The Savage Philosopher

The Frog. Moving back to America. I am currently moving back to America after spending five years overseas. Moving is hard anyway. Moving over an ocean with a family has an undescribable difficulty level. It has been done by many people before me, and will be done by many more after. None of that takes away from the personal stress of having to do it. And then to add complexity to the issue, I decided to buy a house. A thousand things to do. As with any move there are many things that need to be done. While still overseas, I need to worry about everything from closing out with the current landlord, shipping cars, insuring all the utilities are going to be paid, ensuring my current organisation has everything they need for me, and have a temporary place to stay before I fly out. And of course I am simultaneously doing all the paperwork required to buy a house back in the States. To accomplish everything, I need to rely on many people and things I don't have control over. Doing

Perception of time. The first thing that I noticed was that my perception of time had changed. It had been stretched. The day seemed to drag on forever with the worst parts being around are traditional meal times. It was as if my awareness of every moment had become focused on what was happening around me. The slight feeling of Hunger in my gut is what kept me anchored to all the moments. It wasn't painful physically. But I was not prepared but he emotional impact of having such awareness. Deafening silence. Some people have a hard time sitting in a room quietly without distractions. As if it served a greater purpose than simple entertainment. I have come to the conclusion that the distraction protects us from our own thoughts. Through my own meditation practices of sitting quietly in a room, it has never been difficult for me to be alone with my own thoughts. But somewhere around hour 75 I started to have an emotional breakdown. The hyper awareness gained by the anchored hu

What I really learned during a 46 hour fast. Over the past two months or so I have been trying to fast for 24 hours straight. Each day that I have attempted it, I have failed horribly. The reasons behind doing the fast in the first place is to simply to do the fast. To prove to myself that I can conquer my Hunger. Well this strategy completely failed. More recently, I've had a dramatic change in motivation. I have been forced to shed about 10 lbs of unnecessary fat. This is an external motivation that is internally desired. Meaning that I wish to fill the requirement, but the requirement came from an external source. With this new found motivation I was able Conqueror the first 24 hours without even thinking about it. It was so easy. When the second 24 hours past I was worried that food may not ever be needed. I was seriously beginning to consider the link to hunger is more connected to our emotional state than to actually needing nutrients. After 36 hours I started to realise

Humans have been able to dominate this planet because of our ability to create and use advanced tools. The smartphone is no different. The ability of technology to enhance our capability dramatically increases our productivity. Right now I am forced to write this blog using my phone. Last month, my primary computer died, and I have been at a loss on how to effectively get my thoughts out of my head and onto a blog. I am able to draft this post in Google Docs and use Google Voice to text feature to get the majority of the text on the page. Then as I read through, I can make simple edits using the keyboard. My typing skills are very adequate at 55 words per minute, but I can speak at 150 words per minute. As long as I can focus my thoughts on what I want to say, voice to text is 3 times more efficient on getting words on paper. The majority of the work to ensure a quality blog has always been in the editing process anyways. The unification of the voice to text and using Google Docs for

All authority must be given and cannot be taken. Those in charge may be disillusioned that somehow they ‘forced’ their authority, but in reality it was a choice by the person being ‘ruled’ to choose to be ruled. This begs the question, “how is control obtained?” What is it that the ruled do to specifically give others authority over them. My answer: Obligation When we agree to an obligation we are giving over our control to the obligation. We give over our control in our; promises to ourselves, promises to others, and promises to God. The promises we make to ourselves generally fall into changing the type of person we are. We want to be a better person, a healthy person, or a charitable person. Every day I strive to be a better friend, parent, and spouse. I’m not always as successful as I would like, and when that occurs I feel like a ‘failure’. I feel that I failed to live up to the obligation I set before myself. This pain is a point of control. I make stives to eat well,

I am not sure if the Reaper came knocking or just did a drive by, I decided not to take the chance and ended my Fast. I started it officially on Monday evening at 1900 and ended on Friday at 1600; a total of 93 hours without food. My only consumption was lots of water, black coffee, and a 20 oz Gatorade split over two days diluted in the water. I went from 230.6 pounds to 222.4 pounds in that time frame and slept about 40% less than normal. I also worked out every day. Other than what was reported, on Thursday I jogged with a 12 pound weighted vest for 25 minutes in 100 degree weather followed by 10 minute rest and another set of 35 minute speed walking. Then on Friday, I took an easy and inclined walked for 20 minutes at a moderate pace without the vest followed by 20 minute sauna time. Bottom Line: I learned that I can control my hunger and push myself physically and mentally much further than I ever thought. I learned that by having big goals and not small ones are the key to a

Overall, day two went very well. I was really tired by the afternoon because I didn't sleep the night before. In contrast, last night I had a great sleep. I woke up feeling really rested and ready for the day. I will confess that getting to sleep wasn't all roses. I finally passed out after many trips to the bathroom and I did not wake up exactly when I wanted to. Drinking lots of water throughout the day really helped, I just need to work on my ability to fall asleep more easily. Day two's workout was awesome. I ran for two miles with a 12 pound vest at maximum speed. I basically ran as fast and far as I could before stopping to catch my breath. Then I hit the weights increasing my load by 10 pounds on all four exercises, and felt awesome afterward. I was surprised by the lack of hunger I had during the day. I wasn't even hungry during my normal feeding time. The only thing I missed out was on some birthday cake near the end of the day. Let's be clear, my mouth