Category Archives: Sailing Through Life

‘Tis the season, for sure

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The visiting season approaches. Be sure to have bags packed for visits and pantries full for visitors. The holiday season is upon us. Shop early, especially if the reader plans to use the US Postal Service. Mariner has lost some plants due to a three-week delivery time. The US Postal Service would appreciate it if readers would mail greeting cards instead of using internet resources – mail early! On a related matter, if the reader is using a mail-in ballot, don’t wait until the last moment.

An interesting side note: The largest group of people moving to Florida today are foreigners. Perhaps evidence that global warming isn’t just an American issue. On the other hand, with 20 wars raging around the globe, decent neighborhoods may be hard to find.

To those suffering the news broadcasts, the coverage is so iterative that almost any reader can write copy for the next broadcast. There are a very few news agencies that don’t chase the common, gossipy news. Mariner recommends ProPublica.com; other issues are growing in the nation’s large societal map.

However, one news story to which readers should be paying close attention is the disruptive activity no matter who wins the Presidential election. More and more sitting judges, both liberal and conservative, are giving fair warning. From the AP:

“Judges at Washington’s federal courthouse have punished hundreds of Capitol rioters since 2021. Before recently sentencing another to prison, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said he prays Americans accept the outcome of next month’s election, but expressed concern that Donald Trump and his allies are spreading the same sort of conspiracy theories that fueled the 2021 attack.”

Mariner has read other reports that suggest organized resistance groups have been in training since the last election.

One more seasonal flavor to add: Book early and do research and training before engaging in airports, airplanes, trains and traffic jams.

Have a wonderful holiday season! Really!

Ancient Mariner

Chicken Little moved to hospice

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Afraid so. It is true that evolution is the dynamic element in all the universe – including galaxies, solar systems, life of every kind and certainly every conceivable element of existence – including the planet Earth itself – is subject to change over time. So, too, fantasy and whimsy move on as reality paves a new future.

What was important about Chicken Little’s presence was his belief that it was possible for things to behave as expected – it was just a matter of adjusting a bit to keep reality chugging along. Like the Chicken Little of children’s storybook fame, he often overreacted to what others felt was not so important as to warrant hysterical behavior.

The belief in adjusting has faded as all the world’s activity is in disarray. Human history has become a demolition derby where every conceivable idea is an effort to dismantle rational, logical behavior. Mariner, like Chicken Little, is acutely aware of the abrasion of industrial development against the evolutionary limitations not only of Homo sapiens but all of the planet’s life forms. Homo’s dangerous ability to imagine things that do not exist has been the fire that has set off an Armageddon. For casual readers who may not be familiar, mariner’s examples are any industrial development requiring chemical, environmental or any other destruction of the biosphere. For example, internal combustion engines, killing millions of species for greedy reasons, leveling quantum amounts of forest for commercial purposes, forcing every biological behavior of every species to compensate or die, etc. The result today is, of course, a destabilized, biospheric condition humans call ‘global warming’ which is most commonly observed as changes in the climate.

So mariner is interviewing several applicants to replace Chicken Little. An applicant that has caught mariner’s eye is the squirrel – especially urban squirrels. Squirrels already know that Homo sappians is a destructive creature, said and done. What concerns mariner is that the squirrel already has a bit of skepticism about it’s obsessive neighbors; Amos, another alter ego, already has more than enough skepticism.

Perhaps this is all a sign that mariner is growing old. He’s old enough to be receiving social security but young enough to see it disappear. His brain has been throwing out to trash memories that aren’t relevant anymore. Sadly, he cannot forget Lawrence Welk or Hyacinth Bucket on the British series, Keeping Up Appearances.

Suggestions for a new icon to replace Chicken Little are welcome – an icon that has come to accept Homo sappians as the failure it is but with an innocence that there is a looming Armageddon.

Ancient Mariner

The education experience

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In the last post, mariner wrote about habits stored in the brain which were hard to dislodge. It occurred to him that the manner in which education is applied to students also is suffering from old habits that are hard to dislodge.

It is true that the scope of intended subjects has changed over the centuries. It is ‘how’ a student is instructed that is under the microscope today. We can assume the early Homo folks simply did a show-and-tell, demonstrating the actual procedures to be learned. As conceptualization crept into the culture, it had to be captured in documents and eventually into special books called textbooks. Even with books, an instructor was required to translate information and give the information a human perspective. And so it has been for eons.

Today, it has suddenly occurred, “why keep human instructors in the classroom if a computer can provide a simulated teacher any time day or night?” Mariner admits that he often takes advantage of the wide, free-roaming learning opportunities available on the Internet; he has a master’s degree in gardening from Junk University (YouTube). The mistake in the question above is that for all its intelligence, computer tablets don’t have physiological souls, that is, computers don’t have to change behavioral habits hidden in their subconscious. A human instructor still is needed; it’s the instructor’s focus in the classroom that needs an upgrade.

Sadly, the idea of displacing employees as a beneficial act affects other professions as well from truck drivers to office workers to nurses. Even delivery workers may be displaced by little automated delivery boxes and drones – it occurs to mariner these boxes offer a good opportunity to practice hunting; will geese and deer be irritated if they are replaced by automated drones and robots?

Back to education.

Education, as everyone has learned during the Covid pandemic, is not just about books and visual presentations. He has heard from friends who are teachers that students, especially the younger ones, are unruly, unmannerly and disrespectful of the teacher’s role in the classroom. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 32% of K-12 students are behind grade level. Why are schools still dealing with the long-term effects of remote schooling and other pandemic-era learning disruptions?  Something other than book learning and concepts disappeared during the pandemic.

Given a moment, one realizes that a great deal of socialization occurs in the classroom from pre-school to college. The most important learning may be tuning the student’s subconscious to be a collaborator with society. AI is trying hard to emulate this interactive experience as well but despite the canned responses of social robots, children need children – and someone who can adjust response and guidance to fit many subconscious minds in an integrated fashion. That takes another subconscious mind – a human instructor.

Along this line of thought, mariner has written posts that question the use of individual grading. He suggests that society today, with all its automated advantages, is more interested in individuals who can fit in and be fellow collaborators. To that end, grading should be applied to small teams in the classroom rather than to individuals since the Internet is so handy with factual information. What becomes important is human behavior in a learning atmosphere, not what a student knows about page 130 in a textbook. Having teams of students compete with other teams forces collaborative behavior. The computer tablet is the new textbook.

All these conditions affect the standard approach of instruction and require adjustment to long ingrained teaching habits. The growth of community colleges and new student demands that colleges guarantee employment at graduation are two of many indicators which suggest revamping the grading, textbook and syllabus methodology that has been around long before the United States existed.

An afterthought, smartphones are the new version of talking in class. Any psychologist or therapist or teacher would want to control thought processes. Think how successful a hypnotist would be if the person being hypnotized was busy using a smartphone.

Ancient Mariner

It’s different today

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In the last post, mariner cited a man who had lost his brain functions but could still make breakfast. The article citing him was about habit and how much of our behavior is managed by a special part of the brain that stores habits. Habits are frozen procedures that require no thought in order to take action.

For normal folks who still have brain function, much of our personality and our capability is under the control of habit storage – no thought or judgment required, A simple example is getting ready to go out the door. Typically, the car keys are always in the same place, ready to grab without thinking. If the keys aren’t in place (often in a purse or pocket), a person may get to the car door before realizing the keys are not at hand.

Mariner is aware that he and the gentleman with brain damage have similar habits. With mariner, it’s making the morning coffee pot. He is aware that he doesn’t need to process the routine – just do it!

Our reasoning skills are supported by many habit files. For example, one may have a firm prejudice about which route to take to a destination; why? “Oh, it just seems the easiest way to go” [even if it isn’t]. Prejudice, no matter the subject or behavior, has strong support from habit files.

In politics, a good example is staying with a political decision that isn’t relevant anymore. That person has a habit for their position on the matter and uses that memorized (habitual) position rather than apply new reasoning to a changed reality.

It requires way too much wordage to indulge in examples of a person’s personality. Suffice it to say there are tons of habit files; one doesn’t have to reconstruct who they are every moment of the day.

The comfort of habit is that one can do many procedural (and physiological) things and not have to think about them. How about when you change jobs and you realize you can’t do something the way you’ve always done it – something as simple as pulling out of the driveway in the right direction to go to work?

As we move through those periods of life where we have to figure out a new us, especially at retirement time, it often is a difficult time. Or it is a tough time when a family member dies. Or perhaps one’s role in past life disappears completely at retirement. What makes these transitions difficult is that we must toss out a lot of internalized habits about who we are and how we behave in a new situation. We have to invent new habits! The brain, of course, is hesitant to participate because these were supposed to be habits so the brain didn’t have to deal with them.

As the brain dwindles in old age, habits become important whether they are relevant or not. Perhaps this is why it’s so hard to be a new ‘you’ in one’s eighties and nineties.

Ancient Mariner

Know a song?

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I’m gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own
A doll that other fellows cannot steal
And then, the flirty, flirty guys with their flirty, flirty eyes
Will have to flirt with dollies that are real

When I come home at night, she will be waiting
She’ll be the truest doll in all this world
I’d rather have a paper doll to call my own
Than have a fickle-minded real live girl

I guess I had a million dolls or more
I guess I’ve played the doll game over and over
I just quarreled with Sue, that’s why I’m blue
She’s gone away, and left me, just like all dolls do

I’ll tell you, boys, it’s tough to be alone
And it’s tough to love a doll that’s not your own
I’m through with all of them, I’ll never fall again
Say boy, what you gonna do?

I’m gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own
A doll that other fellows cannot steal
And then, the flirty, flirty guys with their flirty, flirty eyes
Will have to flirt with dollies that are real

When I come home at night, she will be waiting
She’ll be the truest doll in all this world
I’d rather have a paper doll to call my own
Than have a fickle-minded real live girl

Know what? Mariner just sang that entire song from memory. It is by the Mills Brothers and released in 1944! In fact, He knows several of their songs by heart. Yet, today he can’t remember what happened yesterday!

How does the brain play games like this? On the one hand, there’s Marilu Henner (Taxi), who has instant recall of every single day in her life versus the man who suffered total brain loss but could still make bacon and eggs for breakfast.

There are 100 billion neurons (brain cells) in the human brain. One would think that once learned or experienced, that moment would always be at hand. The brain, however, is a lot like a computer: it has a delete key and an escape key. And like most folk’s computers, the brain has a truly garbled filing system. Also like a computer, the brain has a restrictive operating system that will keep some information at hand for frequent use (virtually all these programs don’t care about the Mills Brothers, it’s more about body chemistry, aches and pains and making sure all the body cells understand what to do).

Has the reader ever searched for a file they knew was somewhere but after great effort never found it? The brain does that, too. Has the reader ever accidentally deleted a four page document they were working on and it is irretrievable? The brain does that, too. The brain’s delete key is used for these situations and also  when junk gets into the files – usually from illness, injury or drugs. Often, the delete key is used when brain processing hits a neuron to process but it’s not there. That’s called amyloid clusters.

Big city folks may never have experienced this, but out in the boonies, the internet signal isn’t always steady. The computer or TV screen goes dark for a moment or more and that little spinning curlicue shows up. The blocked signal is exactly what amyloid clusters do – they block the signal. The more amyloid clusters are mixed in between neurons, the more the brain shows signs of dementia. Fortunately, scientists are tinkering with ways to remove amyloid clusters.

So if it’s important to remember something, put it in a song and memorize it.

Ancient Mariner

In these times

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A person is as pressed by social media as if the person were a movie star. Every potion, every holiday spot, every kinky way to do something, is tossed at the screen. There are some well intentioned advertisers, for example medical advice, an ability to talk with family and friends, how to interact with government and the legitimate news organizations that love to talk about themselves.

But by a massive degree more frequently, a person is assaulted by mercenaries, corporate manipulators and irrational hagglers. Privacy is lost. Personal decision-making is thwarted by unbalanced information. And watching television has become so pervasive as to shut down normal social behavior, that is, interpersonal dialogue and mutual participation in life.

In the middle of the last century, mariner was a preacher. The job of preacher does have a political aspect to it when dealing with the congregation but the standard job description had a set of priorities: Foremost, run religious services and sacraments. Second, above all other responsibilities, visit the ill and shut-ins. Third, promote community programs and evangelism.

He is sorry to say that visiting is no longer a priority, In this century, the services and sacraments are sustained and the political aspect is not about the political issues that arise when attempting to be a Christian but rather, doing just the opposite by politicizing issues contrary to Christian doctrine.

In the world of politics, the well being of the citizenry has been co-opted by corporate interests and in recent times has created a have, have not society. Finally, in the background, the planet’s traditional political liaisons between nations have grown old and are under stress.

. . . .

Mariner mentions these situations because every one detracts from the one behavior that can see us through: Be a normal human being! That means talking to other human beings at least as often as sitting in a TV chair or scratching a computer/telephone screen. Sustain personal relations that build community spirit.

A simple pattern, be sure to visit each friend and neighbor regularly – even have them visit you.

Attend community events. Organize or associate with a picnic or event that includes friends and neighbors; participate in neighborhood activities; look for ways, even very tiny, where you can help a neighbor – especially shut-ins and the ill because preachers don’t do it any more. In fact, ask a neighbor to help you – something about which mariner has become experienced.

Belong to a local group that helps the indigent or get with friends to repair an old person’s home.

Reinforce family unity with visitations, vacations, and reunions. Share more time with children whether at home or who have moved into their own life.

Participate in local election activity. Of course, always vote!

One of the overlooked activities that build community strength is a local newspaper. Sadly, local papers are disappearing because of competition with the Internet. However, if you are fortunate to have a local paper, subscribe to it. More is happening around the community than one may think.

Deliberately give one full day each month dedicated to servicing others. That includes spouses, children, neighbors, social organizations and anyone else who would be pleased with your dedicated interest.

Finally, enforce a time when your own well being Is important. It could be fishing, golfing, boating, etc. Or perhaps reading, visiting natural surroundings, taking a short trip to see something interesting, have a hobby. Just find a place where time belongs only to you – and not to the TV or telephone.

Our genome says we need a tribe to care for.

Ancient Mariner

Being natural to one’s self

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Recently mariner and a lifelong friend have been sharing contemporary experiences. Since childhood, both have had an interest in the smaller creatures of nature in its undisturbed state. Walks in the woods took lots of time to wander and poke around, turn a leaf, explore a small creek, observe the toads, frogs, and small grass snakes, noting evidence of moles, raccoons and rabbits, and turning a rock or two looking for salamanders.

Yes, it was a flashback experience but in slow motion, truly recalling the hobbies that were shared as children. There was an unexpected benefit for mariner: the real world had been set aside lock, stock and barrel. Totally immersed in the quiet, organized world of wilderness, angst disappeared. The noise and dangers of 2024 were not present. The future was not needed in this stable, balanced wilderness.

In reality, of course, even the toads and frogs are at risk. In fact, over 200 frog species have gone extinct. The same can be said of the salamanders and other amphibians. Nevertheless, for the moment, mariner was able to experience the grace of Mother Nature, its quietude and orderliness. It was a soul-cleansing experience.

It used to be that attending church services was another means of experiencing grace. Today’s rampant existentialism seems to have made that moment of grace hard to find. Grace is similar to resetting the clock every once in a while. The real world is still in uninterrupted confusion and confrontation – but the clock keeps the ‘real’ time.

So the lesson for sustaining one’s real self is to get away from the world; visit childhood’s innocent memories, allow your self to be distracted and forget angst. Places and times where humanity has not ruined the natural world can still be experienced as a fellow creature of Mother Nature’s world.

Ancient Mariner

Goodbye for awhile

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Greetings Readers –

As you may know, mariner has been staying in Chicken Little’s henhouse for several months. Not watching television news has been a blessing but getting his news from equitable online newscasters has offered no relief.

From time to time, he gets feedback from readers that he would have more readers if he wrote more positive and friendly posts. More readers was never his objective – discharging alarm because of a flagellistic desire to fail as a human race was the primary purpose.

In the last post mariner defined the five flavors of Armageddon that are in play and progressing. He realized that he very much was against the common grain of society, especially those deliberately encouraging Armageddon.

Noting the fate of Prophet Amos in the Old Testament, mariner is retreating to his little home in Iowa.

Ancient Mariner

Those moments

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Everyone has moments of bliss, of complete satisfaction, perhaps even grace. One cannot select these moments, they happen unannounced, but they are rewarding. Sometimes, it’s just a moment with a loved one or a deep appreciation of a child. Sometimes it’s when one is alone, sitting in the midst of nature’s wilderness. Sometimes, it is the joy of making another life better. Sometimes, it’s just a realization of fulfillment in a familiar surrounding.

Mariner and his wife had a similar experience sitting in their backyard, a garden respite from garages, concrete parking pads and streets. Sunlight was fading, sparrows, robins, doves, blackbirds and squirrels went about their individual lives. Having these moments is like a soothing salve on one’s soul.

But those moments are brief. ‘Real’ life calls us back.  In that moment of recall, what does one feel? Is it anxiety? Duty? Contentment? Desire? Motivation? Does one retreat to depression or leap to ambition? Generally, all these sensations are in a bag labeled ‘accountability’. One is conscious of these feelings because a moment ago they were suppressed by a moment of bliss.

What accountability does one feel toward self, family, community, the nation and the sacred world of spirituality? It is important to note which accountability emerges first. This obligation is important and requires action of some nature. Based on one’s motivations, it may be to load the dishwasher, call one’s senator or see to the well being of a family member.

The moment of bliss should provide great healing power to the self, a comfort in family, a friendship with the community, a responsibility to the nation, and an allegiance to one’s source of spirituality.

It may be helpful to search for places where on can let go of the real world for a moment and restore a unified sense of one’s life experience.

Ancient Mariner

 

Bonding

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Recently mariner wrote a post about how to develop spirituality. Briefly, it has two key requirements: One must acknowledge the existence of a permanent prophet who sets the standards for proper behavior. The second is a personal allegiance to that prophet, a sense that one belongs to that prophet rather than to one’s self. The prophet does not have to be human. For example, many naturalists believe Planet Earth is the prophet because it controls the rules of life; some Christians believe the Bible is a prophetic statement in behalf of Jesus [See ‘Spirituality’ May 29, 2024]

Closely related to spirituality is a human behavior called ‘bonding’. Bonding can occur only when sharing with others. One easily can relate to bonding with family, close friends and those who participated in significant life events. But bonding, like spirituality, has an extended role in the fabric of society that sustains social orderliness, community allegiance, and the ability to sustain common abstract behaviors; just a couple of examples: being a fan of a sports team, and befriending the mail carrier as a person who shares a common task. Both these examples imply a commitment to sharing without which the civility would not occur.

An excellent example of bonding in everyday life is the movie “The Green Book” released in September 2018. It stars Viggo Martensen and Mahershala Ali. For those who have not seen it, take the characters in stride as the movie progresses. Mariner’s wife found a copy at the library or you can pay to see it online

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_VoWF9mKEc).

Bonding requires sharing a common responsibility with open mindedness as a lubricant. Importantly, bonding generates motivation in life.

Ancient Mariner