Cause of Autism? Daycare generated ENT issues?

One of the major mysteries of my adult life has been the emergence and acceleration of cases of autism. When I first heard about autism, I asked why I had never heard of it and was told that it had always existed but we simply did not identify the defining characteristics as part of something called autism. But then autism truly started to rapidly show up and then within our family. My question was always, "what causes this and why is it accelerating?"

My theoretical answers had always been in the sphere of something new - typically around the increased consumption of sugary beverages or television screens. But a recent study published in BMJ Open suggests that preschoolers with common ear, nose, and throat (ENT) issues may be at risk of autism or high levels of autism traits. The research, which tracked over 10,000 children from birth, suggests that early identification and treatment of ENT conditions may identify and alter the development of autism.

By coincidence, I had dinner with an ENT doctor a couple of days after the publication of this article. He stated that he was not surprised by this possibility. He derided the slack approach of pediatricians who say "the child will grow out of it." In a beautifully Spinozist conceptualization, he stated, "No, the child will not grow out of it; instead the child will grow into something else." He stated that by plugging up the ability for a child to clearly hear during an important developmental period, it was likely that  brain development was altered.

On a related issue, I was amazed when the most important prayer of Judaism - the Shema - was focused on hearing rather than seeing. The rabbis assured me that while seeing was connected to insights and understanding, hearing was the basis of emotional connection. I think the Western world has consistently underestimated the impact of hearing - until Covid showed us what happens when the elderly are unable to be with one another, to hear one another. In addition, studies of the deaf have showed correlation with depression.

My takeaway was that the increase of autism is related to the increase of ENT problems that are germinated (pun intended) by daycare programs. After Covid, I found that almost every cold and flu I had historically had could be traced back to either air travel or daycare exposure. Daycare programs seem to be petri dishes for germ development. Perhaps more rigorous attention to that plus increased concern by pediatricians could reverse the continuing increase of autism.

Greek Art - The Power of Beauty and Physical Hiding Interiority

For years I have reflected on the linear beauty of ancient Greek sculpture accompanied by a complete lack of interiority in these sculptures. I wondered how such masterful artists could capture the marvels of the human physique but not simple facial mannerisms. But in my morning meditation I think I discovered something here.

Two times during my prep school years, I attained a level that I could only describe as bliss. The first was in my fifth form (junior year), I came early to the school year so that I could participate in football preparation. I had a rare single room and had recently purchased a stereo system. After I came back from football practice, I would turn on music and finish my summer reading list on the Italian renaissance. The second was at the end of my sixth form (senior year) when I simply quit doing any homework except for the reading of poetry in my Humanities class. The only real break was to go to track practice.

As I recall these periods, the bliss is the same - it felt civilized and composed. I did not feel the struggles with identity or goals or love. Instead, I marveled at what my be termed, oddly, a clean space. In my meditation, I realized that these were periods in which I had no sense of interiority and yet, at the same time, did not attempt to escape interiority. Instead, I had found a placement that put me at some harmony with my environment.

Given the importance of my interior space, I think that these periods may have borne witness to something the Greeks found - in the presence of physical engagement and artistic endeavor is a space that generates no struggle for the mind. The reason that these sculptures do not convey interiority is not a mistake. Instead, these artists were conveying that such a place exists for those fortunate enough to find it by participating in appropriately or humanistic-ally in art and sport.

 

High Importance of Nasal Breathing

Of course breathing is all important - we do it between 12,000 and 25,000 times per day and we don't live long if we quit this activity. But after reading numerous works (especially James Nestor's Breath book), I have taken away a new sense of the importance of nasal breathing. 

When I was younger, I would regularly have some sinus issues and breathe through my mouth. Generally, it was not a good look - inviting me to be included in the "mouth breather" group. But even at home, I couldn't relax into breathing through my mouth. When I did so, my father would chastise me and I bitterly resented it. It was so difficult to breathe through my nose but he forced the issue - fortunately as it turns out. 

Researchers have discovered dramatic systemic differences when we breathe through our noses as opposed to breathing through our mouths. One study found that people tend to inhale just before a cognitive task — and that doing so tends to improve performance. But they have found that it is only breathing through the nose that has these effects; breathing through the mouth does not.

Another study found it can affect people’s performance on tasks involving emotion and memory. In an experiment researchers monitored subjects’ respiration and asked them to identify the emotion expressed by people in a set of photos developed by psychologists to test emotion recognition. Subjects were quicker to identify fearful faces when the photo appeared as they were taking a breath compared to during exhalation. In a different test, subjects more accurately remembered whether they’d seen a photo previously when it was presented as they inhaled. Again, the effects were strongest when subjects breathed through the nose.

I was fortunate that later as an adult I worked with a doctor who discovered that repeated cases of sinus affection had created scarring that made nasal breathing really difficult and prescribed a daily regimen of spraying with saline solution to keep nasal passages open. So even when it's difficult and I'm tempted to breathe through my mouth, I focus on relaxing, reassuring myself that I'm getting adequate oxygen and keeping my big, fat mouth shut!

Limits to Entitlement? Or Ignorance of Capitalism?

The improvements in quality of food, shelter and clothing, the ease of production and the support of healthcare experienced over the prior four generations has been astonishing. Consistent with these improvements has been a general move towards a charitable attitude towards those less fortunate. So when I heard peers in my generation complain about the "entitled" attitude of the upcoming generation, I dismissed it as typical ideation of "the good ole days" at work.

But a recent discussion about Portland has caused me to reflect that there may be limits to entitlement. I have had quite a few anecdotes concerning the lawlessness of Portland and even know long-term Portlanders who are moving away. Portland is a lovely town which I had always viewed as safe and welcoming to all people and things artisanal. If this change is real (and I believe it is), what has caused the change?

It appears that the stay-at-home mandate of Covid has played a role in Portland's shift. As people stayed home and were allowed to do whatever they wanted, a natural thought occurred to many - "do we really need to work if the US Government could just print out money?" I fielded this narrative frequently as I explained the pitfalls of AOC's money theories. In fact, the inflationary impact of that approach is manifesting itself right now.

Our rising standards of living are driven by improvements in productivity. The dividends of these increases in productivity are more free time and more disposable income. In fact, the purchase of Portland's artisanal products are the result of the much (by Portlanders) derided improvements in mass production. Walmart is not the dream of Portlandia, but its productivity drivers do most of the heavy lifting to provide working people access to the dream. 

This blindspot of connecting productivity with increased standards of living came into focus during the pandemic because people were blinded to how productivity via the internet was the means by which we navigated the pandemic. Instead, people simply attributed it to government largess.  As discontent with capitalistic productivity simmered, it seemed to manifest itself with antagonism towards the police force. 

The police recognize that criminal elements will always have a negative attitude towards them. However, given the hazards of their work, part of their reward and willingness to undertake those hazards is the general respect from the population. When the population at large views the police negatively, the attitude of the police naturally moves to the passive aggressive - "well, let's see how it works for you."

It is likely that an unintended consequence of the Fed's tightening is to remind the population that the solution for an increased standard of living does not lie in the credit creating machinery of the government. Rather, securing the value of the dollar creates a mechanism to measure and drive increases in productivity.

Fundamental Errors: The Case of Obesity, Part 2

In a prior post, http://scottsrandombits.blogspot.com/2021/09/fundamental-errors-case-of-obesity.html, I posited that "obesity" or the process of excess fat accumulating is a function of the body's expression, in other words, likely a genetic function, rather than a defect in character or knowledge. In my opinion, no one likes to accumulate excess fat and shaming is not a solution.

I also commented that my weight does not seem to vary much, whether I exercise or not or whether I diet or not. Recent research from China seems to shed light on this issue. In a study published in a journal called Cell Metabolism, the authors focused on "healthy underweight" BMI (18.5 or lower). Expectations were that this group would be a high exercise, high food intake and good diet group. Instead they found lower food intake and lower activity levels, but accompanied by a resting rate that was "running hotter" - basically a high resting metabolism driven by elevated thyroid hormones.

This research confirms my basic experience. I'm fairly close to the "healthy underweight" BMI group. I have maintained this category regardless of exercise or eating. Further, I have seen that I eat less food, consume more cookies and sit around all day in meetings or research. I would think that my body would reflect these patterns and it doesn't. The answer is, I believe, in this concept of "running hotter." 

I have consistently struggled with issues around "running hotter" - including lighter sleep, higher anxiety and feedback from an aryuvedic-style doctor who claimed that my the back of my throat looked "like a jungle, when it should look like a forest." He told me to give up caffeine. But, weirdly enough for someone "running hot," caffeine (particularly in the Italian espresso form) is my compulsion - not a good one for increasing sleep and reducing anxiety. This research illumined the compulsive aspect of caffeine - the high intake of caffeine levels compensate for my body's tendency to be at a lower activity level relative to others, i.e., when my activity picks up, my sense of shame drops down.

A "New Normal" as best pathway out of addiction?

One day a friend of mine observed that I simply stopped eating partway through my meal. He said, "why did you stop eating?" I replied, "I always stop when I feel I've had enough." He laughed and said, "If I stopped eating when I felt like it, I would weigh 300 pounds!" His comment stuck with me. I am the same weight as I was in high school and had little change. Part genes, of course, but clearly not a function of self-discipline. There has been no effort on controlling my diet.

Recently I have read some information about addiction being based in a notion of homeostasis. We all have notions of what it's like to feel "normal." Go to any AA speaker meeting and the speaker will share the sense of "being normal" that occurred with the first time under the influence of alcohol. The idea that addiction is rooted in a biological commitment to "feeling normal" seems powerful and speaks to the movement away from addiction: setting a "new normal."

For example, I simply cannot have certain kinds of sweets in my home. The sweets that I enjoy are the ones which evoke a feeling of being loved - delicious chocolates for example. Others in my home can simply have a chocolate and, like me with food, say "I've had enough." But these chocolates evoke a different cycle for me. The first chocolate tells me not only "this is good," but also, "OMG...I know what love is!" That's a dangerous space for someone from a love-deprived upbringing.

To attack the problem by self-control is treating a symptom. My approach of simply not having such sweets around is effective, but in the apt description of my girlfriend is "pathetic." Moving to a "new normal" is a more powerful and long-term solution. To move a sense of "normal" means addressing the source - in my case, to address and heal the sensation of a love-deprived upbringing.

Is India the next China?

President Modi has begun to turn around the chaotic kleptocracy that was India. Despite his controversial engagements in religious areas, Modi has kept his word to make India an investable economy. While China has dramatically improved its standard of living over the past thirty years, India has made little progress. It seems like the structures, legally and politically, are finally in shape for some improvement.

I have blogged about India elsewhere here. Most of the talented leadership in our tech holdings are of Indian origin and yet I've had little appetite for investing in their home country. Even more, I've recently had the ability to confirm Indian talent - my girlfriend of Kerala origins, with no experience in upholstery or sewing, completely reupholstered an old couch of mine in four weekends. The waiting list for re-upholstery in Bozeman, Montana was three years. 

It seems that the best and likeliest investment would be the dominant Reliance Industries, but ADRs from India are scarce. The search is on - especially when I'm sitting on my newly beautified couch!

Fundamental Errors: the Case of Obesity

Fundamental errors are the conceptual ones which cause the most trouble and allow for the most profit when resolved correctly. Statnews, an excellent publication in the health arena, has a wonderful article about thinking about obesity. Here is the link: https://www.statnews.com/2021/09/13/how-a-fatally-tragically-flawed-paradigm-has-derailed-the-science-of-obesity

The essence of the article is that obesity is not a function of taking in more calories than expended. One of my friends, whom I will call BC, always derided overweight people as "simply not pushing away from the table soon enough." While he is bright enough, this is an example where things are not as they appear. Over time, I have had clarity on this issue because my weight has been stable whether I eat alot or a little. Logically, I concluded that people who are overweight are generally experiencing a body shape that declares itself.

The article states that obesity is a function of bodies that drive excess fat accumulation. Examples are provided where calorie intake is strictly dropped to the point of starvation and the bodies of certain individuals still accumulate fat. There are a number of reasons why this trait might have been beneficial from an evolutionary standpoint as it might have increased fat reserves during lean times. The article does not explore trait benefit or development. But the article highlights the insulin mechanisms that function towards this excess fat accumulation. The author posits that this is the underlying reason Keto diets work (but again does not declare whether this is healthy).

For me it confirms that the body shaming of obese people has been useless, heartless and cruel. Many people have treated obesity as if it were a choice or a defect in character. Instead it is a trait that requires understanding. For people who have this trait, they may or may not take approaches to modify it. Like other personal decisions, it's their domain and not an indicator of no discipline.

Cheers to China

In the early years of my business career, I viewed the US as the ideal place because our culture had generated a strong middle class, meaning relatively few rich and poor in terms of standards of living. Of course, there are a wide variety of methods for describing a "middle class," but we all know it means the ability to have a decent standard of living - house, car, job, college for children and retirement. However, during my business career, college costs skyrocketed, jobs became increasingly service oriented, houses have recently become prohibitively expensive and retirements diminished. At the same time, conspicuous consumption in terms of mansions and conspicuous poverty in terms of tent cities has shot up. No one really has the answer. Interestingly, the same dynamics have begun to plague China and China is responding.

The recent crackdowns on tech billionaires, the opposition to private tutoring and the housing speculation are all receiving regulatory and financial management. The goal in China is to drive a "middle class" solution. While this approach does have human rights issues, the widening disparity in the US does not seem to indicate a better approach. The challenge is that capitalism works, but many capitalists don't. Rare is the example of Warren Buffett, who energetically allocates capital while minimizing consumption and grandiosity. It does cause me to wonder if the "middle class" outcome early in my career was simply a fortuitous event or, as I had thought, the result of a certain kind of Protestantism with its obsession on deferral of gratification, disgust with consumption and the accumulation of capital.

Communal Healing of "Moral Injury" or Trauma in General

In a recent article in The Guardian, the topic of "moral injury" is discussed. "Moral injury" is a concept coined by Shira Maguen and some colleagues in a 2009 paper in which trauma of perpetrating or failing to prevent moral transgressions is discussed.

I have spent time in this blog and elsewhere on the difference between morals and ethics. Simply put, morals are primarily communal while ethics are primarily individual. Trauma is a negative dislocation. Thus a trauma can vary widely from physical to emotional to intellectual. 

I have been interested in the accelerated rates of lasting trauma observed in the Vietnam War versus the Second World War. Some have posited that this difference might be due to the younger average age of fighters in the Vietnam War. Here Maugen's thesis might be useful.

The Second World War was viewed in moral terms, as a defense of "good" versus "evil." While every war is portrayed as such, the evidence of Germany's crimes were astonishing. As a result, if Maugen is correct, the act of killing another human, which is naturally a transgression and a trauma, would have been less traumatic due to its moral purpose.

The article in The Guardian describes special rituals, commemorations, singing and dancing used by communities in Kenya and Sudan to help returning warriors. As a result, their trauma levels are much lower. In the US, trauma levels are much higher. The article muses on the superior value of these communal activities. That certainly sounds correct and in line with the communal aspect of "moral injury."

I also think that it may point to a healing pathway for trauma in general. I had an experience with my Great Books class in which I shared personal information on a Zoom call. I have shared information in groups before, but the resulting empathy from the class caused a lasting internal shift for me in which I felt less isolated. Why was it so much more powerful? Somehow the negative dislocation of trauma has an isolative aspect which may be initially protective but harmful over time. Like some of these east African communities, the importance of this particular community to me may have made me feel intimately connected - a reumbilicalizing.

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

After studying the Greeks and Augustine's Confessions in our Great Books Redux, we were assigned to read Men We Reaped (MWR) by Jesmyn Ward. I was curious to understand how it deserved skipping Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost. Great Books are typified by a combination of artistry and thought that become multi-generational touchstones. Part of the journey to become a Great Book is to stand the test of time, while MWR was written in 2013. So it's not an insult to say that MWR is not a Great Book - nothing written in the past 50 years qualifies.

MWR is a personal and intimate processing of grief. Jesmyn Ward beautifully and powerfully describes the gender tendencies of her community in southern Mississippi. She shows how these women operate as strong and forceful, but are frustrated while their men operate as freedom seekers, but are resentful. The central story around her family unit is direct yet poignant, particularly about her father and mother and brother. 

As a way of grieving her brother's death, this work succeeds as a memoir in trying to arrive at an answer. She capably contextualizes her family dynamics within a larger, darker setting, masterfully indicating a certain passivity and an inability to alter directions. As a result, no personal accountability is given to men, while for herself and the women, there is no limit to the demands and expectations to be met. An image of the larger context is wooded within which lurks an all-devouring wolf .

MWR is weakest as an attempt to capture "systemic racism." Part of its failure is a lack of balance. Never are moments of systemic supports allowed to shine, such as those involved in her life-saving start as a preemie baby or the family which provides funding for her to attend a high quality private school. Nor are there any indications where personal responsibility might play a part. This limits the long run appeal of this as a universal work. Further on an artistic note, the author uses a cumbersome reverse chronological order within a chronological sequence - losing power and comprehension.

So why was this work included? There's no real "arc" of change as it's unrelenting in its misery. The work is linear - in much the same sense as a holocaust narration. My thought is that our class comes from the University of North Carolina - a state with a history of racial horrors. Not being from North Carolina, I think I sometimes forget how awful that legacy is for those from Southern states. I think the inclusion of MWR is the class's attempt to bear witness to the atrocities committed and honor and abide with most those directly impacted.

Revolution of Subjectivity: Augustine's Confessions

On a rereading of Augustine's Confessions for our Great Books Redux for the first time in 40+ years, it was not at all the book that I recall. This was striking because the works we have read so far seemed largely as I recalled them. This says a lot not only about myself, but concerning the work itself. What is it that makes this work change more radically based on reader's, or at least my viewpoint?

Prior to the latest reading, I recalled this as a work written by a devout man who reflected on his spiritual journey from birth through sex and fun until a rebirth by hearing tolle, lege in a garden. Beyond that highlight, it was a long, boring slog.

This time, I was startled by the critical spirit of Book I as he discussed the lack of innocence in children and the hypocrisy of adults. Simmering with resentment, he criticizes the abuses of power of others in authority as well as his own sinfulness and even God (I.18). His perfectionism shines bright especially in the story of the stolen pear and by the end of Book II, I thought to myself, "this guy is even worse company than the apostle Paul; what the hell happened to him?"

But in III.2-5, I saw a glimpse of something deeper. Neuroscientists are still baffled by an issue he raises: why does sad art constitute a joy to people, even those already in sadness? Such introspection brought his feelings closer to me and caused Book IV's "death of a friend" to be moving. Augustine witnesses the power of faith found at death's door and experiences a "black grief closed over my heart." I teared up at his telling.

To judge both others and himself, as he repeatedly does in these early books, rests on some notions of free will and ultimately, earned love. Perhaps at the time of my first reading, his assumptions then seemed correct. At that time, it was impossible for me to conceptualize the notion of love as unearnable. Even more, sex and love seemed inextricably linked. So it resonated when he wrote that Alypius "was most interested to know what this element was, without which my life, which appeared to him so attractive, would be to me a punishment."

I shared with Augustine a long-term personal focus was on lust - defined as the usage of a physical desire to meet a spiritual purpose. I have assisted dozens of others, exploring the message that if love is earnable, then love is finite, whereas love understood as unearnable expands to meet the infinite demands of our hearts.

Relating to his telling in VI.15.25 of his forced separation from his long-term and faithfully kept love, I was deeply pained. Whereas my first reading in college was based on a perceived disregard for this unnamed soul mate, I now saw that I had read superficially, mistaking cause and effect. Rather than her departure being the effect of lust, I now understood that her departure, "being regarded as an obstacle to my marriage" was the cause of lust to heal the gaping wound of his broken heart.

Out of his heartbreak and the related interest in evil, he moves to a new understanding that existence itself manifests goodness so that in VII.13.19, he writes, "far be it from me ever to say, 'These things ought not to be'" exclaiming "there is no wholesomeness for those who find fault with anything you have created" and briefly achieves a view of "That Which Is." I found myself sharing in this unfettered flight of the mind.

This view leads to a conversion, or what might be termed a spiritual experience. He traces the movement from a self-understanding that "disordered lust springs from a perverted will; when lust is pandered to, a habit is formed; when habit is not checked, it hardens into compulsion." (VIII.5.10) Then he moves to a self-inventory as he writes "You set me down before my face" (VIII.7.16). Finally the spiritual experience. It created an evident change - "my face was peaceful now." (VIII.11.30)

Having worked with others, the elements leading to a spiritual experience are almost always the same - an understanding of a problem of weakness, a personal inventory taken with rigorous honesty and then an experience that creates a change sufficient to provide power - which is frequently marked by a personality as well as facial change.

Augustine's post-spiritual experience was dramatic. After moving through his early newfound footing in Book IX, Books X and XI were some of the most beautiful writings I have ever read. It was as if I were in the presence of a great musician and simply found myself letting go and being led by the beauty of his riffs. Those two chapters held me with perfect clarity. It was as if I were removed from bodily sensations and elevated into a harmony of reason. 

As I reflected on the entirety of the book, I realized that Augustine was the first writer completely explore subjectivity, to drive the Protestant rebirth narrative (Luther was an Augustinian monk), to share "experience, strength and hope" in telling "what it was like, what happened and what it's like now." His testimony points to a subjectivity that was fundamental in causing me to read the work so differently then and now.

Gendered Nouns: A Closer Look

In the midst of numerous gender and race discussions, I have continued to review basic Latin grammar. Oh the excitement! While reflecting on Latin nouns which are categorized as either masculine, feminine or neuter, I noted something new. Despite having studied them for 45 years, I never really thought about the reason that the nominative and accusative cases are dissimilar for masculine and feminine nouns while they are identical for neuter nouns. Suddenly it occurred to me. 

In the case of neuter nouns, the category implies a lack of subjectivity. Since the neuter noun lacks subjectivity, there is only a sense of being an object. The difference in nominative and accusative cases of masculine or feminine words reference a subjectivity in the difference of taking action or receiving action that does not occur in neuter nouns. I briefly explored how this implicated various nouns and may discuss in a later post. As my friend would say, "this does not make a bank deposit," but it's notable that after looking at something for such a long period of time, I still find some new.

A New Orthodoxy?

In our Great Books Redux, we had a final summary session to discuss the Greek works covered so far. Prior to the class, there had been a surprising email that pornographically portrayed the speakers of Plato's Symposium as a group of exploitative and self-congratulatory men. The writer further stated that these men confuse desire with love, love with self-love and self-love with beauty. I reread it several times because it was so passionate. There were no emails in response so I thought perhaps our discussion would unpack the reasons for such a heated diatribe.

Instead, the class followed through with the spirit of that email, beginning with the concept that the speakers were rationalizing their disgusting behaviors. In the spirit of a Greek play, a full chorus of support followed. The discussion veered into contemporary simulacra with Harvey Weinstein, the larger movie production area, student-teacher relationships, athlete-coach relationships and finally medical school training as evidence of the horrible and pervasive forces described favorably in the Symposium. I sat stunned.

When I was asked to speak up (because in a prior email, I had indicated that while in college I had been groped by a Classics professor), I shared that I could feel a lot of anger and pain had been provoked by the Symposium. I then expressed that my being groped experience was unfavorable and yet after I had gone back to the professor and explained that I had no interest in that dynamic, we moved on to a good working relationship (in which good grades were now assured). I then shared that I felt we all operated from self-interest and that the journey described in the Symposium is about a pathway to enlightened self-interest.

One of the classmates had made an observation that our discussions were normative rather than descriptive about the Symposium. I felt that it hit a core concept of what I was experiencing. This appeared to be a new orthodoxy in which power - particularly in the hands of "white males" - is synonymous with abuse, inequality is equivalent to exploitation and difference is defined as injustice. We never did address where my classmates' passion was coming from, but it was certainly religious in its specificity of language and tenor.

Later I engaged in some discussions and it seems that the fallacy is the racist fallacy. We tend to take superficial characteristics that occasionally accompany a set of actions and label them as causal. When people see a serial killer with blue eyes, they start saying that blue-eyed people are serial killers. For historical reasons, more white men occupy positions of power and become assigned a race and gender reason for their bad behavior. Interestingly, despite the intelligence and social power of my classmates, it appears that they are susceptible to the same cognitive fallacies affecting our police forces - establishing, of course, that we are all just human.

Love: A Progression in Thought

Spinoza argues that all of what we term feelings are really modes of thinking or thoughts. In our Great Books Redux, the class has worked through Plato's Symposium which is a work that attempts to deepen an understanding of the meaning of love. We had a guest lecturer Mariska Leunissen who immediately answered my first question. Socrates opens (177d8-9) with “The only thing I say I know is the art of love.” I thought this was strange because the first thing I learned about Socrates in Third Form (ninth grade) was "I know only one thing - that I know nothing." She showed that it was a clever linguistic reference as the Socratic knowledge of art of love (ta erôtika) as art of asking questions (erôtan). However her argument that it was a subversion of erotic norms through philosophy differs from my read that the Symposium is to help its readers move their notions of love from transactional to tranformational.

Someone once told me as a chocoholic (one more 12 step program to consider!), "you don't love chocolate, you use chocolate. If you loved it, you would open the refrigerator every day and say 'Good morning chocolate!'" This difference highlights the endpoints for a framework within the Symposium for moving from "love" as use of another to "love" as appreciation of another. Plato's transcendent and "gay" framework could be applied to the immanent and multipicities structure of today's sexual and love world with desire, of course, driving the progression to increasingly enlightenedly self-interested forms of love.The art of asking questions, of open-mindedness and of engagement is the basis for the growth of love and all growth involves an incorporation of ideas with their ultimate dismembering and then reconstructing and remembering into a more profound understanding. 

To me the progression looks to be:
Level 1: Phaedrus and Pausanias: This is the mutual "use" level which is transactional
Level 2: Eryximachus: This is the objective "use" level which is scientifically transactional
Level 3: Aristophanes: This is the "needy" or "soulmate" use level of increased feeling intensity
Level 4: Agathon and Diotima level: This is the level of poetry or truth gaining "self knowledge" breaking through to conceptual intensity
Level 5: Alcibiades and Socrates level: This is the level of true appreciation of "the other" - as I see it, Alcibiades attempts a "use" but doesn't end with one and Socrates has no "use."

The class was focused on Level 4 (my term) of Diotima being the highest progression for love. However, I think that Plato took the conceptual framework and tried to move it into action. As the common refrain states it, "love is not a noun, but a verb." Spinoza's framework on love is enriched here. Spinoza views love as a change (in a sense verbal) accompanied by an object (in a sense noun). The change dynamic here is differentiated by Plato along the axis of transaction to transformation.

Fate: Bound By What We Don't Want To See

Our Great Books Redux rolled through Oedipus Tyrannos and Oedipus at Colonus. John McGowan is taking us through the "trilogy" in the order of writing - starting with Antigone and followed by these two. Our discussion was animated and insightful but foundered on the concept of fate.

The Greeks were clear that there was such a thing as fate, but our modern mind of increased powers denies the concept - the fundamentally human and, to my way of thinking, primary theme of the Oedipus Tyrannos and Oedipus at Colonus works. Dr. McGowan outlined two approaches to these works - a conservative one and a radical one. 

In the conservative view, Oedipus is not a hero but an atheist who attempts to fight his fate and thus the gods. In the radical view, Oedipus is a hero as he attempts to address the huge gap between what is divinely ordained and the humanly acceptable. In these terms, I find myself a radiservative - with elements of both views.

Fate is fate. We can will what we want, but we can't we will what we will. Fate gives rise to a notion of powerlessness and that seems fatalistic. Yet, accepting powerlessness as limitation is the basis of sanity as opposed to the insanity of Greek-termed hubris. Oedipus was reactive as he heard his fate and moved through three of the four Fs: flight (from "home"), fight (killing his father), f (with his mother). All of these Fs assist in removing conscious attention from reality. But the body knows.

Oedipus's name is rooted in a Greek cognate that "he knows something." Oedipus exhibits a long-term "willful blindness" (as one of the classmates perfectly put it) that is how we function in today's world - making these plays as relevant as ever. In twelve step programs, the essential power given to the recovering person is "in-sight" - the ability to see her or his role in life. Oedipus's journey is one of accepting his fate and moving to surrender. His surrender is how that huge gap between what is divinely ordained and humanly possible is closed and, in that, a model for all of us.

Embracing the idea of fate, then, is critical to accept to gain the fullness of the play's meaning. Incest and parricide are introduced to simply elevate the terms of the acceptance of fate. Great fates require no surrender. In surrender is power and Oedipus's awful fate requires great surrender - which he ultimately achieves through the peer support of Theseus. 

We, too, live in a world of fate but our "willful blindness" makes that of Oedipus look puny. While we exhibit enormous individual latitude, the dynamics of probability indicate on a law of large numbers, we continue to head inexorably towards our individual and collective fates. Acceptance of that sets our feet on solid ground and builds towards the fifth F: freedom.

It's All Power, All the Time: Reality

Given that power is primary and occurs within the context of a unity, the maximization of power is reality - that elusive presence clouded by our perspective and our imagination. Sadly one of the most recurring patterns to minimize power is to engage in "efforting."

I came across "efforting" when I was dropping my son off at Princeton University for a Ph.D in Math. I had some free time so I took a yoga class at the local Y. As we were doing various poses, the teacher came over to me to get me to stop "efforting." I thought she was nuts and went ahead with my "efforting."

Of course I did. I had been "efforting" my whole life. What the yoga teacher pointed out was a valuable insight and was similar to my running coach who advised me to keep breathing through weight training exercises. To move my breath or prana smoothly or efficiently meant that I needed to be positioned in such way that I could maintain my pose for a long period. 

Basically we all recognize how quickly we tire if we hold our arms out to the side even with little or no weight. The reason is that I don't have any ground support. I have to be "efforting" the whole time. However, if I can rest my arms on some ground supports, I still get the benefits of extending stretch but without the tension introduced by "efforting." "Efforting" takes away power in order to express power. 

The concept of asana in yoga is designed to offset this efforting. An asana is a pose of being that allows for smooth breathing as well as some expression of stretch or movement. In order for the asana to be maximally effective, I try to find the grounding or structural support. Prior to this emphasis on grounding, my yoga movements were labor intensive and athletic endeavors. The healing properties of yoga eluded me.

In the same way as this occurs physically, my "efforting" can show up mentally. To maximize power in the mental area relies on what Spinoza causes adequate ideas. Basically, our inadequate ideas are those configured by our imagination. These "efforting" structures of the mind rely on our continued reiteration to make them "real." Adequate ideas, on the other hand, need little support because they are grounded properly.

Yet like my tendency to be tense all over when I simply flex my toes, my habits of mind to connect to a series of imaginations when I engage in new ideation. The most power series of imaginations are those which become purpose-driven. Like "efforting," purpose-driven patterns indicate that the power is at the end of the rainbow when in fact it lies at the beginning. 

It's all Power, All the Time: Unity as Breath

The primacy of power that I described in an earlier post combined with its bad general reputation is not good for clarity of thought. If fundamental truths are ignored, elaborate systems are contrived to provide work arounds to avoid the truth. 

At one point, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous trumpets "lack of power is our dilemma." Having tried every self-help approach, the authors of the Big Book finally conceded that lack of power was the primary issue so that led to a search for the necessary power "to restore sanity."

If power is primary, then the primary principle of power is unity. The reason love songs dominate musical charts is because the natural pattern of love is unity. As two become one, so power is increased. But right there is how we avoid power as primary. It sounds callous to say they are together for power unless you are a friend of mine who claims, "she married me for my body, but keeps me for my money."

But unity starts at home. Spinoza describes singular things as those which have complex parts but all express as one effect - elegantly connecting unity to power. The word yoga comes from the sanskrit word "yuj" for unity or oneness. (Give me another year of Covid and sanskrit will be mine!) The emphasis of yoga is to establish an internal unity so that the body functions as a whole as if a well-directed orchestra, rather than fighting within itself through internal divisions of body and mind as a dissonant experience. What's yoga's secret to this?

The essence of yoga is breathing rooted in the word prana as "breath-spirit." In breathing the body is unified. Underlying this concept is the term spiritual which is just Latin for breath. In the Big Book, the authors are looking for a spiritual solution. Here breath is connected to unity is connected to power. Breathing is the fundamental way that we experience unity which brings power. But its regularity and continuity hides its characteristics.

The first time I became aware of breathing as an act was when I was working out with a personal trainer. She assured me that holding my breath while I bench pressed weights was not helpful. That struck me. Why was I doing that counterproductive activity? It's simply that I perceived that by shutting down all activities except for the bench press would lead to a better outcome. But it doesn't; unity always outperforms division.

Breathing is all important. Longer out breaths drive a slowdown in a cooling of the unity and shorter out breaths drive a ramp up in a heating of the unity. Pranayama is a set of breath exercises that are not only designed to enhance unity but express that unity in different ways.

It's All Power, All the Time

Recently I had a discussion about Kanye's interview with David Letterman concerning Kanye's "maximum expression of self" concept. I shared that it was rooted in power. That provoked some pushback because power has a bad connotation - an unfortunate aspect of the current times.

Power is what we are after. It's a manifestation of the reactive and diminished thoughtfulness of today's environment that power is bad but empowerment is good; that police are bad, but policing is good. If empowerment does not lead to more power, then what does the word mean? If more power is not good, how can empowerment be good? (Of course, empowerment does indicate a connection and a larger sense of self. But that is the essence of power - two are always more powerful than one.)

In a parallel way, I noticed that Oedipus Tyrannos is the name of Sophocle's play. Tyrannos translates to the English cognate of "tyrant." But in fact the Greek meaning of the word did not connote abuse or cruelty as it does for us today. Instead, it simply indicated someone that did not gain rule through heredity - more of the "self-made person" idea.

In Spinoza's framework, the Latin language has two words for power: potentia and potestas. Potentia is relatable to its English cognate of potential as virtual power or energy. It's similar to an untapped resource. Of course that sense of power is always good and there is an aspect in which empowerment is about resourcing those who lack resources. 

But potestas as in manifest power is what's gotten the bad name. My high school English teacher had an aversion to potestas when he quoted, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." In some ways, this journey of the word tyrannos from "self-made ruler" to "cruel and abusive ruler." The increased focus on historical misuses of power has similarly given power as potestas a bad name. There is some inevitability here.

To have "maximum expression of self" means that one expands limits. In most situations, this maximization of self-expression comes at a cost to someone or something else. There are rare situations, like exercise or meditation, which don't compete for limited resources. But in addition to an attempt to expand self-expression, there is an attempt to at least maintain power. This, too, is inevitably a failure as attempts to maintain power become attempts to thwart the emerging power of others (by say innovation or competition).

In the corporate world there is always a journey from doing things for the customer to doing things to the customer. This is not sinister, but is a manifestation of the same power dynamic. At some initial period, a corporation expresses potentia and emerge to meet an unmet need. For example, look at Google's quick and powerful emergence. However, once that emergence has occurred, potestas is present. Now the phase of doing to the customers emerges in attempts to maintain and expand that power. 

Jeff Bezos identified this as he attempted to focus on Amazon always considering his business on Day 1. On Day 1 for any business, the mission is clear - delight the customer by exceeding expectations. By making the virtual idea of pleasing others a reality of exceeding expectations, potentia is shaped beautifully into potestas.

This is a natural cycle for individuals as well as corporations. Calling power a bad thing is inaccurate and inevitably leads to blind spots in self-management and social policy. Instead, accepting as reality the dynamics of power leads to frameworks which facilitate power in an organic cycles of change. As Spinoza posits, "reality and perfection are the same thing."

Philosopher Kanye West

Recently I watched an interview of Kanye West by David Letterman. I had anticipated that the insightful David Letterman would reveal Kanye to be the mad man of his reputation. Letterman certainly attempted to establish that. But by the end of the interview, the positions were exactly reversed for me. 

The crux of my reversal was Kanye's view that we are all about maximal expression of self. This position is the basis for his musical journeys and his clothing lines. This sometimes right, sometimes wrong, but always Kanye approach is also the basis for his controversial support of Donald Trump. While not endorsing Trump's articulations, he strongly supports Trump's attempt to articulate his views.

Since freedom for maximal expression of self has always conflicted with an obligation towards the feelings and beliefs of others, why has this topic turned into such an issue? It seems to me neither a higher level of sensitivities or in-sensitivities is to blame. That mistakes effect for cause. Instead, the morphing from the limited range of the power of advertising soundbites into the limitless bounds of memes through the internet turns up crazy for all involved.

This emphasis on maximal expression of self struck me as Spinozist and sane. Spinoza argues for a concept of conatus which defines our essence as an attempt to perservere in one's self. Spinoza's position put him as an early advocate of free speech and democracy. Yet conatus is most easily viewed physically, or as Spinoza puts it, within the attribute of extending. For Spinoza, every mode with an aspect of extending also has an aspect of thinking. Kanye's concept of maximal expression of self is the interior and thinking aspect of conatus. 

This maximal expression of self seems better than "the pursuit of happiness" structured into our nation's founding document. Certainly "life" is the physical notion necessary to individual development and "liberty" is the contextual importance. But liberty spent in the pursuit of happiness is poorly connected to real self. Better stated, liberty in the pursuit of maximal expression of self is rooted in the unique characteristics of an individual.

David Letterman was unable or unwilling to hone in on Kanye's point. Letterman appeared to approach the interview with preconceptions designed to caricature the interviewee. Kanye was open and honest about his struggles with mental health, describing a sprained brain syndrome that caused him to tend to ramp up. But Kanye revealed that the madness did not lie within Kanye, but within the collective crowd, included Letterman, obsessed with defining self by not offending others.