SOUR GRAPES

Hello:

Today, March 26, 2015, I am officially giving up on my cherished dream of seeing my ideas about fear, as described in my book called, --- “The Human Mind”,  accepted for the simple truth that they represent.

I suppose I could avoid using the words “giving up” and replace them with reasonable sounding excuses but I have chosen not to do so.   Mainly because the ideas in that book are so important that I should have been willing to give up my life to bring about their acceptance sooner rather than later, --- which will eventually occur.

I do not necessarily mean that I should have taken some risk that would cause my death from outside sources, but rather, from the angst that would have occurred inside my own body and the physical damage that would have helped to bring about an earlier end to my life from inside sources of my own doing.  

In this regard then, just because I have acquired this extra knowledge about how the human mind functions, does not mean that I am suddenly immune to their potential negative affects.

I am also "giving up", --- as I start giving excuses, --- because of this simple expression:  “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”   The fact that I have no letters after my name is also an important constraint against me in this situation.

Who am I to think that others would take my words as the "gospel" truth, instead of those words uttered by other men and women who have spent their entire lives trying to understand the manner in which the human mind functions?  

It is true that I went to a competent University but it is totally unrecognized.  I spent more than 40 years of my life reading books in my local libraries that were written by brilliant men and women about the subject and/or discipline of psychology.   

My ideas are simply a distillation of the ideas that they put forward in their books.   It is true that I had to disregard some of their ideas and hang on for dear life to others that they put forward.

In this regard then, I would like to mention some of those authors right here.   First would be Dr. A. G. Forgione who wrote the book called, --- Fear (Learning To Cope).   He came within an Ace of putting forward the ideas that I have incorporated into my book.

Also receiving favourable mention would be Dr. Peter Breggin,  Dr. Joseph Glenmullen,  Dr. Charles Cunningham of the McMaster Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and numerous others who I am not able to list to you at this moment.        

One of Winston Churchill’s more famous quotes is as follows:  “Some men stumble over the truth, --- pick themselves up and walk away as if nothing had happened.”  Another of his quotations goes something like this, --- [but not exactly]:   

“You can always count on the human race to do the right thing, --- after they have exhausted every other possibility.”   Unfortunately it looks like the world must still embrace other possibilities before my ideas about how the human mind functions are accepted for the simple truth that they represent.  

PARTIAL CURE FOR CANCER

Bon Jour Mon Ami:

In the story about Hans that I included in my book called, --- The Human Mind; I put forward the idea that although Sigmund Freud was right about fear being the most important aspect to determine human behavior, his penchant for substituting his own fears, (toilet training) or other fears, for that of his patients led him astray in his attempts to help other people.

I stated that his greatest asset might have been his affect on others who began to study the human mind and eventually came to better conclusions about how the human minds functions.

I now feel that I am about to do exactly what Sigmund Freud did.   That is, he took his best educated guess as to what was happening and although he was wrong in most cases, he did get the ball rolling.

I am about to enter ideas about Cancer that are at the very edge of my knowledge.   I believe that I am right on many of those accounts but I  am also aware that deeper levels of truth remain to be discovered by others who read these words or practice what I am trying to preach.  With those above thoughts in mind, I now enter the following ideas:

__________________________________________

PARTIAL CURE FOR CANCER

Sorry but I cannot offer you a guaranteed cure for cancer.  While it may seem tangential to this discussion, the following ideas are definitely appropriate.

If you get shot in the heart, no amount of positive thinking will save you.  If you are in an airplane that is about to crash into the ground, once again,  no amount of positive thinking can save you.

But in many cases, the way you think, positively or negatively, can save your life.   I cannot tell you exactly how this situation works but I am convinced that it absolutely --- does work.

If you have smoked cigarettes most of your life and you develop cancer from that behavior, I cannot offer to save you from the scourges of cancer.   What I can do is offer you more time to enjoy life before the negative affects of smoking catch up to you.

In some manner that I am not totally or completely cognizant of, the way you think can effect your immune system and either prevent you from becoming sick or it can do the opposite, --- even to the point of costing you your life.

The main operating function here is your immune system.  I believe I can influence your immune system to eliminate the errors in reproduction that bring into existence the cancerous cells.   

So get in touch with me and we will talk about you.   I will determine whether or not I can offer to help you.  Either to overcome your cancer problems completely or give you more time on earth to deal with reality as you see fit to do so.

       

THE VALUE OF POSITIVE THINKING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DISEASE.

Hello Again: 

Obviously the most emphatic example of the simple fact that fear can affect ones physical health is the story in my book about Helen Irving.   Even more impressive, in my opinion, is the story about the soldiers in Korea and the high levels of plaque in their arteries.

To extrapolate from these stories and determine that other physical problems have a mental origin is not really far-fetched at all.   The problem is that the situation becomes far more complex as you get into other areas of sickness and disease.

Cancer may be one of the most difficult diseases to pin down in this area.   If you are told that you have a 20 % chance to survive a particular cancer, would it be wrong to put forward a positive attitude in the face of such poor odds?

One must keep in mind that it is a considered fact that if one thinks positively, it has a beneficial affect on ones immune system.   Some researchers believe that we are bombarded by cancerous cells all the time but our immune system destroys them before they can harm us.

Taking the two above ideas into account then, --- it becomes self-evident that thinking positively about ones situation is much more realistic and beneficial than being negative.      

LOOKING TOO FAR AHEAD

Hello:

After the second World War ended, many of the politicians in England entertained realistic, --- but also  fanciful dreams about the wonderful future for the world at large, that lay before them.   Winston Churchill cautioned them about their focus of attention with the following words:

   

"Do not spend so much time dreaming about the wonderful future that lies ahead of us that you fail to salvage that which is left of the old world that we actually live in."

Both attitudes have value.  I think that moderation as in most cases, --- is the key.   After all, even though they displayed an outward level of high confidence, I am convinced that most Britons were very pessimistic about their chances to defeat Hitler for the longest time.  

So it would seem almost natural for them to want to think positively, even if somewhat fancifully, now that the war was over.   On the other hand, of course, Churchill was absolutely right.  Salvaging what is left of the old should indeed be ones ultimate or primary focus.  

My next words fall in line with the politicians in the above story, rather than with Churchill, but as long as I make them with the knowledge that moderation should prevail than I think they still have value.

----------------------------------------------------

I am convinced that conglomerated and/or distorted fears are the real cause of stress related problems and not genetics entirely.  In this regard then, I make the following, tongue in cheek, comments that might appear in a local newspaper, or in the internet, some time in the not too distant future.   At least I hope it won't be too long.

--------------------------------------------------

Dateline January 1st. 2025

BIO-PSYCHIATRIC PROFESSION

 PLUNGES INTO DEPRESSION

As a result of clarifying theories about distorted and/or conglomerated fear; certain forms of cognitive behavior therapy have been enjoying phenomenal success in their ability to help people with stress related problems that have the potential to result in depression, anxiety, OCD, and other forms of "so-called" mental illness.

The above situation has caused the general public at large, to almost completely ignore the bio- psychiatric profession when they decide to seek help for their problems.

This situation has also caused high levels of stress in the bio-psychiatric profession; so much so that they are also experiencing high levels of depression for their own members.  

That high level of depression is further exasperated by even higher levels of guilt and remorse for the untold misery that their misguided theories have inflicted upon their unsuspecting patients.

In a voice overwhelmed and/or dripping with irony, a bio-psychiatrist observed:   "At least if we go to a CBT for help, he or she will not fill our bodies and minds with mind altering drugs that have the potential to damage our brains, --- like we did to our "disappearing" patients."      

      

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Hello:

My last post talked about government jobs (in the Toronto area) that are paying out a huge amount of money to people who are listed as stressed-out and unable to work.

I am offering the executives in charge of these positions a chance to reduce these expenditures by hiring me to help people more correctly and intelligently respond to the stress levels that are affecting them so negatively.   

Some of that stress is occurring as a result of the responsibilities of their particular job, but also because of the stress-related mistakes that they are making in their personal lives too.

You have a choice, --- either continue to pay out millions in benefits to these stressed-out non-working employees or pay me hundreds of dollars to help them become more productive and happy.  

TALKING ABOUT FEAR AGAIN!!!

Hello:

ISIS is using fear to try to force everyone to accept whatever they tell you to accept.   After all, they believe that they have acquired the ultimate level of understanding and apparently you are just not smart enough to accept their beliefs.

In all probability they think as follows:  

"It is sad that we have to kill off millions of people before we can bring about nirvana here on earth.   But in the long run what we have to offer is the best thing that could ever happen to the human race at large.  In spite of the horror that we must have the courage to face in the near future, --- eventually the world will be better off because of us." 

WHAT NONSENSE!!!

They don't seem to realize that if you cannot keep or attract followers voluntarily, you disqualify yourself for the position of value that you think that you deserve.  In the meantime, because of their use of fear, they are adding a huge level of stress to other people's lives.   

On another level, one of the government agencies here in Canada says that their level of compensation for those who are not able to continue working because of stress related issues has risen from 5% to more than 50%.

Eventually my ideas about stress will be accepted.  Paraphrasing Winston Churchill who was talking about Americans at the time, the following seems to apply to the human race as a whole:    

"You can always count on the human race to do the right thing.   After they have exhausted every other possibility."   I am waiting in the wings.   I only wish I had the communicative skills that could make it happen sooner --- rather than later.