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.

Run

Today I ran.  I run nearly every Friday.  Just me.  In the woods.  No shirt, low tech minimal shoes.  I don't run alone though.  God runs with me.  I can feel the Spirit Lord rush behind me, through me, over me.  Meet me at a bend, whisper to me, shout to me.  I follow his voice.  I run until he stops me.  Sometimes I run fast and hard. Sometimes I run slow.  Sometimes I pause.  Sometimes I am dropped on my butt in awe.

I don't just run.  I also climb, jump, balance, swing.  I am the animal I was made.  I am in tune with my ancestors.  I can feel their joy in me.  I interact with the real world.  Today I ran with deer.  Bounding around me along the trail.  I have argued with hogs.  I have followed raccoons.  I have petted armadillos.  I am becoming less a threat to them and more a part of their world.

I learn too.  Today, I vaulted the table again.  Twice.  I had been hampered by my own mind since falling hard several months ago.  I knew I could do it, but couldn't manage it.  Today I did it.  It was awkward, but successful.

I also ran up a new tree.  Four steps, nearly vertical, no hands.  I have tried many times.  This was the first.  I ran and ran.  I got two steps.  The next time I ran harder and got three steps.  But still not high enough.  Today, I got nearly there.  Then I decided to stop climbing and run the whole way.  The realization settled on me and I felt the flow engage as I focused hard on the first foot plant.  Then lifted my eyes to the end goal and I was soaring into it.  Beyond it actually.  It will only get easier from here.

It was the same with the side jumps.  Jump horizontally from one vertical surface to another.  I could manage one side and then slowly learned to land the other.  Now I can jump from one tree to another and continue forward motion.

This is the physical manifestation of my spiritual discipline.  In this practice, I am healed and made whole, even as my body aches.  Even the rips and tears in my skin, the bruises, the sore muscles are healing.  They are part of the warrior.  I am a man and need to feel physical pain to be wholly who I am made to be.  It confirms I exist and that I can survive.

I am this thing called man.  Half spiritual, half physical, ruler of the natural world, heir to the heavens.  When I run, all is merged into one whole and it is good.

New Year

A mentor of mine once said that there is nothing special about a new year. The calendar is artificially imposed upon our world by human society, therefore one day is as any other in reality. What is different is simply where we choose to place the significance. Therefore New Year's Resolutions are nothing more than convenient psychological touchstones. That doesn't mean they are worthless provided they are approached correctly. But much has been written about them, good and bad, and I don't want to repeat it here. Instead I will focus on some thoughts as I enter 2012.

I'm glad to be done with the holidays. While I like them and welcome them for the most part, it is nice to get back to normal, whatever that is. And in my book it's always good to move forward. Good to come, good to go. This is a wise way to live I think; holding nothing too tightly.

I have no special foreboding about this year, mainly for reasons mentioned at first, but in general, I can foresee nothing big on the horizon. That doesn't mean it isn't there, just that I don't foresee it.

I've been learning how to live in this new way of eating and learning how it changes my mindset and outlook. Everything is connected. That's become cliche, but I am learning that we often define artificial boundaries just like the new year and wonder why nature doesn't fit them. There is no real separation between mind and body. It's not merely an unclear distinction; there actually isn't one. So what we eat and do affects our mind and our mind affects what we eat and do. A psychological problem could be physiological in origin or a physiological problem could be psychological in origin because they are not in reality separate systems. They are all part and parcel of the whole. We impose the classifications for our own purposes and nature nor God are bound to respect them. I'm learning this runs very deep in life. Many aspects.

I've also been thinking about the nature of belief. Many of us grasp onto something and ride it out for what we can. It might be imperfect, but we are all where we are and can be no where else. As MacDonald said, if you look at two men on a hill, from any distance you can't tell which is going up and which is going down. So I'm trying to account for that as subtext for my next statement: that many of us don't seem to really believe what we say we do regarding our faith. We give it service, but when we look at real ramifications of that belief, it appears as if we don't actually believe it.

Here's one prime example: death. If I truly believe that the soul is immortal and that my faith in Jesus crosses me from death into eternal life and that upon leaving this body I will be present with God, etc. What cause have I to fear death. I mean really. If I truly believed this I would not be anxious about dying in the least. Nor would be very upset by someone dying. I want to be clear that I do not mean we should have a lack of compassion, nor that suffering shouldn't bother us. Nor even that we should not have an instinct to self-preservation. In the first two cases, these are obviously major tenets of Christianity and one could scarce call themselves Christian with any credibility if he denied it. And the third is very natural and normal. But there's a difference in what is normal preservation and compassion and an over-avoidance of death.

Another less grave example (pun intended) would be in our communication with God. If I really believed that He is with me all the time and that He guides and directs me, I would be communicating with Him in a much different way, right? Many denominations and teachers have reasoned around this to fit their various bents and that is for the individual to determine the truth. But in all self-honesty, we have to ask ourselves if that makes sense, or if it is merely proof-texting and contrivance to support a pre-existing world view. I personally am working on this. I talk about God as if He isn't present and I muse about His meanings, thoughts, and desires without directly asking Him...Sure you might say we won't get answers like that, but how would we know, I know people who say they do and I've never tried it on His terms, so I can't say.

Which brings me to a final and remarkably synthesizing point. (That tends to happen in these blogs, even though it isn't planned...spooky, though it shouldn't be if the last paragraph is true). That point is that we have to operate on other terms of the given system. This can mean many things. When working with a kid, we have to acknowledge their level of understanding. We can't expect a child to do something far beyond what they are developmentally capable of doing. When communicating across languages we have to work within the available vocabulary and communication style. We can't use slangy words or assume meanings from non-verbals or partial translations. Similarly with animals we can't expect them to communicate like people when they are not physically or neurologically equipped to do so. For these things to go well, we have to do them within the framework provided by the system. Rather than creating a conflict dynamic, we need to come alongside and use the flows and currents of that system to get where we need to go. This must also be true for our bodies and our spirits as well. It's a paradigmatic understanding that affects so many behaviors I can't begin to illustrate them.

It's a new conception that is still far too gossamer for me to pin a lot too it just yet. but it definitely means something.

Pollenation

Well in the pollen aftermath, I learned a couple of things. I think they fit into the unmodify method quite well. But I still need to have the originator explain it to me better to be sure. Verdict is still out on that one. What I did learn is that we often need simple crutches to get us over those humps of will and belief. Or rather, belief and will go hand in hand so that I must believe something for it to be true, but can't just will myself to believe it. So sometimes we need crutches...but that's such a dirty word...points of faith, let's say, to get us over those humps.

For example, I know from experience that pollen bothers me. I can accept the possibilities that it doesn't have to, that it is harmless, and that I could somehow outgrow the allergy. But my experience has been so the other way, that subconsciously and consciously, I can't just stop thinking that it will affect me...so it usually does. Maybe it would anyway, but I inadvertently close the door on other possibility...it's a fine shade of difference. But when I have something that overrides the very latent worry about the pollen, the affect of the pollen goes down...not away, but down, and medicines even work better in lower dosages.

Further, if I find something that I do believe may help, and do not do it, the concern that that thing might have helped makes the condition worse. But if I give in to that help and accept it, the condition improves. So, say, if I think I have developed a sinus infection as a secondary effect of the allergy, but do not act on it because I am not sure, the doubt/worry makes the condition worse. But if I go ahead and take steps to relieve the sinus issue or confirm that it is not an issue in this case, the symptoms improve even before treatment has had time to work.

I think this further proves the mind-body connection and is more in line with the unmodify method of health management. It truly is an experience-based thing, and not wishful thinking...at least as I understand it.

I'm not out of the woods on it yet, but the trail is becoming clearer and I am starting to feel as if I might suddenly push out into one of those clearings where I will find others who came in by different bushwhacks already enjoying the sun of this enlightenment, just as happened with Parkour.

Health

The other day I was sick with a mild head cold and was resigned to forgo a dinner party I had been looking forward to. But when a friend showed up to ride with us and I told him, he said, "oh don't worry about me, I don't get sick anymore."

This caught me off guard. I was skeptical and asked what he meant. He said that he used to have many of the ailments I've had all my life, but not anymore because in his meditation, he had learned to embrace illness. He even stopped getting sick at all. What! I had to know more. I've tried many things that are supposed to help ward off colds, but nothing really works. So I was sure there must be some other factors that would explain it...he was one of those who naturally didn't get sick, he really did get sick and was fooling himself. I didn't know. But in the course of the conversation, I began to understand his theory which was well constructed, actually. I ended up going to dinner, mainly just to learn more about this idea.

As I understand it, the theory is something like this: thoughts influence our body in real ways, so a practice of always seeking the good, leads to more good being manifest in us. This sounds like a standard Positive Mental Attitude thing, but it goes so far beyond it in ways that make sense. He described his meditation technique, the basis for his thinking, how he visualizes things, tied it to science and metaphysics, and religion. In short, it was plausible. I could acknowledge that it was valid, but I couldn't "believe" it yet. Then at one moment, the resonating wave that shakes the cords in the jeweled net of my reality hit and I found the one thing I was supposed to gain from the conversation. He recognized it at once and said, "good, then you're done for tonight. Do it again tomorrow." Of course we talked on from there, but I really did find a kernel of truth in what he was saying.

I mulled it over all weekend as I recovered from the worst of the cold and had decided, I might have found the kernel in it all and wasn't sure about the rest. So I did a little research to see if the stuff he said fell in the realm of the wacky, the pseudo-science, or the mainline that no one has heard of. To my surprise, I instantly found a reputable medical website that highlighted many of the very things he had talked about. Wow! So there was something to this! It was independently verified.

I'm still not so sure how it all works out or to what extent, but I'm definitely going to give it a a fair go. Did you know that antibodies actually increase in people who habitually practice certain things that are really just sage old advice about health? I'm amazed, but shouldn't be. After all, ancient/folk wisdom, which we now tend to rank little better than superstition, is often derived from generations of keen observations. It's a common fallacy to assume that those with less technology are less intelligent. Maybe they can't describe it in our terms, but that doesn't automatically make it false.

So if every thought carries biochemical, electrochemical, and spiritual/energetic consequences, it certainly pays to work toward a healthy, holistic lifestyle of whole foods, plenty of sunlight, low stress, and plenty of good friends. If stress kills (I can attest to that), it also makes sense that the opposite would be true. That is a hopeful thought. And hopeful thoughts bring positive responses in the body. In short, they increase well-being in real measurable ways. So my friend says to use this as the basis and build from there. Add in some excellent Buddhist advice about desire begetting suffering, some Kung Fu about channelling spirit/energy, and some quantum physics about anti-entropic forces and that's pretty much it.

I'm not sure how it all works or fits together yet, but it seems possible. And possibility opens a space for something new. Since, my own observation of a phenomena can alter it, and one possibility is as good as the next, I'm opting for the good.