gut feelings

NEWS: Is Head In The Sand The Best Position To Take?

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The Negative News“Don’t watch the news!”
I’ve heard this advice before.  It was from mega-successful network marketer Mark Yarnell who authored several good books on that industry. He was saying things like ” Nothing ever happens anyway…”

Years ago I tried his advice myself and I did realize a lot more efficient use of my time. Of course I did get rid of my TV altogether so that had a lot to do with it.  The reception in my area was crappy anyway and what with building a new dairy business I was always quite busy with little time to sit in front of a boob tube.

But all that was before 9/11. Today the news seems to be a lot more full of all the gritty stuff folks just love. It gives them stuff to talk about but, in reality, you’d better avoid in order to preserve your positive mindset. I understand that.

But is that the best or the only option? Is all negativity something that we should be trained to avoid at all costs?

I think not.

Not because I like negative news – I don’t – but I realize that sensational news sells and that’s why there’s plenty of it.  Anything that get’s the emotions going sells.  We all know that. Purchases happen because the buying response is triggered by the emotions and then is immediately backed by logic. That’s marketing 101.

I don’t really care for it myself because it sounds manipulative but… that’s how things are.

We’re human.  We must live fully in the world good or bad. It’s not what we see or hear so much as what motivates us to act. If we are making choices based on how it looks we’re probably not going forward as we should.
My advice is to use the gut feel method to “see” if a decision is a good thing or not. It may not always work out to our satisfaction just then but perhaps later on we’ll see that it was for the best.

As for the news? It’s just information composed of letters and numerals which make up sounds and pictures. It’s ok to feel a well reported story emotionally but then engage your ability to detach quickly so that it remains “outside” of you.

(If you have trouble doing that then see this)

You are not the world.

You just live here.

A Silly Little Paper Band and A Phenomenon – Part 3

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Leonardo, Aristotle and the Human Machine

This is part 3 of a series. ( Part 1 / Part 2 /)

In my last post I introduced a quote by Aristotle where he expressed his opinion about the origin of thought in the human body. The re-occurring thing that seems to crop up is a reference to the “gut” as a place where intelligence seems to have some root.

I mentioned the findings in 1996, some 2300 years later, of a “gut brain” in humans by cell biologist Dr. Michael Gershon.

Leonardo as an old man (self-portrait)
Today I’d like to take you back in history once more, about 450 years to be exact, and introduce to you to a guy who also had something radical to say about the human body.

The Human Machine

The year is 1558 and Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci works diligently away in his studio in Milan Italy.

Oh, you’ve heard of him?

Not surprising, since today he is regarded to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. He explored the fields of science, mathematics, engineering, inventing, and anatomy just to name a few.

Leonardo was a man of conviction and, even though he lived in a time when the church was the real power in society, when he had an opinion he gave it voice. He once declared that the human physiology, the “human machine” as he called it, could be improved. That got him into some serious hot water with the church brass. He was given an order to keep such comments to himself… or else!

He may have toned it down a bit but he moved forward anyway by making a few sketches in an attempt to try a few ideas out. One at least looks remarkably similar to today’s hang glider. Poor Leonardo, although he was right he was wrong. He concentrated on physical add-ons not inner-skills. What seemed to have escaped his enormous genius was simply the nature of the improvement that could potentially be made.

He may have been close about his observation of the physical body as a machine though. Others have since come to reference it in similar ways. In fact, how the modern day computer ‘thinks’ could qualify, however loosely, as another mirror reflection of ourselves as a machine.

But hold on to that thought because, if you can stand it, I’m going to quickly whip you forward again to 1960 and another man skilled in matters of medicine who also had similar impressions about the human body as a machine.

I’ll tell you more about him in my next post.

More power to you my friend.

David Parsons (aka Mobiusman)