Habit

Habit

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I had gone to bed late and really did not feel like running this morning but I did. Once a habit or pattern, good or bad, has been established it takes on a life of its own and takes a deliberate effort to break; I think that has happened or is beginning to happen with my morning runs so it is easier to run than not to run.
 
I think that the running may be having some health benefits. I had been retaining water but seem to have flushed this out of my system, especially over the past 24 hours. I noticed that I weighed 3 lbs less that the same time yesterday, before my run.
 
The Daily Mile

The recognition that habits have a life of their own is not new; It’s obvious but it was brought home to me quite strongly by my running this morning. Another way of looking at habits is to see them as ‘sub-routines’ in our programming. From that perspective you could say that I need to identify the bad sub-routines in my programming and delete or re-write them and also write some good sub-routines.

Milestone

Milestone

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Yesterday I ran just over a mile without stopping. I had previously been completing the distance through a mixture of running and walking. I wrote on my Daily Mile log:

I wanted to let this morning go but I’m glad I didn’t. For the first time I ran the distance without stopping to walk. It wasn’t easy and I know that I have a long way to go but now that I’ve stopped sweating and the breath has returned I must admit that I feel quite elated.

This morning I ran again and decided to add something else to my practice:

My pace is slower this morning but I am satisfied with the run. Now that my body knows that it can handle a mile without stopping it doesn’t complain so much. There are a few more people about at 6:47 on a Saturday morning but I am more confident that I am starting to look like a runner. As I jog towards him a man gives me a friendly grin and says ‘work out brother’.
 
After a shower I sit in padmasana and do 10 rounds of nadi shodana and some japa meditation. It’s a short and very basic yoga/meditation. If one bad habit can open the door to others then I can use my new good habit in the same way. I will add this to my morning routine.

Higgs Boson

Higgs Boson

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Really really good exposition by Vivek Sharma. I watched half of it before my brain needed a rest. I need to watch the rest later but at least I now have some idea of what a Higgs Boson particle/field is. I’ll watch the rest later.

Who is Ayn Rand?

Who is Ayn Rand?

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Who is Ayn Rand? Little known in the UK but famed in the US she is the author of a number of novels and philosophical treatises defending capitalism as the economic system most consistent with human freedom.

Although Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is on my list of favourite books (I’ll have to review that list) I concur with Steven Goldstein in recognising its baleful influence on US and therefore international political discourse.

The main reason for Rand’s influence is the novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’. Whether it is ‘well written’ may be debatable but there is no doubt that it was powerfully written in terms having lasting impact on its readers. The power of the novel lies in its portrayal of individuals engaged in a heroic struggle to actualise themselves in terms of authenticity, integrity, freedom and creativity. Inevitably young people identify with this struggle:

Whilst Atlas Shrugged has some very inspirational things to say about the human spirit, creative will etc., there is a perversity hidden within the heroic presentation. It is a perversity that asserts that status as a creator (a man of mind) puts you above your fellow humans in such a way that you are no longer subject to any democratic consensus. In Rand’s world progress is achieved by a few Olympian individuals and not by the collective effort and cooperation of the many; these individuals therefore have greater human worth and moral authority.

Revisiting a post on Chomsky and Occupy reminded me of how prevalent Rand’s philosophy has become and of something I had written in a response to an article on Ayn Rand in the Guardian on Facebook:

There is a lot that’s wrong about Ayn Rand’s philosophy. The capitalist/individualist ideal she extols simply does not exist in reality. Additionally there is a thread of nastiness in her work wherein the ‘men of mind’ are seen as having more human worth than those of lesser ability. Because she sees her ubermensch as the creators and thus true owners of material wealth she endorses their right to destroy that wealth through acts of terrorism and piracy. Ultimately, in Atlas Shrugged, she has Dagney Taggart coldly murder a soldier for his indecision and justify this on the grounds that his alleged ‘refusal to think’ made him less than human.
 
On this same principle of a superior morality being inherent in the capitalist/individualist ideal, Rand believed that ‘dictatorships’ had no rights and that capitalist ‘democracies’ had a right but no obligation to overthrow such dictatorships.
 
Rand’s work is the example par excellence of a ‘weaponised narrative’. It’s influence on American thinking is clear. While Rand’s philosophy is shallow and mean, it is her special skill to present the shallow and mean as deep and noble. However much we may deplore her philosophy it is ludicrous to conclude that Rand had mediocre or no writing skills when it was those skills that made her work amongst the most influential and dangerous of the last century.

I got the following responses:

Philip Nelson: So you’ve read her works? Studied her philosophy? You can connect her metaphysics and epistemology with her politics and morality and aesthetic work? I didn’t think so.
June 16 at 8:09pm · Like

 

Gavin Sealey: Philip Nelson If I had studied her works to the depth you have I would probably be offended if anyone called them shallow. I know enough about Rand’s materialist metaphysics to know that it does not lead to a morality that recognises and respects intrinsic human worth and human connectedness. I am happy to withdraw ‘shallow and mean’ and replace it with ‘deeply flawed and mean’. Btw do you think that Dagney was morally right to murder the hesitant soldier? That Francisco was morally right to destroy the mines? that Ragnar was morally right to attack the aid ships? Is that the kind of morality you endorse and would be prepared to recommend to everyone?
June 16 at 11:28pm · Like · 1

 

Philip Nelson: You’re right, her philosophy does not acknowledge intrinsic worth. However it does value the absolute right of an individual to exist free from force or fraud. Did you know that? I do believe all those characters were morally correct in doing what they do. I can’t even begin to explain why but if you’ve read the book you should know at least Rand’s justification. I wholeheartedly, unashamedly recommend Objectivism to anyone who wishes to live a better, happier life.
June 16 at 11:32pm · Like

 

Ryan Wilson: That reads like an advertisement for Scientology.

X philosophy is one of freedom yeah! it provides freedom from x and y! Did you even know this amazing fact!?
I can’t even begin to explain why it’s so awesome, but just read this book from the prophet: you’ll see, you’ll see man… It’s the open door to a happier, better LIFE.
June 17 at 2:03am · Like · 1

 

Philip Nelson: Oh no! You equated Objectivism with Scientology! I am so embarrassed. The purpose of Philosophy is to make your life better. If you think it’s too cheesy to advertise it as such, then, well, I am sorry because I don’t know how to talk to someone like you.

Ryan is not the only person to have poked fun at Rand’s Objectivist followers by comparing them to Ron Hubbard’s Scientologists:

Aspirations

Aspirations

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I wrote on Facebook that

The year is half gone. I’m redefining my resolutions as ‘aspirations’.

The halfway point in a year is a good time to take stock. I have left many things undone and too many resolutions and promises unfulfilled. But I have not given up. There is at least one positive in that I am developing the habit of regular running. Something that has helped is the logging of runs on The Daily Mile website. It would make sense to record my yoga/meditation practice in a similar way.

Enabled

Enabled

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This captioned picture of Sarah Reinertsen, an athlete with a prosthetic leg appeared on an atheist FB page. I though it was an intriguing image even if the caption betrays a very childish idea of God. A search for the source of the image led me to another image of Sarah Reinertsen which I post at the risk of being accused of blogging in the style of the Sun newspaper:

Also found at the Grinding website was this TED Talk by Aimee Mullins that made me think that for some people at least at term ‘enabled’ is a lot more apt than ‘disabled’ because science, their social connections and their own fighting spirit (I like alliteration a little too much) enable them.

Running

Running

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Even at 5.11am there are too many people around for me and I look every bit the unfit runner that I am. I run the first half mile without stopping and then my lower legs hurt and I stop to walk too often. Still, my overall pace is the same. I really didn’t feel like running this morning but I know that the biggest challenge for me is maintaining some consistency.

I am aiming to run just over a mile each day. I did three runs over Saturday and Sunday and four runs over Wednesday to Friday. So that’s seven miles even though I only ran on five days out of seven. Given my problem with consistency I am pleased with this.

I have signed up to do a 10 mile charity run in October and I realise how far I have to go to be anywhere near fit to take this on.

Turn it Off

Turn it Off

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The question for me would be “why not turn the computer off?”. The Internet is a real time sink for me. I go on the net for one purpose and then I stay on much much longer than I intend. The Internet is one of the weapons of distraction that I use against myself.

Beyond Belief

Beyond Belief

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Prahlad Jani is a hermit who claims not to have consumed food or water since he was eight. His claims are disputed by rationalists such as Sanal Edamaruku whose Guardian article suggests that the doctors studying this phenomenon are either not very bright or are colluding in a hoax. Edamaruku has been involved in exposing hoaxes by prominent gurus but the existence of fakes does not prove the non-existence of the authentic.

Ram Bahadur Bomjan (“Buddha Boy”) is another example of this ‘extreme fasting’ phenemenon.

http://youtu.be/lhMnSzOEe1E

The documentary showing him being continuously recorded sitting in meditation without food or water for 96 hours is evidence that Ram Bomjan is doing something that contradicts what is known by medical science. The sceptical position seems to be that because it is scientifically impossible it must be a fraud.

After his initial disappearance Ram Bomjam re-emerged and now runs a successful guru practice dispensing wisdom (and scarves) as Dharma Sangha aka Palden Dorje:

Perhaps the extreme fasting abilities of Prahlad Jani and Dharma Sangha are clues (rather big clues) that meditation works and that it is possible to transcend the limits of physical laws. Sceptics and ‘realists’ will insist that since physical laws cannot be transcended the inedia phenemenon must be a scam but I am prepared to provisionally accept its authenticity on the basis of this evidence. Whether the phenomenon, these psychic accomplishments, point to spiritual enlightenment is a different matter. There is a problem with gurus but it is not the one that the sceptics are concerned about. The problem for me concerns the incongruities between the teachings and the practice of the gurus. As I read more about Dharma Sangha I found references to a scandal alleging violence, kidnapping and sexual abuse. There is an extremely interesting discussion, following an article referencing the allegations, on the Irregular Times blog.

Chomsky on Obama and Occupy

Chomsky on Obama and Occupy

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Chomsky makes some interesting comments about Obama and the Occupy movement in an interview with Amy Goodman at Democracy Now. There is a transcript of the interview on the site.

On Occupy Chomsky says that they “changed the national discourse” so there is now a dialogue about inequality; but it’s his second point that nails the value of the movement:

The other aspect, which in my estimation may be more significant, is that the Occupy movement spontaneously created something that doesn’t really exist in the country: communities of mutual support, cooperation, open spaces for discussion. They just developed a health system, a library, a common kitchen—just people doing things and helping each other. That’s very much missing. There is a massive propaganda—it’s been going on for a century, but picking up enormously—that you really shouldn’t care about anyone else, you should just care about yourself. You pay attention to yourself; we don’t want anything else. You take a look at the attitudes among young people, that’s—it’s polled, it’s studied. It’s remarkably high. So, there was just a study that came out from the Harvard Public Policy Institute, found that—pretty scary results, I thought. Less than—this is kids 18 to 24, you know, college students, basically. Less than half of them think that the government has a responsibility to deal with things like healthcare or food, and so on. When they say the government doesn’t have a responsibility, that’s kind of an interesting concept. If people thought they were living in a democracy, they would say—they would ask the question whether it’s a public responsibility. But again, the propaganda system is designed to make you feel that the government is some alien force, and it’s against you. You know, you want to keep it away from your affairs.

This is important. Occupy is not just a movement making ‘demands’ it is an agitation on a conceptual level that challenges the predominant paradigm of individualism. This paradigm runs deep in the American psyche, associating ‘heoric individualism’ with success, progress and personal liberty. It is articulated in the philosophy of Ayn Rand and mythologised in her novels.