What follows are some thoughts that may provoke some contemplation:
- All behavior is belief-driven. It is impossible to transform health, wealth, and happiness unless the beliefs held about what those words mean are revised and clarified. The world of meanings is where true life is.
- The basis of happiness is relationships. First with God, followed by one’s parents.
- The organizations and institutions that, in a traditional civilization and society, would have allowed an individual to realize himself completely, to defend the principal values he recognizes as his own, and to structure his life in a clear and unambiguous way, no longer exist in the contemporary world.
- Everything that has come to predominate in the modern world is the direct antithesis of the world of Tradition, in which a society is ruled by principles that transcend the merely human and transitory.
- We have today a horribly corrupted notion of freedom, one that is endorsed to the greatest extent by our cultural guardians, politicians and those who stand behind them, pulling the strings. They see freedom as the ability to attempt to gratify every urge, slake every thirst and consummate every passion we, humans, are prey to. That is held up as a community good; indeed, something worth fighting and dying for. They aren’t your pater familias, linked to you by bonds of kinship and ancient duty. They’re professional caretakers who get into power for a short time, rack up huge debts by bribing voters and padding their donors’ nests, as well as their own. Then they retire to a huge pension which, again, young people will need to eventually pay for, and hope that they are never, ever held accountable. They have an agenda.
- Young people are terrifying to those in power. In traditional societies it wasn’t such a concern, because the youth were anxious to become elders themselves, and their elders weren’t afraid of them. Modern rulers are.
- Those who can see can only stay upright “among the ruins” if they assert themselves and lead an authentic existence. This is an inner practice that takes advantage of the few opportunities this era still has to offer and on higher levels even turns negatives into positives.
HEALTH PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
30 min exercise (kettlebell consciousness)
The problem of posture:
Poor posture was diagnosed in 38.3% children, more frequently in boys. A significantly different occurrence of poor posture was found between 7-year-old and 11-year-old children (33.0% and 40.8%, respectively).
Here is a link to a brilliant kettlebell program by my friend Trevor, who inspired this article: https://trevorsinstinct.gumroad.com/l/ekosl?recommended_by=library
18-22 hours fasting
The problem of visceral fat:
According to Harvard Health, 10 percent of a person’s total body fat will be visceral fat. Another useful way to determine how much visceral fat a person is carrying is to measure the size of their waist. A woman whose waist measures 35 inches or more is likely to have excess visceral fat.
Cold showers
The problem of blood pressure:
Nearly 1 out of 2 adults in the United States has hypertension (116 million). Approximately 1 in 5 adults with hypertension in the United States are recommended lifestyle modifications only (24.3 million).
Meditation
The problem of psychosis:
Three out of 100 people will experience psychosis at some time in their lives. About 100,000 adolescents and young adults in the US experience first episode psychosis each year. Psychosis can include hallucinations (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or feeling something that is not real).
Sun exposure
The problem of skin:
84.5 million Americans — one in four — were impacted by skin disease. Skin disease cost the US health care system $75 billion in medical, preventative, and prescription and non-prescription drug costs.
Full body breathing/relaxed front body
The problem of energetic flow:
Asthma affects 5-10% of the population or an estimated 23.4 million persons, including 7 million children.
Eggs & meat
The problem of diet:
Unhealthy diet contributes to approximately 678,000 deaths each year in the U.S., due to nutrition- and obesity-related diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. In the last 30 years, obesity rates have doubled in adults, tripled in children, and quadrupled in adolescents.
Abstinence
The problem of awareness:
Sexual dysfunctions are highly prevalent, affecting about 43% of women and 31% of men. Hypoactive sexual desire disorder has been reported in approximately 30% of women and 15% of men in population-based studies, and is associated with a wide variety of medical and psychologic causes.
Definite purpose
The problem of consciousness:
The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.
Controlled indulgence
The problem of abundance:
An estimated 95,000 people (approximately 68,000 men and 27,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually,15 making alcohol the third-leading preventable cause of death in the United States. The first is tobacco, and the second is poor diet and physical inactivity.
Social interaction
The problem of commitment:
36% of all Americans—including 61% of young adults and 51% of mothers with young children—feel “serious loneliness.” Not surprisingly, loneliness appears to have increased substantially since the outbreak of the global pandemic.
No fake food / eating out
The problem of seed oils:
Manufacturers use heat and solvents, such as hexane, to extract the oil from seeds. This process supposedly introduces chemical additives and unstable molecules, which can turn the polyunsaturated fats into harmful trans fats.
Daily stretching
The problem of pliability:
Lack of flexibility also affects your muscles. Inflexible muscles caused by joint tightness tend to tire much more quickly, which in turn forces the opposing muscle groups to work harder. This can increase your risk of muscular and joint injuries.
Martial arts (BJJ)
The problem of emotions:
According to the research, 18.1 million Americans practiced a form of martial arts at least once between 2010-2011, comprising 9.4 million adults, 5.5 million teenagers, and 3.2 million children. At this time, it was also noted that 52% of members were men, with 48% women.
A gallon of water
The problem of hydration:
According to the lay press, 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. While this is not supported by medical literature, dehydration is common in elderly patients. It has been reported to occur in 17% to 28% of older adults in the United States.
40 min walking outside
The problem of blood flow:
If you are like most people, you walk thousands of steps each day. You walk to do your daily activities, get around, and exercise. It’s something that you usually don’t think about. But for those people who have a problem with walking, daily life can be more difficult.
Walking problems may cause you to:
- Walk with your head and neck bent over
- Drag, drop, or shuffle your feet
- Have irregular, jerky movements when walking
- Take smaller steps
- Waddle
- Walk more slowly or stiffly
Hanging
The problem of shoulders:
Shoulder pain is a common and disabling complaint. The reported annual incidence of shoulder pain in primary care is 14.7 per 1000 patients per year with a lifetime prevalence of up to 70%.