“Be the lotus”

BeautyBodyBrains

I can’t remember when my Nani (gran) first said this to me. But I remember it being said frequently. When I complained about childhood feuds, sibling rivalry and my own failures, I was met with the…

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Grey Hair Could Be Reversed

BeautyBodyBrains

Grey hairs are the aftermath of a battle that our bodies wage every single day.

On one hand, there are antioxidants (comprised of vitamins, proteins and enzymes), which protect our body against cellular deterioration. While on the other hand are the pro-oxidants (or free radicals). From pollution and smoking to deficient diets plus a lack of or excessive exercise, a build-up of those pro-oxidants cause an imbalance inside the body, known as oxidative stress.

So how does oxidative stress cause hair to go gray?

Each tiny follicle on your head is involved in a dynamic hair growth cycle, during which the follicle is either in a stage of growth (the anagen stage), in a period of rest (the telogen stage) or in a interval between the both (the catagen stage).

The anagen stage can be divided into half-dozen distinct processes. For the purpose of grey hair  we focus on anagen…

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Would you open your home to Syrian Refugees?

Syrian Refugee Camp Lebanon

Since the onset of the Syrian Civil war in 2011 over 9 million Syrian nationals have been displaced. Almost 6 million have moved within Syria and approximately 4 million have fled the country. Most refugees have settled in neighbouring countries – Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Four years on: the UN bodies maintaining Syrian refugee camps are running out of money. The Civil War has not ended and we have no idea as to how long it will continue. Hence there is much uncertainty about the Syrian refugees ever going home.

Much of the current crisis is blamed on the EU response. EU countries have spent far too long debating and discussing a solution to the predicament with no real resolution. This is the biggest refugee crisis since the second world war – it should be a priority. We need answers promptly.

    Open Heart Symbol

    Refugees Welcome

Would I open my home to a Syrian family of refugees?

I would love to, because I have an open heart. I am compassionate and kind.

But…….

How will having an unknown family in my home affect my family dynamic?

How long can I afford to maintain a family of refugees?

What happens when I can no longer afford to keep them?

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The Best I can Be

I have been concerned for a number of years about being the best I could be. I have tried to sacrifice all that prevented me from improving myself.  What was the point of this? 

This idea, this desire was stimulated by a few of my favourite people. Renaissance philosophers were fascinated by the concept of Umo Universalis or universal man. And a person that seemed to personify this concept was Leonardo da Vinci. He was a polymath, an inventor, engineer, sculptor, anatomist, biologist, zoologist and also an artist. What seemed to have set Leonardo apart from his illustrious contemporaries – Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael – was his versatility. He continuously tried new things, experimented, improved older work from his new learning. His true brilliance came from the vigour in which he seems to have thrown himself into each new pursuit. He was constantly re-inventing his methods, re-defining himself, searching for a very personal ideal.

The spectacle that Michelangelo produced on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is truly amazing. It shows his dedication to his art, his dexterity as a painter. It is the physical challenges that he had to endure to achieve this work that fills us with awe, not the actual paintings. Yes they are beautiful and luminous, but they don’t grip me at the heart, grab my attention and haunt my memories like Mona Lisa does. And I think this unique quality of the Mona Lisa lies in the ambiguity of her smile, her physical features, her persona. Leonardo’s extensive experience and eccentricity resulted in Mona Lisa’s mystique. She held a secret that even he struggled to understand. The reason he kept this painting with him was because he was trying to figure out what she represented, what she was trying to convey, what her smile meant? I believe that Leonardo had developed a technique of reflecting what he perceived without intellectual categorisation diluting this perception. Only after it was painted did Leonardo try to define the meaning. And maybe this is what the universal man is – one who perceives without any limitations or restrictions. One who is able to separate preconceived notions from current awareness.

Friedrich Nietzsche introduced the philosophical concept of the ubermench – the superhuman or overhuman. This word was adopted by the Nazi’s to describe the superior race and has since become associated with epigenetics. The word is therefore assumed to be negative by many. Yet this does not seem to have been Nietzsche’s intention. For starters he talked of the ubermench as an individual, never a group or a collective. He proclaimed the ubermench to be the meaning of the earth. He warns that we need be wary of those who proclaim other-worldly hopes that draw one away from life on earth – form the here and now.

Dissatisfaction with life causes one to create another world in which those who made one unhappy in this life are tormented. Nietzsche’s ubermench does not need to escape this world. He does not need a diversion from his life, but accepts it, finds meaning in it, appreciates it all – good and bad. I believe that the ubermench is also an ideal for anyone who is creative and strong enough to master the whole spectrum of his human potential, good and evil, physical and mental, rational and emotional, factual knowledge and intuitive perception, cognitive ability and bodily awareness, objective and subjective investigation, compassion and survival. The ubermench is the ideal of anyone who wants to live fully.

The concept of the ubermench has been developed and expanded by many others, Abraham Maslow – individualised person, Carl Rogers – fully functioning person. Preceding Nietzsche was Gautama Buddha’s -ideal of Buddhahood, Patanjali’s – Samadhi.

Living fully, human potential and especially my own potential have fascinated me since childhood. Much to the annoyance of my parents, I had to try my hand at everything. This spiralled out of control during my later teens and early twenties when I no longer needed parental permission. I was a full time student, held down a job, gym freak, did some modelling, entered beauty competitions, practiced meditation and yoga, tried classes in everything from painting to pole dancing. Whatever was going, I had to try it. Then I got married, moved country, ran a well-being practice, started an international business, completed numerous educational programs, read philosophy, science, metaphysics. When finally my health suffered and my energy reserves were low, the full effect of my existential angst was unleashed. The question that I was hiding from came to the forefront. “What is the point of life?”

I withdrew from the world. Plagued by anomie and nihilism, I had a deep need for isolation. I am not sure if it’s blasphemous to liken my feelings and emotions during this period to those described by a saint. But St. Therese of Lisieux seems to have captured my feelings and subsequent realisation.

“If you only knew what darkness I am plunged into!…I don’t believe in eternal life; I think that after this life there is nothing. Everything has disappeared on me, and I am left with love alone.” — St. Therese of Lisieux

Letters written by Mother Theresa, published after her death and coincidentally at the same time as my crisis, described her experience of being plunged in darkness for decades. This filled me with anxiety, as I did not think I could endure this dread for much longer. If Mother Teresa took that long to resolve her darkness what hope was there for me?

Inspired by Viktor Frankl who seemed to have emerged hopeful after Auschwitz (in his book Mans Search for Meaning), I decided that only I could give my life meaning and transcend the darkness. The only meaning worth having was personal meaning. While the collective writings of existential philosophers seem dire, a central theme of hope emerged for me. In Albert Camus book, The Myth of Sisyphus, Sisyphus has to push a rock up a mountain every day, only to have it roll down again. Day in and out he had to repeat this process. To me this epitomized the Buddhist tenet “Life is suffering”. But rather then escape this life the existentialists hint that we need to find a way to go on. Discover “What makes it all worthwhile for you?”

For me, it’s the early morning sky at sunrise. When the flecks of pinky, orange illume my horizon. That golden ball of glowing sun, brightening my world, warming my heart. It’s the swan gliding gracefully along the River Ouse. It’s the cows that calmly observe my every move with their big kind eyes as I run along their field. It’s the horse that comes bounding across the pasture to lick my hand even though I have nothing to offer. It is those moments when strangers do something so spontaneous and generous that your heart expands constricting your throat and forcing tears to your eyes. It’s those times of despair and disaster when humans sacrifice themselves to help others, to save children. Like St Therese I am left with love, love of nature, love of humanity.

Yes I do have many conflicting views, I become so angry with myself for not living up to my ideals, I grow angry at humans for being so cruel, for destroying nature, for not respecting this world. But I still believe in us. I believe in humanity, the human potential to meet challenges, to overcome obstacles, to change for the better. I also believe that the only way I am able to find meaning in my life is by devoting it to developing this potential. And this is the focus of my on-going research.

BeautyBodyBrains

All this writing about being the best I can be, on sacrificing all that prevents me from improving myself – what do I mean by this? This idea, desire was stimulated by a few of my favourite people. Renaissance philosophers were fascinated by the concept of Umo Universalis or universal man. And a person that seemed to personify this concept was Leonardo da Vinci. He was a polymath, an inventor, engineer, sculptor, anatomist, biologist, zoologist and also an artist. What seemed to have set Leonardo apart from his illustrious contemporaries – Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael – was his versatility. He continuously tried new things, experimented, improved older work from his new learning. His true brilliance came from the vigour in which he seems to have thrown himself into each new pursuit. He was constantly re-inventing his methods, re-defining himself, searching for a very personal ideal.

The spectacle that Michelangelo produced on…

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Atheist or Satanist

The word atheist seems to conjure images of devil worship, demonic sacrifice and cannibalism even if it’s just some sort of metaphysical cannibalism. Metaphysical cannibals do not prey on the life-blood but the magic, spirit and wonder of humanity.

Just to clarify, atheists generally deny the existence of any conscious being or force that acts outside natural progression, whether this outside force is called God or Satan. Hence religious folk are more likely to believe in the devil than atheists. Those who do choose to worship the perceived dark spirit as opposed to the holy spirit are called satanists. And guess what? Satanism is a religion.

With regards to sacrifice, I am certain that like all humans’ atheists make many sacrifices. However their sacrifices are not to appease, honour, pleasure any metaphysical being. I am not saying that all atheists are paragons of selflessness and that all their sacrifices are for the greater good. As humans we all have the potential for altruism and selfishness, compassion and cruelty, generosity and callousness, openness and constriction, flexibility and rigidity. The choice it entirely yours, “what are you willing to sacrifice?” and “what do you want to gain?”

With regards to cannibalism, metaphysical or otherwise, atheism as a philosophical standpoint does not set out to destroy humanity. Atheists too revere in unexplainable phenomena, intangible (spiritual) experiences and marvel at the natural world. However they believe that when one looks into things deeply, when one really tries to understand then this awe-inspired wonder is multiplied. This is contrary to simply defining incredible natural phenomena just as magic, miracles, grace.

This and my previous posts are not intended to be blasphemous or proselytise atheism, rather my aim was to clarify a point of view that engenders such irrational anger, irritation and venom. In this age of freedom, why do we still persecute alternative viewpoints? If religion is supposed to teach tolerance, then why are the religious so intolerant of contrary philosophical positions?

I greatly admire Richard Dawkins intellect, work and commitment to the Humanist Society. However I am not driven to be a militant atheist. Frankly that is because the beliefs of society, friends and family don’t really matter to me, as long as those beliefs are not imposed on me.

My choice is to sacrifice everything that prevents me from being the best human being that I can be. I choose to honour the human spirit as opposed to dark or holy for humans can transcend this duality.

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Flow: Harnessing Wasted Energy

With global warming looming, the impact of our energy usage being pondered and alternative forms of energy being the most economically viable ventures, energy is definitely on the collective mind. Yet daily we waste valuable emotional, mental and psychological energy.

Worrying about something that has already happened, replaying that old memory tape in the mind over and over again, thats wasting vital human energy. Thinking about how you could have altered your past actions to change the outcome is also a waste of energy, unless you actually change your future actions. Or is this type of thinking opening up wormholes to a multitude of alternate universes? What would the energy impact of this be? Wishing that somebody else will change to make our lives happier, that’s wishing wastefulness.

Can we harness this wasted energy? Ilya Prigogine, the Nobel laureate and chemist described dissipative structures. These are physical systems that harness energy that would otherwise be lost. While humans seem to be dissipative structures, we use energy from the sun that would be lost to maintain our core temperatures, we don’t seem to understand how to harness our own wasted mental energy.

Theres so much I don’t understand, yet the need to conserve energy intuitively feels right. My solution to the energy problem is to conserve both natural resources and psychic energy. That means 2 things.

1. Recycle, repurpose, reuse. 

2. When ruminating on anything, I force myself to stop and ask “is this thought useful or wasteful?” 

Maybe its just me, but the wasteful thoughts seem to far outnumber the useful ones. Hence I now have free time to write blogs, try new yoga poses and practice mindfulness…

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Are You A Groundhog?

The Truth Warrior

I recently watched the movie, Groundhog Day and it got me thinking that many of us, myself included can be living our own groundhog day. A groundhog is a creature of habit. Much of our lives are governed by habits we have adopted in our lives and these habits can be serving us and not serving us.

We can have good habits and bad habits. We can have habits which reduce our quality of life or increase it. We can have habits which lead our lives to a place of misery and destruction or to a place of happiness and fulfillment.

We may have habits such as smoking, drinking lots of alcohol, eating the wrong foods, not exercising, hanging out with the wrong people, spending money rather than saving it or even going to bed late. Most of our lives can be a routine of habits, day in and day out. These…

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Nature inspires Creativity

Sunrise in Malta

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Conditions for Creativity

“Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self.” ~ Erich Fromm

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Are We Losing Our Creativity?

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

Sir Ken argues that we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies — far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity — are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says.

Watch his TEDTalk to find out more. Would love to know your thoughts.

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