Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Probably the greatest problem of these times, is the solving of theoretical and academic problems -- instead of solving the very real problems of our  daily living.  Many are very busy and occupied in this way, and thus, they have no time and energy left over from these preoccupations, to solve the difficulties that overwhelm their basic functioning -- which of course, is their health and the "condition" they are in.  Instead, they believe, that their health, which is the result of their living, occurs in spite of what they are doing -- rather than directly because of what they are doing.  Thus they believe, there is no cause and effect in their daily living, but that things happen, in spite of everything they do -- rather than because of it.

Obviously, such a manner of thinking, has a disastrous effect on their lives, and results in the very poor health of many people, and the despair they have in their outlooks for improving it.  They think they are "victims" in their own lives, rather than the "masters" of it -- and that "vision" is promoted by the political leaders and demagogues, as the way of aggrandizing their own power -- but that always comes at the expense of one's own sense of personal empowerment -- which is the major complaint of these times of having no power and control in their lives.

And the institutions and agencies, will gladly assume such powers for themselves -- when people abdicate their own -- simply in choosing not to exercise it.  Not to exercise a faculty (ability), is the same as not having it -- and so the importance of daily exercises to maintain those capabilities one wishes to keep, have to be incorporated and programmed into one's life -- as the essential core of their doing that becomes their being.

That becomes more obvious with time and age -- as the result of what they are doing in their lives.  Undoubtedly, major catastrophes do happen, but not as often as the minor catastrophes they embrace daily in their own callous and reckless individual choices -- like excessive smoking, drinking, inactivity, overeating, and the lack of attention to their own personal hygiene and habits -- which are obviously the most changeable, but which people will insist most vehemently that they are not, but essential to the very existence that is for that reason, overwrought with difficulties that they cannot even begin to imagine overcoming.

All this is of course, is personal choice -- and the personal choices they are making, that largely accounts for individual differences in experiences and outcomes in each life -- much more than what everyone believes they must conform to, that makes all lives the same as any other.  However, the media and culture, largely exists to convince us that all the outcomes are the same for everyone -- or at least should be -- which is the error in thinking that prevents life from actually becoming any better, for those who fail to exercise those responsibilities nobody can exercise for any other.

That is where the failure begins -- and not the failure of the mass, to do everything for them.  The essential problem, is the failure to do anything for oneself -- and eventually thinking that one cannot do anything for oneself, and by oneself -- which results of course, in the utter lack of oneself, and one's power to do anything for oneself -- which should be a shocking fate for anybody contemplating a happy future in a long life.  The present model of longevity, is in fact a (pro)vision of increasing disabilities until an army of personal assistants (and institutions) is required just to keep one alive in a persistent vegetative condition for as long as possible -- without regard to any consideration for quality of life, because the quantities are the only considerations and measures anymore.  How much, and not how well, becomes the de facto standard for any discussion of any activity we are engaged in -- and particularly in those activities we refer to as our "conditioning" activities, that predispose how and with what capacity, we can engage our lives.

In real life, it seldom matters how much we do, as how well we do it -- which is totally disregarded and dismissed as making any difference -- which is obviously missing the whole point.  One has to begin wholly with such considerations, or no amount of partial and half-truths, will add up to the whole truth -- miraculously, at the end.  There will only be the many fractious diversions and distractions that prevent us from seeing clearly and precisely, what it is we have to do -- and do those things, than the many others, we should not instead.  Life is very simple and definitive in that way.

The World IS Changing (Last Man Standing)

That's what the world is -- change.  It is people who don't change -- while everything else is.

There are a lot of changes one can make to their life -- that will improve their fitness for continued viability.  The problem is that people don't want to change anymore, and because of that rigidity, they perish -- as every life has to.  That's why the wisdom is that one must remain constantly changing, and going with the flow of change and challenges that life brings -- and not to, is death and dying.  That should be the obvious lesson from our lives up to this point.

But many by then, have already decided, that they're not going to make any more changes in their lives -- but that now, with their "seniority," the world has to change to accommodate them -- and it is never like that.  They will be vanquished.  So sometimes the best thing(s) that happen, is to be forced to change.

Does one ever change voluntarily?  Very rarely, and usually, that is unnecessarily -- because change is only meaningful when it is a response to a real (actual) challenge -- and not just theoretically and academically.  

Of course, that is the familiar problem of dying in today's world -- with all those issues yet to be confronted by many Baby Boomers, as well as their parents who haven't done it so well up to now.  Often, it is the most successful in life up to then, that will experience failure for the first time, and be totally unprepared to handle it.  That is the value of failure -- if one learns to overcome it, and beyond that, is learning to deal with success as well.  Many people are not prepared to handle success, and so they will be their own undoing.

That's why the path of moderation is often advised -- in dealing with the swings of success and failure, and how to meet those challenges.  If it has only been one way all their lives, most don't know how to adapt, adjust, overcome, and move on to the next level of higher challenge -- but remain bogged down, by the first obstacles that become their torment throughout life and finally their end.

Most people's conditioning is just to maintain the status quo -- and not to improve; they in fact think that maintaining the status quo, is improving it -- and without improvement, progress, evolution, there can only be dewrterioration, decline, decay and ultimately death.  That is the fact of life -- its distinctive quality.  It is always changing and improving -- and if it is not, it is dying.

So how does one program into their lives -- this drive to improve -- and not lose it when one is 30, 40, 50, 60...as an increasing number will surely do?  Instead of high growth with high risk of injury and catastrophe, one needs to plumb the line of sustainable growth -- that makes it possible to continue throughout one's life until the inevitable end.  Even the healthiest person in the world, will not be invulnerable, or immortal.

But one can improve the odds considerably,  There's no rule that says that one can't eat only the good foods -- and eschew the rest.  or do those movements that doesn't cause them injury.  That is why most people have to stop exercising -- because what they are doing is injuring themselves -- rather than doing what is healing themselves.  One shouldn't be deliberately breaking the body down to rebuild it stronger, because eventually the recovery ability is exhausted -- and there is just the continued breaking down, with no hope of recovery.

One has to recalibrate to the level of actual recovery -- and not just persist in the wishful-thinking that it can be anything one wills it to be.  That might work when one is 20 or 30, but then at 40 and 50, one goes into the irreversible freefall decline of a lot of even world champion athletes -- who have not learned that they cannot risk their all -- indefinitely.  There will come a time that even the king of beasts, will suffer the chance injury that topples them from that invincibility -- and so the enduring ones, are more selective at choosing their battles.

They are not the juveniles who feel an obligation to prove themselves at every opportunity.  They only do what is absolutely necessary -- but they always do that.

The Meaning of Independence

When independence really pays off is at the end of life -- and the way one gets there.  Those increasingly dependent on others to do everything for them, will lack the skills to independently care for themselves, and maintain their independent living.  That is already the beginning of the crisis of these times -- when increasingly many, are so debilitated by the choices they have made to give up their self-sufficiency and self-reliance, they are dependent on a whole team of caregivers to keep them going in a vegetative state for as long as their health care insurance and taxpayers will continue to pay for it.

Many now already accept the "free" power wheelchairs, which after a year of use, will cripple them so they cannot walk on their own anymore -- while they become more morbidly obese and helpless.  Already, such people are demanding that the doctors and medical system should make them well, and everyone around them, should "care" for them, but not that they should ever care for themselves, as the primary responsibility of every citizen -- and when all those efforts have been exhausted, then it is meaningful for others to help.

But there is not enough time, energy, money and other resources, when increasingly many, think it is everybody else's responsibility to ensure their health, happiness and prosperity -- while they just demand more -- from everyone else.  No society can work that way -- and endure, and will undoubtedly give way, to a stronger people and society who ensure their own survival -- and not just feel "entitled" to it.  That's what we have to observe and understand.

Life is a celebration of independence, which implies competence.  Death is increasing dependence until its pitiful end -- by choice, and not necessity.  Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, are choices we have to make, and work for ourselves to achieve -- and not that they will be given to us by others, or can be.