I quickly skimmed an online, paid click-bait article this morning; it claimed many “historical” figures may not have been real. Jesus. William Shakespeare. Robin Hood. Confucius. Sun Tzu. Odysseus. Pythagoras. Moses. Muhammad. Etc. Etc. Etc. The brevity of my review was all I needed to dismiss the article. Whether the historical figures were real or not, the click-bait article did not offer enough documentation to convince me either way.
I am inherently skeptical; my skepticism applies to tantalizing claims without evidence to support them.
Which leads me to this: how sure are we (that is, how certain are scientists and medical professionals) that all the potentially dangerous interactions between the almost limitless number of drugs available to us have been identified? Can we be absolutely sure that Metformin is safe to take concurrently with metoprolol? Considering the sheer number of medications available for virtually every ailment, I find it difficult to imagine how each and every drug could have been evaluated for both effectiveness and safety when used in concert with every other drug. The difficulty increases exponentially when considering the fact that some people may take dozens of different drugs every day, each of which may constitute slightly different formulations determined by its source pharmaceutical company. Even those drugs that have been thoroughly evaluated…were the evaluations truly comprehensive? Was every possible mix—taking into account dosages, formulations, different drug combinations, etc., etc.—examined and evaluated in detail—in studies involving actual humans? And what about differences between people…were they taken into account? Black, White, Hispanic, young, old, male, female, afflicted with various diseases or ailments or as healthy as a horse? The older I get and the more medications doctors tell me they want me to take, the more skeptical I become. I feel like ceasing all medications; and watching myself closely to try to determine how the lack of drugs might be impacting my health or my reactions to my own body—suddenly free of dozens of chemical combinations. My tissues could be so startled that they might spontaneously combust. I just wonder.
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If you and I were to think reciprocal thoughts about one another at the same time, would that be coincidence or…something else? How do brainwaves between people somehow get into a rhythm of sorts, creating the sense that the people are thinking the same thoughts. On the one hand, I think such situations are purely coincidental; just neural accidents prodded along through shared experiences. On the other hand, though, I think it may be possible that thoughts consist of something like radio waves…and that those radio waves can interact with one another as they flow through the ether. While I do not necessarily “believe” in the brain wave/radio wave theory, I am willing to consider that it is possible. Of course, the “brain waves” may not be the sole transmitter of thoughts; our internal physiological responses to thoughts might trigger almost (but not entirely) indetectable pheromones…or whatever…that spur similar physiological reactions in certain other people around us. Behavioral or physical “oddities” may tend to spark responses that give birth to theories involving the occult or the supernatural. Sometimes, otherworldly explanations seem to be the only legitimate rationales that might explain the inexplicable. But I think even those obviously metaphysical explanations probably have their roots in reality as we know it (but don’t yet “know” it). I doubt that it’s magic, in other words; it is an expression of poorly or only vaguely understood aspects of physics and chemistry and “radio waves” without the radio. We may send messages to one another, either purposely or inadvertently, in dozens of different ways: aromas, visual signals, bodily demeanor, etc., etc. And, of course, with radio waves. Or furtive glances. Or accidental brushes of an arms against an arm. Or changes in one’s skin; a blush, for example, or nervous perspiration. Something to think about when other topics are too mundane or too frightening to allow them into one’s internal sanctuary.
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I have allowed my discipline to slip out the back door. Seems it wandered away and has not found its way home yet. The result, as I would expect, has been a slight reversal in the direction my weight is taking. I may chain myself to a column off the back deck, thereby bypassing discipline and getting right to the necessary but somewhat unpleasant part of my task: starvation and its attendant impact on my waistline.
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The day is unfolding before my eyes. But I woke far too early, so I will try to take an early morning nap.
