Animal

I feel like a wild animal. This bears explanation because most people probably think something other than what I mean by the phrase. Wild animals are cautious and wary. But they are also calm and calculating. They alertly size up any situation and react in predictable ways.

The reason most people don't see this is because they are too out of touch to get close. The wild things know they are coming far before they get there. But if you learn to be more wild, you'll be amazed at what you see. Imagine being the one who surprises them! It's not that hard.

But anyway, I feel like this most of the time. I do not like being seen unless I intend to. I like to be aware, to read situations for danger or instability. If it looks unsafe, my guard never drops. Sometimes this looks like inattention, but it's exactly the opposite. I'm either distracted by something I need to track, or there are too many things to allow focus on any one for long.

I have pretty set behavior patterns. What's mine is mine, what's not mine is not my concern. I share freely, and do not take more than I need. But I expect the same courtesy. You are welcome to shared space, and I won't bother your space, but stay the **** out of mine unless I allow it. And those lines are pretty clear.

Wild animals do not just attack. They attack in order to eat, in which case, they do not over kill. Or they attack for defense. And usually after ample warning. I have faced alligators, snakes, sharks, hogs, deer, dogs, raccoons, wild goats, even wasps and spiders. None ever attack wantonly. In fact it's pretty hard to get them to do it. They'll take large amounts of harassment first. But when they do attack, it's not play time. They are trying to end the conflict decisively. Once it's over, there's no further problem, though they may be warier next time.

I too, hate conflict. But I also hate being messed with. So when things escalate, I'm not playing and one or both of us will be hurt in serious ways. Trust me, I'm seeking to end the conflict as decisively as possible. I may not be the biggest or most threatening, but my advantage is that, by that point, I'm not holding back. And I'm preparing for this far before most people would be. So it's best to heed the warnings. No "bucking up", no rules. I will disable the threat as quickly as possible. When I engage know that I will attempt to permanently injure or kill. I don't want to do that. So for God's sake, don't push it.

Is that scary? Only if you plan to push it. It's not berserk here. It's just wild. The other side of wild is the tender soft side. Wild animals are not monsters. They are loving and feeling in proportion to their kind. They are intensely loyal, and often quite forgiving and generous. For them, there is only one way to be, and that is the right way. They make mistakes and they learn. But no wild thing ever tries to be bad, or cheat, or ruin. They simply are what the were made to be and strive to do that to perfection. We hate being trapped. We are most whole and happy when free and in the wild.

This is me. I've known for a while, but it was freshly opened to me recently. If you know me, I'm sure you can see how this fits. If I'm confusing somehow, see if this doesn't help explain.

Is this normal? Certainly not in the statistical sense. I don't know about any other senses. Is there a place for me in this world? Yes. But our culture hates wildness. The fear/control complex requires that since it, by definition can't be controlled, it must be eliminated, or at least driven from daily awareness.

This is a hard realization. To know that your people will always misunderstand, manipulate, and try to control the very thing that most defines you, and you with it.

Assimilation

This blog is about Truth.  With a capital T because I mean it in the big sense, not the baser sense of "true story" or true/false.  Science is also about Truth...at least it is at the heart, before media and corpocracy and fame have tainted it.  The only reason science and religion conflict is because practitioners of one or both confuse the roll of each.  See science can only tell us about observable reproducable things.  As such, it can't talk at all about things that fall outside of the ability to observe and test.  Conversely, religion isn't about empirical, observable, testable reality.  Reality, yes, but not the physical world in the way science is interested.  Anyway, I digress.  My point is that I try to understand my world as a whole.  And science informs things quite well.  So it shouldn't be a surprise that this blog may also cover scientific matters from time to time as they engage in my brain.

So the concept of assimilation.  This is the process of taking something in and making it a part of the entity, whether that is biological, social, spiritual, etc.  Essentially, an assimilated thing ceases to be separate from the thing that assimilates it.  We assimilate nutrients.  Nations assimilate people.  The US is known as the "melting pot", which refers to the quality of assimilating people from many backgrounds.  We are not a nation based on genetic isolation or ancient tribal divides.  Assimilation is a natural process that absolutely pervades every aspect of the function of the world.  But I don't think many people understand it at all.

I was thinking of assimilation around the Christmas season for a couple reasons.  First, because people get wound up about the various elements of the holiday.  Regardless of what angle of that argument you might sit in, I think the concept of assimilation should help unwind that tension some.

No culture exists in a vacuum.  Even the oldest cultures are influenced by those around them and evolve through time.  The culture of a tribe 1000 years ago would not be the same now, even if that tribe were totally untouched by the outside, which none are.  So there are going to be things that move from one to the other in both directions.

When Christianity first began to spread, it was spreading through existing cultures.  Some of those celebrated Saturnalia, some celebrated Yule, and many other winter festivities.  So when a few people began to see that this new faith had Truth, they didn't cease to live in the culture they were in.  Others around them still celebrated the things they always did.  Christianity, being a very assimilative type of faith, does not proscribe or prohibit much outright.  The Apostle Paul (Saint Paul, depending on your tradition) who wrote most of the New Testament says all things are permissible, but not everything is beneficial.  The individual has to determine what is good for themselves and their own.  So many found what was good and true in the culture they occupied and kept those elements.

Where there were conflicts of conscience, people sometimes adapted the holiday to something that fit their new beliefs.  Ok, so we aren't celebrating Thor any more, but as all powers and principalities are subject to the One God, then Father Christmas must also be subject to him...It's not a conscious happening, it's a slow and imperceptible shifting.  Father Christmas, sounds much like the traditions of Saint Nicholas from southern Europe, so those gradually get merged as well.

Now if you are seriously conflicted by any pagan elements in your holiday, by all means, do what your conscience demands.  Paul also says to bear with those who have weaker faith, so I for one won't be in your face about what gives you trouble, just like I won't drink alcohol around an alcoholic or a Baptist.  But for your part, recognize the freedom of those of us who do not feel conflicted about it.  We're not apostate because we let our kids enjoy a gift given in the name of a mythical character or a Saint.  WE aren't worshipping a pagan God when we do it, despite the origin.

And if you're on the other side where you feel your holiday was stolen and perverted by us tyrannical Christians, please remember that you are still free to celebrate whatever you like.  As I described above, most of the assimilation was a natural cultural process and not a decision to abolish or persecute your religion.  I don't doubt that there were times where a state religion prohibited practices in an attempt to mandate what it felt was good.  But that's not what's happening in the West right now.  In fact, in today's world, you're more likely to live in a nation that mandates against Christianity, if it speaks to national religion at all.  So it goes both ways.  Individuals are not nations and nations are not individuals.  Celebrate what you like in the way you like and allow others the same respect, even if you disagree.  This is the definition of political and religious freedom.

Now on to the second topic of assimilation.  Food.  When you eat, your body assimilates the chemicals in that food: proteins, lipids, nutrients, synthetics, etc.  Those things become a part of your body.  Your body knows how to use a lot of those things.  A good deal of them, your body can't use.  Some of them actively break down the processes in your body as it tries to figure out what to do with them.  But since assimilation is a great principle of life on Earth, a natural law, your body has an amazing capacity to take damage.  It will assimilate and assimilate until it is overloaded.  Even useful things can become a problem when there are too many of them. 

Unfortunately, our bodies are so good at assimilating stuff we often don't take notice.  The impacts, are virtually undetectable.  But they are occurring.  We only notice it once it's so far damaged that something actually breaks.  It's the same process all over the natural world.  I'm a water scientist and I see people seep junk into lakes and rivers for decades and then get utterly bewildered when the lake turns green and icky "all of a sudden".  Truthfully, there are usually warning signs if you know what to look for, but people don't pay attention to them in their body or the world around them.

Even the government is not good at watching this.  You see, most of the government employees want to do good, that's why we choose a lower paying career that comes with ample abuse from ignorant people.  But a good deal of the job is about keeping the wheels turning.  In the US especially, it's hard to just say, "whoa, change everything because this isn't working."  So we operate by determining exactly how much we can mess something up before the impacts are too noticeable.  I'm dead serious about this.  It's how the laws are written and how the policies are structured.  It's not a mindset of keeping things healthy, solvent, or sustainable.  It's how much abuse can we take from all the pressures and not fall apart.

The same goes with individual health.  Many people try to sneak just under the line where they crash rather than aim for the healthiest they can be.  Fortunately for someone with a condition like me, my body reacts far more instantly to a bad element than most.  So people say it's a problem with my body and those things don't affect them.  But they DO affect you.  They affect everyone.  I'm like the canary in the coal mine.  My reaction is the magnified and instant representation of what it's doing to you over the decades.

So why play with fire?  If you, unlike me, have a good margin of safety, you won't fall out from a little bad stuff, but it's still bad!  Imagine how healthy you could be if you didn't keep taking in that stuff that's pulling you apart at the cellular level.

Anyway, these have been my thoughts through this Christmas season as I've watched and listened to the world around me.  As we start into a new year, I'd encourage you to take advantage of this marker in time to begin consciously assimilating these ideas about assimilation.  Once you understand the concept, it explains so much of the world around you.  You'll be more insightful, happier, and healthier for it.

Culture

One of the most influential events in my life was awakening to cultural programming. I mean being able to recognize first that many beliefs were dictated by culture and secondly recognizing some of those cultural dictations in myself.

It's only natural that the worldview we are steeped in would be the lens through which we view the world, but what is not good is that this fact is often invisible to us. And if the fact itself is invisible to us, then all the subsequent conclusions that are based on it appear to originate from something far more substantial than culture.

If you disagree that this occurs, it is likely because you yourself are still blinded by your own culture. Again, not that this is anything particularly heinous or abnormal...in fact, it is perfectly normal...but it is still flawed.

If culture were absolute, then it would not be flawed. But there are lots of cultures and it is possible to change cultures. It is even possible to be a part of more than one culture at a time. So if there are numerous cultures and they don't agree on all points, then some of them must be wrong. By definition, truth can not be pluralistic. It may appear that way if it is broad enough, but a true thing cannot contradict itself. Therefore if any two cultures are ever in opposition, at least one of them is wrong. (The interesting thing is that, while they can't both be right, they can both be wrong, but that is neither here nor there.) Of course we aren't talking about religions here, only cultures. Many cultures don't claim to be better than any other, just different. So, let's look at it from a moral perspective.

I am no universalist, as I have explained, so there is such a thing as ultimate truth. If you want to argue that, feel free to comment to that effect and I'll take it up in another post. So if a religion claims that all ways will reach the same path, it is by definition wrong because if something is true, it can't contradict itself. (Again, I'm not saying there can't be apparent contradictions.) Since religions are inherently claims to truth, if any two religions fundamentally disagree, at least one must be wrong because, again, there can't be two opposing truths. But cultures don't necessarily claim to be the only way nor do they logically need to be. It is perfectly logical that there may be more than one way to cook an egg, to make a breakfast, to build a house, to celebrate a special occasion, to dress, to organize economies, etc. These don't necessarily violate any universal morals or truths. Therefore, to think that one's culture is the only way is to believe something that is untrue. Therefore that cultural blindness is a flaw.

I'll go a step further. Even to think that one's culture is better than others is flawed. Sure there may be aspects of various cultures that are more efficient, or more suited to our personal tastes, or what have you. We may evaluate them as being, "better" than another. But we must understand that there is no universal standard to compare by. For example, to me, cold cereal and milk for breakfast is far better than miso soup and salad. I like these foods, but to me, the flavor and texture of the cereal and the coolness of the milk are far preferred to the savoriness of the soup and salad in the morning. But to my Japanese friends, they can't possibly agree. Then I know Americans who prefer the Japanese breakfast, and vice versa. The point is that with no universal standard outside of ourselves by which to judge, we can't truly say that one is better than the other. That preference may appear to be universal if all those present are operating in the same culture. This is the essence of cultural blindness. The bigger and more widespread the culture, the greater the effect of the blindness. Obviously breakfast is a silly example, but many wars have been fought and much devestation has been wrought over differences that are really nothing more than cultural preferences.

So what can be done about it? Well the classic answer even from ancient times is to travel. Travel takes us into other cultures and forces us to experience them. Even a Disney vacation is better than nothing, but it would be better to travel in such a way that we really get to engage the culture. With enough travel, even the most ignorant and culturally blinded person will eventually come around to the realization that there are more ways to do things and that most of them are perfectly ok. But it is also possible to learn this from study, and from friendships. The common factor here is exposure.

You'd think that in as mutlicultural a place as America, we'd be as exposed as we could get right? So we Americans must have a pretty good handle on the world, right? Oh think again. Remember that cultural programming is largely invisible to those within it. This means that what we perceive as our own culture is only part of our culture. It has to be viewed from outside to get the whole picture. And once you view it from the outside, you can see that there is a far more well-defined American culture than most Americans think. People from other cultures can spot it and even Americans who have lived outside of it, can pick it out instantly.

When I lived in Japan, I could tell most Americans from any other nationality at a glance. Especially if they were tourists, since the tourists hadn't even begun to absorb the other culture yet. I'm not making a value judgement on American culture. As I said, there is good and bad in every culture. I'm simply saying it is better to see it for what it is than to be blinded and ignorant of it.