Archive for category Human Temple Sunday

The “disinhibition” of America is becoming emblematic of our 21st century, with self-revelation rampant on the Internet, an apparently booming porn industry, politicians and public figures being caught in flagrante delicto, and the historic Mardi Gras of New Orleans going bare-breasted in public, says extreme behavior expert Frank Farley, a psychologist at Philadelphia’s Temple University.

“Mardi Gras has been going topless for some years with no end in sight,” says Farley, a former president of the American Psychological Association. “Is this reflecting a growing acceptance of such behavior in America? I think so.”

Liberal views on many fronts are gaining ground, from a healthy decline in racism, sexism, and ageism on one hand to a more questionable tolerance of such public nudity displays on the other, he says.

“Censorship of such displays is becoming increasingly difficult in this media saturated century and the Mardi Gras is helping to fuel the trend,” adds Farley. “Self-exposure of all types, including the now accepted ‘flashing breasts-for-beads’ at Mardi Gras, is beginning to define the Internet.”

If you are reading this on Sunday morning, anytime between 8 am – 12pm Eastern Time, or 6 am – 10 am Mountain Time (the time zone that I’m in), then I am currently running the first marathon I’ve ever run in my life. Last year, I ran the half-marathon version of this same race, and it was the first running race I’d ever been in. (The picture above is not me, and it’s from last year, but this is the finish line of the Missoula Marathon.)

I decided last year to get in the best shape I’ve ever been in by the time I turned 40, and running seemed like a good way to do it. I have since run two 5Ks and another 1/2 marathon last winter. But today will be my longest run ever.

Of course I am doing it for myself, but I am also doing it for my family, because running makes me healthier and happier, gives me more energy and sets a good example for my two sons, ages 4 and 6. And I am also doing it as part of my fundraising efforts for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation because my youngest son has Cystic Fibrosis. I have been documenting my progress for the last year or so on my blog.

I think it is really amazing and wonderful that I’ve lived in this body for 40 years now and I’m still learning what it can do.

Yesterday I saw someone I hadn’t seen in years and he had totally grown up – I remember him as this skinny kid with long dreadlocks – now he has filled out and has a short, respectable haircut. But I still recognized him, because of his eyes. It turns out that this is one of the main things that people look at when doing age-enhancement of photos. People can easily change their hair and even their bodies to some extent, but the eyes remain the same.

“Eighty percent of facial recognition — what makes a face unique — comes from the eyes,” says Glenn Miller, supervisor of the Forensic Services Unit for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. It also turns out that we can read a lot of body language through the eyes.

Often referred to as “the window to the soul,” our eyes can tell a lot about what we are thinking and feeling, and remain a constant part of our appearance throughout our lifetimes, even if so many other things about us change.

(The Eye of Horus)

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. — Mark Twain

Research shows that fathers play an important role in the development and well-being of their children. 

Today is a day to honor our fathers. For most people this means making a phone call, sending a card, or getting a gift for dad. But what do you do when your father is no longer living?

An artist friend of mine, Kerri Rosenstein, has used her art as a way of working through the loss of her father. Her latest show, titled “father” opened at the Missoula Art Museum this month. For this show, Kerri collected a stone for every day of her father’s life, painted them a rose color, and painted “rosenstein,” meaning “rose stone,” in gold lettering on stones for each day of her life, so far. Visitors to the exhibition were encouraged to take a stone and bring it back out into the world.

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately, and it got me to thinking about how books are such a great escape from everyday reality. When a book is good, it takes you into another world for a while, so much so that you can forget your own life and who you are for a bit.

I started thinking of all the different ways that I escape reality on a regular basis: reading, daydreaming, watching television and movies, drinking alcohol…I’m sure there are more. I wondered, why is it that I feel the need to escape from reality? I mean, my life is pretty good. But even if I were to eliminate all of these ways of escaping, I would still go to sleep and dream every night. It seems to me that people actually have a need to escape reality on a regular basis.

One of the fantastic things about books is that ideas emerge from someone’s imagination and can be shared with others long after the person who had the original idea is gone. There they are on my shelf – the ideas of people long gone. We have a need to share stories and ideas; to use our imaginations. In fact, if we did not go to sleep and dream every night, we would probably go insane.

More information on the study of imagination and the importance of dreaming reveals the how crucial these processes are in the maintenance of everyday reality. Another fascinating topic regarding imagination and consciousness is lucid dreaming. It appears that not only is it totally ok to escape from reality every once in a while, it may be entirely necessary.

I have a friend who says “never trust anyone who says they have no vices.” We are creatures of habit and it is too easy to fall into bad ones. Although I am not a religious person, I love yoga. While the Christian Bible gives it’s followers the 10 Commandments, in yoga, there are the Yamas and Niyamas, or Virtues and Non-Virtues. Basically, these are the things that one should aspire to and avoid.

People who know me now are surprised to learn that I used to smoke cigarettes. I tried to quit for YEARS. As long as I was frequenting bars and doing a whole lot of “hanging out,” quitting felt impossible. But once I started rock climbing and running, I found that smoking no longer fit in. Quitting smoking was hard, until I changed my lifestyle and replaced old habits with new ones.

Aspiring toward good habits and avoiding bad ones is a daily practice, and I don’t know anyone who has totally perfected this. But, I figure it is kind of like eating your veggies. It is better to eat a little bit than none at all.