Perspective

Jun

2013

The Bright Side Mission

These days, There is a real, justified cynicism about supplementation, diet plans, alternatives to drugs, etc., and the medical model plays off on this skepticism. Pharmacist Ben believes that this cynicism exists because nobody is explaining exactly how the body works and how nutrients work.

The Bright Side Mission

The Bright Side mission is to communicate the message of how the body works – how the chemistry, neurology, biology, and all systems in the body work together with nutrition, with oxygen, and with mental, spiritual, and emotional components as well – so that regular people can gain appreciation and awe at the sheer perfection and magnificence of the human body. The Bright Side carries out its mission via The Bright Side Radio show and website, Pharmacist Ben’s presentations, and pamphlets such as this one.

Bright Side Mission – Syndicated Radio Show with Ben Fuchs

Therefore, The Bright Side’s mission is also one of empowerment and liberation: teaching the people how the body works so that we may take the power to control our own health back into our own hands and liberate ourselves from slavery to modern medicine, pharmaceutical drugs, and processed corporate swill that passes for food in the Standard American Diet (SAD).

As such, Americans are the most diseased and medicalized people in human history, despite modern medical and technological advances. 70 – 80% of the health issues in the U.S. are degenerative diseases – essentially, diseases of lifestyle; doctors, drugs, and surgery cannot do anything about this state of affairs. The reality, however, is that Americans are not sick, they are starving for nutrients. We do not need to be fixed, we need to be fed. Without nutrients, disease is the only eventuality possible, and that is what we are seeing more and more in the United States (and the Western world) today.

But there is great news! You can help yourself feel better and reverse the degenerative process if you just give the body what it needs. The body needs proper nutrition to feed the body, respiration to oxygenate the body, movement to generate electrical energy and deliver nutrients throughout the body, and long periods of rest for bodily growth and repair to take place.

Once you understand better how the body works and what it needs, you can effectively provide yourself with the necessary nutrients so that you don’t have to go looking for salvation from herbs, drugs, and exotic elements that are not part of the body’s essential line up of nutrition.

And so, as the name “The Bright Side” itself states, there is always a “bright side” when it comes to our health and any diseases we or our loved ones might be suffering from, which is that we can be our own doctors and healthcare providers! The Bright Side is committed to the idea that the body’s healing processes and optimal health can begin immediately if we arm ourselves with the proper knowledge and begin to change the food and lifestyle choices we make, allowing us to be the immediate beneficiaries of the body’s divine, inborn healing system.

Modern Medicine – It’s About Money, Not Health

The United States is spending between 15 – 20% (soon to be 30%) of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare, yet we’re so sick! We have the most expensive healthcare and the highest rates of degenerative disease in the world, as well as the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and cancer. As well, we have the highest healthcare costs, highest drug costs, insurance costs, and soon we will have the full weight of the federal government guaranteeing that everyone’s participation.

And what do we have to show for ourselves? More degeneration than ever before, and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Doctors generally treat allopathically, which is a treatment of disease. In fact, modern medicine is an ongoing war against disease, bacteria, viruses. Let’s look at the roots of the word “allopathy”, which means “against (allo-) pathology (-pathy)”, or in other words, “opposing pathology/disease”. Toxic pharmaceuticals, radiation, and invasive surgery are the weapons of choice in modern medicine’s “war on pathology”. With the notion of “you have ___________ disease and ___________ symptom(s)”, doctors are given the license to prescribe medications or harmful remedies.

It’s the medical model that is the root problem: The focus on billable markers, tests, ancillary hospital services, and drugs that is at fault here. This is the wrong way to look at the body! The commoditization of medicine in our capitalist culture has led to this state of affairs, so in true follow-the-money fashion, the health of the population has become nothing more than an opportunity for some well-paid CEO’s and their poodles in the medical profession to line their pockets at our and our family’s expense.

People go to the doctors for their sickness and, in a knee-jerk fashion, the doctor prescribes the usual stuff (like amoxicillin, cough syrup, etc.). Doctors prescribe the exact same stuff for everyone; some cost-cutting health facilities use formularies that show which drugs are supplied at the discounted rate. Everyone who has problem X will be treated with drug Y in a very cookie-cutter fashion – whatever the buyers of drugs at the facilities have a deal on. Every pathology has a designated drug and protocol for how much and when. These days, dispensing prescriptions is so automatic that the doctor doesn’t even have to know anything.

So, do you really believe that drug companies, hospitals, and healthcare services in general really have an interest in making sure everyone is healthy? The $300 billion figure goes towards paying a lot of mortgages for a lot of drug company reps and CEO’s. Do not think that a pharmaceutical company is interested in your health! The medical model does NOT have your best interests in mind. If you don’t want to be milked like a cash cow, you want to stay FAR away from the corporate healthcare system in this country.

What’s more, the medical model wants us to think that the body’s workings are a mystery and keep us confused, just like the legal and political system want us confused – so that we can’t empower ourselves. Just think for a second about the legal system or the tax code – they are so complex that you must find a lawyer or an accountant. Why? Because lawyers write the law. The political system is the same way – filled with laws, intentionally complicating things so we give up.

The American medical system is much the same – we are led to believe that health is complicated, when it’s not. The main problem is that most modern medical treatments that suppress symptoms do not address the causes of the problem in the first place, which can almost always be traced to simple root causes (more on that in the next section). And so, we’ve become so smart with today’s medical model that we’re dumb! We spend our time, energy, and money trying to “cure” the ever-growing list of symptoms of disease. But attempting to address health challenges at the symptom level is equivalent to Hercules trying to destroy the hydra, who grew two heads for every one cut off. For example:

– When doctors remove a gall bladder for chronic gall stones, patients get skin and digestive problems

– When doctors prescribe blood pressure medicine, patients have fatigue and sexual difficulties

– Treatments for depression increase the risk for suicide and difficulty in concentration

But again, the bright side is that, when it comes to your health, you don’t have to buy into a crooked medical paradigm. If nutrition sounds kind of wacky to you and you want to go out and use, say, a statin drug, then go ahead. But if you’re suspicious or tired of being drugged, turn to The Bright Side, because you will get a lot of real options for real health and wellness that don’t involve interfacing with the medical community at all. Continued reading The Bright Side Mission Pt. 2

Jun

2013

Mental Flexibility, Health & Happiness

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

An oversplit by former Olympic gymnast Irina Tchachina

Understanding that we don’t live in the world, but rather we live in our world is one of the keys to well-being. If we are not aware of the neurophysiological processes of meaning-making and perception, it is easy to make the critical error of assuming that the way we perceive “it” is the way “it” is. We can never know, as first pointed out by Immanuel Kant in the 18th century, the way “it” is.

We are marooned on an island of meaning, our own meaning and the best we can hope for is to understand this built-in facet of the human experience and operate accordingly. This means: don’t assume that you know the truth about anything. Always be prepared to maintain flexibility. That is flexibility of mind-set. In fact, perhaps the most important markers of mental health and happiness is the ability to absorb and integrate new information and allow the mental nature to morph in response.

Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher. He is a central figure of modern philosophy. He argued that human perception structures natural laws, and that reason is the source of morality. His thought continues to hold a major influence in contemporary thought, especially in fields such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics.

Kant’s major work, the Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, 1781), aimed to bring reason together with experience and to move beyond what he took to be failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. He hoped to end an age of speculation where objects outside experience were seen to support what he saw as futile theories, while opposing the skepticism of thinkers such as Hume.

He stated:

It always remains a scandal of philosophy and universal human reason that the existence of things outside us … should have to be assumed merely on faith, and that if it occurs to anyone to doubt it, we should be unable to answer him with a satisfactory proof.

Kant proposed a “Copernican Revolution-in-reverse”, saying that:

Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but … let us once try whether we do not get farther with the problems of metaphysics by assuming that the objects must conform to our cognition.

[Wikipedia]

May

2013

Peak Experiences

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

All it takes to have a peak experience is knowing about them. In other words, knowing what they are, and that they, in fact, exist. This knowledge alone will allow you, with a mental “flick of the wrist” to switch on to a highly organized and energized mental state that will be subjectively experienced as relaxation, peace of mind, optimism and even existential bliss.

Peak experiences as first described by Abraham Maslow are moments of overwhelming joy that can be experienced at will. What’s more amazing and important, is that Maslow discovered that when his students began discussing these peak experiences, they would have them more often.

It seems that seeing the possibility of these peak experiences inside, internally (i.e. the “in-sight” of peak experiences) increased the likelihood of having peak experiences.

Abraham Maslow, from Wikipedia

Humanistic theories of self-actualization

Humanistic psychologists believe that every person has a strong desire to realize his or her full potential, to reach a level of “self-actualization”. The main point of that new movement, that reached its peak in 1960s, was to emphasize the positive potential of human beings. Maslow positioned his work as a vital complement to that of Freud:

It is as if Freud supplied us the sick half of psychology and we must now fill it out with the healthy half.

However, Maslow was highly critical of Freud, since humanistic psychologists did not recognize spirituality as a navigation for our behaviors.

To prove that humans are not simply blindly reacting to situations, but trying to accomplish something greater, Maslow studied mentally healthy individuals instead of people with serious psychological issues. He focused on self-actualizing people. Self-actualizing people indicate a coherent personality syndrome and represent optimal psychological health and functioning.

This informed his theory that a person enjoys “peak experiences”, high points in life when the individual is in harmony with himself and his surroundings. In Maslow’s view, self-actualized people can have many peak experiences throughout a day while others have those experiences less frequently.

Qualities of self-actualizing people

He realized that all the individuals he studied had similar personality traits. All were “reality centered,” able to differentiate what was fraudulent from what was genuine. They were also “problem centered,” meaning that those treated life’s difficulties as problems that demanded solutions. These individuals also were comfortable being alone and had healthy personal relationships. They had only a few close friends and family rather than a large number of shallow relationships.

Self-actualizing people tend to focus on problems outside themselves; have a clear sense of what is true and what is false; are spontaneous and creative; and are not bound too strictly by social conventions.

Maslow noticed that self-actualized individuals had a better insight of reality, deeply accepted themselves, others and the world, and also had faced many problems and were known to be impulsive people. These self-actualized individuals were very independent and private when it came to their environment and culture, especially their very own individual development on “potentialities and inner resources”.

According to Maslow, self-actualizing people share the following qualities:

Truth: honest, reality, beauty, pure, clean and unadulterated completeness
Goodness: rightness, desirability, uprightness, benevolence, honesty
Beauty: rightness, form, aliveness, simplicity, richness, wholeness, perfection, completion,
Wholeness: unity, integration, tendency to oneness, interconnectedness, simplicity, organization, structure, order, not dissociated, synergy
Dichotomy-transcendence: acceptance, resolution, integration, polarities, opposites, contradictions
Aliveness: process, not-deadness, spontaneity, self-regulation, full-functioning
Unique: idiosyncrasy, individuality, non comparability, novelty
Perfection: nothing superfluous, nothing lacking, everything in its right place, just-rightness, suitability, justice
Necessity: inevitability: it must be just that way, not changed in any slightest way
Completion: ending, justice, fulfillment
Justice: fairness, suitability, disinterestedness, non partiality,
Order: lawfulness, rightness, perfectly arranged
Simplicity: nakedness, abstract, essential skeletal, bluntness
Richness: differentiation, complexity, intricacy, totality
Effortlessness: ease; lack of strain, striving, or difficulty
Playfulness: fun, joy, amusement
Self-sufficiency: autonomy, independence, self-determining.

Dynamics of self-actualization

Maslow based his theory partially on his own assumptions about human potential and partially on his case studies of historical figures whom he believed to be self actualized, including Albert Einstein and Henry David Thoreau.[35] Consequently, Maslow argued, the way in which essential needs are fulfilled is just as important as the needs themselves. Together, these define the human experience. To the extent a person finds cooperative social fulfillment, he establishes meaningful relationships with other people and the larger world. In other words, he establishes meaningful connections to an external reality—an essential component of self-actualization. In contrast, to the extent that vital needs find selfish and competitive fulfillment, a person acquires hostile emotions and limited external relationships—his awareness remains internal and limited.
Methodology

Maslow based his study on the writings of other psychologists, Albert Einstein and people he knew who clearly met the standard of self-actualization.

Maslow used Einstein’s writings and accomplishments to exemplify the characteristics of the self actualized person. But Ruth Benedict and Max Wertheimer were also Maslow’s models of self-actualization. In this case, from a scientific perspective there are numerous problems with this particular approach. First, it could be argued that biographical analysis as a method is extremely subjective as it is based entirely on the opinion of the researcher. Personal opinion is always prone to bias, which reduces the validity of any data obtained. Therefore Maslow’s operational definition of Self-actualization must not be blindly accepted as scientific fact.

One historical figure Maslow found to be helpful in his journey to understanding self-actualization was Lao Tzu, The Father of Taoism. A tenet of Taoism is that people do not obtain personal meaning or pleasure by seeking material possessions.

Hierarchy of Needs

By User:Factoryjoe (Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs.svg) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Maslow described human needs as ordered in a prepotent hierarchy—a pressing need would need to be mostly satisfied before someone would give their attention to the next highest need. None of his published works, however, included a visual representation of the hierarchy. The pyramidal diagram illustrating the Maslow needs hierarchy may have been created by a psychology textbook publisher as an illustrative device. This now iconic pyramid frequently depicts the spectrum of human needs, both physical and psychological, as accompaniment to articles describing Maslow’s needs theory and may give the impression that the Hierarchy of Needs is a fixed and rigid sequence of progression. Yet, starting with the first publication of his theory in 1943, Maslow described human needs as being relatively fluid—with many needs being present in a person simultaneously.The hierarchy of human needs model suggests that human needs will only be fulfilled one level at a time.According to Maslow’s theory, when a human being ascends the levels of the hierarchy having fulfilled the needs in the hierarchy, one may eventually achieve self-actualization. However, late in his life, Maslow came to conclude that self-actualization was not an automatic outcome of satisfying the other human needs.Human needs as identified by Maslow:At the bottom of the hierarchy are the “Basic needs or Physiological needs” of a human being: food, water, sleep and sex.

The next level is “Safety Needs: Security, Order, and Stability”. These two steps are important to the physical survival of the person. Once individuals have basic nutrition, shelter and safety, they attempt to accomplish more.

The third level of need is “Love and Belonging”, which are psychological needs; when individuals have taken care of themselves physically, they are ready to share themselves with others, such as with family and friends.

The fourth level is achieved when individuals feel comfortable with what they have accomplished. This is the “Esteem” level, the need to be competent and recognized, such as through status and level of success.

Then there is the “Cognitive” level, where individuals intellectually stimulate themselves and explore.
After that is the “Aesthetic” level, which is the need for harmony, order and beauty.

At the top of the pyramid, “Need for Self-actualization” occurs when individuals reach a state of harmony and understanding because they are engaged in achieving their full potential. Once a person has reached the self-actualization state they focus on themselves and try to build their own image. They may look at this in terms of feelings such as self-confidence or by accomplishing a set goal.

Usually people in developed countries focus on the third and fourth level of needs while those in less developed worlds focus on the first and second.

The first four levels are known as Deficit needs or D-needs. This means that if you do not have enough of one of those four needs, you will have the feeling that you need to get it. But when you do get them, then you feel content. These needs alone are not motivating.

Maslow wrote that there are certain conditions that must be fulfilled in order for the basic needs to be satisfied. For example, freedom of speech, freedom to express oneself, and freedom to seek new information are a few of the prerequisites. Any blockages of these freedoms could prevent the satisfaction of the basic needs.

Peak experiences

Beyond the routine of needs fulfillment, Maslow envisioned moments of extraordinary experience, known as Peak experiences, which are profound moments of love, understanding, happiness, or rapture, during which a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient and yet a part of the world, more aware of truth, justice, harmony, goodness, and so on. Self-actualizing people have many such peak experiences. In other words, these “peak experiences” or states of flow are the reflections of the realization of one’s human potential and represent the height of personality development.
From Wikipedia

May

2013

Bright Side Ben

What is the Bright Side?

The Bright Side is about understanding the invisible power that is pervades us, that is all around us and that we readily access, albeit unconsciously. This invisible power is not new agey or airy fairy or in any way, less than scientific. In fact, It’s as scientific as the electricity that turns on our lights. Actually, it is the same as the electricity that turns on our lights. It is this invisible power that shows up as electrical energy that powers the human body and powers the human mind. It is responsible for healing and growing and thriving and in biological terms we can refer to it as the life force.

If you are religious you can call it GOD. When this life force, electrical energy, GOD if you like, is detected by the eyes we call it light as in the light of the world, when it is detected by the ears we call it sound as in the word, as in “in the beginning there was the word”. The wondrousness of this omnipresent, eternal stuff is that while it is one thing it shows up in endless diversity of form from the smallest bacteria to the largest stars and it is exactly the same stuff that runs our bodies. This invisible power is only invisible until we see it’s work and that’s what the Bright Side is about. Understanding how to consciously access and how to consciously use the invisible power that fuels every living thing. All sickness and disease is simply poor technique. Lack of skill. Much the same as a child learning a musical instrument, poor health is simply the physical equivalent of the horrible sound a violin makes when a 5 year old picks it up for the first time. The Bright Side is about understanding that the same way that 5 year old, if he keeps practicing, no matter how horrible he may sound at first, will eventually become a talented musician, if he keeps practicing, if we keep practicing how to use this invisible power, this Life force we can become virtuosos of life, virtuosos of living.

We can strive to treat our health issues and our life issues as exercises that will eventually build our life skills. When it comes to health, never, ever let any medical professional tell you that you just have to live with a health crisis, or you’ll have to be on this drug for the rest of your life. There invisible power, the life force gives the human body has an astounding ability to repair itself. Every little shaving nick or paper cut is an opportunity to witness this amazing healing power. Bone cells, liver cells, lung cells, stomach cells, blood cells, skin cells are constantly dying and being born, again and again and again and again till the day we die. Revelation 21:5 God says “behold, I make all things new”, and nothing exemplifies more than the human body.

But we got remember the old adage GIGO, garbage in garbage out. Garbage thoughts, garbage feelings and garbage food produce garbage bodies. Physical health and wellness are built first and foremost from quality thoughts. We should all be striving to understand the thought process and then to harness the thought process for our ultimate good. Consciously selecting healthy positive thoughts and releasing old negative thoughts. And when comes to emotions and feelings, we have to learn how to feel our feelings so they can be released. One of the most sure fire ways to create illness is to suppress feelings. At a very young age we learn that our feelings are not OK, and we become very skilled at suppression. Feeling feelings fully doesn’t come easy for us, but it’s a skill that can be learnt and we can actually come to enjoy them. Even unpleasant feelings like anger and fear are not problematic as much as resisting anger and fear. Can you see the difference between feeling fear and resisting feeling fear? Between feeling sadness or anger and resisting feeling sadness or anger. The feeling itself is just energy coursing through the body. The real problem is, and the negative health implication that arises is in the resistance. That’s what creates the tension and resistance and ultimately the lack of ease or dis-ease. Continue reading The Bright Side Mission

Join The Bright Side Community on Google+.

Apr

2013

Mind Your Brain

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

There are two areas in the brain involved with experiencing. The first is called the narrative circuit and involves judging whatever you are experiencing through the filter of your past experiences, perceptions and judgments. It’s the part of your brain that’s activated when you are worrying, stressing and planning. The narrative circuitry is verbal and chatty and it’s the part of you brain that’s activated when you can’t enjoy your day in the sun on the beach because you can’t help thinking about your job or the IRS or your dysfunctional family. If you’re washing the dishes and you haven’t noticed the feeling of the water on your hands or the smell of the dish soap as its molecules hit your nostrils you are probably dealing with an activated narrative circuit. For the brain scientists out there the specific areas of the brain that are associated with the narrative circuit are called the “medial prefrontal cortex” and the “hippocampus”. What’s most unfortunate about this narrative circuit, is that in addition to the way it obliviates the present moment is the fact that it is our default way of perceiving our experiences. That means that that this way of perceiving is active for most of our waking life and requires very little to intentional effort to operate. In other words, unless we pay attention to our experiences and sensations willfully, we are doomed to missing the immediacy of our experiences, spending much precious time in our heads rather than in our lives.

The second way of perceiving events requires activation of a second brain area called the direct experience circuit. If you are washing the dishes and you have an active narrative circuit you may not notice that you’re washing that delicate crystal glassware until you shatter it and cut your hand. At that point you will immediately switch on your brain’s direct experience circuitry and that change will probably be punctuated by a scream or an “Oh shit!” response. That’s because while the brain’s narrative circuit is activated by default, emergency conditions that require an immediate response activate the direct experience circuitry. The areas of the brain that activate direct circuitry are called the insula, which is involved with bodily sensations. That’s makes paying attention to your breathing or your body or any somatic qualities a great way to escape the constant narrative circuitry chatter.

The good news about the direct experience pathway aside from its serene and non-verbal nature is the fact that it is associated with the release of pleasure chemicals in the brain, specifically the neurotransmitter dopamine. This surge in dopamine is so delicious that sometimes people can become addicted to it. That’s why some brave folks crave real life-threatening experiences like sky diving or bungee jumping. And that’s why some slightly less brave folks crave pretend life threatening experiences like horror movies and roller coaster rides.

The trick to making the most out of the brains circuitry and biochemistry and life experiences as well, is to watch your brain and intentionally activate direct experience circuitry. If you find yourself with an overactive narrative circuitry which can show up as worrying and stressing about potential future events or regretting or replaying past events you can willfully turn on the direct circuits in the brain by focusing on your body or your breathing. Try picking a body part, like your hand or foot and placing all your attention on it. Feel its subtle energy and shape. Notice that for the few seconds that you’re focusing on it that the narrative chatter has quieted down and you can perceive a palpable sense of pleasure as the direct circuits have been activated.

With regular practice at paying attention to these two ways of experiencing you will gradually begin to know when your brain narrative’s circuitry is active and conversely, when the direct circuits have been switched on. And from that point it will become easier and easier to initiate the pleasure chemistry of direct experience whenever you desire.