Natural and Physical Science

I admit that reason is a small and feeble flame, a flickering torch by stumblers carried in the star-less night, — blown and flared by passion’s storm, — and yet, it is the only light. Extinguish that, and nought remains.Robert Green Ingersoll, from A Reply To The Rev. Henry M. FieldIntroductionOver the past five decades, the term wellness has been described and promoted in many ways. One of my regrets as an early promoter of the wellness concept is that so much programming under this banner has turned out to be medical in nature. Companies, hospitals and universities, for example, have applied the term wellness to a range of corporate and non-profit risk reduction programs, testing for health problems and conducting procedures that address physical and mental challenges.It does not disparage the value of such medical initiatives to protest that they are best not considered to be of a wellness nature. However useful such programs might be in their own right, they are designed for outcomes markedly different from the goals of REAL wellness.In my view, the term wellness (REAL or otherwise) should be understood as a mindset or philosophy consciously chosen to boost quality of life. Wellness was envisioned by Halbert L. Dunn and some of us who came along after his passing as an approach for enriching the nature of human existence. It was and is still seen as a way of thinking and acting most likely to boost satisfaction and enjoyment of life. It was never intended to promote or characterize strategies for pain relief or mitigation of difficulties.I do not believe most people have been exposed to this distinction. Just the same, I think participants in company programs now labelled as wellness would gain from recognizing the functional difference in goals advanced by activities appropriate to these two separate realms. As Stephen Jay Gould said of religion and science (though few scientists accept his attempt at a diplomatic distinction), the two in this case (faux and REAL wellness) are non-overlapping, separate magisteria.Think of the practical implications of the difference in the two forms of wellness. The objective of a health assessment questionnaire or a test for coronary or other risk factors is premature death avoidance via reforms in personal behaviors; the objective in teaching critical thinking (one of four dimensions of positive wellness) is to improve decision-making capacity leading to more effective living. Both important, to be sure and not mutually exclusive, but clearly different in outcome purposes.In short, wellness is separate from treating problems; whether the two are equal or not is irrelevant. The two areas of emphasis are not competitive. Both are valuable – and complementary. I elaborated this point in a message to a professor the other day who wrote to seek advice on clarifying the two realms. I explained that those of us acting as scouts for the Wellness Calvary seeking the best route over the mountains to the fertile if not promised lands, those splendid places more like El Dorado than Detroit, should resist giving the impression that RW mindsets and behaviors are alone sufficient to discover the best ways to get there.As a triathlete, I protect my advanced state of cardiovascular fitness and all the activity-enhancing elements associated with that with regular training. Doing so is hard work but rich with satisfactions. Think of that as the wellness element of being a triathlete. But when I swim, run and especially when I bike, I do all manner of things that are risk reduction in nature (sun block, helmet, etc.). Why would I spend a minute making distinctions? The two purposes are inextricably intertwinked. The two ends are complementary. We simultaneously work to promote wellness and prevent disease.It’s not twice the effort; it’s twice the gain for one activity. The first purpose is “to promote higher levels of wellness. It’s circular only in the broad sense that life is circular – day and night, birth and death, etc.The take away – If you are doing something primarily for existence enrichment, as in the above example, don’t jeopardize the quality enhancing outcome by failing to cover the risk factors. Well designed implementation of health enrichment initiatives of a RW nature takes care of the preventive elements; however, doing something for prevention does NOT result in increased quality of existence enrichment.REAL WellnessThe other three foundation dimensions of life quality-enhancing wellness in addition to reason are exuberance, athleticism and liberty. These four words form the acronym modifier – REAL wellness.The R in REAL wellness, namely reason, can also be identified as critical thinking, respect for evidence and science and rationality, among other terms that mean the same things. An emphasis on reason is a counter to the absence or undervalued nature of these qualities associated with superstitions – and much of alternative, so-called complementary medicine. The latter are subjective, unsupported by facts and impressionistic and/or spiritual. Critics of alt med quip that there is only one valid kind of medicine – the kind that evidence has shown to be effective.ReasonMany legendary thinkers have explored the nature and boundaries of reason. One notable whose works are basic references on reason is Emmanuel Kant, author of The Critique of Pure Reason in 1791. Kant addressed the limits and scope of reason separate from other senses, cultures, experience and knowledge.Reason plays an outsized role in Kant’s writings on ethics. He emphasized rationality as more consequential than cultural influences, so this would not be popular in most wellness programming today that gives primary attention to the cultural, social and emotional influences on our lives. However, study and discussion of Kant’s ideas about the potentials of our rational nature could inform wellness education while adding interest and cache to the programming. Kant could shed much light on why reason is overwhelmed and diminished, how it can protect and foster personal responsibility and add to individual effectiveness. According to Kant, our rational nature informs our morality or ethical stature, our capacity to set goals and how far we will go to achieve them. In Kant’s way of thinking, we have a duty to recognize the value of the rational nature within us and to respond accordingly.If Kant was on to something, can there be any doubt as to the importance of reason in REAL or any other kind of wellness? If reason is at least as consequential as the usual and customary physical risk factors, shouldn’t we be describing and facilitating discussions about it in worksite programming?An article in the Washington Post this week explores Kant’s model of reason as a way to explore wellness-related topics, particularly duties to the self and others around self-respect and respecting others. Kant is referenced in relation to several contemporary hot button issues, including sexism and bullying, deception and coercion and using people as means versus ends. (See Carol Hay, A Feminist Kant, Washington Post, December 8, 2013.)There is no room for Kant or other philosophy in worksite wellness programming that is medical and risk reduction in nature; it is hard to avoid philosophy and maybe Kant as well when programming includes REAL wellness.All good wishes.

Why waste sexual energy when it can be transformed through yogic practices into ever changing continuous joy and bliss? Nearly everyone I know has no idea how truly awesome transmutation of conserved vital energy can be. Related to trantra, this spiritual approach to sexuality is, under the right conditions, most incredibly fulfilling.There is nothing more immensely satisfying and fulfilling than the transmutation of stored sexual energy. However, it is not an ordinary accomplishment to successfully conserve one’s vital “sexual energy” fluids for indefinite periods of time and transmute that sexual energy. One needs to know the “big picture” as to what activities best transmute the sexual energy, how to maintain sexual health (essential) and have the wisdom and faith necessary to see it through. Another vital consideration is the diet needs to be high in raw food, super food supplements and antioxidants, especially those foods, supplements, and herbs that support sexual health and wholeness.Very few fully understand the whole process and how beneficial overcoming the addiction to conventional orgasm can be, let alone even have the slightest notion that the common craving for basic sex is in fact a built-in biochemical addiction involving mainly the neurohormones dopamine (the sexual excitation neurotransmitter) and prolactin (the sexual satiation hormone). Yes, I consider that the natural craving for conventional orgasm to be another one of countless addictions one can be subject to and certainly worth overcoming or transforming into a much wiser, more fulfilling level of being alive and even as a key to helping one overcome other addictions and emotional attachments.When one thinks of celibacy, one usually visualizes some content, wise and peaceful aging ascetic monk, alone in a quiet cell contemplating God or chanting in a beautiful Latin chorus with hundreds of other monks. On the other extreme are the tantric lovers dancing in each other’s arms thrilling each other through and through with profound ecstasy and love. In both of the above situations and everything in between, there is, hopefully a conservation of sexual fluid and a transmutation of sexual energy. However, the tantric lovers “celibacy” is much trickier and much more complicated than a monk’s form of celibacy.To remain celibate even during an intimate relationship requires tremendous self-control, self-discipline, self-understanding and years of experience with celibacy. Why even bother? Because the benefits and sheer power of conserved sexual energy, especially while in a relationship with the opposite sex, once mastered and fully transmuted is profound love, intimacy and joy on a whole new level, and I mean really intense, everlasting, love, pleasure, and a sense of wholeness like nothing else. With or without a relationship, one can live in complete joy and I mean live in complete joy forever.Some yogis have tried celibacy for years and years but achieved very few if any of the benefits I am certain of. The reason: because there are so many tricky aspects to having fully transmuted celibacy and so much to understand and explain.Most important of all, one’s sexual organs and rest of endocrine gland system, and health in general must be whole. Not much meaningful benefit can ever come from the kind of celibacy that is a result of illness, impotence, frigidity, hormone imbalance, glandular problem(s), arterial sclerosis, extreme old age, or any kind of surgical removal. If there is no sexual energy to transmute, what then is the good of being celibate? It is only a symptom of an illness in that sense.The key to transmutation (this is important) is the expansion of a strong, healthy libido into bliss with adaptogenic herbs (often called “aphrodisiacs”), herbal antioxidants, vitamin antioxidants, super foods, daily water fasting, daily aerobic exercise outside in a garden or park, breathing exercises, and whatever else that will increase the level of prana (vitality) in the body and connection with nature. Every aspect of transmutation is what one would do anyway to achieve perfect high-level wellness or wholeness. A wholesome diet high in adaptogenic herbs and supplements with complete meals separated by short fasts on loads of water is the most important key factor. Every factor for wholeness must come together and the long term (months into years) conservation of sexual fluids is only one essential factor that would be very hard to achieve nor even make much sense without all the other essentials of this wholeness lifestyle.I should refer to the ideal form of celibacy I am talking about as “holistic celibacy” or real sexual wholeness. When one, by providing the above mentioned essential Science of Wholeness lifestyle requirements, successfully practices “holistic celibacy” one enters into an awesome sexual renaissance in the form of a massive, and extremely blissful kundalini awakening. What I mean by the kundalini, is a powerful and transforming sexual bliss in every cell of the body that is fully outside, above and beyond the inferior level of regular, all physical sexual activity which only ends in loss of sexual fluid along with some natural but rather undesirable changes in brain chemistry that leave one more prone to depression, restlessness, attachment, dependency and addiction. In holistic celibacy, because no sexual fluid is ever lost, but only transmuted and conserved, the sexual organs become vastly more active, orgasmic, and alive than ever. One thrills ever more each day in infinite, everlasting sexual power, virility and super sensual ecstasy. One wakes up every morning in an inner paradise of intense, perpetual, sexual bliss and goes to work and works all day in that same bliss. One is no longer swayed by the usual frustrating and limiting emotions, compulsions and desires. Could there ever be a greater, more fulfilling level of sexual wholeness than this? What could be a better way to live?Think about the purity of children and what this means. Remember what Jesus said about children? Children are generally free of the real suffering, concerns and attachments of adulthood. Note the behavior of children verses adults. More often than not, they seem to have endless energy and take great, natural and genuine pleasure in the littlest things. And what do adults do? Nothing but worry, hurry and more worry! Their capacity for enjoyment is far more limited, stagnated and often forced or superficial. In your earliest years before you discovered the intense excitement of sexual release, wasn’t life more carefree and simple? Not so harsh or devastating when things went wrong? Also wasn’t there a constant and pleasurable voluptuousness and blissful bodily vitality that never went away?Obviously this wonderful achievement of holistic celibacy is not simple and easy for adolescents and adults, otherwise everyone would simply stay celibate and just float away into bliss. Nature cannot allow that to happen otherwise all worldly interest and activity would stop. Nature has placed a built-in “anti-escape” mechanism to prevent everyone in the world from having too much fun and to keep the soul deeply entrenched and grounded in the body, otherwise everyone could get too intensely high to care enough about the essential game of survival. And of course, if all or most people stopped losing sexual fluids it could mean an end to most forms of human reproduction and therefore the emancipation of the environment from the destructive forces of overpopulation. All physical bodies are naturally genetically programed to reproduce themselves with as many mates as possible and as often as possible. After too long a period of sexual abstinence and sexual energy build-up, the soul would be much more likely to escape from the physical body and be able to find refuge in an inner paradise free of all the terrible limitations and afflictions of the physical world. Competition, natural selection and other developmental evolutionary forces would no longer have enough influence. The “centrifugal” pull of Mother Nature (Maya) is a “necessary evil” used by nature as a strong, overwhelming compulsion to relieve one’s self of sexual fluids either with a partner or without in order to keep one quite materialistic, competitive, possessive, addicted, stuck and grounded to the physical world throughout one’s lifetime.However, once one learns how to redirect one’s sexual energy instead of losing vital sexual fluids, one discovers a much better way to live, and all those limiting natural laws and wasteful materialistic addictions can be transcended into a vastly superior, even God-like (centripetal) way of thriving. The sex force in a healthy person is so strong, that to redirect that force so that no vital fluids are ever lost again, would be as involved as changing the course of a massive river so that instead of it uselessly flowing into the sea, it is dammed up, stored in a huge lake, and then channeled through an immense hydroelectric generator. Massive energy can come from it in the form of tremendous, everlasting fulfillment instead of the usual temporary and inferior “fulfillment” of the common “procreational” style of sex or masturbation followed by days of emptiness and boredom. What is really more practical? Certainly not regular sex after experiencing all the awesome and magical benefits of holistic celibacy!Allow me to list some of the benefits of holistic celibacy:1) Ever increasing, everlasting joy, fulfillment and bliss2) Much greater spiritual and material success3) Really beautiful meditations4) More concentration and energy5) Real, permanent sexual fulfillment6) Absolutely awesome sexual renaissance at any age7) Massive improvement in one’s love life or relationship8) Much more virility, strength and respect9) Enlightenment, moksha and liberation from physical existence10) Astral projection and free access to higher planes of consciousness11) Development of all sorts of psychic powers12) Emotional independence13) Better memory and greater mind power14) After 9 years of celibacy one develops the ability of absolute recall (memory of past lives, and of every moment in this lifetime)15) There seems to be some claims that celibacy lengthens one’s lifespan and even stops the aging process. I think this effect depends on many other factors as well.These benefits may all sound too good to be true, but they are not, these benefits are real and yogis have benefited from them for millenniums. The only drawback is that, at first, especially without the Science of Wholeness lifestyle, it is not very easy to be celibate, and at the same time one has to have constant very strong sexual desires to transmute or results would be inconsistent. In other words redirecting a stream would barely generate enough electricity for one house, but redirecting a massive, raging river, could easily power a whole city of light. Time is the main value factor of celibacy; ie., anyone can be celibate for 5 minutes, an hour or several days and such short lengths of time create little benefit. For any of the above benefits to develop, it could take several weeks to several months, even years of strict conservation and build-up of sexual fluids. Another important thing to know: the longer one has been celibate, the easier it becomes to remain celibate. The experience of conventional orgasm is naturally addicting, in fact it has the same effect on the brain as a shot of heroin. The more addictions one is free of, the better!