One thought I have had during all of this is that our information age has damaged science and medicine in a way most do not consider. It has forced scientists and doctors to be experts in real time, but that is not how science or medicine really work. They work slowly.
In the past, the experiments, the trials, the data, conclusions, mistakes, etc. were all done behind the scenes over a long period of time before being presented to the public as expertise. Now, the public is given a view behind the curtain, so to speak, but the public does not understand that what they are viewing is a process, not a conclusion. We are not equipped to handle the process. We are wired to need a solution. And, on top of that, we should have no say in the process, but now we do, in some weird way.
None of us is capable of being an expert in all things. Nor are we capable of holding informed, educated opinions on all subjects. Knowledge and expertise at the highest levels, especially with regards to science and medicine, are not democratic in that way, even if access to them may be.
Personally, I would rather not know until the truth reveals itself, which may be years away. In the meantime, I want to live my life with my own knowledge, my own peers, and in my own community. The science and the medicine will get to me when they are ready, which may be never.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Bodyand Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
“I think there is what you have and what you do with what you have, and that’s the only way.“ —Sophia Amoruso
If we spend our time trying to create something that pleases others with no regard for what pleases us, the result will be both uninteresting to others and displeasing to ourselves. This is neither desirable nor sustainable. A better strategy is to do that which pleases us, within the boundaries of what we are both good at and capable of, in a unique way that attracts just enough people to keep that which we have created going.
By being true to ourselves, in a way that is attractive to the right few people, we develop an audience based on authenticity and integrity, instead of one based on salesmanship and charisma. For obvious reasons, the audience we inspire must still be large enough to be viable, but a viable audience grown organically is stronger, over time, than a larger audience grown artificially. Organic growth begins by doing that which we are good at in a way that is useful to others, not by doing that which we believe others want us to do.
Part of what makes this difficult and frightening is that, if we are doing something new and unique, there is no guarantee that it will work, but if we do only that which others say they want, we are guaranteed to do nothing new or unique. It is better to fail being ourselves, professionally and expertly, than to succeed trying to be someone else in order to please the crowd. The crowd is never pleased for long anyway, so, as long as we are doing something we believe in, at least one person will be happy.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Meditations on God 