Week 10

My E-Prime day:

I'm not going to list my daily activities online cause it might be inappropriate, no really cause it will just feel like a cooking list and get boring. Rather I would like to share my E-Prime experiences:

I grew up in LA where I had a tendency to speak in E-Prime. Maybe this was because I was younger or just a little more passive who knows, but either way when I moved to Boston in between Harvard and MIT I had a really hard time using E-Prime. My first two years there were very challenging due to the Standard English norm there. I got in many arguments and was often told to stop talking in E-Prime because it was a given and made me look weak or something I don't know. Now living back in CA I find the reverse once again to be the case. It makes sense due to the population I was surrounded by but its still fun how communication boundries are not just language related.

Synthesis:

I often think religion and science are really the same thing just two sides of the same coin, both end up looking for the same thing and might just get to the same place. (Let me know once you know.)When looking at East and West philosophies to me they are just a different language but still trying to get to the same place. We all have our experience and reference points that high light to us as an individual or as a culture, certain ways of doing or thinking about things, but I do believe that we overall are very similar. The tricky part I believe is having all sides flexible to hear, listen, and share with an open mind. Fear seems to be a very powerful thing that keeps people and ideas apart, which is relevant but sad.

week 9

Newton's Laws and me:

I have Liver stagnation, hence there are things, such as Qi that is the object, inside me that is at rest. This is like the rock in the middle of the stream that is to great for the water to move. Yet if there is a great rain, and branches(acupuncture needles and herbs) start flowing down the stream, maybe this is enough force to move the rock(my stagnant liver QI). The Qi outside my stagnant liver Qi collides with my stagnant Qi and heat is released and all is better. This is the westerns new age application of Newtons laws.

Energy Efficient culture:

Far from it, either we don't know enough about energy or we're kept dumb by capitalistic greed to fully be efficient in our use and application of energy. We are a wasteful over consuming society stuck on habits and patterns, leaving the majority narrow minded and ignorant to the possibility of energy efficiency. Did I just say that all.. I do have faith in humanity but I also see a long road ahead of us.

Descartes' and his answers:

At first thought reductionism can be somewhat off putting, yet in TCM it interestingly makes sense. Descartes' reductionism theory is such that one phenomena can be explained by another. In TCM we often look for the root of problems or roots of problems by means of the branches they create. So in some sense we are reducing our personal health patterns based on the organs, Qi, diet, weather, season, and even the color of clothing one wears. You can see how similar this gets to being sick based on the poorly-manufactured clock. Just now a days it might be your cell phone or your poorly-manufactured plastic drinking bottle. It might just be that Descartes was ahead of his time and just misunderstood.