HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

Lately I have started paying more attention to the work of Michael Easter. He is not a stranger to many of you, as he's authored books such as The Comfort Crisis and Scarcity Brain.

Among the insights of his that most stick with me are these:

First, the tribes he lived with in Bolivia, and their diet — and lack of chronic illness.
Secondly, that we are filling ourselves with the plenty that is characteristic of this and the latter centuries — and we are dying for it.

It's the issue of plenty I'm rambling on about here.

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

My Aunt Pauline wrote her memoirs, entitled "Lolly-Gaggin' All the Way" back in the 1970s, about growing up in a tiny rural Tennessee town. What comes away as most striking to me in this little book is the absence of pictures. The reader must depend on that wonderful human attribute of imagination. With that human feature comes individualization, as no two readers will imagine with the same perspective nor imagery. When she says the dog played in the puddle, no matter how well she may detail this event with her words, the individual reader's mind puts their peculiar spin on how it may have looked, as there is no visual aid in the document.

Visually we are drowning. Never coming up for air, we are submersed in a sea of endless images and videos. That is first.

Secondly, these have become a proxy for real vistas.

Thirdly, some of us are waking up to this, and have begun the struggle of what to do about it.

STEWARDS OF THE TECH

With all innovation, we have it all before we actually understand purpose or have developed the character to use it well for the good of all. Enter Jurassic Park.

GAGGING ON THE ABUNDANCE

BURNING THE SURPLUS

DECONSTRUCTING

STRIKING THE BALANCE

Comments

TOXIC SQUASH SYNDROME

What a curious title, eh? Are any of your favorite foods written about with descriptives like, "...toxic XXXX syndrome"? Like, "Toxic Beef Liver Syndrome" or "Toxic Venison Steak Syndrome"? This was not a deep dive by any means. A cursory look into the Google and Duck Duck Go repositories yielded results to the point of milk-out-the-nose hilarity (to me) when the basic line of questioning went like this: does this food contain toxins? And I don't mean pesticides or herbicides. It's just a matter of what is endogenous to the plant. Like our beloved avocado, which contains natural toxins that can muck up the mammary glands of animals that eat them — leaf, stem, and fruit. I know this is a nearly religious topic for many. I get it. We love our food. But in the end, we have to face the science — the broad, full, complete knowledge of what we are (biologically) and what we need to operate as best as possible. Alice In Wonderland -ish dreamy ideas about

AW, SNAP!

Good morning world! This is my first blog post. I've made feeble attempts at blogging before, and maybe this is another. I'd like to think not. I'm too old to keep starting over! Needless to say, this is a work in progress. I'm hoping there will be some rhyme and reason to this project over time, with some form and function. For now it's baby steps. Currently in my life: a torn (partially I think) right soleus calf muscle from overtraining. I'm a runner, and the injury occurred yesterday morning. Fun. Presently laid up in bed with ice on the leg. I will continue to post more on this. So why not just use Facebook? Everyone else does. I wanted something more personal. Facebook is fine, and I have an account. But I wanted to fool around with something else, and experiment with it. My goal is to have this be my personal space on the web, as a website but better as a blog - so that there can be commenting and collaboration. Now off to the races. The challenge that

THE REST OF MY LIFE

A desire of mine is to curate and share all of the timeless scenes from movies that I've enjoyed over the years. Many come to mind; Jurassic Park is full of them. One such I'll share on my birthday (there will be many to come) that is apropos. It's a quote from the President of the Galaxy himself, Zaphod Beeblebrox . After a long quest to find the answer to the meaning of life, his inquiry to the great computer returns a simple sum: 42. Distressed, he turns and pronounces his next move: "Great. I'm gonna go and find something else for my entire life to be about." That's how I feel today on my birthday. What to do? I had a session yesterday with my therapist / coach. Her one idea offered to leave the session was for me to ponder what peace looks like for me, right now. I told her that days ago I confessed to my sister that, "I just want peace." I meant that I'd really like for the rush and busy (meaningless) activities to calm down and rest

samuel ashford

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