In This Edition:
1. Health and Well Being
2. Secret, Sinister Thoughts?
3. Randomness Happends
4. Eat and Drink What You Will
This year, May holds unusual potential. The recovery might work. The NBA playoffs might be spectacular. I might decide to go on another cruise. What potential does May hold for you?
Health and Well Being
The book and accompanying DVD called "The Secret" are still making
the
rounds these days. While much of "The Secret" is valid, and the Law of
Attraction is a viable concept for daily life, the notion that everyone
always chooses their level of health or well-being bears scrutiny. Last
month I discussed personal habits we can all adopt to improve our health. It
is vital to recognize however that some people are born with
pre-dispositions to certain illnesses. Also viruses exist and on this planet
living in a vacuum is not an option.
Some people fall ill for reasons far beyond their control. Historian
and tennis great Arthur Ashe did not 'choose' to incur AIDS and die at 47
leaving a wife and young daughter; he contracted the virus that causes AIDS
from a blood transfusion during heart surgery.
Secret, Sinister Thoughts?
The author of "The Secret" Rhonda Byrne has claimed in interviews that
the victims of 9-11 each shared some kind of dark, sinister
thoughts about their future and that is why they died. This is arrogance.
Firefighters running into the World Trade Center did not want to die, but
were prepared to risk their lives trying to save others. Accidents and
misfortunes do happen to highly positive-minded people.
A Jewish baby born in Germany in 1939 did not come into the world
seeking to suffer; the 12,000,000 Ukrainians that Stalin starved to death in
1930 did not die according to "plan." Funny how all of the "universal" sooth
sayers from Wayne Dyer on up, never spent a minute of their lives under the
reign of Pod Pol or Idi Amin.
Randomness Happends
Randomness occurs in the universe; the same mass of gaseous clouds
subjected to the same temperatures do not form the same planets. Tipping
points are reached, or they are not. A baby born at midnight, straddling one
year or the next, does not enter a school year because it was pre-ordained
but rather what the hospital attendant signs on the birth certificate.
Indeed, as Wil Durant explained time and time again in his series on
civilization, much of history has unfolded on a twist or a turn. Moreover,
the randomness of what happens on earth is minuscule compared to the
randomness that has occurred and is occurring in the universe over countless
millennia. New agers, irrevocably attached to giving higher meaning to
everything, can never fathom this, but reality does not necessarily have an
agenda.
Eat and Drink What You Will
I saw a clever observation on the internet: The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than
the British or Americans. On the other hand, the French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart
attacks than the British or Americans. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
Conclusion: Eat & drink what you like. It's speaking English that
kills you.
