to grow, expand, become – to live.

Instead of “love will find a way,” “live” or “life” will find a way. And it does.

One thing that we tend to do, in our creating and forgetting, is to mistake the tool we create for life, or Reality.

Then the monster is the ruler. We are at its whim. We are helpless to change things. Until we wake up and see that that is a decision as well…to be helpless.

Recognize the stories in your life. The ones you tell yourself, the ones you were told. Recognize them as stories, and ask whether or not they are helping to create the world and life you want.

Then re-write them, so that they are.

In my recent post about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, I wrote this:

I see one source in the dissociation of people from their “tools.” From everything they use, they are further and further removed. Things become “mere things.” We suddenly are no longer connected in a cycle of creation and destruction. We stand outside of it and look on…passersby, observers, voyeurs of our own self-destruction.

“Coincidentally” (if you believe in coincidence), I was reading a book today called “Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma,” by Peter Levine.

He describes the official definition of trauma as a stressful occurrence “that is outside the range of human experience, and that would be markedly distressing to almost anyone” (pg. 24, which he takes from the DSM III).

He goes on to mention that trauma can include anything, from falls or accidents, to illnesses and sad events, to the “typical” things we consider traumatic such as rapes, drive-by shootings, war, disasters, etc.

I really really (yes, that’s right, I wrote it twice) like this book, and his approach, which is based around the evolutionary/physiological response to trauma, and an approach to treating it from that perspective. More on that in a second.

The author then describes how modern civilization and technology have taught us to ignore primary, instinctual, bodily-centered resources that once helped us to deal with traumatic events.

Previously in our history, we would encounter life-threatening events, which eventually resulted in finely-tuned responses to danger. I think this capacity is part of the “thrill-seeker’s” profile – they feel a need to experience this aspect of themselves more regularly than others.

As Levine says, “Modern life offers us few overt opportunities to use this powerfully evolved capacity. Today, our survival depends increasingly on our ability to think rather than being able to physically respond…The fundamental challenges we face today have come about relatively quickly, but our nervous systems have been much slower to change…When [the need for the successful facing of challenges] is not met, or when we are challenged and cannot triumph, we end up lacking vitality and are unable to fully engage in life” (pg. 43).

Later in the book, he even quotes Tom Brown, Jr. about the process of tracking. Clearly, he is describing a method of dealing with trauma that uses what I like to call “physiology tracking” in this book.

But it was the paragraph just before a section called “Dissociation” that really grabbed my attention. In it, he writes, “When constriction [as a response to a perceived threat or danger] fails to sufficiently focus the organism’s energy to defend itself, the nervous system evokes other mechanisms such as freezing and dissociation to contain the hyperarousal. Constriction, dissociation, and freezing form the full battery of responses that the nervous system uses to deal with the scenario in which we must defend ourselves, but cannot” (pg. 136).

This state is related to helplessness, which I’ve also written about in previous posts – particularly, learned helplessness, as a result of social conditioning or social conformity.

Levine recommends, specifically, that one not try to avoid dissociation, but rather, to become aware of the feeling of that state in the body, so that one can, first, recognize it, and, later, be able to be in a state of dissociation while still cognizant and active in the world. This leads to the ability to discriminate between physiological events that lead to (or have lead to) trauma, and those that do not.

I resonate extremely strongly with this book, for many reasons. The author’s approach to dealing with one’s problems through a continuing and ongoing process of deepening self-awareness seems to be the type of powerful medicine that everyone can use in their lives. But he also recognizes that physiological responses are rhythmical, as well as the need for play and a playful attitude when confronting survived trauma (at a certain point in the process, of course).

To the last point, about play, the author talks about wild animals’ tendencies to “reenact” traumatic or dangerous events, where they will play the role of hunter and hunted, and either experiment with new strategies for evasion or survival, or repeat the tactic used in the recent event. The physical act of evasion or survival itself is immediate and therapeutic.

In humans, reenactment happens both internally and externally. Internally, it represents itself in states associated with trauma, such as hypervigilance, anxiety, psychosomatic issues, sleeplessness, or other problems. It can also represent itself through repeated thoughts about the traumatic event.

Externally, reenactment can happen either in the “acting out” of previous traumas, either by inflicting those traumas on others, or by creating ritual behaviors that reflect and temporarily mitigate those physiological upwellings; or, external reenactment can take place in the recurrence of traumatic events in relationships, where we seek out situations with others through which our trauma presents itself, again and again, the body searching for a path to resolve that old wound.

Unfortunately, usually, our initial response only repeats itself again and again. With our minds not realizing that we’re replaying these patterns for a specific reason, we succumb to habitual responses, sometimes watching before our very eyes as things crumble apart and wondering “how can this be happening again?”

More subtly still, external and internal reenactment, at some point, collide, and the victim of trauma acquires patterns of behavior that simultaneously save them from further experiences like the first, but also prohibit them from being able to confront that traumatic experience and move beyond it.

Which takes me to his final point, his solution to this dilemma. Since we are confronted with traumas that we cannot resolve through physical means, and have developed habitual physiological patterns of response to situations in which we feel the same types of threat, we have only one tool by which to work with, on, and through those physical manifestations and feelings – awareness.

Through awareness of the traumatic event, awareness of our initial response to it, acceptance of ourselves and the fact that the event happened, and finally, a developed ability to pay attention and slow down when those feelings manifest themselves again, we have acquired tools to operate in a new dimension. Eventually, the nervous system will heal, the process will become second-nature, and life can be rich and fulfilling.

On a side-note, this process, of trauma, the formation of “protective” mechanisms which ultimately lead to further repetition of trauma reminds me strongly of the pain-spasm-ischemia cycle I was taught in massage school. In that process, damage occurs to muscle, the muscle “spasms” to protect itself from further damage, but in doing so, restricts blood flow to the area, preventing oxygenated blood (and white blood cells) from getting to the area to begin the healing process and remove restrictions. The “knot” gets bigger and bigger, till it causes overt pain and movement restriction…

Levine notes that our fast-paced culture doesn’t make this an easy task. Which brings me around to the final bit of my essay here (his book continues…if you’re interested, you should buy it and read it).

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, it isn’t just the fast pace of our culture that “shields” us from slowing down and tracking our physiologies.

In fact, it seems that much of our culture has that exact effect.

Since reading Andrew Weil’s book “Eight Weeks to Optimal Health,” back in the 90’s sometime, I’ve engaged in what he calls a “news fast.” I don’t read or watch the news. Not at all. Haven’t in years, actually. And…nothing has happened to me because of it.

Weil recommends this practice because the news has a few qualities that cause human beings trouble, and for no good reason. First, the news is typically all bad. As Gary Gnu said, “No gnus is good gnus.” Second, the news is aggregated bad news from all over the world. So, not only are you getting a dose of bad news, but you’re getting a large dose of bad news composed of all of the bad news that happened today…anywhere. Needless to say, that news doesn’t really reflect the happenings in your habitat. Fourth, almost all of the news (because of its distant relation to your habitat) will make you feel completely helpless, frustrated, sad, or angry.

Learned helplessness, reinforced, twenty-four hours a day. Thank you?

But the news, or the way we “do” news, is just one symptom of a larger thang – of our approach to life…the philosophical underpinnings of our culture, expressed through or visible in the actions of our culture, and, of course, our selves.

a quick “thang” intermission:

I think one of the roots of that philosophy is a trauma-cycle, associated with something that happened to us culturally, maybe somewhere back in the mid-sixteenth century…in fact, when we were most susceptible to trauma, in our early-childhood…the Renaissance.

Not to be a conspiracy theorist here, but I hope Dan Brown is reading this blog and writes a nice book about this idea…and figures out what that event was, because I have no idea…hahaha.

However, it does seem that some “crisis” (which in Chinese is a character composed of the two characters for “danger” and “opportunity”) occurred, which we could not mitigate or win against, and have repeated ever since.

Hell, maybe it goes even further back than that.

But what stands out to me most is the point at which we dissociated from our tool-making.

We’ve been dissociated from our habitats for thousands of years. Human beings have lived in cities and such for around 8-10,000 years. Sure that could be a factor.

And life has been relatively “distracting” ever since we’ve been in cities. Fast pace, hustle and bustle, are nothing new.

But the loss of consciousness that we are using tools – that symbols are tools, machines are tools, that mathematics and language are tools – that seems more important.

When did that happen? And why? When did we lose sight of the fact that we make technologies to help us?

Because it was at that point that we committed ourselves to a path of recurrent trauma reenactment. It was at that point that we closed our eyes to a process within ourselves (as a culture).

It was at that point that it became “necessary” to pursue pain in order to deserve pleasure. This thing we see in cubicles and offices all over the world.

It was at this point that we begin to see scarcity as our ruling dictum, and fear as its messenger.

I place it in the mid-sixteenth century because that’s the first written record I’ve seen of this same sort of question (from Etienne la Boetie – the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude).

Maybe, like the Joker’s “SmyleX,” there is no single source, but the confluence of many things, contributing to our continued replaying of history.

I’ll be completely honest on this one. I actually didn’t “read” Scott Kelso’s book Dynamic Patterns, or H. Haken’s book “Synergetics,” just skimmed them.

Haken has worked to develop a field called “synergetics” which describes the process of self-organizing systems that arise from “chaos” due to thermodynamic principles.

Kelso used Haken’s framework to describe the ways human beings organize motor behaviors.

Don’t get me wrong, these books are both very good, and pretty much accessible to someone with a knowledge of basic calculus and a strong constitution. During the semester, however, I had way too many other things to be able to fully dig into these.

That said, here’s Kelso’s summary:
“The brain is fundamentally a pattern-forming self-organized system governed by nonlinear dynamic laws.”

Enjoy!

This book, by Jeff Sharlet, is a sobering look into the fundamentalist Christian organization that works at the heart of much of our government in this country to impose its views. You can read much about it in this Wikipedia entry - The Fellowship.

It’s a very good book, though rambles a little bit of “Good Calories, Bad Calories” in that sense. The author spent time in the Family himself, and did years of research on this book. Not only that, but the history of the organization, and the ways they’ve worked their agenda into our government’s politics, are very circuitous, and require a lot of tangents.

If you’re at all interested in US government, or the workings or “power,” you should definitely read it!

Just read David Servan-Schreiber’s book “Anti Cancer, A New Way of Life.”

I thought it was a great book. It details David’s own experience with brain cancer. Being a surgeon, he has a unique outlook on the experience, and on his path into alternative therapies.

The thing I liked best about the book was the author’s use of the word “terrain” to describe the body. “How is your terrain,” a friend asked him after his first battle with the brain tumor (it came back).

Essentially, that view involves looking at your body as you would the earth. Are you dumping pesticides, poisons, etc., into your body? If so it will gradually lose the ability to repair itself, become clogged up, and develop terrible illnesses. If not, you’ll probably last a lot longer. [This view is also mentioned in Michael Odent's 1986 book, "Primal Health"]

So how does one take care of their terrain?

Diet
In short, eat organic, whole foods, cooked lightly. Get your veggies! Lots of garlic, cabbage, cruciferi, and everything else. Eat non-farmed/free-range grass-fed animals and their products. Drink plenty of pure water (he recommends a carbon filter), green tea (3 cups/day), and 1 glass of red wine per day (ONE?!). Avoid processed foods of any kind!

Exercise
30 minutes per day isn’t too much to ask. But he only asks for 30 minutes 3 days per week. I say 30 minutes per day. You can combine forces and do some sort of “intentional” exercise like yoga or Tai Chi to get the healing power of the mind involved (and get “deeper” into your body in the process).

Mentality
Meditation is the author’s answer, and I don’t disagree. I’ve always recommended Eckart Tolle’s book “The Power of Now,” or the simple, short book of exercises taken from that book. Shoot for 10 minutes twice a day to start. It’s easiest, usually, first thing in the morning, and later at night, when we’re not so busy. But a mid-day meditation session can give a huge boost. If you’re into “physiology tracking,” you can “meditate” while you exercise by following your body’s response to the movement…find the blockages, find the resonances…seek!

Social/Environmental/Spiritual
I think these all get tied together. While environmental toxins (avoid harsh chemicals in your daily life) aren’t necessarily related to your spirituality, your general environment is, and both are related to your social life. Make sure your environment is supportive and caring, full of love and good times. Laugh as much as possible. Do your best to resolve fears and unhappiness, in any way you can.

That’s about it. Read the book, it’s good!

I’ve been watching this series from BBC, starring Niall Ferguson as host, on Google for the past couple of weeks. It’s incredibly fascinating, and I highly recommend it to everyone. Why? Well, because you agree to trade your effort in life for “money,” so you should have some idea of what you’re agreeing to. Shouldn’t you?

Essentially, money, or “cash,” came about as a means of representing some other thing or value. Instead of having to go trade your chickens to the milk-man for some milk, because the shoe-maker didn’t want chickens, but he would take milk, you could just trade him “cash,” which was good for shoes, chickens, or milk.

At some point, the idea of a loan or debt came into being, where someone said “I can’t pay you now, but you know I’m good for it.” The person lending the money agreed, and gave the borrower what they wanted…with interest, of course.

Money, “cash,” plus the concept of loans/debt/credit, gave way to bonds, when the Rothschilds showed that fortunes could be made by buying low and selling high. But bonds, because they represent potential “cash,” set the value of interest rates, and the rate of inflation.

More people began to play in the bond market, strengthening its foothold in economic systems. This creates a vicious cycle, where governments use bonds to raise more money, based on the fact that more people are invested in bonds. The global market for bonds is larger than all of the world’s stock markets put together.

In the final analysis, money, the way we agree to trade value internationally – and all of its machinations, are so intertwined in the structure of global society (or any individual society), that changing that method of trade would radically change everything else.

Anyone who makes money (who trades their value-creation for a standard, or globally-accepted representation of that value) would have to wonder where they would stand.

That is, it would require, as Nietzsche said about morals and ethics – “a transvaluation of values.”

But is this possible? Or likely? What sort of catastrophe would have to occur to cause people to “wake up” to their value system…a la Neo getting unplugged from the Matrix?

I don’t know.

After my previous post about the possible loss of connection between human electrical fields and the earth-based field (or “geomagnetic field,” the GMF), I checked out this book:

The Geomagnetic Field and Life, by Aleksander Dubrov, outlines the myriad ways that the GMF affects terrestrial biology, and gives some suggestions as to how the GMF may have shaped the development of life on this planet to begin with.

I won’t go into details here. Too many to note. If you’re interested, Dr. Dubrov has actually posted summaries of all of his books online for free, here.

There’s a lot there, a lot to think about…take your time.

But I will anyway.

Yesterday, I “read” Marshall Sahlins‘ book “The Western Illusion of Human Nature.”

It’s a thin tome, only 4″x6″ and only 112 pages.

But they’re 112 of the most densely-written pages you’ll never want to read.

From the back cover, a synopsis:
“Now is the whimper of our self-contempt. Indeed, time and again for more than two millennia we in the West have been haunted by the specter of our own inner being: an apparition of human nature so avaricious and contentious that, unless it is somehow governed, it will reduce society to anarchy. I claim this is a specifically Western hangup, for it supposes an opposition of nature and culture that is distinctive of our own folklore…and contrastive to the many peoples who consider beasts are basically human rather than human basically beasts…The idea that we are involuntary servants of our animal dispositions is an illusion – also originating in the culture.”

For those who don’t know, Sahlins is the Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago.

The book traces the idea of humans as beasts who need a controlling government back to Thucydides (Ancient Greek historian) via Hesiod (Ancient Greek poet who wrote the Theogony and Works and Days), through Thomas Hobbes (English philosopher), all the way to John Adams.

But it’s the way he does it that hurts so much.

Tell me a story Marshall! I want a story. Instead, he traces the history of the idea of human beings as deep savages needing to be governed through a circuitous series of connections.

I wasn’t able to stomach it after a while. It made me mentally dyspeptic (that’s Greek too). I skimmed from about page 60 on, then started skipping wide chunks, and then just went straight to the last page.

In all, I think he could’ve summarized the entire thing in the paragraph I put above (and edited…for brevity’s sake). Or in a few pages. Without all of the tangents.

I think it’s good, and important information. I think he does a good job of tracing the history of this idea. But I’d rather have seen a timeline with references under it, on one piece of paper, than struggle through 60 pages of turgid writing.

For a fan of Nietzsche, he writes really badly! He should read more Spinoza, or the Italian troubadours’ songs!

I just read a fantastic book, titled, yes, you guessed it – The Hummingbird’s Daughter.

It’s the story of “Saint” Teresa (Teresita) Urrea (who was a real person, by the way). Her youth, upbringing, and something of her training in the arts of a Mexican curandera (or, healer).

The author, Luis Urrea, is the main character’s great-nephew, and spent 20 years researching the book – digging up old newspaper clippings and correspondences, and visiting the places described in its pages. He writes in a vivid, sensual style, that makes the characters come alive, and the pace move along like life – sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but always unavoidable…I found it hard to put the book down!

Not just because of the writing, however.

Teresita’s teacher is a curandera named Huila, who bears a strong resemblance to many of the teachers I’ve had in my life, and whose language is strikingly similar to the language of some of my teachers. One passage in particular is so similar to the way that Mick Dodge, The Barefoot Sensei, speaks about connecting with the earth, that Urrea could be quoting him directly! Here it is in part:

“In the earth,” Huila said. “Say it. I am in the earth.”
“I am in the earth.”
“And the earth is in me.”
“And the earth is in me.”
They breathed. They felt their lungs fill with sky, and they let the dark clouds inside them flow out. Then they connected to the earth.
“Lift the toes, and press with the balls of your feet.”
“I feel silly.”
“Part of being a medicine woman is feeling silly.”
Teresita stood before her, digging into the ground with her feet.
“Now, push into the ground with the inside of your foot, all the way to the heel. You’ve got prongs in your heels, like a pitchfork. Two on the inside, two on the outside. Plug in the two on the inside of your heel. Push into the earth. Then you have roots, child. Do you see that?”
“Roots. In my heels.”
“Yes. Plant them. Deep in the soil. Your roots.”

The book is full of little nuggets of wisdom like this. That, and the inspiring characters within, left me feeling a little more hope for humanity when I had finished.

I highly recommend this book!

Seems like I’ve only been posting book reviews lately…other things ahve been happening, honest!

I just read Percy Cerutty’s book “Be Fit or Be Damned.”

Unfortunately for all of us, this classic is out of print. Why, I have no idea!

According to the All Knowing Wikipedia, Percy was born in 1895 and died in 1975. He was an Australian athletic coach, and coached Herb Elliott, who won a gold medal in the 1960 Olympic games.

Now before you go saying “He only lived to be 80, I’m not taking his advice!” realize that 80 is a pretty ripe old age for someone born in 1895 who once battled with cancer – and who actually died of Motor Neurone Disease (called ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease in the US).

His book is about how to live. I think it sums up Cerutty’s “Stotan” (a combination of Stoic and Spartan philosophies) life-philosophy well.

Through the “manliness” protocol that was very popular in his era, Percy explains that people (men) should exercise regularly. He gives the why and the how in about as simple and down-to-earth a manner as you would ever want.

Check this book out from your local library (or local university library), or buy it on Amazon used for $25. It’s worth the read!