“The food pyramid is the most dangerous document created.” – Calley Means
American health is in a downward spiral. We abandoned common sense science and allowed companies and politicians redefine reality. We are now paying for it dearly in an exponential increase of chronic disease, reduced lifespan, and declining fertility.
Do yourself a favor and listen to Chris Williamson‘s interview with Calley Means and take control of your health.
“I’d like to tell you this is a story of a group of heroes, but that’s not true.”
It’s great seeing more indie films challenging Hollywood. As technology puts filmmaking into more hands, and Hollywood is losing billions, a new generation of filmmakers are rising up. They don’t have big budgets, but for those who invest in new Hollywood (audience included), you can rescue entertainment.
Virtually every chronic disease is preventable. Their common link: The food we eat. What we were told was safe and healthy to eat wasn’t based on science, but on corporate capture. That is, corporations funded the studies, wrote the government standards.
Your health traded for money.
Now we are paying for it. Drastic increases in chronic diseases. Fertility and birth rates dropping dramatically. People fighting over “reproductive rights” during this election season might want to ponder over this. No one is going to be able to reproduce. Ever see the dystopian film Children of Men? It’s coming true. The integrity of our health and food supply should be an issue that brings everyone together.
Casey Means and Calley Means have truly opened the eyes of millions. Is it enough to reverse the growing disaster? Will people put aside their differences – both real and imagined – before it’s too late?
“Money…is still needed to survive, but time is what you need to live. So, save what little money you possess to meet basic survival requirements, but spend your time lavishly in order to create life values that make the fire worth the candle.” – Rolf Potts, Vagabonding
Do you work to live, or do work to pay for things and maintain appearances?
Let me put it another way, do you have fancy things (houses, cars, toys), but can’t buy real furniture or go on a vacation?
Do you spend money to impress people, or use money to have experiences?
Does a large percentage of your income go to maintain stuff, or does it give you freedom?
Or as Thoreau wrote, are you spending “the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it” ?
Anyone can make money and buy things.
Few, though, seem to break the dual curses of materialism and waiting until retirement to “enjoy” life.
As Rolf Potts wrote, we are missing out on “weaving a tapestry of life experience that is much richer and more intricate than you could ever have imagined…“
“Don’t be afraid to live your life with intense and deliberate essentiality, every day, all the time. However you can find connection to your moments, do it.” – Kourtney Thomas, “What I Learned From a No Social Media Vacation“
Whereas tech is a great tool to assist you on vacation (finding places to go, directions, making reservations, etc.), many people let the social media part of tech take over their trip. I once saw a young lady spend so much time trying to create selfies at the Grand Canyon, I wondered of she even noticed the natural wonder in front of her. (And hoped she didn’t fall off the edge.)
Other people cannot fathom going a week without checking email, social media accounts, the news – or most horribly – work-related accounts and apps.
It might be hard to believe, but the world will survive without knowing where you are for a little while. It’s one thing to check in with friends and family occasionally, but for the most part, just go off the grid and remember what vacations are all about.
Leaving that world behind.
Ashlyn Pernice writes:
“Imagine leaving everything —phones, car, home — and traveling across the country on foot. Imagine truly living a simple life, not caught up with friend drama on Facebook or politics on Twitter, not worrying about the future, nor reminiscing about the past. Imagine being able to truly live in the moment and ignore the responsibilities of everyday life, take in all the beauty of new places and new environments, and meet new people without the distractions of technology.
“But how could you travel without technology in the 21st century? This is what truly bothered me. I knew I wanted to travel without a car, but how would I navigate new areas in this day and age without Google Maps at my fingertips?
“I decided that if people hundreds of years before me could find their way around without smartphones, then I could, too. It was just a matter of using actual maps, asking locals, etc. I threw my beloved iPhone into a lake.”
You don’t have to necessarily throw your phone out. However, before you go, deactivate all social media and messaging apps. Buy a map. Use GPS as little as possible. Take spontaneous photos, not staged ones. Immerse yourself in the moment, and wait until you get back to share your experiences.
Maybe by leaving your daily world for awhile, you’ll find the path you should have been taking all along.
“Money, of course, is still needed to survive, but time is what you need to live. So, save what little money you possess to meet basic survival requirements, but spend your time lavishly in order to create the life values that make the fire worth the candle. ” – Rolf Potts
“There is no certainty as scientific progress accelerates and leisure increases…[that] there is any corresponding advance in wisdom or morality, much less radical improvement in innate human nature.” – Victor Davis Hanson
In this absorbing book by historian Victor Davis Hanson, he looks to our past to remind us of the long-term consequences of war. We are also reminded of how power in the wrong hands can lead to the genocide of entire peoples. In an era where many world leaders have forgotten the ripple effects of war which endure for centuries, and treat it like another government program, perhaps we should look to our ancestors and the fates that befell them.
“We often forget how fragile a creation democracy is – a delicate eggshell in the rough-and-tumble of history. Even in the cradle of democracy, ancient Athens, rule by the people could barely survive for a couple of centuries. And throughout its brief history, Athenian democracy was besieged from within by the forces of oligarchy and tyranny. There were plots led by generals to impose military rule. There were secret clubs of aristocrat who hired squads of assassins to kill popular leaders. Terror reigned during these convulsions…
“Our country’s cheerleaders are wedded to the notion of American exceptionalism. But when it comes to the machinations of power, we are all too similar to other societies and ones that have come before us…no matter where power rules, there is the same determination by those in high places to keep their activities hidden.” – David Talbot
Allen Dulles was the father of the deep state. Anyone who thinks the problems of the national security state, undermining the Constitution, and abuse of power are something new, you’re in for a surprise. Talbot details how it all began. Like Dulles’ daughter said:
“It’s very important to understand it all – the dark and the light.”
“The greatest cataclysm in human history.” – Ken Burns
The War is perhaps the best documentary on WWII ever filmed. I am currently watching through the series for the second time, which seems very appropriate considering some things I’ve heard recently.
Certain groups of people in the younger generations are speaking about how depressing and terrible the world seems to them. They see no hope for the future, and many have decided not to have children. I feel bad for those who apparently have no knowledge of their ancestor’s history; for the loss of resilience among these people; for their suppressed human spirit; for the close-minded manner of thinking they have indoctrinated with.
Is anything now so bad – real or imagined – compared to the most horrific conflict our species endured? One that occurred not early in our history, but recently while we were supposedly at the height of civilization.
When the veterans returned from this war, did they give up on life? Did they, after seeing such unprecedented death and evil, shut themselves from society and promise never to have children? Did they abandon the responsibility of ever generation to move forward?
No, they did the exact opposite.
Every time has its challenges, its problems, its obstacles.
Every era also has its people who embody the spirit of thousands of generations before them as they rise to overcome everything thrown at them.
For those who see no hope, let me apologize on behalf of those older than you that abandoned their responsibility to teach you our past. Now do yourself a favor and watch what your ancestors, only a few short decades ago, faced, endured, and conquered.
“Rarely are we ever truly present.” – Evy Poumpouras
People have gone to such great lengths to be connected — cell phones, WebEx, Slack, smart watches — yet we have managed to be disconnected. We no longer know how to give someone undivided attention. The irony is we have been sold that these apps and devices increase our productivity. Not only do they not do this, our personal connections falter. Evy Poumpouras writes in Becoming Bulletproof:
“One of the fastest ways to sabotage you rapport with someone is to keep your phone out. I’ve seen people go to great lengths to connect with others, and yet their phone will be in their hand, splayed out on their desks or dinner table, signaling to everyone around them that there is something else of potentially greater importance waiting to take their attention away. This sends the message that whoever you’re with is less deserving of your time and that you’re not fully present.”
You might think this is just about courtesy or respect, but it’s bigger than that. “…it’s about influence…this signals how much you value” someone and “…you’ll be able to observe and read them better if you’re giving them your full focus…”
For some people, their devices have become an addiction. I see people who can’t walk across the hall to another office for a few minutes without their phone. For those who bring it in the bathroom, what are you doing? Does always having your phone make you feel important? Listen, kids have phones. Devices haven’t been a status symbol for decades. What are you going to miss by being away from your phone for a few minutes or — the horror — a few hours?
“Unless you’re expecting an emergency call, such as news about a sick family member, then the statistical probability of your personal Armageddon occurring during thirty minutes of being unavailable, is, well… statistically improbable.”
Maybe being part of the last generation to grow up without cells phones (Gen X, but some of you older Millennials as well) gives us a different perspective. We knew how to be gone all day, or a whole week, and no one knew we were alive until we got back. We used phones at other peoples houses (they existed). We didn’t check in every five minutes. Could you survive if cell service disappeared? Do you panic when you realize you forgot your phone at home?
Technology is a tool, but tools can be misused. Learn to use them, and not used by them. In our quest to communicate and connect more with people, we quite often are doing the complete opposite.
Darrick Dean 