10 SPIRITUAL TONICS

SIMON WINCHESTER'S

"PACIFIC"

Simon Winchester’s “Pacific” is an extraordinary book  providing an insightful, and informative examination of the region, people and cultures surrounding and affected by the largest body of water on the planet.

It contains histories of everything from the creation of the thirty eighth parallel identifying the division between North and South Korea, the invention of the transistor radio and subsequent creation of electronics giant, Sony Corporation to the evolution of the surfboard.

This fascinating narrative paints glorious panoramas of natural wonders and natural catastrophes while also revealing some of the inglorious bastards associated with many of the surrounding countries and cultures.

Winchester is successful in corralling the wealth of material about this oceanic behemoth. He chose a scattering of happenings each of which, to him, seemed to betoken some greater trend, and which might tell in microcosm a larger truth about the Pacific than the moments themselves suggest.

After scouring newspapers, history books, databases and academic papers, he was “buried under a blizzard of possibilities”.

He decides to begin his journey on January 1, 1950, which the scientific community designated as the “Year Zero”. “The choice of this date was scientifically elegant, logical and precise for reasons having to do with radio-carbon dating.

Winchester saw this date as the most appropriate, the dividing line between purity and impurity. For nearly all the carbon-14 dating pollution that was sent up into the skies and that created the concept of “present” and “before present (BP)…came as the result of explosions that occurred in the Pacific.

In the end, he chose ten singular events. He began “with the acceptance of a singular and distasteful reality: that the Pacific… is in fact…an atomic ocean. It’s where most of the world’s thermonuclear weapons have been tested.

Included in his narrative is the story of Bikini Island and of the hydrogen bombs tested there. He relates the tale of the arrogant, reckless scientists and power hungry, political administrations that influenced the nuclear testing, obliterating and displacing the lives of the people of Bikini.

He goes on to relate story after story illustrating how the surrounding islands, indigenous people, historic and current cultures, colonial powers and the sea itself is the most turbulent in the world.

“The Pacific Ocean is in serious environmental peril, ringed with nations undergoing immense internal change, is unimaginably busy with commerce, has come to be at the forefront of science and self discovery and is an expanse of sea that should be central to all our thoughts.

This book is an account of the modern Pacific: a pillar of hope on which for good or ill, we might construct humanity’s future.

JOSEPH HELLER'S CATCH-22

At a time when our veterans are deployed to fight in two wars lasting over 10 years for multiple tours of duty and are being irreparably physically and psychologically maimed, I felt it was appropriate to take a look at a satirical novel by American author Joseph Heller, Catch-22 that is frequently cited as one of the greatest literary works of the twentieth century. 

The novel is set during World War II from 1942-1944 and mainly follows the life of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Force B-25 bombardier. It examines his experiences and those of the other airmen in the camp who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling service requirements so that they may return home.

The title refers to a plot device that is repeatedly invoked in the story and has since entered the English language referring to a type of unsolvable logic puzzle sometimes called a double bind.

According to the novel, people who were crazy were not obligated to fly missions; but anyone who applied to stop flying was exhibiting a rational concern for their safety and was sane thereby not being eligible for release from duty.

The characters' escapades are often quite comical and the description Yossarian provides of them is a prime illustration of the insanity inherent in all military bureaucracies.

The book is filled with characters Yossarian sees as crazy, heartless, idealistic, innocent, cynical, ambitious and obtuse. He either fears them or is terrified for them. By the same token, mostly all of them see him as the unhinged one.

Some concentration is required to follow the novel's development but it's intentionally structured to reflect the circular and repetitive nature of a "catch-22" situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule.

The story is a treasure trove of symbols, themes and motifs all used to signify the idiocy of military bureaucracy and its terrifying ability to cavalierly risk human life.

Heller uses Yossarian to illustrate the inherent insanity of war and its devastating consequences on the human psyche.

The idea for this book was based on Heller's personal experience in World War II. He flew sixty bombing missions and mentioned the he should have been killed three times over. He ultimately survived but the experience turned him into a tortured, funny, deeply peculiar human being.

Catch-22 became very popular among young people at the time and seemed to embody the feelings they had toward the Vietnam War.

There are many who feel that this comic fable that ends in horror has become more and more clearly a reflection of the all too serious and horrifying realities of the world in which we live and hope to survive.

ON BECOMING A CLASSIC!


Ever notice how our artistic tastes change as we age? Everything from what we read to the music we listen to and what we watch on the big and small screen. Hopefully most of us begin to favor more sophisticated, intellectually and culturally stimulating fare.

The music I thought was so awesome, that my parents despised or just couldn't understand, has now become as irritating and cacophonous to me as it was to them. Their artistic tastes have now become mine! ( OMG!)

So much of what we enjoy in our youth consist of so much fluff; superficial, trivial, superfluous foolishness that manages to pass itself off as sumptuous and necessary.

I remember getting a kick out of reading all of the Charlie Brown/Peanuts Gang books I could get my hands on when I was a little kid. I also thought they were the deepest most philosophical piece of literature that existed.

Think of some of the things of importance in your youth and how they've magically morphed into something entirely different or completely disappeared altogether.

Things that I once swore by, clung to and would fight for are no longer of any consequence whatsoever. Most have become major annoyances and disappointments when I discovered their profundity.

What was considered cool or hip now appears ridiculous and boorish. Things that I loved, I can barely stand to think about, see or listen to. What I sought and worked for has left me questioning its value.

So much of aging includes loss. We lose our fascination with the personalities and icons that we once admired. The reasons we admired them are because of the extraordinary qualities they possessed only to realize that even those qualities were subject to decline and decay. We realize that our idols are after all just as ordinary and human as we.

We lose loved ones, our physical strength diminishes and our senses become dull. We are in a constant battle to retain whatever we can.

Sometimes we may even lose our integrity. If our lives have been hard enough and we've been abused and disappointed enough, we might become cynical and bitter. We cease to give a damn about trying to do the right thing because we've witnessed so many getting away with doing wrong.

Yet in spite of all of these laments, there are some perks (albeit not many) that come with growing older.

If you're lucky there's a peace of mind that comes with being more comfortable in your own skin. You've worked hard to become who and what you are and if you're anything like me, you realize that you don't need to spend whatever time is left worrying about what people think about you. You probably realize they don't think about you very much at all.

In the words of Phyllis Diller: "Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty. But everything else starts to wear out, fall out and spread out.

Realizing this perhaps we should follow the advice of Victoria Moran who says:

Judge less - or at least later
Give new ideas and images a chance
Understand that everyone has his or her own truth
Remember: You are not married to any belief, opinion or ideology
Expect to discover something delicious every day.

One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes. One that every politician should embrace.

Especially Donald Trump!

LOVING LONDON

I love any author that can whisk me off to unfamiliar landscapes. Someone whose writing is so vivid that I actually vicariously enjoy the places described.

I truly admire those that can create characters so realistic that I laugh when they laugh, cry when they do and experience the entire gamut of emotions expressed throughout the story.

They can be considered exceptionally talented when they accomplish this with animals. Authors like Jack London have enthralled me like this with his most famous novels, Call of the Wild and White Fang.

Jack London’s Call of the Wild is the incredible story of Buck, the half St. Bernard half Sheepdog who is stolen from his comfortable California estate and sold as a sled dog in the Arctic.

It is first and foremost the story of his gradual transformation from a tame beast into a wild animal.

Told from Buck’s perspective, its often painfully realistic narrative provides us with a thorough understanding of the phrase “survival of the fittest”.

The moral, civilized Buck must adjust to the harsher realities of life in the frozen North. Kill or be killed is the only morality among the dogs of the Klondike.

Buck however is not content to merely survive; he wants to dominate.

London's portrayal of the brutality of life in the Yukon through the eyes of a mistreated part-wolf called White Fang is another riveting literary masterpiece.

His storytelling genius breathes life into the simplest natural occurrences. The images he paints of nature are harsh and cruel but true and beautiful. His mastery at drawing parallels between nature’s savagery and human cruelty is depicted in the struggle for survival for both man and beast.

London's prolific illustrations of the vast landscapes provide an ideal setting for White Fang’s character development.

Fang’s journey from cub to adult is fraught with physical peril from his venturing from the safety of the protective wall of the cave of his birth to discovering the undulations of the earth under his feet or the terror he experiences of total immersion in water. He realizes that things are not always as they appear.

As he struggles to understand the laws of his existence we are able to feel his emotional grief and turmoil when his mother is taken away. Because he sees that his very survival hinges upon understanding the laws of the “man tribes” that adopt him, he comes to understand the importance of strength and power.  It is because of this power that he regards men as “gods”, is trained as a sled dog and after relentless persecution by man and dogs becomes disciplined and solitary with superior intelligence and brute strength.

When finally he is adopted by a man who exhibits patience, compassion and affection, White Fang returns it in kind and quickly begins to understand one of the most important laws of man; the protection of his owner and the defense of his property.

As we witness Fang’s eventual domestication, London deftly illustrates that progression from nature to civilization requires violence at some point. At the same time he considers the extent to which both animals and humans are formed by their experiences in the world. Cruelty begets cruelty; kindness, kindness.

As with London’s own personal story of redemption from teenage hoodlum to married middle class writer, White Fang’s metamorphosis from savage wolf to devoted family pet exemplifies the struggle for survival while simultaneously searching for the love and compassion necessary for the development of a noble spirit.

Upon its release, White Fang was an immediate success worldwide. Although its appeal is especially popular among young readers and generally regarded as inferior to London’s companion work “Call of the Wild” it is still considered one of his most interesting and ambitious works and one that helped establish him as a popular American literary figure.

SHHHHHH   BE QUIET

We spend so much time talking. It always amazes me how much of our time is spent not really listening or hearing people. Most of the time we're waiting to interject our opinions.

Personally I enjoy listening. You can learn so much more. Not only do you learn what's useful but you also see what to reject.

The older I get the more discerning I've become about what to allow into my thought stream. This means that I can't be open to everything audible that is thrown my way. That means that I must be very diligent about really listening.

Let's face it, we're constantly bombarded with voices, sounds and noise from every direction.

Every electronic device and human voice is fighting for our attention. This requires us to develop very efficient filters and we can't do so if we're busy contributing to the problem. 

We have to shut up in order to be able to shut out what we don't want.

Most of the time, when we don't encourage the attention getters with the big mouths, they simply find somewhere else to go.

Let's learn to just be quiet and listen.

Oh by the way, be careful what you read too!