I have Lyme disease. Lyme is fascinating. The bacteria, borrelia burgdorferi, is a spirochete, which means the little buggers are coiled, like a cork screw, and prefer to burrow through collagen and tissue for mobility. They are unique in that they share characteristics of both bacteria and a parasite. Like bacteria, they can alter their genetic code to survive various environments. Like a parasite, they migrate throughout the body and, over time, feast on human tissue for sustenance. They evade complete destruction by antibiotic using biofilm, which is like a cocoon surrounding the little rascals, who, when assaulted, tend to nap in their cozy shell until the siege is over, then resume their havoc. They further avoid attack by digging their way to some remote part of the body where blood flow is absent, like joints, or other safe havens, like brain. Oh yes, they drill their way through the blood brain barrier into the central nervous system to munch on brain matter, causing things like dementia, incoherence, memory loss and confusion. Fortunately for me, these symptoms would go unnoticed, even by myself, and do not concern me. But, there is a vicious, unbearable consequence that has rocked the core of my being...
To best my chances of recovery, there are significant changes required. A mere three-tiered antibiotic treatment mixed with a vile concoction of herbal tea consumed throughout the day (for 12 months) and a regimen of supplements is not enough. Nay, there is still more I can do to improve my long-term prognosis: dietary management. No dairy, grains, or sugar. Fine. Very well. I begin my life of bacon! Braunschweiger on beef jerky! But wait. Grains...sugar...aren't those in...........beer?
Oh yes, and in abundance, particularly considering alcohol, an ingredient in beer, is like a super sugar. Real doctors and the ones your insurance will pay for agree. Beer is out.
For 8 weeks.
The tick who bit me can burn in hell for this.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Liberty
People throw around the word "liberty" a lot these days, especially in politics, to the point it has become diluted. Let's consider what this word actually means, how it pertains to our lives, and also to any political philosophy congruent with a free society. Why not.
Complete liberty, in a strict sense, would mean unrestricted access to our every need, want, and most trivial desire, so much as it doesn't remove any liberty from anyone else. There are two approaches to acquiring this. One could be called Epicurean. (Although Epicurus advocated a simple life, I think that was mostly to avoid servitude to mobsters. Without those, I think he would have emphasized exploiting the finer things enhancing life.) To sum it up: "Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily." In other words, knock yourself out. Use our unrestricted access to liberty to fly to Barbados, and, hell, change your mind half-way down, immediately reversing the direction of the plane, all while drinking mohitos that do not cause hangovers (which do not aid liberty). Live life to its fullest.
The other tactic is one that has been tried more often. That would be the Stoic who believes that eliminating need/want/desire brings us closer to complete liberty. In other words, if you don't want to fly to Barbados, or drink mohitos, you are just as free as someone who wanted to and did. Of course, this is also advocated by a great many philosophers. But then, most of those philosophers didn't have access to things like iphones and blogs and motorcycles. And even if they can be admired for their willpower, they probably did it to satisfy their professional need for philosophical consistency. Or, perhaps to satisfy their personal desire for self-righteousness, a slave to vanity, but what do I know. One might say denying the grapes of wrath, and much more, was how one gained rock star status in ancient Rome. I think it's apparent which of these two approaches I prefer.
Anyway, today, most of us practice Stoicism because there is no other choice. We do so by living empty, commercial, vapid lives drenched in reality television and through attempting to silently exploit one another in the big casinos of rigged (all) business and the stock market. We are trapped in Stoicism, this morass of a culture defining our lives for us, of candidates becoming front runners because we are told they are (ahem, Perry). We do what they say, with seemingly no escape as we devolve to zombies.
I would be completely apathetic if not for the single philosopher in the free world other than Jesus who represents humanity, and does so amidst the attacks of the stoics who want us to live the lives they design–the lives that give them freedom at our expense. I am speaking, of course, of Ron Paul, who is just great. I stood at his booth at the State Fair yesterday. History will make note of Ron Paul, or there will be little history to take note of.
Complete liberty, in a strict sense, would mean unrestricted access to our every need, want, and most trivial desire, so much as it doesn't remove any liberty from anyone else. There are two approaches to acquiring this. One could be called Epicurean. (Although Epicurus advocated a simple life, I think that was mostly to avoid servitude to mobsters. Without those, I think he would have emphasized exploiting the finer things enhancing life.) To sum it up: "Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily." In other words, knock yourself out. Use our unrestricted access to liberty to fly to Barbados, and, hell, change your mind half-way down, immediately reversing the direction of the plane, all while drinking mohitos that do not cause hangovers (which do not aid liberty). Live life to its fullest.
The other tactic is one that has been tried more often. That would be the Stoic who believes that eliminating need/want/desire brings us closer to complete liberty. In other words, if you don't want to fly to Barbados, or drink mohitos, you are just as free as someone who wanted to and did. Of course, this is also advocated by a great many philosophers. But then, most of those philosophers didn't have access to things like iphones and blogs and motorcycles. And even if they can be admired for their willpower, they probably did it to satisfy their professional need for philosophical consistency. Or, perhaps to satisfy their personal desire for self-righteousness, a slave to vanity, but what do I know. One might say denying the grapes of wrath, and much more, was how one gained rock star status in ancient Rome. I think it's apparent which of these two approaches I prefer.
Anyway, today, most of us practice Stoicism because there is no other choice. We do so by living empty, commercial, vapid lives drenched in reality television and through attempting to silently exploit one another in the big casinos of rigged (all) business and the stock market. We are trapped in Stoicism, this morass of a culture defining our lives for us, of candidates becoming front runners because we are told they are (ahem, Perry). We do what they say, with seemingly no escape as we devolve to zombies.
I would be completely apathetic if not for the single philosopher in the free world other than Jesus who represents humanity, and does so amidst the attacks of the stoics who want us to live the lives they design–the lives that give them freedom at our expense. I am speaking, of course, of Ron Paul, who is just great. I stood at his booth at the State Fair yesterday. History will make note of Ron Paul, or there will be little history to take note of.
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