Finding Out for Yourself

Before asking another for the answer, one should always try to see if they can answer the question for themselves -- as that is more likely to be the truth of the matter for themselves, rather than a generalized other.  That is to say, if it works for you, then it doesn't matter that it doesn't work for anybody else -- because you are the person you are, and not some theoretical or average other.  That's probably the hardest lesson to learn.

Likewise, if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't matter how many others it works for -- because the reality is you.  So in asking what is the best program of conditioning, it depends on who you are -- and that is why finding out who one is, is critical to asking any other question.  Thus, all the wise, have advised to find out who one is -- and that is the key to understanding anything else, because nobody else can answer that better.

That is true whether the subject is diet, exercise and lifestyle choices.  It should come as no shock that each of us is different -- and so what is best for any specific individual, may not be best for any other -- and we usually discover that by slow increments rather than leaping to extremes.  A little bit more weight might make one stronger, while a lot, may crush you -- and more importantly, discourage you from finding out your own "optimal."

Every individual lies somewhere on the spectrum of all the others.  Some are tall and some are short; some are quick and some are slow -- and both have their unique strengths.  There are degrees of improvement with a certain range -- but the runner will not likely be the gymnast because both require different strengths -- the latter upper body, while the former lower body -- and those traits are not reversible and interchangeable -- and so one is better off finding out what one is, and work with those natural born advantages -- especially if they are competing among those who are truly gifted for that activity.

It might be that one creates their own category -- and of course, will be the best at that.  The problem and difficulties arise when someone convinces everybody that they should only play and compete at their game, favorable to them alone -- while convincing everybody they are starting equally, and having an equal chance at all the prizes.  Of course that is patently unfair -- as in everything in life.  One always begins where one is -- and understands about the whole of life.

Just one leg doesn't get one there.  It's got to be the total package -- leaving nothing behind.  So from the very beginning, one wants to ask the right question, and not merely have all the answers to the wrong questions.  That won't do.  That's why people don't get the results they think they ought to.  They overlook the details -- in preference for the generalities -- that may or may not be an accurate approximation of the realities.  The idea is not the thing itself.  

 But in an era in which most of what they know has been taught to them -- rather than what they learned on their own, the idea becomes more real than the realities.  There are fields in which those differences are more manifest: athletics, finance, writing, speaking, health, attitude, emotional intelligence, etc., but that is not the be-all, end-all of human possibilities -- but simply the beginning of each individual's development and explorations.  Most of the world is not known but unknown -- which is hard to believe for many -- especially those who have been taught in the manner that what they say, is all that can be known -- and so any quest for truth beyond that, is illegal, and prohibited.  In earlier times, that was called "taboo" or "kapu" -- where one is forbidden to go, even on the punishment of death -- and beyond (fear).

In that  way, we have never come that far -- from those who threaten, "My way, or the highway."  Which means to say, there is no other game in town -- and beyond that, lies only treacherous seas, before falling off the edge of the world into the great abyss.  Naturally, that deters a lot of folks from ever finding their own way -- much less, any other way -- and one has to try many ways before finding that one that works optimally for themselves -- but if they never embark on the quest, then they are doomed to whatever fate someone else determines for them -- and never knowing the difference.

In every time, that was the hero's quest -- that defined such lives -- even in a mass media culture demanding total obedience to the meme of the day.  Literature is replete with countless tales of trials and tribulations of such individuals -- or there would be no stories to tell.  The noteworthy individuals were invariably those who had to find their own way -- and in doing so, blaze the trail for many to follow the better way.  But we don't know that before embarking on the quest -- and many never do, so ingrained are they in their knowledge that the one way -- is the only way, and will be forever more.

It is easier to see in more primitive societies and cultures -- but this desire for absolute certainty in the most insecure convinces them there is only strength in numbers, and never standing alone.  But such individuals are the only way any significant leap in knowledge has been achieved -- and why it is so important to find out the truth of any matter for oneself, which does not preclude learning from everybody and everything else -- but the self-designated experts.

There is just not one person who knows -- but many, and putting all the knowledge and information together, is the essential work of every individual, in every time and place.  That is the quality that distinguishes the most modern person of any time and circumstances.  "They have it all together" -- and not merely fragments and pieces, amounting to nothing.