sentienthing

Now, lest you, imaginary reader that is, be sensitive to criticisms of the Pitchfork status quo I urge you to immediately turn away from your monitor for , what you may perceive as( sensitive as you are), invidious remarks are on the way. I have a confession to make, a guilty confession as well. Hitherto, people, like a gay man trying to make himself  go straight I have been likewise striving to appreciate certain Pitchfork rated bands in a self defeating cycle of personal fraud. Nodding at the required time, talking of how highly I rate the new album (as it got a 9.6 rating even though I only listened to two songs and of those two only half liked one of them). No more though, I will say it, I now must say it! I do not like, and/ or really appreciate as much as I ought to, LCD Soundsystem and the Animal Collective. Phew, what a sense of relief!

In fact, I will go further in saying that I do not like most modern electrical dancy type bands that experiment with contemporary and novel approaches in the production of avant garde music. I am a traditionalist in many ways at heart. Music for me is about good lyrics, emotional evocation and a good melody. If a song transfers me to a place I have long forgotten or excites me; if it can bring me to understand , intangibly and incomprehensively, something I had till then knew nothing of; if it can get me moving and appreciating the gentleness and potential of life: then it is, for me, serving the purpose that music was intended for. All this with an organic beat and acoustic feel and I am certainly all the more overjoyed. LCD, you must now see, just don’t satisfy these requirements..

Hell, but this is probably just me though. James, the young yet old gleeful atavist who still doesn't have a facebook account yet somehow manages to live (or rather, you may see it, endure) regardless. Still cursing the end of the commons whilst rocking on my chair by the fire, stick in hand, shouting on how the Luddites are history's real forgotten heroes... No, LCD I just cannot feign to like: far too trendy and hedonistic. Animal Collective, not as bad, but, still, no, they just won't do.

Sufjan Stevens is one person that I do think is good though. In fact along with Jeff Buckley, Jeffrey Lewis, Elliot Smith and Radiohead, I simply cannot get enough of him. Espers is another good band as well of the type I do appreciate, full of new folk vibes but I simply couldn’t put them in the epic category of the former group. Sufjan is, I think, incomparable and is the one true musical genius we have at present (of my genre of appreciation I importantly must add, although I could even argue that this man transcends genres although I am reluctant to really say this too loudly as it whiffs of being the certain type of obsessive proselytizing acolyte that I probably am, yet don’t wish to recognise). He sings with gentle compassion and understanding to the backing of often incredibly complex orchestral and sometimes simple pieces alike with lyrics that wouldn't seem out of place in one of those poetic compendiums that the poets Heaney and Hughes were so inclined to produce( here I must recommend their shared endeavour,” The Rattle Bag”, as something worth checking out ).

To give one example of the genius of Sufjan, I am going to briefly discuss one of his best songs in my opinion, “John Wayne Gacy Jr" a song about the infamous Chicago serial killer who picked up and abducted boys and thereafter horrifically raped and murdered them. He then buried many of the bodies under the floorboards of his own house . An even more sickening side, if this is even possible, to this was exhibited by the fact that this man was well known in the locality for his amicability and would dress up as a clown to entertain the local children. Now, firstly, such subject matter is almost unheard of in contemporary music; almost taboo really. Yet even with such a sensitive subject matter Sufjan manages to produce something that does justice to the portrayal of such a horrific act whilst still managing to foster some rudimentary understanding of such an utterly terrible series of acts.

The song itself has a beautiful melody and haunting chorus that creates a sense of deep sadness and loss. Sufjan sets the scene by speaking of how the serial killers father was a drinker and his mother cried in bed.  This establishing a base not of judgement, nor horror and blame at the wrong doer as would be expected, but of transcendent understanding. We are then told of how his mother would fold the young John Gacy’s T shirts when the swing set hit his head (this alluding to an actual incident in Gacy’s life whereby he suffered severe head trauma as a kid when such a thing happened to him). This is a beautiful image of the simple everyday love of a mother that reminds me of a line in the poem "Autobiography" by Belfast's Louise MacNeise which goes:  " My mother wore a yellow dress: gently, gently, gentleness ”. It does a lot to humanize someone who many would see to be a born monster.

The song then continues with the powerfully mournful chorus of “ oh my God ”, and then asks: “are you one of them?” A strange question here that I take to mean, have I, the listener that is, been in some way killed by the actions of this man as an act like this affects us all. He furthers this idea by then saying how Gacy’s actions would not just kill those who he murdered but that “he’d kill ten thousand people” . This emphasises how, of course, families, friends and neighbours would also be in their own real way killed by his actions. This is an important aspect that is often overlooked in such atrocities. Yet, the part of the song that I found most profound and uncanny in modern music was Sufjan’s personal confession at the end which really works as a confession for all of us when it earnestly asks :

“And in my best behaviour

I am really just like him?

Look underneath the floorboards

For the secrets I have hid.”

 This sentiment reminds me a lot of the famous Kahil Gibran who said in his book “The Prophet”, on the subject of crime:

“So as the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.

 And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the tree,

So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all. “

What this is asking and saying is that when we really look at ourselves, truly and deeply, we are capable of any action that any other human can do as we all have a shared humanity. A profound cogitation really this and one that our society tries its best to avoid and ignore but one that Sufjan here again offers for our consideration concluding the song with it for us.

Quite an aside all this I know from my brief initial discourse on my relative disdain for LCD and their ilk. However, I suppose in detailing why I think Sufjan is so great it in many ways implicitly shows why I find so much of the Pitchfork super stars to be lacking. Musical ingenuity and experimentation is good I suppose; but, a man cannot live on bread alone as you all know. Trendiness, this omnipresent force, and something that seems to fuel Pitchfork like LSD did the 60’s, is something that I shall have to write upon another day as a lot needs to be said on it really. Finally, I must admit that Pitchfork are pretty good regardless and that they also highly rate Sufjan. What I do essentially seek to get across is that next time you see an album there that is rated over 9.6 all I ask is that you try and listen to it objectively and that if you don’t actually like it as much as you are supposed to , well then, say it! Stand up and be counted! Your nation needs you.

Recently I went for the Driving Theory Test, an unforgettably dull and tedious experience for me. Rarely had I encountered such mental resistance in all my endeavors before as it was with learning how to differentiate between different signs and hazards. It wasn't so much that I found it hard to learn really though but, rather, that I found it hard to convince my brain that the knowledge was, in fact, worthwhile in acquiring. Incredibly, I actually passed the test in the end.

When I was then presented with my Certificate my toil and troubles were all unquestionably justified by a piece of everyday real and simple hilarity that would challenge any piece of contrived comic material that you can find. In a mundane world of traffic signs and signals; of formal computer exams seeking knowledge on tire thread lengths, and of the stinking multi-national Corporation that  runs it (there were ,maybe, 15 CCTV cameras in the small room where I was questioned...) there is a bit of humanity in the form of a funny coincidence. The Theory Test Manger for Ireland whose name is on all certificates is none other than, of course, F Skidmore. What can I say? Some men are obviously born to do certain things.

An artistic vision

A shared energy arises; more so a longing.

We see it as a calling.

To unleash the feelings caused

By the lack of significance felt

In a world apparently bent

On mindlessly wreaking its own destruction.

A call to action, to arms, to aid…

A call to, something , other than passivity.

A plea, even, for hospitality

And, above all, humanity.

Simplicity for the overstimulated.

Honesty for the complexed.

So to Cassady, Caulfield, Snyder and Laing

We seek to catch up where you left off.

So through madness, folly, songs and stories

We'll get on that train that is bound for glory,

And so bring everyone else along.

Introduction

O but I had a horrible itch! One that no ointment could ameliorate nor could any lotion purge. A most primordial itch of which all share yet most subconsciously repress. It was the itch which forces us (paraphrasing W.B Yeats) "to wander where we will". We are nomads and this we all do know. Yet we are sadly forced to ignore this by a society that fosters stagnation (through television, glitz and glamour and all the myriad other external niceties we produce and consume on a daily basis) to repress all knowledge of this. So off I went, with my most favoured of all inventions (save for maybe the teapot of course): the bicycle. Packed it I did with a few bits of clothes, a gas cooker, some pans, writing material and a copy of the book "Wild: an elemental journey" by Jay Griffiths. It was that easy!

 Explanation

  I amn't too interested in compiling a completely chronological detailing of the events of my journey here as, firstly, it would bore me beyond belief to do so and ,secondly, I don't really see time as a linear process nor do my thoughts follow linear patterns. What I will seek to produce is a compilation of cogitations, insights, stories and nonsense in no particular order but that which comes to me. I may also update this from time to time when I feel up to it.

 Wet Wet Wales

 Starting in Llandudno with Kieran we set up camp the first night in the most incredibly beautiful spot near Betws-y-Coed. We were camped over an old lead mine that had been recently transmuted into a lake surrounded by forests. Where people had once toiled and died untimely deaths now a beautiful reserve had been created.  I couldn't believe the contrast from where I had been a few hours before in Piccadilly gardens, Manchester. Sat looking at this view I thought: this is where we should be. Where we all should be!

  The next day was among the hardest, physically, of my life. We crossed Snowdonia to Porthmadog. It was all worthwhile though when, after hours and hours of uphill crawling in first gear (there was one hill that was so steep that my bike kept on doing wheelies in an effort to get up it!), we finally got to the top and saw the sea from afar! It shook me. Flying down the other side at ridiculous speeds, I felt really alive; buzzing even. The next evening, I think, we then cycled up towards the Lynn Peninsula, and set up camp in a field, with two horses, by the coast path.

  That night I slept worse than almost any night in my life. There was a madness in my mind. I had ludicrous dreams about police and farmers coming in the middle of the night telling us to leave (in all the camping I did, this actually never happened...). I struggled the next day. You see, I hadn't washed in a while, was exhausted and was cold and wet. I had no time for the curious horses that came over to lick us as we took down our tents. I was trying to escape from my present reality by fighting the moment and escaping into an imaginary future. Never works that. Took me a while to learn that lesson, mind.

***

  Thinking about the above, I must enter a piece of writing by a Western Buddhist writer by the name of Rigdzin Shikpo on the topic, relaxing into enjoyment.

 “For most of us, enjoyment is a sense of surfing from peak to peak and ignoring everything in between. It is important to enjoy the whole experience, the way it fluctuates up and down, rather than always to be looking toward the next high spot, By letting the whole experience seep into us, we may find there is more to be discovered in the little “downs” than in the “ups”.

  On this cycle, due to the length of time I was away, I was forced to cease constantly grasping for the next high as often it was a long time in coming. On doing this, resistance to the present situation often disappeared for me, leading to a sense of things becoming more workable.

***

  Another person joined the trip after a while, Brooks. On one of the rainiest days in memory Kieran and I arrived in Porthmadog again to meet him. Soaked to the skin I called up to Pat, a friend who lives there, and luckily she was in. I say luckily as we would have had a long wait as Brooks was very late in coming. Pat cooked a great meal for us when we were there and I got a chance to shower and load up on tea. When Brooks came it was getting quite late and she even asked us if we wished to stay the night. Small mind said "YES!” big mind said nothing knowing that wasn't what the trip was about. Off we went into the rain and soon found a forest where we all hid in the tent drinking whiskey in rounds.

  I almost forgot to mention Portmeirion and its heavenly gardens (I have always preferred gardens to buildings). This is a surreal Italian style resort village (hard to describe the place, I tell you) near Portmadog designed by Clough Williams-Ellis famous for being the location of the even more surreal TV show, The Prisoner. It was one of the highlights of the start of the trip.

 Loom of the moon

 After Brecon and on the way to Abergavenny we set up camp by a canal and, amazingly, for the very first time on this trip, had a campfire. The night was warm and gentle with an air of palpable stillness like that of being inside an old cathedral. We sat by the fire in unrewarding loquacious cacophony until we concurred that silence would be more in keeping with the night. An hour perhaps we sat in silence watching the dance of the fire upon the wood. At about midnight Brooks headed back to the tent leaving me and the fire together.

  Later, I got up and walked to the canal being surprizingly greeted by none other than the rare, but always welcome, presence of the full moon. It shone perfectly onto the still canal water making it seem like there was not one but two moons!  I was left thinking of perhaps my favourite Zen koan :

  The Moon Cannot Be Stolen 

Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal. 

Ryokan returned and caught him. "You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift." 

The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.   

Ryoken sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon."

 There’s Synchronicity aplenty when out of the city

   It was in Bath that Brooks decided to finish his journeying and to head homeward bound. After three weeks or so of cycling with him and being in his company it was strange to say bye to him; it was also stranger still to think that from now on I would be by myself. As for where I would go next I was thinking of getting to Glastonbury but, for some reason, had the idea of cycling to Cheddar. Brooks and I joked at the reason that I wanted to go there: I had once met someone who lived there, that was it! However, nonetheless I felt like I should check it out. In the end I decided to go straight to Glastonbury though as it was out of the way.

  It was a remarkably warm day as I cycled. After a few hours I was getting tired and decided to stop in a small town called Radstock. As I cycled down the hill, strangely, my pannier fell off my bike onto the road. I then decided to go down to a nearby tree so as to get some shade from the now oppressive sun. I wasn't long there when I was approached by a man that was certainly unlike the type the person you would expect to meet in a small Somerset town: dishevelled long hair , old tartan kilt; went by name the Jules(alright maybe you might expect the last one)... I got talking anyhow and offered him some of my food. A minute later his friend, Brian, originally from Bray in Ireland, came over and we got to more talking.

  It turned out that they were going to, of all places, Cheddar and had come from Bethnal Green to get there. There was a festival on there called the Big Green Gathering which I had once briefly heard of but knew very little about. I told them that I would love to go to it but for monetary reasons it was impossible. As it turned out with Jules most things are possible and he told me to throw my bike into his trailer (he had a huge trailer attached to the back of his van that had the most incredible array of general items I have ever seen. There was wooden flag poles, guitars aplenty, saxophones, gorilla suits, bits of trees, herbs, other bikes, spanners ... It was surreal!). He said that he had some connections there and that he could get me in for free if I was lucky. I said, fuck it, I'll take the chance. Thus began the most surreal and exciting part of my trip.

  Jules was perhaps the most spontaneous person I have ever met; a complete eccentric that didn't care in the slightest about the opinion of others. On the drive to the festival he often suddenly parked the car more or less in the middle of the road to pull stuff off trees or climb them and was always shouting to folk along the way( in a friendly way of course). It was great to see that society's stranglehold isn't all encompassing!
 
  Finally, getting to the Car park of the Green Gathering, I sat with Brian, a really easy and interesting person to talk to, while we waited for Jules to get us some wrist bands. After only twenty minutes or so I was sure I saw a familiar face to the right of the car and was hit with a sense of intense incredulity when I recognised who it was: Seamus from Manchester (an Irish guy who now lives a few doors down from me) and his friend Claire! I ran over to him and I think he was as shocked as myself by the meeting! On a last minute decision he had decided to come down, he told me. I told him my story and later, after Jules had gotten me in, we pitched out tents up beside each other as we bathed in the unparelled experience that was the Gathering.

  As I wrote in my diaries at the time of the Gathering, in a very lonely planet type of way, it was: “a spectacular gathering of human diversity and vivacious vaudeville all within a ludic sphere of tolerance and understanding. A great antidote to the perils of modernity! ". I had many noteworthy experiences at this festival and to make an account of them all would prove to be an excessively voluminous tack. So, rather, I'll pick out some of the most interesting and significant bits and elaborate a bit on them.

 Music and Madness on the Mendip Hills

 One day as I was wandering aimlessly about the festival site I came across a tent called “Evolving minds".  It caught my attention and on inquiring I discovered that there was a workshop beginning there in a short amount of time. It was by a self proclaimed Shaman ( I say this as there is no Shamanic GMC equivalent so I suppose all Western shamans are only shamans because they say they are) who was ostensibly doing a workshop on confidence and perception or something along those lines.

 On sitting down in the tent I was immediately surprized to see beside me a girl I had meet months previously whilst visiting a commune called Brithdir Mawr in Mid-Wales who's name, unfortunately, I cannot remember but could have been, and now for all intents and purposes will be, Laura. The class then began and the only other person that really stood out at the group was another girl who sat adjacent to me who had a Tibetan Singing Bowl with her. The man, who ran the workshop, originally from Nigeria, proved to be quite interesting unlike the tasks we had to do: describe twenty or so stones and then listen to the others descriptions of the stones. This lithological investigation took ages to complete and although my stone related descriptive skills increased as the stones rolled the whole exercise was so abstract that I couldn't exactly describe everything with , you know, lapidary precision ( amn't I clever, eh?) Nearing the end of the exercise I could but describe the stones as either: “light” or “heavy” due to my adjective inertia! I did get something out of the whole thing though although it’s hard to describe what that was. I suppose it was something about recognising how other people perceive similar things in completely different ways. To illustrate I remember seeing a stone that I actually quite liked. I said this to the group only to discover that Laura actually detested the very same stone. Ways of seeing I suppose.

 Later that evening I bumped into Laura again with Seamus and we ended up hanging out for the evening/ night. I cannot remember exactly what occurred but it was a great night culminating, as all great nights should, mesmerized in front of a huge fire alternatively gazing at the morphological manifestations of the flames and then the astrological illuminations of the stars.  All the while thinking frayed thoughts on, of course, eschatological matters. Humanity has lost a lot with the loss of the open fire.

  The next day, I was wandering around, playing the role of festival flaneur when I bumped into the girl with the Tibetan Singing Bowl that I had met before. Anna was her name. I had, just before, bumped into a person from Manchester that I only barely knew- whom I, interestingly, never saw again after that day- who told me of a talk on Sufism that I should go to. This I informed Anna of and off we then went.

  It was an evening event of Sufi Story telling (Sufism being the esoteric aspect of Islam that strongly emphasises love and the cultivation thereof) by an incredibly powerful, if at times- although rarely but not rarely enough to ignore -histrionic speaker, who beautifully told the mystical stories of the life of Rumi (an important Sufi poet) with a gentle backdrop of simple music that he also played on a guitar type instrument. The stories were captivating and reminded me acutely of Zen koans; so much so that I will have to detail one such story ( about the teaching of Rumi's teacher and spiritual lover, Nasrudin : 

    The Sermon of Nasrudin

  

"One day the villagers thought they would play a joke on Nasrudin. As he was supposed to be a holy man of some ineffable sort, they went to him and asked him to preach a sermon in their mosque. He agreed.  When the day came, Nasrudin mounted the pulpit and spoke:          

"O people! Do you know what I am going to tell you?"          

"No, we do not know," they cried.          

"Until you know, I cannot say. You are too ignorant to make a start on," said the Mulla, overcome with indignation that such ignorant people should waste his time. He descended from the pulpit and went home.          

Slightly chagrined, a deputation went to his house again, and asked him to preach the following Friday, the day of prayer.          

Nasrudin started his sermon the same way as he had before. This time, the         congregation answered as one:          

"Yes, we know."          

"In that case," said the Mulla, "there is no need for me to detain you any longer. You may go." And he returned home.          

Having been prevailed upon to preach for the third Friday in succession, he started his address as before:          

"Do you know or do you not?"          

The congregation was ready.          

"Some of us do, and others do not."          

"Excellent," said Nasrudin, "then let those who know communicate their knowledge to those who do not."          

And he went home. "

And death shall have no dominion

 Everywhere that you go in Wales you are constantly reminded of the inevitability of death. Graveyards are omnipresent as are the carcasses of car crushed animals by the roadside. There was simply no escaping this reality whilst out in the openness of the world. I suppose that this reality- this very real reality that we all spend vast portions of our lives trying to avoid- is in fact, on contemplation, rather liberating. This is the case with most truths.

  I felt forced to focus more on the present moment; the only thing that is actually, verifiably, real. The present moment: all that we have. Just think about it: the culmination of every process that has ever occurred in all of universal history is happening-now! There, verily, is no where else to be Sitting by the riverside, somewhere, I wrote:

Now is all that we have;

This itch and this thought.

This word and this, here.

Yet verily we have nothing

For in thinking we have

Haven’t we lost now?

Climate change and public health

  There are few contemporary issues as ubiquitous as that of climate change^{1, 2}. Yet, even with all this coverage of its current and potential implications, we are in a rather peculiar situation insofar as real action on it seems extremely slow if not completely absent. Seemingly, we are in a state of denial towards a problem that, if left unchecked, could lead to a catastrophe on par with nuclear war³!  

 What is the correlation between this and medicine however, you may be asking? The answer is that climate change cannot be separated from its public health implications. People are already suffering from its effects and the future impact has been predicted to include changing food production worldwide and associated malnutrition; an increase in tropical diseases and waterborne illnesses and a generally increased worldwide burden of illness⁴ We in the UK will also be unable to escape the effects⁵ and it will be our generation of medical students that will have to treat those affected.

 This leads to the question: what can we do? Firstly, and most importantly, we must realize that there is still scope for change as, unlike many other public health issues, we have the possibility to hugely mitigate the effects of this potential disaster. However, this action must occur now; and this is why action on climate change carries with it such a sense of urgency. As terrible as all this sounds there is hope as we have the potential to actually at best stop, and, at worst, reduce this problem. In fact, I think we have a duty to do something about this problem as by ignoring it we are in fact accepting it.

 What can we as medical students then do to tackle the causes of climate change? It is easy to believe that individual actions such as cutting back on driving and/or buying local are solutions but one mustn’t be fooled into thinking that, laudable as these practices are, they will ever address a problem as huge as this. The only solution to a global problem like this is governmental action and government action that starts today. This could start by supporting the BMJ in its call for the implementation of a worldwide policy of carbon contraction and convergance² or by joining pressure groups for change such as I count or Medact⁶. For further reading on policies for change in the UK I would recommend reading the report “Zero Carbon Britain”, produced by CAT⁷. Any action, we must remember, is better than no action.

 This summer I personally tried to do something by attending the Camp for Climate Action⁸ by Heathrow Airport which was set up to highlight the hypocrisy of a government that encourages us to change our light bulbs to more energy efficient ones whilst continuing to expand airports (the biggest growing contributor to Carbon emissions in the UK⁹). Many environmental activists as well as climate scientists and concerned people gathered to discuss strategies for change all demonstrating many differing ideas at how to avert this disaster. From my experience there, I have realized the ideas for change are abundant and that all we need is action.

 Climate change is but one example of our ruinous relationship with the natural environment but it is the most important element of it as it has the potential to fundamentally alter the viability of life on this planet. As future doctors we will be in a unique position to influence policy making in our respective areas and it is my view that this is why we should treat Climate change as the most pressing issue that there is. The clock is ticking but, even still, we shouldn’t underestimate the power that we have to effect the future direction of our planet. The quality of life of future generations and their health is very much in our hands.

1)       The anthropogenic basis of climate change is no longer debated within the scientific community; please see report of the Royal Society. http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=1630

2)       Stott, Godlee. What should we do about climate change? Health Professions need to act now both collectively and individually. BMJ  2006;333:983-984 (11 November)

3)       Comparison made in the most recent report of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. http://www.iiss.org.uk/

4)       WHO climate and health fact sheet. http://www.who.int/globalchange/news/fsclimandhealth/en/index.html.

5)       Parliamentary office of Science and Technology report. UK Health Implication of Climate Change http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/POSTpn232.pdf)

6)       See http://www.icount.org.uk/ or http://www.medact.org/

7)       CAT is the Centre for Alternative Technology and their report can be seen at http://www.zerocarbonbritain.com/ 

8)       Website for the Camp for Climate Action. http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/

9)       Tyndall Centre for climate change research report: “Contraction and convergence UK Carbon emissions and the implications for UK air traffic”. http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/research/theme2/final_reports/t3_23.pdf

  This observation is not just the preserve of Buddhism as modern psychology and especially the treatment of cogitative behavioural therapy (CBT) says the same thing in trying to get the patient to look for mental triggers that generate negative views of the self, their current situation or the future. Yet, without proper mindfulness training this can be a futile battle as by the time one realises that an emotion has arisen it can be too late.

 Another reason why this analogy is so accurate to me is that the negative emotions must really be hit and hit hard when they are recognised. This requires mental toughness and can often seem like an impossible battle. However, as with all battles there will be defeats and victories; these are irrelevant. The most important aspect is a strong determination not to suffer and not to allow oneself to purposely increase one’s own suffering. Mental habits are extremely strong and one cannot expect to overcome mental traits that have been acted on for years in a single evening; that’s simply not realistic. What is important is taking the responsibility onto oneself that, where possible, if mental suffering can be avoided or fought against then this must be done.

  Now the question must be asked, why do we develop so much fear and negative mental emotions? To this I cannot conclusively answer but I do have some nascent ideas on it. Carl Jung once said that “neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering." Most mental afflictions are caused by a desire not to feel certain things and of all these things the main one has to be that of suffering. Yet the truth of life is that we cannot avoid suffering. We, however, do not wish to accept this and in an effort to fight against the reality of suffering we cause ourselves all manner of difficulties. In essence, our fight against the reality of suffering perversely causes ourselves infinitely more suffering than we would have ever experienced had we simply faced the suffering.

  There is a Tibetan saying which goes:  if you want to look at how your life has been look at your body but if you wish to look at how the future will be then look at your mind. What this strives to explain is that each mental decision we make has an impact and if we make mental decision that challenge negative emotions today then we can be sure that, although we may notice no difference initially, gradually a change will arise. The battle may, at times, feel pointless but as long as a fighting spirit is there we can be sure that we will reap the rewards of our efforts. I would stress to say as that this isn’t a matter of faith at all as one can empirically observe the changes to one’s habitual thought patterns over time.

  As the Buddha says at the beginning of the Dhammapada: “Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.” This shows the importance of the battle against negative mental afflictions as, ultimately, our very happiness is at stake. There really is no alternative! Get your stick ready and start whacking!