Week 14

The changing cast

The heavens and earth have created a tremendous and inspiring diversity of species that we live amongst.  This diversity is a testament to the abundance of our earth, which continually creates life through the interaction of the elements. We have just the right amount of earth, water, fire, air, and ether, or space, for this play to take place. We can look millions of light years off into the horizon and not find another place so rich in life. Unfortunately, this abundance, and I don't think it too far off to say miracle, is being eroded away. The statistics are alarming, or worse, too disturbing to comprehend. Although species will always come and go, humans are destroying the diversity that we have inherited. In Berkeley there used to be grizzly bears, bald eagles, and black bears just to name a few of the more famous species. Towering old growth redwoods were used by Spanish sailors to find the golden gate as they pierced through the fog. Despite the widespread loss of life, fortunately in the bay area we still have some life around us. Although, it's always a relative story. Can you imagine how abundant the bay area used to be 200 years ago? And of course we should not forget the horrific human loss. Many people used to call this there home. Despite all of this destruction, nature is at least resilient. I see hawks making use of the "open" land next to freeways, and I see many little birds, raccoons, and even skunks near my home. As I was driving, a rare bald eagle flew over head about two weeks ago, and there's still some nice young redwoods to roam.


Chocolate- it's in the cupboard . . . 

unless my wife ate it all. My favorite right now is a dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt. It's tasty. As for its health benefits of course it has them. But the thing is we can't truly label something healthy or unhealthy. Rather we say healthy for whom? Substances have qualities that interact with our own qualities and it's only after that equation has been carefully added can we really say that a particular thing was healthy in any given moment. What's healthy today, may not be tomorrow, or even tonight. Sure, food (Michael Pollen's definition) is a relatively mild category of substances, so its affects generally add up slowly over time. But the principle still applies. What's healthy for me may not be for you. What's good for thee may not be for thou. What's good now, later may be foul. That is why it's a noble quest to learn when and when not to approach any given food item, especially if it is suspicious in any manner. We must listen, because a voice may be begging us, no matter how muffled from beneath the last gastronomical encounter, that we not make a mistake again. If we don't choose wisely then we may suffer some health consequence at some later and unfortunate time. May they be mild ones.

On knowing
The question how do we know what we know was posed in class.
There are many fine lines to walk with this question. For instance it is good to take a general position of "not knowing" because it allows for further knowing to occur. On the other hand, there is a strength from knowing, but hopefully it is not a false strength due to not really knowing. I like the Chinese saying that was given:

"When I hear, I forget
When I see, I remember
When I do, I understand"

This speaks to levels of knowing and these nuances mean a lot when we live and work in the world.
That which is experienced on a deeper level with many of our sense faculties, and not just one marks a clear difference. Is the knowing mental, physical, so called spiritual, or otherwise? Also, "When I do, I understand" also involves not a passive observer but an experiential participant. Here, not only has seeing or hearing occurred, but also good digestion has also occurred. Bon appetite.

Week 13

Supplements

The question of whether to supplement or not is an interesting discussion because it is so controversial. Firstly, supplements cover a vast array of substances and each one has its own qualities, effects, and science behind it. Antioxidants are one such supplement group that is said to protect against that detrimental influences of the environment and the foods that we consume. Antioxidants are also available in the foods we eat, especially a diet rich in colorful fruits, berries and vegetables along with tea and chocolate. If one has a balanced diet that is supporting their needs one may not need to supplement their diet with a concentrated product. On the other hand, we live in a world that is unlike that of any that our ancestors had to live within. Our environment is full of some 80, 000 synthetic chemicals as well as the smoke from billions of smoke stacks coming from automobiles and factories that fuel our modern way of life. This extra pollution is one of the more pervasive arguments for the use of antioxidant supplements.


Ways to maintain health in a polluted environment

We live in a polluted environment. There are 80, 000 and counting chemicals in our environment that were not present there 70 years ago. As we speak, a great deal of highly toxic visible and invisible pollution is seeping and diffusing into the environment from a great many sources, not to mention from the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan. How do we deal with this reality? How do we stay healthy? First, we need not panic, but we need to be firm with the position that this risky and destructive, and in many ways senseless, use of harmful chemicals need not continue in the ways it has. We can all act in ways that minimizes these risks and we can work to keep these toxins from our homes and work space. Secondly, we must simply do everything that we are supposed to do whether there are pollutants or not. We need to exercise well, eat well, and live in accordance with the time and seasons. Along with this, we can reduce our intake of animal products, which contain higher concentrations of chemicals, and we can use herbs and vegetables that detoxify the body in a gentle fashion. Lastly, we can use qi gong, tai ji, and other practices along with meditation to create a more healthy internal environment.