Pleasure or Happiness or Well-Being

 

Recently Putin stated “in life there is no happiness, only the specter of it.” Maybe, Putin, politically, was referring to Jefferson’s “pursuit of happiness.”  Putin likely meant that our people are pursuing mass killing, political divide, racism, hatred, acquisition, exploitation etc. instead of happiness. He made a valid point. Is happiness a ghost, phantom or illusion? My take on happiness follows.

Brief comments regarding pleasure and happiness are as follows: 1. In the Old Testament, the word happiness does not exist but the word joy does .Joy refers to rejoice and has a spiritual meaning expressing God’s goodness “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Also, in the prophetic literature “then there will the virgins rejoice in the dance, both young man an old together: for I will turn their morning into joy.” Jeremiah (31:13) 2.  Aristotle, a free Greek with slaves, stated happiness is the highest goal of human life. Happiness can be achieved with the fulfillment of meeting needs and the activity of reason that is unique only to man. In order to obtain the experience of happiness, one had to achieve virtue which is the ability to moderate desires. In other words knowledge, reason and controlling passions are required. Do not forget that man’s extradonary use of rationalization and denial interferes with reason. 3. Aristippus, another Greek, stated that life’s meaning is unlimited bodily pleasure. Happiness, for him, was the sum total of pleasures, especially in the moment and absence of pain.  Do not forget, for some, dominating, exploiting, subjecting, and killing is sadistic and pleasurable. 4. Epicurus added that pure pleasure is the absence of fear since achieving pleasure is generally followed by unpleasure. True pleasure was serenity of the mind along with the ability, prudence and foresight to reject immediate gratification.  I agree and will comment later. 5. Spinoza believed that joy was the result of virtuous living; happiness was a virtue itself and related to potency which means achieving man’s potential. Thus, pleasure was not a primary mode of action but a companion of productive activity. That makes sense. 6. For Hobbes, happiness is essentially a continuous progress from one greed to another. Yea for capitalism. 7. Buddha, was a prince and had every pleasure and luxury that he could possibly want. He discovered that having and consuming resulted in unhappiness and suffering. For Buddha, Nirvana, was a state of joy, serenity and peace of mind.  No doubt, Jefferson was significantly influenced by the Greek philosophers. He would likely have realized that pleasure is subjective and limited to some while happiness is conjunctive with the good but difficult to obtain. Further, Jefferson’s idea, were limited at best. It was not based on an understanding of unconscious motivations and the dynamics of character. Yes, the pursuit of happiness sounded good at the time.

Interestingly, the words happiness and well-being cannot be found in a “Dictionary of Psychology” nor a “Psychiatric Glossary.” However, that does not mean that there is an absence of research. There is  research that suggests that  people  who score higher on well-being scales, have better social and work relationships, make more money, live longer, have healthier lives, and are more contributory societal citizens. Some, even refer to serotonin as a “happiness chemical.” Serotonin increases feelings of well-being, confidence and belonging. Humans are social animals and being around others is what causes happiness for many of us.” However, that can be a trap as there are many egoistic, sadistic, irrational and hateful Homo sapiens. More than likely, these individuals have no unconscious awareness of their unhappiness.

An economics professor, at Harvard, teaches a class on happiness. Happiness, according to this author, was too vague, too subjective and contained too many competing ideas to be adequately researched. That didn’t matter, he provided three equations for well-being: 1. Subjective well-being was composed of genes (can’t do much about that), circumstances (numerous and very difficult to quantify) and habits. I agree. 2. Habits are composed of student’s consistent faith (differences in faith and philosophies), family, friends (vague and we know that individuals relate to each other at different times aggressively and/or caringly} and work (vague and self-report) 3. Satisfaction equals what you have divided by what you want.

Difficulties for any research, are simply the operational definition of terms. The terms have to be concrete and measurable. Often, questionnaires are employed. One major problem with questionnaires are the various individual meanings applied to the questions. We’re not sure that we are always measuring the same item or idea. Some questions cannot be simply answered accurately. Individuals through the use of denial and rationalization generally do not see themselves very honestly. Translated this means, that the averages collected on the scale are just means for that one biased population studied. Therefore, it’s difficult to generalize the results to the population at large. In essence, we should be measuring not just a state of the mind or certain behaviors but the entire character of an individual. More simply put, a cursory response, on a questionnaire, of believing oneself happy, when it’s not the quality of the well-being of the whole person, is an illusionary thought and personal fiction. It is simply unrelated to genuine happiness or well-being.

A more thorough evaluation of well-being can be accomplished through in-depth interviews. However, that research is costly and time-consuming. As a result, questionnaires, reading of biographies, other opinions etc. are often used. On a side note, Freud’s psycho dynamic theory was largely based on his in depth knowledge of his patients and their case histories.

Turning to our capitalistic society, it has been driven toward private property (in Latin to deprive of), wealth, profit, and power. It seems, this drive state has been with us forever. In fact there is no consistent or patriotic way not to think about the motivational power of economics.  It’s about the accumulation, possession of money and all the items that can be possessed. It’s about having, accumulating and increasing by owning and possessing. What’s mine is mine and don’t touch it. One can fulfill that passion of acquiring by not only owning items, but by owning living beings like wife, children, pets etc. We can even acquire and keep increasing our friends, lovers, ideas and objects like art, books, music etc.

Many are expected, while in high school, to think about attending college in order to get a degree in order, primary purpose, to acquire wealth. Of course, money is supposed to result in happiness. Research puts a limit on the amount that supposedly equals happiness and even suggest there’s a diminishing return. Roughly, $ 75,000-$100,000 is supposed to be the magic number.

It should be stated, that this so-called seeking happiness which is the satisfaction of fulfilling any desire, is simply egotism, selfishness and greed. The system of generating and acting on irrational or false needs and harmful pleasures do not lead to harmony and peace but mental illness. Countries go to war in order to acquire resources regardless of the consequences. Profit is king and the hell with the workers. So what if they’re making minimum wage, crazy work hours in non-meaningful work. Hire them part-time so one doesn’t have to pay their health insurance etc.

Let’s take a full-time worker as an example. That worker generally has to commute to work from home. That could be a car or public transportation. How many people experience happiness, well-being or joy during the commute especially in heavy traffic?  How many people experience happiness, well-being or joy when making car payment, car maintenance, car insurance, getting a driver’s license etc.? How many people experience happiness, well-being or joy in a working environment sitting at a desk or workstation, taking orders or being supervised? In other words, the work time experience might equal over a third to a half of waking hours during a five-day week. No wonder, many count the days to their retirement. Many distort and rationalize their work experience and call it “happiness.” If one calls their work experience “unhappiness,” the dissonance would be great and would have a terrible paralyzing emotional effect. Thank denial, rationalization and the unconscious for not being able to see oneself realistically. However, observers witness fiction and reality more clearly.

We have a high rate of divorce which suggests limited happiness at best. Maybe happiness occurs when there is a divorce. Even marriage, without divorce, does not always equate in much happiness. Statistics on depression, suicide, (drug, alcohol and obesity are harmful pleasures) also translate into short term pleasure- happiness. Buying guns and ammunition do not equate, contrary to rationalization and fiction, in much happiness only in false security and hate. Physical illness, Dr. appointments, surgery insurance coverage hassles(21 million Americans hold $46 billion of medical dept.-No succor here) also do not bring much happiness nor does natural disasters like fire, hurricane, heat and cold waves, flooding etc.

The things we acquire such as home, car, electrical gadgets, household items, etc. are dead, not alive. They can be acquired, they can be stolen, can lose its value and be easily replaced. It’s an illusion of permanence. Items are made to be replaced and it’s important to the economy for them to be replaced.

Let’s use an example of millionaire NBA players. Currently, they state they are seeking an NBA championship. During their playoff series, they are asked, by reporters, about the game, why they did what they did etc. They don’t talk about the happiness of winning the game but instead say that they will look at game tape tomorrow and work on improving or getting better for the next scheduled game.  Any happiness was short-lived at best. When I finished my 100 mile Western states run, I smiled for the victory pictures, had a coke and went home. When I arrived home, I puked and could not make it up the second flight of stairs to bed because my quads and hamstrings were shot. During the run, I don’t remember experiencing happiness but I do remember feeling relieved and satisfied when I crossed the finish line. I valued my need for achievement with accomplishment.

Putin made a positive point. Pursuing happiness, finding pleasure, acquiring things, can be a self-defeating journey resulting in unhappiness. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs acquired, exploited, dominated, and controlled their physical world. I would call them competitive geniuses but not the happiest people in the world.

Happiness, according to the great philosophers of the world, was an important motivational factor for man. In psychology, Freud discovered the dynamics of mental health and mental illness. Later, Maslow identified the concept of self-actualization as a motivational factor. Although, he did not deal with happiness he did identify 18 characteristics pertaining to the highest form of functioning in human beings.  However today, there has been much social science research pertaining to happiness and well-being. In fact, there exists popular college courses on the science of happiness.  Does this suggest there are many unhappy college students?

Happiness is an emotion in which one experiences feelings ranging from contentment and satisfaction to bliss and intense pleasure. When I was in private practice, I found that individuals had great difficulty differentiating feelings from thoughts. In everyday language, I continue to hear the words “I feel …” In essence, individuals express their thoughts, ideas and opinions and not their feelings or internal sensations. So any questionnaire asking somebody how they feel likely will not elicit a feeling but an attitude or belief. In other words, a pseudo-belief in pleasure and happiness is just that when it’s not part of one’s insight into self as well a characteristic of character. It’s just words, simply put, of self-deception and illusion.

In spite of the natural disasters, mortality of body and the insanity within our socioeconomic and political culture, the Greek philosophers, Spinoza, Hobbes, Buddha, Freud, Maslow and others thought a lot about pleasure, happiness, well-being, mental health and self-actualization. With that being said, there are numerous recipes for pleasure, happiness and well-being but there is not one guaranteed magic bullet, pill, religious idea or philosophical construct that fits the uniqueness for each living human.  Employing an id, ego and superego framework, the following is a path for human activity without a guarantee. Our culture has created and produced a plethora of short-term pleasures and/or desires. Incorporating the id, let’s distinguish between psychic tensions, needs or desires that are rational like achievement and irrational psychic tensions, needs or desires that are irrational like greed, alcohol, power, possession and prestige. Thus, it’s important to be able to moderate, delay gratification, discriminate and control acting out the irrational passions. The pleasures or irrational passions are easily obtained and contribute and facilitate an escape from the conflicts, craziness and contradictions within society. When employing our ego, we encounter hate, false information, paranoid ideas and normative lying on a daily basis. For productive reasoning, one has to have the ability to synthesize, integrate and accommodate information while not acting on the false narrative or fiction. This process or ability is related to conscience or superego. Having virtue, knowing and behaving( choices and decisions ) about what is right versus what is wrong, differentiating between a good life and evil life, and exhibiting humanistic values are required and necessary. We have to apply virtue behavior to ourselves and to others. Further, it is necessary to find intrinsic meaning in life; engaging in competitive physical behavior; and enriching one’s emotional life by mutual physical contact, within the behaviors of caring, sharing and trusting. Simply put, pleasure, happiness and well-being are not ends in themselves. The means to the ends are extremely important. The above are ideas likely necessary for dealing effectively with the art of living. When one makes full use of his ability, which is demonstrated, by choices, decisions and experiences that furthers growth and development, one is more likely to reach a fulfilling emotional state. Per David Bowie “It Ain’t Easy,” Einstein “Once You Stop Learning, You Start Dying,” and Epicurus “He Who Is Not Satisfied With A Little, Is Satisfied With Nothing.”

Reference: Fromm, Erich. Man for Himself. Henry Holt and Company. New York.

Humanism and Altruism

 

 

I am pleased to acknowledge a humanistic economic model that’s fully functioning in Mondragon, Spain per a January 3, 2021 edition of The New York Times. In this humanistic economic model, a number of cooperatives were established. Cooperatives were composed of a number of businesses like grocery chains and various manufacturers. In this arrangement, the businesses humanized the workers working conditions. They did what? They fostered a Democratic process in which the workers were owners and voted democratically on wages, working conditions, hours, profit sharing, pensions etc. This humanistic socialistic principle was founded, in the 1940’s by Jose M. Arizmendiarrieta, a priest .This model counters the ridiculous, unfair and exploitive conditions found in neoliberalism. In our country, for example chief executives, in the largest 350 companies, earned about 320 times the amount of a typical worker. As contrasted, a chief executive in a Bosque model made about 6 times as much as their workers.

These Spanish workers know that they benefitted from sacrifices, which in turn strengthened their businesses. The priest viewed cooperative principles as a key for uplifting living standards. There is nothing wrong with this humanistic economic model.  In our country, The Democracy Collaborative was founded in 2000 at the University of Maryland. This model was implemented In Cleveland in 2010. The organization’s goal is to create a foundation for a democratic economy built upon liberty, community and prosperity for all. Within this form of altruism, self-esteem and concern for others increases.

As far as altruism goes, a number of wealthy millennial’s, in our country, are dissatisfied with the status and the disastrous negative effects of neoliberalism capitalism. They are altruistic in their giving per an article in the November 29, 2020 edition of The New York Times. These young are the recipients of the largest generational shift of assets in American history-the great wealth transfer. Tens of millions of dollars are expected to pass between these generation types in the next decade alone. The money, like all wealth in the United States, is concentrated in the upper brackets. These millennial’s, in the last six years, have taken the Democratic Socialists of America, once a fringe organization, to an average membership age of 60. This organization has national chapters in every state with a total membership of nearly 100,000 with most under age 35.  One millennial stated my money is mostly stocks which means it came from underpaying and undervaluing working-class people. Not only that, it’s impossible to disconnect from the primary economic legacies of indigenous genocide and slavery. She added, once I realized that, I could not imagine doing anything with my wealth besides redistributing it to these communities.

A professor added  these wealthy millennial’s are inheriting from a mammoth redistribution away from the working masses, creating a superrich tiny minority at the expense of a fleeting American dream that is now out of reach to most people. Another group called Resource Generation is a nonprofit group that focuses on organizing wealthy young people as a result of their unearned privilege. Other groups like Grassroots International and Thousand Currents are other philanthropic networks working for facilitating altruistic improvement to others.

Altruism is a concern for happiness and welfare of other human beings .It seems to have been lost in the dog eat dog world of economic competition. Altruism is very different than the survival of the fittest. The ideas of altruism can be found in the writings of all the major religions. It counters the neoliberal ideas of capitalism which is based on the greed, accumulation, possession and selfishness. It’s an attitude of egoism.

To be clear, altruism benefits both the giver and the receiver. Feelings of empathetic concern are contrasted with feelings of personal distress which compel people to reduce their own unpleasant emotions. People with empathetic concern help others in distress even when that exposure to the solution could easily be avoided. Those lacking in empathetic concern, find it difficult to avoid helplessness when exposed to another’s suffering. Altruism can be expressed through helping, comforting, sharing(powerful, unites and its importance can be found in religion, politics and philosophy), cooperating, philanthropy, and community service. Those wealthy millennial’s express effective altruism as they work to help people less fortunate than themselves. Yes, there is hope.

PS

The theory behind alienation, yes, it’s an actual theory with hypotheses, is irrefragable, and previous research suggests that the workers in Spain would not meet the criteria for alienation ,egoism and exploitation. A study, for example, comparing them to Save Mart workers would.  Would the workers in Spain be happier with self, relate to others more productively, employ higher levels of reasoning with a higher functioning conscience and be better adjusted  than our workers at Save Mart?

I would welcome the task to conduct research evaluating the mental health of the workers in the Democratic model in Spain with the Save Mart workers in our country. I would control the variables for gender, education level, marital status, and age. Measures on variables that I’d be interested in include: 1. Perception of reinforcements; internal- external locus of control 2. Family cohesiveness, child and spousal abuse 3. Moral development and criminal behavior 4.  Altruism 5.  Egoism 6. Measures of attachment, depression and anxiety 7. Empathy 8. Worker absenteeism, disability, morale 9. Measures of self-esteem, happiness and well-being 10. Attitude towards politics, religion and work.

Greed and Craving

 

Why do we have a multitude of exploitative manmade problems facing our nation? For instance, when it comes to income in the United States, according to the Federal Reserve in 1990, white households owned 90.7% of household wealth in United States whereas black households owned 3.8% and Hispanic households owned 2.1%. These numbers have changed little over the past 30 years. White households now own 85.5% of wealth in 2019, black households own 4.2% and Hispanic households own 3.1%. Income inequality in the US is the greatest compared to all other 67 nations according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Moreover the wealth gap between America’s richest and poorest families have more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. Further, middle-class incomes have grown at a slower rate than upper tier incomes over the past five decades. This disquisition focuses on the disastrous effects of neoliberalism capitalism from a psychological and physical health point of view.

Sigmund Freud identified the impact of parents on the psychological development of their offspring. Subsequently, Neo-Freudian Erich Fromm in” Escape from Freedom “penetrated socioeconomic conditions in society that contribute to man’s character.

In our economic system, capital and wealth are the master drive of economic actions. Within these actions are drives for power, success, prestige and material gains. They become ends in themselves. To pursue, to amass, to have, to accumulate capital and things become the pursuit regardless of cost. With accumulation results in possession and ownership. Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” comes to mind. Fences, as it protects ownership, become barriers that separate and result in aggression between individuals.

Examples of the irrational are found in clichés.  What’s mine is mine, new is better than old, and its state-of-the-art are illustrations. Research has found that money alone does not bring happiness or well-being. However, greed and drive to have, to possess is an irrational passion fueled, chased, pursued and expertly reinforced by our society. It is our society.

 We are told to attend college yet, student loan debt in the United States totals 1.68 trillion and grows over 6 times faster than the nation’s economy. 42.3 million Americans with federal student loan debt each owe an average of $36,520 for their federal loans. Going to the right college or university is too expensive for most. Being left out means just that-left out.

Another example of exploitation can be found in the Fortune 500 companies of which 90 pay no Federal income tax. Taxes are for whom? 

During an earlier time, there was skilled labor and the laborer determined and had control over the selling of his merchandise. He was alive and productive. Today, things are very different in the work world.  Huge corporations are amassing more and more capital. The profits are put back into the Corporations with huge CEO monetary packages, while worker income levels have either decreased or become stagnant. In fact, corporations do not want to pay “benefits “to their workers so they hire them part-time. For example, Save Mart Supermarkets has 250 locations in Northern California and Northern Nevada. It has 23,000 employees and had a $4.6 billion revenue in 2019. When hiring a part-time worker, the new worker is encouraged and directed to apply for food stamps assistance.

Some of my friends have been or are employed by corporations or the State of California. Everyone, when near retirement, counted the number of days for their release. It’s like they had a sentence and were waiting for their freedom. Although happy to be employed, with great benefits compared to unemployed, they were neither excited nor fulfilled with their job. They were dependent and a cog in a large wheel that continues to go round and round. Being bored, non-fulfilled and helpless in their situation, they had no control and submit by going along with salary; hours of employment; benefits; time off , vacation length ; and working conditions that has been decided by anonymous sources. Their world, in their place of employment, is very small compared to the gigantic anonymous system in which they exist.

Within neoliberalism capitalism, the individual is not only expected, a contradiction, to be the master of his fate but also expected to become successful. Is work and employment success based on intelligence, diligence, education, courage, thrift, luck etc.? Or, is it just an illusion that’s propagated by the powerful system? The worker has become more dependent on the system that discriminates according to color of skin. In our society, success has been defined by the amount of capital accumulated and the number of items able to be acquired for possession. However, amassing capital in today’s society is related to the laws of the market; the profit motive; corporation greed; technical improvements; artificial intelligence; and in the hands of the employer. It’s the employer that has the power. No longer is the worker the captain of his ship as there’s too many variables in which he can’t control. He is the alienated captive slave dependent irrespective of the cliché rising from rags to riches.

The rich powerful elite control the corporations, political and educational system, the schools and colleges, the church, the press, the theater etc. The rich have the prestige with egoism in the pursuit of their own self interests. Their personal goals are stronger than their moral considerations. However, selfishness is not self-love and greed is a bottomless pit. It can never be satisfied nor filled. It’s not getting enough, missing something, and being deprived and therefore entitled. These individuals are clearly not fond of themselves and exhibit a deep disliking of self. They lack inner security or satisfaction. They are alienated and narcissistic. Narcissism and selfishness overcompensates for the loss of basic self-love. They can neither love self nor others. To compensate, they have created a social self. One’s social self is a role the individual plays in society. Realistically it’s a disguise for a true or authentic social functioning in that society. Further, modern selfishness and greed is rooted in the development of their real self and in full view of others.

Within our achievement oriented economic system, it’s common to experience anxiety and/or fear accompanied by the strong drive and need for affiliation and affection. With this dynamic, the need for power, prestige and possession becomes activated as a result. It’s the component of obtaining reassurance against the anxiety which, in large part, is a result of the external stressful circumstance of neoliberalism capitalism. One can obtain this reassurance when one loosens the contact with others by fortifying one’s own position. Also, coupled with the reassurance against this anxiety is a means of releasing repressed hostility. In essence, the outcome or outgrowth of the need for power results in the behavior of dominating, controlling, being in charge of all others and in all situations with authority. It’s a bossy attitude of getting one’s own way as well as always being right and never apologizing or giving in.

With the desire for prestige, the individual has to be admired by all and everyone. Of course, acquiring wealth gives that sense of power and prestige. Further, one’s attitude and behavior tends to be dismissive and vindictive. With the need for possession, is the drive not only of acquiring money but also exhibiting a possessive and depriving attitude toward others. Cheating, stealing from, manipulating others are typical and common behaviors as well. This individual has to be the winner at all costs and cannot tolerate being a loser. Clearly, these needs are not only examples of egoism but examples of moving against others with the behavioral tendency to domineer, humiliate, exploit, and deprive. On the other hand, these individuals have a great earning capacity and turn those irrational behaviors into profitable channels. The expression “the one with the most toys wins” fits here. It’s up to you to figure out the ridiculousness of that statement.

Today’s worker is angry, alienated, insignificant, alone, conforms, discouraged and powerless to control and master his future. It’s not surprising that many have not done well in the system. The rich and powerful have created the Coliseum so we can watch brutality between players, teams etc. They have created numerous other avenues to escape like movies, TV, video games, alcohol, drugs, “exotic vacations,” assault weapons, fast cars etc.

Take the David vs. Goliath Biblical story and Bond movies that have the same theme repeated over and over again. One individual with a hand gun against the magna forces of evil and hate. But with a gorgeous female, one individual succeeds at the end and saves the world in the process. Little guy or underdog beats big guy that’s hates. Just as in real life?

Some of the consequences of being psychologically cut off, being self-destructive, feeling helpless to make change, being discouraged or stuck, being dependent and/or trapped in the system, and limited opportunity for future are related to the following statistics: 1. 2013, 26% of male deaths in the US were due to heart disease; nearly 33% of men 20 years and older had hypertension; and close to 36% of men 20 years and older were obese 2. In 2020, there were 20.6% drug deaths per 100,000 population; 7,350 premature deaths before age 75 per 100,000 population; and 14.8% suicide deaths per 100,000. 3. Covid-19 is the third leading cause of death for persons aged 45 through 84 years; individuals 45 years of older are more likely to die from Covid- 19 than from chronic lower respiratory disease, transport accidents, drug overdose, suicide or homicide.

 The demand for psychotherapy services has exploded. The demand for depression treatment, prior to the pandemic, has tripled. Lower economic and social resources, and greater stressors such as job loss are some factors contributing for depression. In 2020, there were nearly 20,000 Americans killed by gun violence with Alabama and Alaska leading the way. In 2019 there were 85,688 liver disease deaths among individuals ages 12 and older; 43.1% involved alcohol. The US adult obesity rate stands at 42.4% and the national adult obesity rate has increased by 26% since 2008.

Yes, one can argue about the importance of the mind-body dynamic and treatment. In our “healthcare” system, third-party payers or insurance companies dictate coverage. Keep in mind that profit for the company is the primary goal and not the health of the insured.  As far as psychotherapy reimbursement is concerned, the insurance company defines coverage based on “medical necessity.” Translated, this means if the presenting problem can be treated with a pill, and limited to a few sessions, psychotherapy benefits can be covered. For instance, symptoms of depression and anxiety are considered medical necessity while symptoms related to marital relationships, school under achievement, employment issues are not covered for payment. In other words, treat the symptom that has developed and assist with the adjustment to the insaneness of the person’s life space. Assisting the individual to fully develop intellectually, morally and interpersonally is not important or a medical necessity. Yes, help that person, as quickly as possible, get him back in the situation that caused maladjustment. There are sharks in the water, help him learn to swim faster.

Yet, God warned about the evils of hoarding, greed and possessiveness in the Old Testament. Abraham was told to give up his country “go from your country and your kindred in your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”(Genesis 12:1). Abraham did so and went into the unknown. Yet, his descendants settled on a soil and new clannishness developed which led to more bondage, becoming rich and powerful while becoming “slaves.” They also lost their vision of one God and began to worship idols. These gods are the rich which turned later into their masters.

Moses liberated his people by taking them into the desert. The desert symbolizes home without cities; absence of riches; and is the place of nomads who owned what they need, and what they need are the necessities of life not possessions. God promises to feed them: in the morning with “bread,” in the evening with quail. God adds “and the people of Israel did so; they gathered, some more, some less. But when the measured it with an omer, he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little have no lack; each gathered according to what he could eat.” (Exodus 16:17-18). The people of Israel were enjoined not to save anything till the next morning. “But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. (Exodus 16:20-21).

The New Testament adds to the notion fellowship and not possessing. In essence, the people must liberate themselves from all greed and cravings for possession. They must totally liberate themselves from the structure of having and possessing. These ethical norms are rooted in sharing and solidarity. See (Matthew 5:39-42; Luke 6:29 f.; 32-36). A concern for other human beings and complete surrender of all selfishness can be found in (Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37 f.; 41 F.). Further, is the renunciation of property and warning against collecting riches: “do not layup yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but layup yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal? For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:33 f.) Ideas from the past are insightful and valid regarding behavior. They were cognizant about the evils of having, possessing, controlling, exploiting, chasing false idols etc.

Capitalism is great for contributing in the development of egoism, greed, exploitation and selfishness. This system is also deleterious to the planet by the raping, the extraction, and the pollution of resources. Further, too many others are affected by physical and psychological impairments related to the system. The crazy statistics regarding income inequality, guns, killing, wars, depression, divorce, obesity, suicide, military spending, hate, hostility, selfishness etc. cannot be ignored. The sins of capitalism (greed, hate, profit, exploitation, having, possessing) are contributing to our society’s decline. Perhaps, 40 years in the desert to rid oneself of Satan’s material consumption influences is a solution?

PS

Buddha stated that greed and craving causes human suffering, not enjoyment.

Republican Terrorists

 

We can adduce that psychologically, all of us begin life insecure, anxious, dependent and alone. These insecurities follow throughout life. Taking that into account, man’s character is established and developed as a result of parenting interactions within the socioeconomic, political and religious principles within the particular culture. This essay pertains to the character of the alienated terrorist Republicans.

After World War II, the Republican Party with its conservative values, appealed too many even though some of their leaders expressed radical and discriminatory views such as Joe McCarthy in the 50s. Also, William Buckley Junior, a darling conservative, wrote about white supremacy mandate to control and rule. Not to be outdone, The John Birch Society was also established and promoted additional discrimination with their racist policies. In 1964, Barry Goldwater, the archconservative, was the darling of the Republican convention in San Francisco. Goldwater refused to condemn the John Birch society for its views. Hall of Fame Jackie Robinson, in protest at that convention, took his black compatriots out. Jackie then voted for Lyndon Johnson.

Lyndon Johnson changed the composition of his party with his historic progressive legislative policies. However, the southern racist Dixie crat’s switched parties and became Republicans. In 1968, Richard Nixon became president. Richard Nixon decided that the 1969 college championship should be played between Texas and Arkansas. He omitted Penn State from the discussion because they had black player athletes. I decided not to print Coach Joe Paterno’s reaction when he found out that Nixon discriminated against his team.  Historically, that was the last time two all-white skinned college football teams played for a national championship.

Nixon followed by Reagan promoted a capitalistic economic system based on neoliberalism policies and eliminating programs for the poor. That meant the privatization of institutions in our society with more inequality. The balance of power and control went to the corporations as labor and unions were weakened in the process. It meant providing tax incentives and subsidies to our energy, farming industry and other companies. Also, the Supreme Court, thank you William Rehnquist, issued favorable Citizens United campaign finance contributions rulings and protected the police with immunity for other examples of racism and discrimination. Then came Newt and the Tea Party with more overt racism. At the state and local levels, during the last 60 years, Republicans, in control, established gerrymandering and other voting suppression tactics in order to keep their power and domination. Keep the blacks in their place-“slaves.”

Politically, the congressional Republicans are racist and have exploited with their sadistic power policies. However it should be noted, that they want police protection in their gerrymandered districts. They know that they have to vote a certain way to please their leader or they become an enemy of his people with their guns. These spineless  have routinely stood against increasing the minimum wage, keeping police brutality intact, providing  protective tax loopholes by allowing the wealthy and corporations not to be taxed, providing major tax cuts for the top 1%,  providing monetary subsidies, and stagnating the GDP growth.

These Republican Senators failed twice to impeach their leader; 35 voted against a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 riot; and continue the stolen election lie (70% of Republicans said Biden had not legitimately won enough votes to win the presidency). It’s no surprise that the Republicans are against citizenship for immigrants that have crossed the border. It’s to their advantage to pay these farmworkers and meat processing workers etc. “slave” labor. These slaves have to pay taxes but receive no Social Security benefits. Why give them citizenship? They will likely vote for Democrats.

 Since FDR, in an article published The New York Times on February 7, 2021 the top four presidents -Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, and Clinton, presided over the largest GDP growth rate during their administrations. Trump’s GDP, to no surprise, falls in last place.

  The Republican Party is now initiating legislation in 47 states to restrict voting. That’s not about democracy for all citizens. Its policies on masks, and Coved -19 vaccinations are egotistical, sadistic, masochistic and a devotion to death and illness.

The Republican leadership is supported by those terrorist WASP’s (a terrorist is a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims) that are insecure, racist individuals bent on exploiting people of color. In turn, the party leadership reinforces their insecurity and racism with fear and sadistic policies that exploit. Mitch McConnell’s position is based on minority power. Under his leadership, economic relief for most Americans’ was threatened. They were not even wearing masks in the capital during the previous administration. They are against infrastructure relief because that includes human assistance other than roads and bridges. Childcare, paid college, reducing the age of Medicare eligibility etc. are “no’s.” The leadership downplayed (because the FBI identified the coordination of 7 white supremacy hate groups) the terrorists involvement in the January 6 riot on the capital, and  voted against hate crime legislation (it reinforces the notion that whites can act out their hate and kill others of different skin color] . Even though, many Republicans constituents liked economic relief, they still support these negative voting congressional Republicans. The people in power, that call themselves Republicans, fear not only Trump but his white supremacist hate group organizations. They carry guns, talked and talk about killing.

The group of individuals that call themselves Republicans has evolved into a terrorist organization taking advantage of the alienation of many with their criminal behavior (Bannon, Stone, Flynn, Manafort, Gaetz etc.). The group is based on white supremacy and exploits all others for their political gain. Their goal continues to be about white privilege, white control, white dominance and white exploitation. The ends justify the means. Their racist and discriminatory policies have gone on for a long time. Currently, they are overt, kill Pence, and attack the capital and police in their attitude, stance, and behavior. Unfortunately, they appeal to too many alienated in our country.

Our current devotion is entangled and associated with money, success, power and prestige. The more money results in greater “success” per brainwashing by advertising within our culture. Attending  the “elite” University; employment in the perfect  job  allows rising the corporate ladder; purchasing the “dream” home; taking the exotic vacation; the right union with the perfect blonde; two cars etc. etc. etc. becomes the irrational. These alienated want to have and possess. That’s success for whom and it contributes and reinforces the occurrence of alienation?  However, they don’t want the “others” to have and possess. No “melting pot” here per The New York Times, No Easy Answers, May 23.2021.

With pursuing the irrational passion for money, meant the king of the castle’s wife entering the workforce. One income did not necessarily provide for all the “wants” of countless consumer items many of which are useless. Economic statistics began to demonstrate the economic inequalities and alienation between socioeconomic classifications. CEO incomes exploded according to The New York Times, April 25 2021. In 1989 CEO incomes were 61 to1 .Currently a 320 to 1 economic disparity exists between them and their employees. In 2020, the CEO at Boeing cut 30,000 employees even though the company lost $12 billion. He was rewarded with 21.3 million in compensation. The Norwegian cruise industry’s CEO furloughed 20% and he was rewarded at double. His doubled salary was 38.4 million dollars, and the Hilton CEO received 55.9 million compensation as the company lost 770 million in revenue.

Statistics on family indicated offspring and parenting difficulty as now both employed parents are experiencing alienation.  Drugs, alcohol, poverty, educational limitations and failure, suicide, marital separation, divorce, attending counseling etc. rose dramatically. These troubling facts suggests unprecedented alienation. Not only that, Insurance companies or third-party payment instituted managed-care to drastically reduce and/or eliminate payment for the psych services.

Companies, in raising their profits, reduced working hours in order to avoid providing health insurance for their employees. Labor unions were attacked and diminished in order to provide additional power to the company. Manufacturing and production were transferred overseas. Employment security was threatened and no longer could someone count on receiving that “gold pen” at retirement. More threats to one’s economic insecurity increases alienation in the workforce.

Home prices, mortgages, inflation, healthcare has severely impacted today’s citizen. A first-time homebuyer in the 60s was a young man without significant debt. Today’s young man can not only not by a home but is likely in debt while living with a parent or parents.

Today’s high school educated racist Republican faces severe economic and social challenges and mental and physical health concerns. Physical health, cardiac, respiratory and Covid- 19 are the three main causes of death. Mental health with depression, anxiety, suicide, brain pathology including dementia and Alzheimer’s and divorce are on the rise. It’s my position, that physical (obesity etc.) and mental health (depression, hate, aggression etc.); economic instability without future, religious and political malfunction are symptoms of severe alienation.

A word about alienation. Alienation means that man is insecure, anxious, separated from self, confused, easily misled, and consciously and unconsciously feels powerless. Employing the second amendment rationalization, purchasing guns and ammunition does not fix the insecurity. He lacks independence without a full use of reason .He seeks attachment, of some consensus with a power greater than himself. His group is good, American and patriotic while the other groups are evil, bad, liberal and non-American. Thus, another hate dynamic surfaces. With that being said, todays alienated subjects submit, are obedient, dependent and follow the supreme external power forces in the country.

 Moreover, the alienated are not in touch nor love themselves. Their racist attitudes are apparent in that they are also unable to care and respect others which results in aggressive amoral behaviors. With limited thinking, they do not pursue truth, are easily misled but follow consensus instead. They attach themselves to the Republican group which becomes their all-encompassing power. The need for affiliation is the driving force regardless of the preponderance of lies, irrational rationalizations and sinful acting out behaviors. This means that the character structure of these individuals are authoritarian. They follow blindfolded and are loyal to the perceived godlike idol. With that being said, there are too many alienated in our country.

A glimpse into man’s alienation was brilliantly displayed in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men published in 1937. George and Lenny’s story depicts the predatory reality of life for poor migrant workers during the depression. In the novella these protagonist struggle for survival in their oppressive improper circumstances. They are powerless and without control. They do not have the ability to overcome their oppressiveness by the various seen as well as unseen forces.

The ruling party of the minority authoritarian WASPs are victorious with their 402-year-old experiment. Initially, our government was based on the political, social and economic advantages for the few powerful wealthy Anglo-Saxons. The WASPs are still in power politically, economically, educationally, and as far as criminal injustice goes. Unfortunately, limited educated white folks are being left behind in record numbers. As a result, these white folks are becoming increasingly alienated, with feelings of powerlessness, resentment, hate and less in control of their ability to make changes within self and with others. These character characteristics result with these individuals looking for an external power attachment to both placate and/ or appease their insecurities and to emotionally protect them from their fears. This proceeds with submission, obedience and loyalty irrespective of the moral, sinful or amoral behavior by the power or in this case Trump. In essence, acknowledge a regression psychologically exemplified by egoism, sense of mistrust, a level of preoperational cognition, absence of law and order and ruled by irrational passions of hate, exploitation and prejudice. Humanity, right, wrong is currently under attack from within.

 The attachment to this grouping is based emotionally on incestuous ties. These incestuous ties lay the groundwork for a sick conscience of hate and prejudice. My group is good, patriotic and American while your group is evil, bad, and un-American.  The unconscious and conscious emotions of dependence, aloneness, powerlessness, submission, obedience, fear, anxiety and the identification and attachment to a superior power rules. Cognitively, rationality , wisdom, truth and the attitudes and values of love, the Golden rule, respect, concern for the poor  etc. attributed to  Jesus are nonexistent for “ others “ and do not play a significant part in the behavior of this group . The words of Jesus Christ seem meaningless, contradictory and hollow to the group. We know what he would likely say regarding keeping people slaves, second-class citizens, police brutality, guns and killing etc. The blacks worship and pray to the same God as the WASPs. With the second coming, will they be saved?  The authoritarian conscience and morality remains sadistic.

This terrorist grouping is winning. The group is largely concerned with their own survival -voting restriction legislation; while upholding the power of their leaders-voting to keep them in office. These alienated and exploitive character style intimidate by bringing weapons to courthouses, the capital and to otherwise peaceful demonstrations, not wearing masks and refusing the vaccine. Their unlawfulness was in full display on January 6 at the capital. Having an alienated character, one doesn’t pursue happiness and wellbeing. Their character description interferes with valuing self with their accompanying self-destructive tendencies as well as toward others as demonstrated by putting children in cages and social media vileness of morally wrong and disgusting hateful rhetoric. Their intellectual, and moral capacity and functioning is impaired as evidenced by crazy and illogical conspiracy beliefs while believing their lying leader. They support police brutality against the blacks and express their hate so many ways. With that being said, the Republican terrorists pose a considerable threat, not only to democracy, but to the morality, wisdom, and humanity of our country. Yes, we require change.

Play and Exercise

 

Daniel Lieberman, not related, is an Evolutionary Biologist at Harvard. His new book “Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding” Is provocative to say the least.  Dr. Lieberman maintains that the way we exercise is odd in that “we never evolved to exercise.” He pointed out that in the last 150 years or so we developed machines that assist us in every way.  In fact, it negatively contributes to burning fewer calories and limits blood flow to both arms and legs. In his study of the Hadza .the Hunter-Gatherers of a Tanzania tribe, like our Stone Age cousins, found they were strong but lean so as not to waste calories on activities that did not contribute to acquiring food. They did not look like the body builders of today. They were afraid to lose calories because it might result in their death.  Dr. Lieberman acknowledged that aerobic exercise, strength training and high intensity interval training are beneficial for physical health in dealing with diseases like obesity ,diabetes ,cardiovascular conditions, Alzheimer’s and cancer. He didn’t blame many for not exercising because he realized that exercise isn’t fun. It is my position that the need to play, a physical activity, coupled with other needs are associated with exercise and are significant and necessary components for well-being. Play and exercise bring joy and aplomb.

It’s apparent that aggressiveness is in man’s nature .Aggressiveness is built into our cortex and serves as a defensive function against threats to survival and is necessary for survival. It’s also apparent that man has created aggressive and hostile producing conditions. There are major differences between biological adaptive life serving benign aggressive conditions and biological non-adaptive malignant, sadomasochistic, and hostile aggression. Further, within biological adaptive life serving benign conditions, we can identify and illustrate pseudo-aggression.

Pseudo-aggression may cause harm but it is not intended to do so. An example of pseudo-aggression can be initial playful aggression that centers on exercise, skill and not intended to harm and not motivated by hate. Take a Stone Age child that runs {play} because it feels good to move. Later, he may test his ability by running {achievement, dominance, affiliation} with others. He may also throw a rock at a considerable distance and then test the skill against others. He then learns to throw a spear for distance, accuracy and becomes a hunter {dominance} for survival.

Mike Keller, was a Michigan All-American and Dallas Cowboy.  At four years of age, Mike raced his mother. His mother never let him win. Initially playful activities prepared the Stone Agers and Mike for adolescence, survival and competitiveness. Initially, the need to play surfaces which is often physical activity. It was simply having “fun” at first. Later, it became an enjoyable way to relax and remove stress. Much later, the need to play evolved to competitive games along with other needs (dominance, abasement, affiliation, achievement}, resulting in activities of sports, dancing, career, health etc.

According to Lewis Mumford, “to exert power in every form was the essence of civilization, the cities found a source of ways of expressing struggle, aggression, domination and servitude .” With the development and evolution of civilization, man’s psychological needs of dominance [to control one’s environment]; abasement [ to accept injury, blame, criticism, punishment and to seek and enjoy pain,  illness and misfortune]; achievement [to accomplish something difficult, to master, overcome obstacles, establish a high standard, to excel, to rival and surpass others to increase self-regard by the successful exercise  of talent]; affiliation [to draw near and to  cooperate or reciprocate with an allied other, to please and win affection of a cathected object and to adhere and remain loyal to a friend] ; play{  to act for fun without further purpose, to like to laugh and make jokes, to seek enjoyable relaxation of stress} were  developed  within character . Character evolves and develops as a consequence of interpersonal interactions with parents, society within the culture.

Games, play, competition, skill and needs of dominance, abasement, achievement, affiliation and play were exemplified in 776 BC with the establishment of the Olympic Games which also honored Zeus. These games became a political tool used by the city states to assert dominance over their rivals. They even had a truce that enabled the athletes to travel from their cities to the games in safety. These games spread the Hellenistic culture, and featured religious celebrations .In fact, the statue of Zeus, at the Olympics, was described as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Note, only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate and have fun.

Today, we have “amateur” sports at the high school, club and college levels. Some that excel at the high school level are given scholarships to attend college. Those that excel at the college level enter in the professional and economic world of sports. Once again we see needs of dominance, abasement, achievement, affiliation and play necessary for sports participation. In order to participate in sports, one exercises. Practice can be brutal stated Mike Keller.

Physiologically we evolved to be upright. We know that movement is beneficial for physical and psychological health. Developmentally, we learned to walk. Note, we are psychologically aggressive for survival and with the development within our psychological need and physiological structure, the need to play surfaced. Play allowed us to develop running, kicking, throwing, and catching. These skills became apparent in individual competitions with games, and for team sports. Additional need structures were developed like dominance, abasement, achievement, affiliation and play that are expressed within character. These need factors allowed us to succeed, master, achieve and live productively.

Exercise for an athlete may entail routine, repetition, and overuse injury. Some may think it’s idiotic to run in a circle while keeping track of the time it takes. Yet, the competitiveness and the fear of failure can provide the fuel to motivate the behavior. I admit to continuing to run in circles totaling about 80 kilometers per a 7 day week. Exercise and competition brings joy of victory and the pain of defeat. A. E. Housman’s elegant poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” comes to mind as one example. The young athlete’s funeral suggests the man has died early with the anxiety about the meaning of his mortality. The young athlete perhaps was a hero and then his fame faded into despair.

 In today’s society, Individuals are superficially crowned, elevated to hero status and then torn down as humans. In any event, an athlete like all others has to confront and deal with age and mortality. Some consider exercise boring and difficult because it is difficult. Daniel, on the positive side, look at the many benefits physically and psychologically of exercise. Running allows me to clear my head and create essays; it allows me to laugh and interact with Tony and Paul; it allows me to compete with Tony {since 1997}; it allows me to be in nature; and enjoy movement; it contributes to my mental and physical well-being.  Is it difficult, of course it is?  If something is not a challenge, then it’s boring and irrelevant. Daniel, exercise is not boring but because of my character, exercise, competitiveness and fear of failure have become a significant component of who I am. I feel sorry for those that do not nor are unable to exercise. Psychologically, because of our aggressive nature, and societal conditions, the need to play has evolved as in exercise with beneficial physiological and psychological health consequences.

 

References

Lieberman, Frank. Bo’s Warriors  Bo Schembechler and the Transformation of Michigan Football. Triumph Books, 2014

Murray, H. A. Explorations in Personality. New York: Oxford, 1938.

Memories Part 4

 

Dementia is a progressive loss of cognitive functions. It is often accompanied by disturbances of mood, behavior and personality and leads to significant impairment in the ability to perform normal activities of daily living. Dementia is not a specific disease but is a term for a group of symptoms caused by numerous different disorders that affect the brain.

Dementias are becoming more common and are currently found in 14% of Americans age 71 and older which means that age is the biggest risk factor. In fact, the risk doubles every five years after age 65.  Lifestyle factors and genetics also affect the risk of developing dementia.

Symptoms of dementia are severe, numerous and very among individuals. Symptoms include the following: 1.Being dependent on others for daily living 2. Complaints of memory loss .Unable to give details 3. Family member concern about memory. With Covid -19, reduced family awareness 4. Recent memory for events, conversations noticeably impaired 5. Difficulty in conversations in finding words 6. Pauses in speech and word substitutions 7. Being lost walking or driving; may take hours to get home 8. Cannot operate appliances; and new learning impaired 9. Loss of interest in social activities and socially inappropriate 10. Mental status impaired for age, education and culture. 11. Impulsive purchases, running up debt, bill payment irregularities, lower credit ratings, more errors at work and other financial mistakes.

The following are” Good News “and are called Secondary Reversible Dementias because the cause can be treated and the dementia reversed. They are as follows: 1. Excessive alcohol use and tobacco smoking 2. Brain inflammation and periodontal disease 3. Anxiety and depression. Yes, psychotherapy and regular exercise has been shown to reverse the damage 4. Drug effects and interactions that include antidepressants, sleeping pills, anxiety medications, painkillers, anticholinergic medications and antihistamines 5. Respiratory problems 6. Metabolic diseases 7. Normal pressure with Hydrocephalus 8. Sleep problems and disorders 9. Chronic stress 10. Dietary deficiencies-with aging. The rate of nutrient absorption slows and makes it difficult to get adequate levels of vitamins and other nutrients 11. Hospitalizations -individuals that had prior hospitalizations for acute-care critical illness were more likely to have developed dementia in the preceding six years in one study 12. Delirium 13. Other reversible dementias can be caused by chronic illicit drug use-operable brain tumors, subdural and epidural hematomas, hypothyroidism and hypoglycemia.

Now for the bad news. The following are primary neurodegenerative irreversible dementias: 1. Alzheimer’s disease affects 6 million Americans; is the seventh leading cause of death; and killed more than 33,000 last year 2. Parkinson’s 3. Lewy Body 4. Vascular and stroke 5. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy 6. Frontotemporal (Picks disease) 7. Progressive Supranuclear Palsy 8. Huntington’s disease 9. Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.

There are many character lifestyle ways to damage ones precious brain irrespective of age. Examples include : Drinking while driving; not wearing a seatbelt; motorcycle ; equestrian; joining the military-high prevalence of explosive device brain injury; and playing sports.1.6 to 3.8 million sports related brain injuries occur in the US every year. One out of 10 of these require hospitalization. Children under 15 have twice as many Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) from sports than from auto accidents.

Dementia is also caused by TBI. If severe enough, a blunt force trauma to the head can speed up the process. Statistically, this is a major public health problem for young Americans. It is a major cause of death and disability in persons under 25 years of age and those 15 to 24 are at the highest risk.

Football players are at high risk for TB I. 20% of high school football players and 40% of college football players are examples. Current football helmets do not prevent concussions from the kind of violent collisions seen in football.

Symptoms of TBI are acute and vary from person to person. Typically there are major problems in attention, concentration, memory, problem-solving, judgment, lack of empathy, impulse control, emotional control, social interactions and psychiatric conditions of depression and anxiety.

All in all, it should be clear by now, with this brief bit of information, that brain health is precious.  Death, aging and illness are givens. It’s a matter of fact that an individual’s character and lifestyle choices have a negative effect on aging and brain health. Too many members in our country are affected by memory deficits, other cognitive components with obviously asocial and negative financial interactions. “By their fruits shall ye know them?” Lifestyle of one’s character can be associated with a faulty orientation and devotion to self-defeating, harmful, masochistic and destructive behaviors. We all have our devotions. As a consequence, we have an obvious dumbing down in our country that’s exhibited by memory loss. Memory is who we are. World and American history are not abstruse as people continually repeat stupid and cruelty over and over again.

References

New York Times, “Financial Mistakes May Indicate Dementia”, May 2, 2021.

Understanding Dementia .INR.

Memories Part 3

 

 There is no precise definition of Mild Cognitive Impairment {MCI} since it describes the stage between age associated memory impairment and dementia. With that being said, this essay presents recent research findings along with some known risks for MCI.

The following are characteristics of those with MCI : 1. Difficulty remembering important family events 2. Trouble remembering what was just said and read 3. Problems with essential paperwork tasks - like income tax 4. Forgetting to take medications and use of  memory lists 5.  Problems with complex tasks like meal preparation.

The incidence of MCI is increasing about 4% annually and is currently found in 10 to 20% of Americans who are aged 65 and older. Older men are about 50% more likely than older women to develop MCI. The good news is that many with MCI do not progress to dementia. However, sadly, when it comes to Alzheimer’s there are no valid methods to accurately determine which individuals with MCI will proceed to and an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

MCI does not have a strong genetic or familial risk. Not surprisingly, the major risk are lifestyle choices. Some well-known risks for MCI include the following: 1. Having a vascular risk factor is a powerful predictor of who will proceed from MCI to dementia, especially Alzheimer’s 2. Having three or more -excess weight, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low ” good” HDL cholesterol and high blood sugar markedly raises the risk of MCI 4. Sleep disordered breathing and sleep apnea were twice as  likely to develop MCI or dementia in a five-year study of 1300 women over age 75 5. Regular vigorous exercise for 45 to 60 minutes a day, four days a week, improved the cognitive functioning in a group of people with MCI. A long-term study found that those who reported getting moderate physical exercise-brisk walking, swimming, yoga, aerobics, and strength training in midlife were 39% like less likely to develop MCI. Those who engaged in moderate exercise, later in life, were 32% less likely to develop MCI 6. Several studies have shown that low-calorie diets with lots of fruits and veggies, getting regular and restful sleep, and keeping the brain active with new learning will lower the risk of developing MCI and improve functioning if diagnosed with MCI.

Man, in the art of living, has two choices. He can either treat himself good or evil. It should be clear by now, that so many people are emotionally, cognitively  and behaviorally turning anger inward {for short term pleasure into long term masochism} with their , of course, failure of conscience and self-defeating masochism. Once again, character determines thinking, feeling and behavioral actions. With character, the art of living is the issue. Creating severe brain and physical health issues is certainly not an expression of loving oneself. What is the aim, values and devotion for these individuals?  What false idols are they chasing? What fiction are they telling themselves? How does their illusionary story end? Their indifference and ineffectiveness. Is mind-boggling  It’s difficult  to believe that making good healthy  decisions pertaining to diet, ingesting harmful substances, and exercise is hidden from the populace. We lead the world, per population, with so many poor health decisions. We pollute more, kill more, we eat more, we exercise less etc. it’s no wonder that the brain diseases with MCI, dementia and Alzheimer’s are on the rise. These statistics suggest a colossal brain failure on the part of so many. This fact is contributing to our countries authoritarian character.

Reference

Understanding Dementia. Institute for Natural Resources (INR)

Part 4 to follow and pertains to dementia

Memories Part 2

 

 

This disquisition relates to Age Associated Memory Impairment [AAMI]. It should be noted, that while A AMI memory declines, other cognitive abilities remain relatively intact. Research studies suggest that, with aging, the following 7 are AAMI causes: 1. There is a loss of “thin” dendrites and myelin sheaths 2. The volume of ventricles in the brain containing cerebral spinal fluid enlarge 3. Cerebral blood flow decreases 4. Levels of key hormones and neurotransmitters decline 5. Neurofibrillary tangles develop with neurons 6. Beta amyloid accumulates outside neurons 7.Gilal cells become less functional.

There are a number of irrational decision-making, not surprising, that are related to AAMI impairment and they are as follows: 1. Cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis and high blood pressure 2. High levels of total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides 3. Low environmental stimulation, low new learning brain activity and lack of exercise 4. Diet high in calories, refined carbs and non-trans fats 5. Diet low in antioxidants, and Omega-3 6. Chronic physical and psychological stress 7. High levels of oxygen free radicals 8. Obesity, high blood sugar, insulin resistance and diabetes 9. Excessive inflammatory markers 10. Smoking, high alcohol and drug intake 11. Sleep deprivation chronic anxiety and chronic depression.

Now for the good news, yes, it is possible to avoid significant age related memory loss. Super Agers have the brain health and cognitive abilities of those 20 to 30 years younger. These studies show that much of the impairment is due to lifestyle choices. Rational choices include: 1. Regular exercise, at least 150 minutes per week 2 Sleeping approximately 7 hours per night 3. Eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains 4. Quitting smoking or non-smoking 5. Handling stress well 6. Having a strong social network and lots of mental activities.

The best Super Agers are called Centenarians. There’s approximately 60,000 of these individuals. Note, in those reaching 100, four out of five are women. Reaching 110 years of age is more difficult as there are only about 330 of those. Also not surprising, the chances of reaching 100 are greater if you live in Japan, France, Sweden or the United Kingdom.

In review of nearly 2 dozen studies of centenarians, Howard listed the following lifestyle habits: 1. Have low blood sugar 2. Have low blood pressure 3. Have low blood total cholesterol 4. Keep weight low and steady 5. Eat fewer calories 6. . Eat mostly vegetarian “Mediterranean diet” with coffee and tea 7. Avoid nutritional deficiencies 8.  Exercise regularly, be active and stay busy after retirement 9. Don’t smoke or stop smoking if you do 10. Drink less alcohol 11. Get regular restful sleep 12. Have healthy gums 13. Challenge your mind 14. Stay positive in attitude and avoid anxiety depression 15. Shed those stressors, have daily structure and be resilient 16 Stay socially connected with serenity and purpose.

It should be clear that the lifelong decisions we make affect our precious brain. Our memory is so important to who we are. With memory impairment, we are so compromised.  Part 3 to follow on mild cognitive impairment.

PS

My dear appreciation, for brain health, goes to sister Bev, Judy a former squeeze, my supportive wife Linda, my friends Tony, Paul, Thom, Jonathan, Denny, Linda, Chris, Tom, Laura, Steve, Susan, Bob, Jerome, Bill, Chuck, Robert, Jack, Mike, 2 Jim’ and others; the 8 R’s that include: Ride and Tie, retirement, reading, writing, riding, running, reducing stress, and regular napping and sleeping.

Reference

Howard, M. Living to Be 100. Biomed General Press Home study, 2012

INR . Understanding Dementia

Memories

 

 PBS had a terrific program of “50’s “music. Lulu’s” To Sir with Love,” Aretha Franklin’s “Respect, “Kingston Trio, Glen Campbell, McGuire sisters, Bobby Wilson etc. left me with a grin.  Lulu looked fabulous. My heart fluttered watching her perform. Those were special memories. We are our memories. Memory effects nearly everything we think, plan or do. In essence, our memory is about our past, our present and our future. Hopefully, knowing about the past, helps us prepare and cope with our future. That does not mean that we don’t make mistakes by repeating the same behavior over and over and expecting a different outcome per Albert Einstein. This essay focuses on normal memory during aging or part 1 of a 4 part series.

Our brain weighs roughly 3 pounds. Its size is like a medium cauliflower. Brain size reaches maximum during teen years, remains steady until about age 28 or so. It is believed that learning complex material declines after age 28. In healthy people, brain volume declines slightly but continuously over the years. Essentially we can lose neurons and our neurons lose some connections with other neurons. There can also be reduced blood flow to the brain. It happens regardless.

Within this most complex, highly developed and profound organ, our brain allows us to be the most intelligent animal on the planet. Yes, I agree that sometimes it doesn’t seem that way. There are numerous components of the brain that’s associated with memory acquisition, storage, and retrieval.

It’s been postulated that normal forgetting affected by aging is broken down as to follows: 1. Normal forgetting 2. Age associated forgetting 3. Mild Cognitive Impairment 4. Dementia. The following list identifies numerous parts of the brain associated with acquisition, storage and retrieval and/or forgetting: 1. Brainstem 2. Cerebellum 3. Thalamus 4. Basal ganglia 5. And in the limbic system: hippocampus and amygdala.

Within the cerebral cortex, we can perceive, think, employ judgment and make decisions. As a result, it’s very important to protect, from extensive damage, one’s Temporal lobe, Parietal lobe and Frontal lobe. It is all these brain components that, if fully functioning, allow an individual to overcome, by using brain, the various challenges in everyday living. However, with the myriad of health problems affecting sapiens and the contradictory and irrational behaviors, our brains have become more vulnerable to impairment.

Today, the focus is on normal forgetting. As we age, certain types of memory decline while others do not. For example, semantic declarative long-term memory continues to improve in many healthy older adults. This is the ability to recall general facts and information that’s related to one specific time and experience. This includes vocabulary, knowledge of language, basic arithmetic operations and how to tell time on the clock.

Episodic declarative long-term memory declines with age .An example of that is autobiographical memory. Other typical examples include going to the store forgetting what to buy; forgetting where you left your car; like one recent Sunday, forgetting to bring your cell phone on a run and even losing your car keys while on a Memorial Day Western states training run from Forest Hill to White Oak Flat. Yes, we had to wait for Debbie to pick us up at Forest Hill. Much later, we went back to that trail to look for Tony’s keys. He had a good idea where he dropped them and he did find the keys.

 Problems with memory can be affected by fatigue, infections, medication side effects, poor nutrition, mood changes, stress, anxiety, and depression. I’m not going to tell, but I know how and why Tony lost his keys. .

The reasons why episodic memory declines relates to fewer neural connections between the cortical neurons were memories are stored; the prefrontal lobes are shrinking ; and slow- wave sleep is impaired in the hippocampus. The encoder of new memories shrinks about 2% a year during our beginning in midlife. Those that exercise regularly, have deep sleep and involve themselves in new learning can slow down the hippocampal atrophy while aging. Good luck. Part 2’s focus will be age associated forgetting.

Reference

Understanding Dementia. Institute for Natural Resources.

Power and Exploitation

 

Yes, the prosecution in the George Floyd and Derek Chauvin trial put on compelling testimony and closing arguments regarding the Floyd murder. Then, we had another shooting of a young black man by a 26-year-old veteran white female police officer approximately 10 miles away. One police chief said something to the effect that her shooting a gun was a mistake. He’s a mistake. She resigned and then was fired. This essay portrays the exploitive sadistic character of killer police officers that murder black skinned individuals.

 402 years ago, black skinned individuals were brought, against their will, to this land as slaves by British pirates. In essence, black skinned people started out, in this land, being exploited by white skinned people. Roughly 150 years later, a U.S. Constitution conceived by the Wasp’s Jefferson, Madison and others reinforced and continued the policy of black exploitation. These framers supported the economic slavery conditions of the South and were concerned that the “non-slavery proponents” would dominate, exploit, and be an overbearing majority politically against the south. Employing irrational logic, the blacks were prohibited from voting, and were considered savages without morals, inferior and non-fully human. Although not human, one black equaled 3/5 of a human when it came to congressional representation.

 John C Calhoun the notorious white supremacist remarked to his friend John Quincy Adams “the enslavement of black people was the best guarantee of equality among whites.” Calhoun fought for states’ rights and believed along with Jefferson and Madison that the states were not subsidiary parts of the permanent union but sovereign members of a compact subject to continual revision.

Approximately 100 years later, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation that the   non-educated, limited work experience blacks were slave free. Lincoln later pushed for freeing the blacks as a military strategy during the Civil War. Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the KKK followed. The Southern states enacted laws to arrest the blacks so they could continue to enslave and exploit them. Lynching’s, burnings and other sadistic brutality and murder followed. The Selma, Alabama march exhibited police brutality against the peaceful marchers. Congressman John Lewis was there and told first-hand about his experiences as a young man. Our culture and societal norms, in most institutions, are of exploitation, sadistic treatment and continue to be well-established against the people of black color. White man have every right to sadistically exploit blacks because it’s what they deserve, it’s their nature?

A national database compiled and maintained by the Washington Post found that from 2015 to May 2020, Native Americans were killed by police at a rate of three times that of white people; black people were killed at 2.6 times the rate of white people or 1265 total killed. Unarmed black victims, were killed at three times the rate of white people or 218 total killed. These killings are on par with other common causes of death such as lives lost due to cyclist and road injuries, unintentional firearm injuries and maternal death cases related to pregnancy.

One co-author, in an epidemiology study, stated, “Black people are disproportionately killed by police even when they are unarmed.” Further, “what has been done at the local level-such as body cameras and independent investigations-has been insufficient? We need to raise it to state and national level and to codify it into law. “According to the US Bureau of Justice statistics in 2008, the census of state and local law enforcement agencies in California totaled 509. These agencies employed 79,431 sworn police officers or about 217 per each 100,000 residents. In the County of El Dorado, sheriffs roam. I’m not sure what they do, but they do carry guns. Recently, I saw a sheriff buying a sandwich at the local market. He was armed. He needed his weapon?

As an overview, let’s turn our attention to the character of sworn police officers. Remember, character determines what is expressed, what one thinks, and what one feels.  There are different character types and these types often blend as in degrees on a continuum. There is no one character type exclusive of all others. However, there’s a tendency for one character type to be more dominant than another. This means there are many differences and variations in character and thus behavior.

The study of psychology is about interpersonal interactions. Before there was a study of psychology, the 10 commandments identified sinful and exploitive behaviors of man treating man. Honor your father and your mother; you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; and you shall not covet laid out a very clear framework of exploitation being a sin. In other words, exploitation of man treating man has been with us since the beginning of Judeo-Christian religions. A sin means?

Turning to the movies, there are many splendid and concrete examples of man treating man in an exploitive, cruel and sadistic manner. For instance: Spartacus had slaves battling slave, Romans and lions for survival or death for the enjoyment of the crowd. In Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman was sentenced for two years as a prisoner in Florida. Although a charming and witty war hero, Newman’s character refused to conform or be rehabilitated. As a consequence, the sadistic warden Strother Martin employed sadistic and exploitive punishments.

In the Dirty Harry series, Clint Eastwood was sadistic and exploitive and yet he had a cute girlfriend as well. Eastwood was intelligent, witty, devoted and at times charming as well. His famous line to a bad guy “Make My Day” still rings. Of course, Eastwood had the gun pointed at the bad guy while the other guy thought about picking up the gun near him. About 20 years ago, Denzel Washington played a sadistic exploitive police officer in Training Day. He was manipulative and exploited his new partner Ethan Hawke on his first day. Washington as a corrupt cop, had his fellow cops kill and steal a large sum of money. Yet the popular criminal Washington, in his role, was charming, adaptable, pathological, composed under stress, intelligent, witty, and generous. During that eventful day, Denzel took a break and had sex with his girlfriend and gave her presents.

The movies provide stories of man treating man in exploitive, cruel, and in a sadistic manner. There are many movies that demonstrate that manner in politics, government, Wall Street, military and about our police force. Our nation’s history is based on exploitation, sadism and sin. It’s no wonder that our institutions, society and individuals exhibit the same character quality. Let’s turn, to the institution of police with the culture of exploitation and sadism as their character.

Exploitation refers to how man treats others. He can take things from others out of force or through methods of being cunning. He can steal and his stolen property always seems better. There is complete domination over a powerless individual or person. The person is treated as a thing to be exploited and this character trait is accompanied by destructiveness and cruelty. The culture of the police refers to white power, a badge and permission to treat man inhumanely. Right of might rationalizes the law of nature. George Floyd allegedly had a counterfeit $20 bill. It took three policeman to arrest and kill him for that infraction?

Sadism, is the desire and goal to inflict pain, suffering on another and to want to witness the weakness and humiliation. As a character trait, it’s the desire is to be in complete control, hurt and humiliate. Attractions to power, wealth and being manipulative with or without a sexual component are also factors. In many cases, the object is perceived and treated as not being human. In essence with sadism, it’s having complete mastery and control over another and to make him an object of the officers will. George Floyd was lying face first on the ground, his hands, behind his back were in handcuffs for 9 minutes 29 seconds with a knee on his neck.  George Floyd” was not resting,” he was helpless, powerless, humiliated and not a threat. I don’t know anyone who would treat a dog in that manner. That was no way to treat a human being and George Floyd was not treated as one. There was no apology, sadness or empathetic emotion from Chauvin. Business as usual.

With character tendencies to be sadistic and exploitive, one is attracted to employment with a gun, a badge, criminal justice protection in an industry that was established to exploit and protect the white ruling class since 1844 .This fact is in concert with the socioeconomic and political system in our country. Along with these character traits, an individual can have irrational passions of anger, hatred and compel him to act, with fanatical devotion, in a non-rational way, not with reason toward “non humans.”

These police individuals become expectations of authority and act in the way or in the name of duty. They are an authority to be feared, admired, and loved. There is a chain of command and they are part of a team. They protect each other’s back and are protected by the Supreme Court regarding their immunity. The major problem of police killing blacks is serious and complex. Likely, training, cameras, and independent investigations do not address the cause.

The bad officers are those that have a character tendency for exploitive and sadistic behavior. Likely, other police and administrators know who they are. Their talk in private among their own provides insight; spouses or significant others also can provide input; alcohol, drug use and spousal abuse provide additional clues. Unfortunately, therapy and psychological evaluations along with love and decency are perceived signs of weakness and thinking the occupation of cowards and degenerates for this breed.

Years ago, I evaluated the psychological fitness for potential officers. I propose setting up a specialized program followed by research study that would evaluate specialized training with officers that have exploitive and sadistic character traits to see if the training can change or modify behavior in the field. A few of the specialized training components would include: identifying and dealing with anxiety and fear; raising intellectual, spiritual and moral levels; providing peer group support; and identifying primitive emotional triggers.  I would also change the hiring practices. Do not let the bad pick the rotten apples.

PS

Stanley Milligram, a social psychologist, conducted a classical study on obedience to authority. He had his subjects believing that they were administering electric shocks to other participants in his experiment. In other words, exploitive sadistic tendencies were exposed and expressed under authority conditions. In another study, Philip Zimbardo, a social psychologist, conducted a prison experiment at Stanford. In this experiment, some students or subjects were prisoners and some students or subjects were the guards. The sadism and exploitation of the student guards, in their authority role, were apparent; some student prisoners withdrew and the experiment was terminated after six days. Exploitation is easy.

References

Delbanco, Andrew. Paleo-Confederate.  The New York Times, February 28, 2021

Fromm, Erich. Escape from Freedom. Avon Books