Fear

 " My friends are so alone, it breaks my heart, my friends don't understand we all are lost..." Mondo Cozmo

"Fear, make me wanna hurt you..." Little Steven

At first I felt like I had so much to say, so many thoughts I had put down randomly through the years that I wanted to share. Not that I have all the answers, (or any,) but I at least felt comfortable enough with my thoughts to reflect, share and receive responses. To be clear, there have not been many responses- thanks to my one follower:), but I was and still am ready to hear alternative opinions.

These past weeks I have been thinking about fear. I am reading "An Absolutely Remarkable Thing" by Hank Green. I'm not done, and I won't ruin it for those who haven't read it, but I will just say that there is some discussion about two "competing" views of the world...those who believe we must steel ourselves and put up defenses to be prepared for new things to be dangerous or evil, and those who believe we should "send out to the universe what we would like to get back...ie love." This latter point of view opens you up to be taken advantage of and possibly (probably) hurt or disappointed at times. I have long espoused this point of view, understanding these possible ramifications.

What (I think) this book is going to try to point out, is that those of us who try for love over fear can fall into two traps...The first trap is that since we are so obviously in the right, those who do not see things our way are obviously misguided, deluded, close minded, hypocrites. And we thus set ourselves up to see the world as two competing world views. But even if we are "in the right", is pitting one group against another really a solution? And then we try to proselytize and can't for the life of us figure out why others can't see the world as we do. Then we fall into the second trap- the idea that we are somehow superior to those other fools who are ruled by their fear.

Here are some of my thoughts about it. I think we all need to acknowledge that we all live in fear and everyday we need to try to overcome it in small or large ways in order to live in the world. Some of us may have lower or higher levels of fear or anxiety but I think we all struggle with it at some level. 

I also acknowledge that not all our fear is misguided fear, but I do think that at this point in our evolution, most of it is unhealthy. Early life experiences shape our brains and influence the chemical reactions our bodies have to things we encounter later in life. Adverse childhood experiences (poverty, abuse, absent parents, war, pandemic...) clearly influence how our minds and bodies see and react to the world. They influence our sense of self and our risk of chronic diseases as well as our risk of behaving in unhealthy ways. They shape our brains. Adult adverse experiences- assault, rape, war, refugee status, poverty, homelessness to name a few, also make us more wary, more fearful in general. We have things that trigger us to experience (and reexperience) physical fear. This can surely make us see the world as a scary place especially if we do not feel we have control over our own decision making or destiny.

Even those fortunate to have either no adversity in life, or to have enough buffers/resilience to function in most circumstances, also have very different life experiences. Our families raise us with different beliefs, we live in different types of communities, with different geographies, different religions, different population densities, different levels of affluence. Some live or travel in/to a variety of places, some stay in one place. We have different educational experiences. We have different levels of privilege.

But if we acknowledge that we all have fear, that we each have fear, then we can have a conversation about how we want to be if we could let go of some of that fear- as individuals and as a species. And if we acknowledge that we all have fear and that we struggle with it daily, then we can let go of our air of  superiority and not fall into the us vs them trap. Then we can examine what our own fear is leading to...greed, anxiety, prejudice, inability to change/adapt, unwillingness to try new things, accept other people. We ALL have to do this. 

I think fear is intimately entwined with our ego and our physical self. I think it ties in with my idea of consciousness as a property of the universe, but I am certainly not the the first or the only person to promote the idea of letting go of your own ego, and to embrace the idea of your physical self as a temporary shell, to recognize yourself as just a small part of the something much bigger. - Western and Eastern philosophies/religions are based on this idea...the idea of letting go of your earthly physical concerns and recognizing that giving in to love, kindness is the way to salvation, to release. "Be not afraid, I go before you always, come follow me and I will give you rest."

Popular culture is rife with examples- "use the force Luke." 

But despite being surrounded by examples to follow, we all cling to our own lives (all species do this). We cling to life and so are we doomed to live in fear? I hope not. I hope we can acknowledge our fears, acknowledge the existence and the sources of fear in ourselves and try to understand the existence and sources of fears that others have as a start. If we acknowledge that we are part of something bigger and that we are all "the other, " really work on letting go of our own egos even a little, and if we then see how fears manifest in ourselves and in others we can begin our work as individuals and as a society to help each other.

When we "conquer" a fear, or more likely do something despite our  fear, we often feel a sense of accomplishment, pleasure, relief. But it can be very hard.

My thought is that we acknowledge our fears and their manifestations, then enlist help to try, to trust, to do and see where that leads. Every day in a small way.

Peace Out.

Sheila

Book Recommendation: "An Absolutely Remarkable Thing." Hank Green

Album recommendation: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band- "Darkness on the Edge of Town" - because really I can't say it any better than this...

Playlist: Spotify search smknerr public playlist: "Fear"

Consciousness as a Property of the Universe

  

It has been a busy, sometimes hard month and I have not posted on this blog in that time. The following are really rough notes about something I have been considering for a long time.

I invite you to think about the following and would love to hear about any further reading that any of you would suggest on the topic.

Thank you and be well.

Peace out...

The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining why any physical state is conscious rather than nonconscious. 

Panpsychism is the view that all things have a mind or a mind-like quality. The word itself was coined by the Italian philosopher Francesco Patrizi in the sixteenth century, and derives from the two Greek words pan (all) and psyche (soul or mind).

BUT..."what is mind?—is more difficult and contentious. Here panpsychism is on neither better nor worse footing than any other approach to mind; it argues only that one’s notion of mind, however conceived, must apply in some degree to all things.

The panpsychist conception of mind must be sufficiently broad to plausibly encompass humans and non-human objects as well. Panpsychists typically see the human mind as a unique, highly-refined instance of some more universal concept. They argue that mind in, say, lower animals, plants, or rocks is neither as sophisticated nor as complex as that of human beings. But this in turn raises new questions: What common mental quality or qualities are shared by these things? And why should we even call such qualities “mental” in the first place?

from the (Peer reviewed) Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (who knew?)

But what if we understand consciousness as a property of the universe, like elecrtomagnetic radiation or gravity. All living creatures have the ability to tap into this at greater or lesser degrees and perhaps by different mechanisms. Gravity affects us all, rocks, birds, people. Electromagnetic radiation...well

 Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that is present all around us and takes various forms like microwaves, television waves, radio waves, gamma rays, X-rays, and visible light. 

We know different creatures experience different forms of EM radiation to greater or lesser degrees. We can see certain colors of light, but other species can experience a different range of colors (Ultraviolet is just light) 

  Our “self” or ego is the biochemical response to consciousness and is shaped by our particular circumstances and physical attributes,  but we are all part of the collective consciousness. We are all then truly the child in the detention center in Arizona, and the preteen struggling with their gender identity, and the mother and the old white gentleman. We are all the same. It is quite a concept and why should we believe that.? I don’t know but isn’t that a bit like God? Michael Pollan just released a book about the use of psychedelic drugs. It is on my list but still unread. I did listen to an interview he did and he talks of their successful use in medicine- specifically to treat anxiety and depression in concert with cognitive therapy. He also discusses their similarity to people’s reports of “near death experiences.” He describes it as kind of a “rebooting” of our egos. The drugs cause us to dissociate ourselves from our experiences. We can look at the particular stories of who we are that we tell ourselves (our egos) as if we are outside of ourselves. In this way we can see the destructive stories “objectively” and understand that we don’t have to keep telling them to ourselves. We can change. 

  But how do psychologists define ego? Freud, that sexually fixated, psychologist, did advance a framework still used today when he described the ego, id and superego. The id being our “primitive” desires/wants for immediate gratification, the superego being the “internalization of cultural rules/morality- ie our conscience and inner critic, and the ego as “our conscious awareness” whose job it is to separate out “what is real” or to “make sense of our reality”- even if we lie to ourselves/make up stories in order to have the input to our brains “make sense” (corpus collosum experiments). 

  Neuroscience tells us about the amygdala (primitive, emotion laden (fear, anger, lust, joy), immediate reward area of our brain and the prefrontal cortex (the executive planning, delayed gratification, more “rational” part of our brain) and the struggle between the two that we feel when we are presented with a decision point. We know that we are “fighting within ourselves” between which path to follow. But “who” is mediating this fight and who decides the winner? Why do we tend to follow the same paths over and over, even when they are destructive? 

 These are fascinating questions and I don’t have the answer. But the synthesis of my readings and experiences has led me to think of this idea of consciousness as a potentially viable one. What do you think? 

See also Annika Harris’s book “Consciousness” for further discussion of this idea. As well as “The Case Against Reality.”

Playlist on spotify at smknerr "Comfortably Numb"

  "No culture has yet solved the dilemma each has faced with the growth of a conscious mind, how to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, of the horror inherent in all life, when one finds darkness not only in one's own culture, but within oneself. If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated all at once, life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great persistent questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of a leaning into the light." Barry Lopez from Arctic Dreams 

"The function of a writer is to undermine the complacency that comes with dogma, the idea that it has all been figured out." Barry Lopez (paraphrased).

Relying on dogma to define your role in this world, forces you to turn away from reality when you are faced with the inevitable people, situations, and facts that do not align with your dogma. You must close your eyes to what your senses perceive. This makes it easier to lie to you. If you believe your dogma is the only reality, it makes it easier to pit you against others. 

It is time for America to grow up and face the realities that our dogmas have created. Racism, sexism, speciesism, violence, hatred, lies. We have created this madness that is running amok. If we want to rescue democracy we must embrace diversity, we must be humble in our willingness to accept that we don't know the answers, that no one does, but we must live leaning into the light.

Peace out.

PS I realize I am leaning heavily on Barry Lopez these days. There is a new voice I have discovered...

Suggested reading: "Outposts: A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth." Dan Richards                                                            "Olive, Mabel and Me." Andrew Cotter

playlist: Wordknerrd blog #6 the insurrection week

 

Generation Gaps

Burpees as a metaphor for life: (in Haiku)

The Optimist

Fall down on the ground. Reach the bottom, Rise again. A small jump: triumph.

The Pessimist 

Fall down on the ground. Reach the bottom, rise again. Jump. Joy. Down again.

"The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters." Conrad Anker

At the end of 2018 my husband decided we needed a new goal. So we signed up for our 3rd marathon. He talked me into it by making it a destination race (Burlington Vermont) and I was in. But then we started talking about burpees. And one of us (I think it was me), said what if we do one more burpee every day of 2019. We were in pretty good shape but as we thought through the process, we thought "wow, imagine doing 50 burpees. How long would that take? How about 100? 300? Now we are talking crazy talk. I thought about my 12 hour shifts at the hospital and how would I do burpees before or after that? But I said, let's just start and see how long it lasts. Our initial goal was to make it to 50. We gave ourselves the day off in advance for the day we ran our marathon. And we were off. I started getting up 30 minutes early on days I worked. We got to 50, then to 100, 150. We trained for our marathon. We kept going with burpees. All of our old leg/hip injuries had revisited us during our marathon training but we persisted. Neither of us broke any records (not even our own). But we ran the race. We each learned something more about ourselves, as every marathon is a teacher. And we had a fun weekend in Vermont.

We kept at it with the burpees too. I started getting neck pain in September during a weekend biking trip. We persisted. Finally, at day 343, we decided for real that we had crossed too far over the line between mental toughness and stupidity. We did complete the requisite 66,795 burpees, but not by 12/31/19. It took us until May, 2020. In the meantime there were steroid injections in my neck, physical therapy and some rest. And I wrote my first poems.

I share this story to give you a sense of the value my husband and I place on working hard to achieve goals. It doesn't matter what the goal is..."It's not the thing you fling, it's the fling itself." Northern Exposure season 3 episode 14.

This past summer, my 3 children, my husband and I decided to start a family book club/podcast club. My husband chose the book "Grit" by Angela Duckworth from U Penn. We both enjoyed it and were pleased to see we scored high on the "Are you a gritty parent?" checklist. We felt we had served our children well. Set a goal, focus, work hard, believe...don't quit in the middle of a season. Persevere. Set realistic goals, smart goals, establish a support system. Success will happen if you bring passion and discipline to the task.

To our surprise, our children were not so happy with the message of this book. They did not value grit as highly as other things, like self care for example. I must admit, I felt a little twinge of the "these kids, don't know how to work hard" sentiment, and I do worry that self care can degenerate to self indulgence, and not include self sacrifice. At the same time, I remembered the conscious decision that my husband and I made all those years ago to not work full time; To find jobs doing what we enjoyed, jobs that gave back to others and committing ourselves to them, but not completely. We were parents and our children needed us. We were dog parents too and we did not want any creature consigned to sitting on the couch or at daycare waiting for us. We wanted to be with each other. My goal was always that my husband and I would be able to have lunch together. Ironically, this was only achieved during the current pandemic... In any case, we had our priorities and we tried to be true to them and they weren't all about being the best, going the farthest etc. They were about valuing our relationship. But we did both go through demanding graduate/professional programs and we do value setting goals and working to meet them, and we enjoy physical challenges as a way to strengthen our bodies and minds.

Back to the present, the fascinating thing about these family talks was the continued realization that our children have absorbed our shared experiences differently than we did, and they also had many experiences at schools, clubs, with friends, without us, and they shaped them too. We are also all at different places in our lives, and they are all now adults. I have to respect that they each have their own way of seeing the world, their own priorities. I started thinking about the reality of a "generation gap." I don't want to be the curmudgeon I often feel I am becoming so I try very hard to listen and to not be entrenched in my own ways of thinking. Grit is fine, they said, but not for its' own sake. And who needs to be the "best" at anything/everything? They had less focus on being "gritty" and more focus on being kind to themselves, valuing relationships, exploring how other's experienced the world and embracing tolerance.

One of our next books was "This book will make you Kinder" by Henry Garrett. Another book was "Non Binary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity" which I spoke about in my first post. I had them read "Our Homesick Songs" by Emma Hooper. There is alot of analysis and alot of broadening of categories and creating new ones, that my children embrace. There is a whole lot more comfort with discussions about diversity and a willingness to start to delve into other once more taboo subjects.

I think the progression from the competitive mind set to the tolerant, kind, inclusive mindset is a constructive way for the world to move. I appreciate my children giving me a different way to see things, and of reminding me about what I already value. I hope to keep learning. God knows we don't have all the answers. And we have turned a blind eye to many things we should have been paying attention to. Our chickens our coming home to roost as our climate rushes towards inhabitability, as our population crowds out our own resources, never mind the rest of the creatures on our planet. We have allowed Jim Crow to persist as we rush towards our own goals. We have ignored the inability of others to have goals beyond getting through the day.

I know there are people of my generation, and those of prior generations, who have been more aware and done a great deal of work for social justice and to care for our environment. I am speaking for myself when I say I have not done enough.

I'd like to end by honoring one of my favorite authors who died on Christmas day. I came late to the work of Barry Lopez but he had a life full of travel, immersion and observation. He reflected and shared his vision of the world and all of its' inhabitants with humility and kindness. His wisdom shines through in his many works of non fiction and fiction. He is probably known best for "Arctic Dreams" and more recently "Horizon." I feel so grateful that I found his work. I wrote to him last year after reading Horizon. A year later I got a type written postcard from him, a simple note thanking me for my letter. He had read it last year, and reread it this year. I was so pleased that we had made this small connection. I wrote again after I started this blog, since I quote him so frequently. It was then I found out that his home in Oregon had been damaged in one of the many wildfires that are a consequence of our climate changing. Then I read on the 26th that he had succumbed to his cancer the day before. I don't know if he got my most recent note. I didn't know him, but I miss his voice already. It is a voice sorely needed in this world and I encourage anyone reading this to explore his work. He is far wiser than I.

I still miss Tom Petty too. It's been a few years since his sudden death. I never knew him,

or connected with him, except through his music. I don't even know why his loss seems so raw to me.

But it does. So I just want to take a moment to remember Mr. Lopez, Mr. Petty, and all of the people

I didn't know who are lost to us during this year of death.

2021 is fresh and new. Let's do better. Let's be kinder. Let's not forget, but let's move forward.

Peace Out.

"Grit" - Angela Duckworth 2019

"This Book will make you Kinder" - Henry Garrett 2020

"Our Homesick Songs" - Emma Hooper 2018

"On the Divinity of Second Chances" Kaya McLaren 2004

Bonus quote: "BE GOOD. BE KIND. BE HAPPY.

We do not just measure greatness by the peaks that we climb, or the heights that we reach, but rather by the positive impact that we create for ourselves, our communities, and our planet. Our goodness to each other is what makes us whole, and what endures for generations beyond our physical feats & achievements." Conrad Anker (from his website- check it out).

(I think this is what we want right?)

Happy Holidays!

 "It came without packages, boxes and bags..." - The Grinch.

Taking a break this week as I celebrate Christmas with the fam.

Wishing all of you a Happy Hanukkah! Happy Solstice!, Happy Kwanza!, Merry Christmas! 

And peace and health (and joy) in the New Year!

Peace out,

Science and mystery- Confessions of a scientist

"It has been my experience that these hours of perusing the water, here (on the shore) or while at sea--taking in the occasional bird or surfacing whale, watching light shift on the surface--induce an awareness of another sort of time, a time that fills an expansive and undifferentiated volume of space, one not easily available elsewhere. On those days, such a seemingly mindless vigil offers relief from the monotony of everyday experience." B. Lopez

"Art's underlying strength is that it does not intend to be literal. It presents a metaphor and leaves the viewer or listener to interpret. It is giving in to art, not trying to divine its meaning, that brings the deepest measure of satisfaction. The authority of art, its special power to illuminate, was partially eclipsed in Western culture by the Scientific Revolution... Its influence undermined by science's certainty." B. Lopez

"The history of the separation of art from the natural world and from the world of reason...these breaches have had a staggering effect on how humans grapple with their fate." B. Lopez

 I maintained a certain affinity for the Catholic faith long after the institution had repeatedly disappointed me. I believe it is because as opposed to some of the other mainstream Christian traditions, and despite all of its dogma, it allowed a space for mystery to remain. As someone who considers herself to have a scientific bent, I wasn't sure how to explain this even to myself. But I believe that this "added dimension" that Catholicism allowed for filled a gap that was missing for me. Science as a frame of mind and as a way to translate curiosity and imagination into knowledge is a noble calling, but true wisdom requires another way of knowing as well, another way of "seeing" and processing the world around us. The two ways working together create a certain synergy.  

Appreciating and noticing things as an artist as opposed to as a scientist enhances the way we learn about our world. People have different abilities in these areas. Some are more "intuitive" and may express themselves better through stories or art. They are using their brains to process information in a less conscious, less measurable way. I have a partner who can easily list the differential diagnosis from a list of symptoms and thinks in a very conscious, rational, bullet point way. My process has the same result but works in a much more intuitive, unconscious, "wordy" way. We get to the same endpoint, but we arrive there using a different path. People who are more artistic than I am process the world differently as well. They may use visual, tactile or audio imagery rather than words. They "see things" that I don't and express themselves differently as well. Although I would argue that if we allow it, if we are privileged enough to be able to take a step back from our everyday experience, we could all see things in different ways. And that despite our differences, we all have the capacity for wonder.

On January 23, 1960 Naval lieutenant Dan Walsh was one of two men to descend to the lowest depth of the Pacific ocean for the first time. "It was important to Walsh that a human being, not a rover or a probe, first saw the bottom of the Pacific. "You can't surprise a machine," he said to me. And it is this capacity to appreciate the unknown, to be surprised by it, he believes, that will set the human explorer apart from the machine. The moment of surprise informs you emphatically that the way you once imagined the world is not the way is is." B. Lopez   Horizon.

Captain Cook travelled the seas as an explorer. He helped open the door for the exploration of many parts of the world. "He spent his life charting raw space, putting down grids and elevations, but he also understood what could not be charted, the importance of the line that separated the known from the unknown. He understood what occurred in the silence between two musical notes.  He also knew, I believe, the indispensability of this." B.Lopez.  Unfortunately, many who "benefited" from Cook's knowledge did not share his insight. They did not share his appreciation for the unknown nor for the local knowledge that informed the relationship between that particular land and all of it's inhabitants. 

First the conquistadores came for gold, then the "Age of  Enlightenment" was ushered in and men debated whether empiricism (where the only path to knowledge is through experimentation and the senses) or rationality (where "rational thought" is a path to knowledge) or a combination of the two were necessary to understand the world. 

Some, like Alexander Humboldt, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russel Wallace, for example, explored many parts of the globe in order to gain knowledge, (shooting and stuffing as many samples as they could "collect"), and changed the way we imagine the world. Darwin observed and elucidated the theory of evolution (as did Wallace), firmly pushing homo sapiens out of the limelight. Humboldt was a pre-environmentalist who really defined our role as part of a system of nature whose inhabitants all influence each other, as opposed to humans as separate from nature and imposing their will on it as a "divine" right. 

They did not lack for curiosity or imagination and they used these "western" methods to change our whole way of thinking. Unfortunately they and many others often disregarded, diminished and destroyed local knowledge, customs and mysticism in the process. Much was lost by glorifying "science" and demoting ways like art, storytelling and music that communicated both practical knowledge and a deeper wisdom. (Side bar, I would also argue that the more intuitive way of processing information is also a more  "feminine" style and women as a group were dismissed largely from the halls of science as inferior beings, "emotional" and incapable of the superior rational thought.)

 Today, many still become defensive at the idea of questioning the authority of science as a way to learn about the universe. Others push back against science because they "need" a stability and certainty that science cannot offer, while some push back because they feel the scientific establishment has become both dogmatic and presumptuous in claiming to be the only path to answers for the questions of the universe- Why are we here? Where do we come from? What is our role? What is the best relationship with the rest of the planet/universe? Some question the motives of the establishment (or "the elite") and fear they, the masses, are being manipulated.

I have three thoughts about this. The first is that by tying the idea of science to both the scientific establishment with its "publish or perish" tenure system,  and to the people who market the practical applications of science (business people, marketing executives, social media influencers and politicians who are trying to encourage us to give them our money, data or vote) we miss the point of how and why science is so powerful and so important. Second, by diminishing other "paths to knowledge" we have hobbled science, impairing both its ability to gain insight and to understand the "science" behind these other ways of observing our world. Third, science can be done by people who rely on intuition vs cold rationality but the process- the scientific method/experimental or mathematical data does need to be adhered to for a cogent "scientific" result. Science is not the same as art, though both have meaning and beauty. 

For many, their only experience with "science" is in a class or classes that use math and experiments to explain and collect data on things we already know. Even at higher levels of education, science can become more about churning out data to process and turn into a publication in order to secure or advance a career, and less about a wonder and awe at how the world works and a longing to move the bar closer to a level of understanding of the deeper questions. We are harried in our process and forget to stop and be amazed. There is a loss of an appreciation for the role of curiosity, the need for unbridled imagination and the relationship between and the necessary roles of both  science and art in the quest to understand the world we inhabit and the role we play in it. We have forgotten that children (my favorites) are the best scientists as they explore their worlds. (Why they need access to the natural world is a future blog I promise, but this is one reason.)

There are more and more people coming forward into the mainstream to reintroduce us to indigenous knowledge as one of these other ways to view the world. Some of these people like Robin Kimmerer and Diana Beresford-Kroeger are trained in both traditional science and in indigenous ways of knowing. They are not afraid to form a marriage of the two and we are better for it. 

There is newer knowledge about psychedelic drugs (ketamine, lsd) and their role in the treatment of depression. People who have experienced "guided therapy" using these drugs, including Michael Pollan for his last book "How to Change your Mind," describe the experience as a letting go of your individual self and being able to get out of the destructive cycles that limit how you imagine you are or can be. Hmm, sounds a little like the experience of sweat lodges or peyote maybe? Medicine people have been present in many cultures and have had some of this knowledge which we ignored.

Then there is Van Gogh. Sit for a moment (or many moments if you can) in Musee d"Orsay in Paris, revel in the paintings by Van Gogh and you can find another way of being. Van Gogh was of course, tortured in his mind and ultimately killed himself, but the visions he left in his paintings are magnificent. And he is just one artist in a world of artists, musicians and storytellers who better our world.

Then there is the color of Flathead lake in Montana's Glacier National Park, or the existence of a praying mantis, or the sound of a chickadee. Another way of appreciating the world is to take a moment and simply be in awe of it.

There is of course, science behind these other ways of seeing the world, these other ways of acquiring knowledge and of illuminating that knowledge for the world to see, but this is getting a little bit meta I think. - Future blogs will dive into what we know about consciousness and individuals.

 For today: 

The people who push back on the scientific establishment are right to be skeptical when they see fraudulent papers published and industry backed research, or politically influenced recommendations. But skepticism in it's purest form should actually power science and not be it's enemy. Science should reject dogma not create its own. This will broaden our knowledge and be more inclusive. And we will be earning the trust of the public when we need to use science to make broad recommendations. 

I will here defend science on two points with regard to public acceptance:                                                  1. Science will never claim to know everything about anything. We should and do say that we have shown things to be a certain way over and over but will never say always or never- yes even for gravity... Politicians (and others who stand to gain from it) use this to cast doubt on things that have been shown over and over -evolution, humanity's role in climate change, cigarettes causing cancer, vaccines, masks to reduce the spread of covid-19.                                            

 2. The public is fickle. They happily uses the smart phones and other technology powered by science while denouncing scientists when the science used to create the technology they love interferes with their "personal" or "religious" beliefs. And people balk when scientific knowledge is used for the common good, but is inconvenient (or sometimes hard)  or requires a small acceptance of risk (mask wearing, vaccines, avoiding travel avoiding gathering together, closing some businesses). This is frustrating.

This breakdown in any trust in science is currently causing huge numbers of people to get sick and die. And yet the fires of mistrust continue to be stoked (don't even get me started). This is not cool.

Your thoughts?

Peace out.

(Please vaccinate your children and yourself. Think of it like homeopathy- a small dose of the bad stuff to teach your body to fight off the real culprit. They are safe. They are safer than antibiotics. They save lives-maybe even yours.)

Suggested Readings: 

"Horizon" Barry Lopez 2018                                                                                                              

"The Invention of Nature" Andrea Wulf 2015

 "Braiding Sweetgrass" Robin Kimmerer 2015

 "How to Change your Mind" Michael Pollan 2018

"1493" Charles C. Mann 2011

"To Speak for the Trees" Diana Beresford-Kroeger 2019 

Spotify Playlist: "Science and Mystery - WordKnerrd blog #5" 

A word about children

 “Like many other boys, I believed that the wherewithal to lead a successful life required, primarily and absolutely, a fistful of banknotes. The abject narrowness of this vision, the incompleteness of the thought, didn’t dawn on me. Nor did it occur to me that forty years later I would still be wondering what constituted real wealth.” Barry Lopez, "Horizon" 2018

"The disturbing thing about this is that relatively few people in America are able to live lives in which they are truly free. They are tied to the almighty dollar and to survive they must learn to tow the lines they’ve been urged to tow, though they have grown to believe this kind of regimented, obeisant, bounded existence actually represents freedom. They, we, I suppose, cannot risk thinking otherwise.” Barry Lopez, "Horizon" 2018 

Healthcare in our country is a complete mess. There are just no two ways about it. The healthcare industry has become a business that requires sick people and expensive drugs to continue. We are losing any healing relationships we had between doctor and patient (although so called alternative practitioners - nurse practitioners, midwives, herbalists and the like have historically been better at this while the physicians catered to the rich and the barber surgeons to the masses, with the snake oil salesmen infiltrating all spheres). Wellness and the maintenance and upkeep of our bodies and our minds gets short shrift because they are time consuming and don't generate revenue. And we let the meat and dairy lobby influence our national dietary guidelines. And lets not even get into the health insurance mess. We do realize that having healthcare tied to our jobs is not some "American ideal" or "constitutional mandate" right? I mean we do know it only became a thing post World War II during an economic boom to attract men to jobs when salaries were already high right? The women needed to get back home to raise the children- even though they had been competently in the workforce during the war.

As I said, it is a mess. So why do I do it? It is really for the kids. I mean, I try to do the good that I can within a broken system, as many people I know also do, and I try to change the system when I can, but that is rare.  But I really could not have the chutzpah to try to change things, or to put up with many of the frustrations inherent in the system if it wasn't for the kids. I have the privilege and the joy of being present at the birth of a child. I have the ability to help children who are acutely ill, and to help parents who have a sick child. And I get to interact with children of all ages. They are amazing creatures. Why you ask? Let me count the ways?

1. They are not afraid to fail- just watch a child learning to walk. They fail...alot, and they get frustrated yes. But they just keep trying until they succeed. And once they walk, they want to run, jump, gallop, and climb. We, as adults, continue to set limits on what they can try to do. Sometimes this is necessary for their safety, but sometimes it only stunts their growth as the limits are imposed for our convenience, or to help them "fit in" with society, or to be "financially secure." 

2. They are curious, they want to take risks. They like to ask questions- especially Why? and often How? It may get frustrating at times but it is always important to try to encourage their curiosity and to help them find answers or to think about things. 

3. They  develop empathy naturally, but  look to adults to define who they limit it to.

 Research studies have shown us that children develop a "theory of mind" or the ability to understand that other people see the world differently then they do by age 4 or so. But empathy and the circle of of that compassion depends on a mothers (parents?) reaction to others hurting. If it is a big deal to her and she feels it is important to help others, her children will learn that. They start with that notion ingrained (to dislike the bully, to help the bystander), but they look to the adult to see if this always applies and if it does not who is included. Is it limited by race/gender/age/religion/sexual orientation/language/dress?

4. They do not care how much money you have, or your title or degree. They see right through your own self importance.

5. They know how to play.  The importance of play for the development of young minds and young bodies is now undisputed. Children need to play, with each other in unstructured settings in order to learn about risk taking/consequences and to develop problem solving and critical thinking skills- literally to grow and shape their brains. Being outside in nature is an invaluable time for them to do this. They also require at least one adult who they can trust, who loves and supports them and thinks they are special. One who plays, reads, works and relaxes WITH them. One who allows them to explore and take risks, and to fail.

6. They find joy in being active. Too soon, children are taught to “sit still”:  at their desk, at the dinner table, in front of the computer or tablet or tv. This becomes the natural state of most children and adults…sitting. But this isn’t natural, and it is a part of the large problem of obesity and chronic disease that afflicts us. The average child spends 40-50% of their awake time out of school in front of a screen, and only 20-30 minutes A WEEK in unstructured outdoor play. Both as individuals and as a society we need to find ways to change this.

7. They are not self conscious, until we teach them to be. 

8. They are not bound by our ideas of what they should be, until we tell them. 

9. They are  close to the ground and remember to look at the small details of life. 

10. They get sick quickly, but they heal so fast. They are programmed to heal and grow and have not spent years wearing out their bodies.

11. They just want to interact with you. They reach out to you. They need you - your presence to calm them, your back and forth talking, singing and reading in order to develop language, your love and support as they grow and expand their circles.   

12. They like being outside, splashing in puddles, rolling in leaves, tromping in snow, looking at bugs...     

13. If we are doing things "right" and things are going well, they become adolescents who challenge us.

Children need us. They need us to understand their developmental phases so we don't expect them to act in ways they cannot and then punish them when they don't. They will do what we do/model, not what we say. This is an awesome power and responsibility. So when we look to the next generation to save us, we'd better look in the mirror at what we are teaching them to value.

What is our goal for our children? To be like us? To fit in? To succeed in places we failed? To be safe? I believe it is best for everyone if the goal is to help them develop into adults who are not afraid to be true to who they are, whether that fits in with what we think they should be or not. I hope they will learn to think critically and form their own opinions. I pray that I will not limit their circle of empathy. I hope they will travel to other places and learn other people's stories, other ways to view the world. I am sad that money and power are the only goals seen as worthwhile in our country, and am sadder that the dependence on money and the skewed reward system in our society limits the dreams of many. I worry that they share their data so freely with companies that are manipulating them. This is bad enough for adults, but children are more easily manipulated and more damaged by the dark side of social media.

Adolescence is a time of maturation. Lopez uses “adolescence” as a derogatory term for a period of self gratification, but in my mind, it is where our salvation is to be found. How can we embrace the wisdom of nature and the ways other cultures have found to interact within it, if not to allow the child who is not yet conquered by fear of failure, not yet entrenched in the worn out paths to economic “success” at the expense of the climate, the land and all species including our own, to forge a new path free of our bias?

In other words, we need them.

And just as a PS. In order to help children, we need to meaningfully support families- not just the 1950s model nuclear family, not just heterosexual parents, not just Christian families, but families of all shapes, colors and sizes. I saw a terrible bumper sticker today. It was a "coexist" one - you know the one with all different religious symbols. But added to the top were the words: "Jesus didn't teach us to..." Shame on you. Jesus certainly didn't teach "limited" love. (Okay my rant is over). But we can't claim to support children while truly only supporting the few who meet certain criteria. This will only lead to a self perpetuating cycle of privilege and lack, of hatred and exclusion in the name of some ism... Speaking of isms, it isn't "socialism" to support families. If you really believe that unfettered capitalism is the "American way," then we will have to get rid of child labor laws, minimum wage, social security, medicare, medicaid, the Veterans Affairs committee, public education, public parks including national, state and local parks. Let's not forget we will unregulate utilities and no more public roads. There will be no clean air act, endangered species act, or clean water regulations. This is just to name a few of the publicly sponsored programs in our country. Republicans and Democrats have historically disagreed on what amount of government regulation is appropriate and the back and forth has been useful. But the idea that there should be either NO regulation or complete state ownership of all of the means of production has not been nor is it now consistent with the idea of a democracy.

As per the Merriam- Webster Dictionary:

 (Socialism vs. Social Democracy: Usage Guide

In the many years since socialism entered English around 1830, it has acquired several different meanings. It refers to a system of social organization in which private property and the distribution of income are subject to social control, but the conception of that control has varied, and the term has been interpreted in widely diverging ways, ranging from statist to libertarian, from Marxist to liberal. In the modern era, "pure" socialism has been seen only rarely and usually briefly in a few Communist regimes. Far more common are systems of social democracy, now often referred to as democratic socialism, in which extensive state regulation, with limited state ownership, has been employed by democratically elected governments (as in Sweden and Denmark) in the belief that it produces a fair distribution of income without impairing economic growth.

Communism and socialism are both frequently contrasted with capitalism and democracy, though these can be false equivalencies depending on the usage. Capitalism refers to an economic system in which a society’s means of production are held by private individuals or organizations, not the government, and where products, prices, and the distribution of goods are determined mainly by competition in a free market. As an economic system, it can be contrasted with the economic system of communism, though as we have noted, the word communism is used of both political and economic systems. Democracy refers not to an economic system but to a system of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised through a system of direct or indirect representation which is decided through periodic free elections.

What is the basic meaning of democracy?

The word democracy most often refers to a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting.

What is a democratic system of government?

A democratic system of government is a form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic free elections.

Peace out.

Further Reading: 

"Horizon" or any other book by Barry Lopez

"Behave: The Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst."Robert Sapolsky

 "The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma" Bessel Van Der Kolk MD

"Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Animals can transform our lives and save theirs." Richard Louv

Playlist: Wordknerrd blog #4: Teach Your Children