This is a pretty simple idea, or shall I say fact. The fact is. . . you are who you are or should that be you are whom you are but that doesn’t have nearly the ring to it.
In essence this fact states that we are all fixed, static, solid, set, unmoving or in another way we are all complete beings with a set of tools, our minds and bodies, that are already in place and unmovable. Provocative because this opens the whole not so appealing nature vs. nurture debate, a debate we aren’t having here.
Accepting that we are who we are is difficult for most people I have ever observed, especially in this western United States of America culture where contentment is not present and success is based on a set of external values that few ever achieve where we are typically led to believe negative views of ourselves, not led literally, as we are all responsible for ourselves, but led by circumstance to tend toward seeing ourselves in a negative light. This is an illusion produced by mass delusion.
So this is really a repeat of my bit on seeing yourself. Seeing yourself is step one and is tantamount to accepting yourself. I ain’t talking about some crazy break down crying love thyself bogus crap, I am talking about simply seeing the truth.
This reminds me of The Matix scene where the boy, one of the hopefuls, is bending spoons and Neo has a chat with him. The kid has a British accent which of course lends a nice flavor to his philosophical discussion of reality. Do not try to bend the spoon; that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon. Then you will see, it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself. That is one side of the conversation probably not verbatim but you get the gist. This opens yet another great topic for Nothing Has Meaning but lets stick to our discussion here.
Peeling back the layers of polarity and illusion to reveal self, accept self, and understand that the self exists, as it is, begins the inexorable journey to contentment.
This is really about letting go, letting go of everything, then deciding what you want to hold on to, with point of view and values. Seems like a dichotomy, and it is, suffice to say we humans generally get involved with reality. And Letting Go has such a crappy connotation but there isn’t really a better way to put it, or a more effective way. Letting go of emotion, letting go of attachment, letting go of reality, letting go of meaning.
The Matrix has the letting go bit too, but instead using the Matrix metaphor, the digital virtual reality.
So expose the core and you’ll see more, and relax for a change.
How do we do this? How do we get to the essential core of the Big Apple?
First there’s the what, then there’s the how. So the article is the what and now you want to know the how.
OK. For me personally, I have been afflicted with holistic vision since I became aware, or rather, you know, emerged from childhood so to speak. Once I stopped, looked around, I could see everything as if I was not me, or as if I was outside looking at me, the world, whatever. This isn’t literal voodoo psychic bull but simply a sort of mind set with a visual component and an auditory component as well. So the how isn’t something I can explain too easily. But what I can explain, is the things that make seeing easier, seeing outside yourself, seeing yourself and then letting go as you realize the core of self exists as it is without any real impact from without us and even to a certain extent within us.
Food. Yeah, Yianni, I’ve harped on this before but it’s real. There is a connection between our chemical selves and our mental selves that cannot be denied. So, to be short and to the point, eat less sugar, all forms of sugar. The simpler the carb the more like sugar it is, so avoid those in large quantities. Eat more veggies and greens. Any food that is a plant is likely to support our internal pharmacy much better. Milk is lactose, a form of sugar. Don’t eat it. Alcohol, pure sugar, don’t eat it. An apple, ok, sugar yes, but natural, raw and also loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber. Eat apples, organic apples. We are so surrounded by poisons in our environment now, I have to recommend a program of vitamins and minerals, organic foods when possible, including meats, and some sort of chelate to extract metals, like EDTA, garlic, vinegar, whatever.
Exercise. Yeah, Yianni, I know I harp on this too but it really is all about blood flow. The foods above also help with reducing and correcting arterial cloggage but without building all of the fantastic chemical reactions that occur with exercise the equation isn’t complete. This includes resistance training, lifting weights or push up type exercises as it were, and range of motion, yoga, tai chi, karate, kung fu, martial arts in general, and all the rest. Stay fit, flexible and you will start to open the mind even better.
Now for a short discourse on the mental, and this is a tough one as I have the benefit of not being predisposed to agony, painful depressing agony. But I can feel it lurking and I can see others with it and Nike’s just do it isn’t enough. So I am gonna repeat the diet and exercise mantra, you have to commit to your self holistically, all ways, physical, mental and for some who divide the mental the spiritual. There is no division between the physical and the mental so to live that way is unhealthy, physically and mentally. So mentally, if you first off shut your cake hole, it’s a start. Stop talking all the time. Listen. Listen more. Realize there is not urgency to respond, correct, elucidate and so on. They ain’t gonna get it anyway, they are going to believe what they believe anyway. And that ties with the controlling only ourselves deal I go on about. Once your realize, we are only responsible for ourselves, and I don’t mean abandon your pets and children, I mean internally, only responsible for ourselves and to ourselves and no one else is to blame then we can reflect more. So intentionally be more reflective. Then, weigh your words. Enough about talking. Thinking is in this as well. And now for truth. The truth is the other real challenge, being honest with yourself. And Yianni, you said it, be true to yourself, and I always remember that, not because that was a novel concept I hadn’t copped to myself, but because you said it Yianni. I worried a little less. But I still worry. So you have to ask yourself questions and then answer them honestly. Really honestly. Yeah, this is getting trite and rambling. But to sum it up, talk less, think more, reflect more, tell the truth to yourself and then visualize yourself as if you were not you, as if you were in the air (my personal favorite as I love heights) looking at yourself, and boy, what a rude awakening. Then, listen to yourself, man, how embarrassing that is. Sometimes the echo of my overly passionate crap is so loud I pause and literally say yakity yak yak yak as if to recognize how full of crap I am. If you can hear the echo of your words when you cease speaking, then you are speaking too much and too loudly.
Well man, I hope this is a start. I’ll get to the answer much better eventually, I mean to say, I will articulate the answer much better.
Thanks Mark. Eat better, exercise and stand on a cliff and look down at yourself (without jumping to your death of course)! I appreciate your in-depth response that is well articulated! And I say that from a cliff view!
I’ve found this useful:
You have two ears and one mouth.
Use them in that proportion.
Well Insanity. Useful yes, but the answer, no. Some humans simply can’t simplify to the extent you do. And the chemical imbalances in some minds can only be addressed through chemistry, eating right, exercise, and sound of course, not freaking pharmaceuticals. But yeah, that old saying is spot on, though sort of stupidly executed, or kind of hits me as being somewhat preachy and pompous. My favorite:
Least Said, Soonest Mended.