A Part of the World

As you may remember, I've just finished reading this book, and have been thinking constantly about what it means to live as part of the world, rather than in opposition to and dominion over it. My conclusion? Big, big, big changes are required. Perhaps too big for me to handle. Perhaps too big for the world to handle.

In these kinds of circumstances, I find it's best to make changes that are small, personal, and immediate. Is the world worth saving? And can it even be done? Hmm . . . jury's still out on that one (at least for me). But I do know that I can live slightly closer to being part of the world, and so can you. Here are three ways how:


Biomechanics
It came up in the pronation article. Whether you believe we evolved or were created, it's clear that our bodies were designed for a specific purpose. That purpose does not include wearing high heels or walking on concrete. Pavement and shoes separate us from the earth. Walking barefoot and working against the degeneration caused by not walking barefoot brings you that much closer to the original design. Pattern. Whatever. And that works in other parts of the body, as well. Strive for balance and stability in your body.

Appearance
As I mentioned before, I think that when you start to see your body as the enemy, as something that needs to be slimmed down (which basically means you need to eliminate part of it), you're falling into a trap of conquering your body. And guess what! If you win the battle against your body, you also lose. But the same is true of bodies that are, how shall I say, facing the opposite problem. Your body was meant to be lean and muscular, to a certain extent, because that's what hunting and gathering does to you. So instead of focusing on weight loss or gain, perhaps we should be looking at overall health. Not "skinny"--healthy.

Eating
Which brings me to the final point. Know something? Our bodies were not made to handle high fructose corn syrup. In fact, they weren't made to handle a lot of the things we put in them. So stop putting that shit in, already. Eat clean. I suppose you could argue that the way we're meant to eat is raw and vegetarian, but I disagree. The whole premise here is that we live and eat by the laws of nature, and one of those laws is to eat what you can find. You hunt. You gather. Sometimes there's slim hunting and you have to gather a little bit more to get fed. Sometimes there's slim gathering and you have to eat a lot of meat. Either way, my personal opinion is that we're designed to eat both, so I eat both. Besides, I was a raw vegan for a few weeks. Definitely wasn't working for me.

So that's the short version. If you believe that we have a responsibility to adjust the course of civilization, you now have three ideas of how to do it in your life. Small-scale. But these are just notions, right now. So over the next few weeks, I'll be digging more deeply into the practicals--how do we make these changes? What can be different in my life? And why does it matter?

Not sure, yet. I'm thinking about it. I'll let you know.