I’m writing a book. Aren’t you? If you aren’t you better get cracking, because, really we need to know what you think about what is happening in the world today? It doesn’t have to be an essay. It could be a poem, a play, a how-to, or a cautionary tale—just express it!
My book is about being a human. Seems so simple. But, really, it has taken me lo these many decades to come to this insight—There are 7 Essentials to taking care of myself as a human being. If I attend to them on a daily basis, I have a very good chance of being healthy, productive and happy. No small feat, am I right?
I inferred that my book has something to do with what is going on in the world today. Here’s how. Since 2020, and the pandemic, my psyche. my body, my spirit —my humanness has been assaulted, attacked, ransacked, messed with, challenged, forsaken, unraveled, devastated, questioned, and re-examined. How about you?
Maybe you think that over the last three years, it is simply that your freedoms were revoked, or that your ability to travel was denied, or your relationships were stressed past their limits, or that your trust in institutions and government has been severed past repair. That is all bad enough! But, there is more.
I say our humanness has been called into question, even the legitimacy of our very existence is on the table. And so we begin the litany of questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I? Where did I come from? What happens when I die? And are we alone in the universe?—all of this is up for grabs.
Of course these existential questions are not new. When you began to search the internet as a young person or when you first went to college, if you did, you might have run across the philospher guides of the twentieth century, Kant, Nietzsche, and the rest, who introduced the idea in one form or another—God is dead.
Perhaps you struggled with this question—Is God dead? Is Science our new God? If not the Christian God, then who or what is God (if there is one?)
Then, the pandemic hit. We are asked (?) in no uncertain terms to give over to the God of science, whose ministers, priests and monks carefully instructed that there was “only one way to the promised land,” in this case the land of safety and health.
For those of us who have been traveling the alternative pathway of alternative health practices, some ancient, some new, from Ayurveda to yoga, to regenerative medicine, to Wim Hof breathing techniques and cold exposure, the mandate for a vaccine did not represent the panacea that some, many, in fact, so easily and gratefully adopted.
For some of us, it was a red flag that something was afoot. A warning sign that perhaps something nefarious was taking place. We will tread this territory in a future post.
And it was not the conspiratorial mind that kicked in. It was the three-fold human being—mind, body, spirit—practical, human-centered, God inspired, spirit lead, intuition guided, human response that said, “No vaccine now.”
Two of my three children chastised me for my choice not to take the jab. My employer, a large University in Pennsylvania, tried to fire me. My community banned me from entering certain yoga studios, my favorite concert halls and art centers.
Here is where the ego took a nose dive. On Maslows’ hierarchy of needs, the need for belonging was and still is, unmet, regularly.
Still, what I took solace in was that I was true to myself. It’s not that I don’t believe in medicine. Who would doubt that good medicine performed by doctors of integrity is a blessing to our civilization?
But, I believe in the human body’s ability to heal, and that good medicine should support that. As an unjabbed person, I have been ill only once during the last three years. I don’t know if I had COVID, because I did not test. However, most of the people I know who did take the shot, have had COVID a number of times. They say, “I’m so grateful I had the shot, because it could have been worse.” Well, not for me. If I did have COVID, it was just like any flu I have ever had in my life.
I go beyond all this hyper reliance on vaccines, with the belief we humans may even have super powers that have been suppressed. Rather than fortifying our birthright of wellness we have given up on perhaps innate powers in favor of technical, and artificial mechanisms.
Which brings me to the trans human agenda.
Here we could dive into the various schools of thought and what I would call rabbit holes: Trans human, post human, anti human.
Too quickly, and in these uncertain times, where the threat of tyranny is too close for comfort, we could find ourselves looking at the possibility of having a computer chip under our skin which would indicate our whereabouts and our habits, and reporting to whom?
I really don’t want to go there. Perhaps in another post. Perhaps one of my esteemed colleagues could tackle this for us. For today, I want to address…
Pro human or Well Being/Human Being.
And that, my friends brings us full circle to the 7 Essentials of Well Being.
First and foremost, I think it is impossible to look into trans humanism without first understanding what it is to be fully human. Without that as a baseline, how could one suggest an alternative?
My quest to understanding my humanness, has been a beautiful practice. And, because of that beauty and appreciation, I highly recommend it’s tenets.
The 7 essentials of Well Being, as I have identified them are: food, movement, creativity, nature, mind /emotions, sleep and spirit. For those who may be reluctant to use the word and connotation of spirit, try “the field” or quantum physics on for size.
In future posts, I would like to take a bit of a deep dive into each essential. There is so much research in each area, and so many ways to explore our humanness through these essentials. I would like to know how you break through old paradigms in each of these areas, and find new and engaging methods for enjoying and expanding the consciousness of being a human.
Yes! Material and immaterial. Haha, in this weeks post I said transcendent and earthbound, for the same…I’ll be exploring this in upcoming posts.
"For those who may be reluctant to use the word and connotation of spirit, try “the field” or quantum physics on for size."
Why?
Because it is too difficult to defend the word spirit without admitting to all that that implies? Not to mention that makes one a lightening rod for all kinds of slurs.
I am being genuine, here. We are material and immaterial beings with immortals souls (spirits) made by God. The field or quantum physics or anything else in place of the word spirit makes no sense. It's just a way of saying "I ain't doin' all the God stuff, why I'm too intelligent for that".
No?