THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS 

Through the years I have often been criticized for my forays into subjects apart from health. Understandably, people come to me because of my formal education in medicine. They are then surprised, some even affronted, when they get something that seems unrelated to my degrees. 

Let me explain. The primary reason I am no longer in day to day clinical and surgical practice is because I just can’t get very excited about sticking my finger in holes in cracking dams. Attempting to repair health problems after the fact and not addressing fundamental causes is not only uninteresting to me, it seems unethical as well. Yes, repairmen are needed, and it is technically interesting work. But solutions that stop things from breaking in the first place make so much more sense. 

The frustration I have felt with conventional medicine has been paralleled by my dismay with the noisome effects of most human meddling. There is not only heart breaking disease and suffering, but injustice, starvation, abandoned children, war, oppression, animal cruelty, despair, and meaninglessness. But no matter what the problem, remedies always seem to be focused on effects, not causes. If there is starvation, send food. If kids are homeless send money. If there is oppression, send arms. 

I have been troubled by and pondered these things since earliest memory. Over the years I have thrown myself into conventional band aids such as medicine, philanthropy, education, legal redress, industry, religion, and being a compliant citizen. But none of it got at the root cause. 

And when I say cause, I am looking for the deep cause, the starting point from which the problem incubates. Since people’s actions are a manifestation of how they think, it is thinking that must be the root of all good and evil. Sadly, we are superficial, lazy, and pleasure for the moment driven. We want instant gratification, not the hard work of measuring long term consequences, sacrificing, and working now for a better future. 

So long view thinking is the tool we must cultivate and use. There are three important things this thinking must be applied to if we are ever to make a better world:

The first is resolving the question of origins. If we do not know where we came from we cannot know our purpose, nor can we decide if ethics is even important.

Second, we must have health. Without it, not much of anything else matters.

And thirdly, we must have freedom to seek, learn, grow, and live the destiny we decide upon.

These are not separate issues, they are commingled and interdependent. One cannot be resolved without addressing the others. We must first be philosophers. Not the nihilistic or solipsistic kind that gets nowhere. But the kind that uses reason free of bias and lets reality and the facts lead to truths to live by. 

I can’t be a good doctor or a good person without rationally exploring and answering each of the above questions. If I do not know from where health comes, I can neither prevent nor heal. If I do not know from where I come, I cannot know if I have any moral obligation to anything. If I do not know from where freedom comes, I simply expose my underbelly for others to lord it over me. 

For example, the idea that we are nothing more than organic machines that evolved from primordial muck, leads to the materialistic, symptom-based approach of modern (failed) medicine. It also promotes a survival of the fittest mentality among nations. It leads to the prevailing sense of purposelessness, and hopelessness. Religious ideas based on little more than hope and faith can foul things up as well. Likewise, living in a society in which freedoms have been lost, or in which economic blight binds one to struggling for daily existence, jeopardizes health and makes ethics seem superfluous. 

Remarkably, few have set about rationally resolving any of these questions. People just go to church, make their doctor’s appointment, and vote based upon the star power of candidates or their promises of hand outs. People think the realms of health, origins, and politics are where mere “beliefs” and “faith” belong. So rather than these subjects being the continuing center of open thought and important discourse, most people take the attitude that they have a right to their private opinion. Polite conversation is supposed to be about American Idol, who’s going to win the Super Bowl, and the upcoming trip to the mall. 

I disagree. People do not have a right to their opinion. They have a right to pursuing the truth and forming the correct opinion. 

My two books, Living Life As If Thinking Matters, and Solving The Big Questions As If Thinking Matters are my 1400 page attempt to focus on these three most important things and show how rational thinking can be brought to bear on them. The AsIfThinkingMatters.com website does more of the same, as do my newsletters on that site. These venues were created to permit fully exploring the three most important topics using reason and evidence. 

I, and you, have a duty to be probing, open-minded, truth-seeking philosophers, origin of life students, doctors, and political scientists. Until we get it right, there will be no lasting solution, nothing will fall into rational line, and we will continue to be mired in the misery that is the rotten fruit of short sighted, naïve, and wrong thinking.

Thinking Thought — "When people cease to complain, they cease to think." — Napoleon

January 15-16, 2010

i didn't get to post anything yesterday, busy fun day. so yeah. (:

Friday. so finishing up on what happened on friday. well so like after school me and kuya jr didn't know what to do. so we called up kuya jordan and he was at the library so we just planned to do something with him. but he had a key club thing so we just dropped our stuff in his car and waited for him. so we went to yogurt haven to meet up with jen, laurie, and steph. steph was having like a meeting with her cousin and laurie had to leave, so it was just jen. we saw jaystar again, we see him everywhere! but he went to disneyland, so jealous. D: i haven't been there in forever. and i really want a sweater. but yeah, anyways. we were so bored so we walked around everywhere! and my foot was like hurting so i hated it. but like after waiting for kuya jordan for two hours, we finally left and dropped off nikki and jen home. we wanted to watch lovely bones but it was getting late, so we just went to gdale to look for ties for them for dom's parTAAAAY. lol! while i finally went to gilly hicks and bought me some on sale underwear! hah, but yeah. then we just went home. and yeah, friday night.

Saturday. so yesterday, church in the morning as usual for like 4 1/2 hours since there was a membership meeting. but yeah, i had to perform. and then afterwards membership meeting! it was actually pretty good, a lot of people came. and omg, they picked me to do the charades thang. lol! the brothers got it, i was acting out barbie. but gj acted out and i got the answer right, LEGGO MY EGGO! hah, but yeah. we ate milk and cookies afterwards. then practice. then we went to LA, met up again. got erin's haircut. headed to gdale annoyed because they said they didn't watch the movie anymore. but we just walked around everywhere. then they ended up watching lovely bones with me. and it was a good movie. we ate at in n out afterwards. then went to target. then went home. KO'd.

January 15, 2010 ;

so yesterday afterschool, was pretty fun! like it was a random thursday too. hah. but yeah, we left like right after school because jen had to pee. so we were walking out of school and miggy decides to walk with us. then when we reach the park, rae started walking with us. like a first in so long because her driver went running? hah! but yeah, we went to the library and like the world met up there. well the usuals, anyway. :] but yeah, we walked to walgreens and then just chilled at starbucks. after, we headed to jen’s house to bake a ginormous cupcake! it was goood, well the little ones were. hah. but yeah, it was fun. (: