The appliance of science

Well, my neighbour had a 'sleepover' so not a helluva lot of sleep for me and I ended up staying awake til the small hours listening to/watching riot coverage on my Streak...and then being woken up again just five hours later and carrying on... (A Streak is the kind of thing you'd steal if you raided a phone shop!) I'd been a bit fired up and antagonistic myself and was aware how easy to get in that state and undesirable...no matter how desirable victory or destruction appears to be. I'm one of those people who usually tries to put themselves in other peoples' shoes so last night I was a shop keeper with no shop anymore, a frightened home owner hoping the mob will pass by, a young lad thinking he could break and take whatever he wanted, another who thought he would look like a wuss if he didn't, a policeman feeling helpless, an employee turning up for a job that wasn't there, a politician trying to think of ways to fix things and keep his and a news reporter trying to think of new things to say. Of course you don't really know how other people feel but I can't help it and it's actually quite an interesting exercise anyway. It is so easy to fall into the 'them' and 'us' traps. The best appliance of science is the BRAIN - try to use yours wisely and compassionately!

My 'science post' elsewhere was obviously deliberately written in a bit of a mind boggling way to make a point to people who think I am just a woolly headed old hippy... I could just have easily have said 'scientists across the world are making progress in uncovering the chemical processes involved in feeling better' but that might have sounded as if I merely hoped they were! And the obvious person to quote would have been Dr David Hamilton who trained as a scientist and worked in the pharmaceutical industry testing and trialling drugs including cancer drugs. He became so interested in the science of the placebo effect that he became a motivational lecturer and writer showing people how important other things as well from Western interventions are. He indirectly inspired this blog! But anything with the word inspiration in it is going to be frowned upon by people whose motivation is despair or fear! Know what I mean? The professional lectures I mentioned on the NIS site show how very heated debates these subjects can become, I suppose very akin to religious clashes as the various believers also believe that only they will be saved!

I really recommend his books anyway and they won't give you brain ache...They won't cure your cancer of course but they'll give you something to think about while you're waiting to die ha ha! It might even help you to find some ways to make you feel better while you're getting worse.

Today I'm giving thinks for my intelligence and compassion. Their limitations give me room for improvement and I give thanks for that too!

Finally for now a word for Debbie who patiently sends me good wishes while I waffle on. God bless her if you believe in him...let's all bless her anyway. This is one of the more creative appliances of science...sticking shells round a mirror ha ha!

I'll try to get a better one with a close up but that's to give you a general impression and maybe some more 'inspiration'!