it is often claimed that what we think influences how
our bodies function

this claim is based on the assumptions that mind and
body are interconnected, and there is a constant
interplay between the two

and some make this additional assumption -

that by consciously and intentionally adopting
particular thoughts, we can bring about targeted
bodily changes; changes that are beneficial

these assumptions underlie many of today’s
therapies and treatment approaches, for example

biofeedback, guided imagery, sex therapy, music
therapy, psychotherapy, psychoneuroimmunology
relaxation techniques and meditation

Cardiologist Herbert Benson is one of the pioneers of
the empirical study of the mind/body interface and his
best-seller The Relaxation Response (1975) remains one of the classics in the field

the video below is an example of Benson’s research;

here he studies the ability of Tibetan Monks to signif-
icantly increase their bodily temperature through the
use of thought and imagery -

these monks are engaged in a form of meditation
known as Tummo

the long awaited Memoirs of a Cap’n was released
this earlier month;

and although greeted with mixed reviews from the
critics, this revealing autobiography quickly rose to
#1 on the New York Times Best Seller list

despite the book’s splashy illustrations and its ener-
getic, almost flamboyant prose, there is a sadness
that pervades its pages

in fact, one wonders whether it would have been
more aptly titled -

What If? -The Regrets of Cap’n Crunch

it seems that the good Cap’n harbored an ocean
of regret; this despite a career highlighted by the
launch of a wildly successful breakfast cereal and
a charisma that had made him a beloved 1960s icon

chapter after chapter of presents a Cap’n whose
successes are offset by indecision, hesitation and
missed opportunities

consider the never before published photo above;
it shows Cap’n Horatio Magellan Crunch with his
would be co-stars Leonard Nimoy and Deforest Kelly

would be co-stars because he turned down the role
of the Enterprise’s Cap’n just days before Star Trek
was to go into production -

he had doubts about the American Public’s willing-
ness to accept him as a spacefaring adventurer
pitted against Klingons and Romulans -

doubts that in hindsight seem groundless, given
that his seafaring pursuit of the arch-villain
Jean LaFoote‘ had catapulted him to TV stardom

and on the matter of the epic Lafoote vs. Crunch
confrontations, consider the movie trailer below;
it is a trailer for the movie that never was

despite investing nearly half his fortune in the
production of Cap’n Crunch: the Movie, the film
was never completed

the Cap’n abandoned the ill-fated project when hit
with a second wave of cost overruns and lukewarm
reactions to test screenings

he began to doubt whether the Crunch-Lafoote
magic would translate from the TV screen to the
silver screen

one is reminded of Captain James Cook’s oft-quoted

doubt and indecision will surely sink the greatest
of seamen

“Why is the sky blue?” is the quintessential question
asked by a child and flubbed by a parent

throughout the ages, parents confronted with this
question could do little but babble in befuddlement

but today’s 21st-century parents have a place they
can turn -

to the internet and Google, YouTube, NASA, and the
History Channel

NASA, for example, provides this illustration

and adds,

Sunlight reaches Earth’s atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth’s atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.

and if this is not sufficient to answer the perennial
parent-stumping question, The History Channel’s
Universe provides the following,

yes today we parents have the answers; or at least
we know where to find them

NASA image

nebulae are interstellar clouds

they are composed of dust, hydrogen gas and
ionized gases referred to as plasma

in time, these materials will coalesce due to the
combined influences of gravity and magnetic fields;

they will coalesce to form stars

these stars will burn their constituent materials
through nuclear fusion; creating new and progres-
sively heavier elements

they will eventually end their life cycles in a colossal
explosions known as supernovae

these explosions will spew out dust, hydrogen gas,
ionized gases and traces of the heavier elements

over time, the cycle will repeat itself; and another
generation of stars will form

all this can be seen as a kind of recycling process -
but one done on a cosmic scale - involving unimagin-
able energy, mass, distances and time

and nebulae can be seen as cosmic recycling centers
where the jettisoned material of old stars is recom-
bined to produce new stars

and these new stars, given elements such as carbon
and iron, in sufficient quantity and proper proportion,
may produce something else -

rocky planets like ours and beings like us

the above is an excerpt from the History Channel’s
Universe series

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), among modern
philosophers, was one of the first and the very few
to focus on the phenomenon of Love

Schopenhauer’s philosophy of love is remarkable in
that it not only addresses one of our most pressing
concerns, love, but it also introduces concepts that
would later become central to the work of Charles
Darwin and Sigmund Freud -

concepts relating to the drive toward propagation,
unconscious factors influencing mate selection and
variation among individuals across generations

Schopenhauer’s assertions about love include:

- love is an issue that philosophers have tended to
overlook or dismiss

- love is a central, if not THE central, concern of our
lives; and it is a key aspect of what he calls our
“Will to Life”

- beneath our conscious preoccupation with love is
a powerful, more basic, more important and largely
unconscious desire to reproduce, to propagate the
species

- we are unconsciously driven to seek out a mate
whose attributes, in conjunction with ours, will result
in offspring whose ability to survive and reproduce
exceeds our own

the video below reviews Schopenhauer’s assertions
about love in greater detail

the above video is an excerpt from Alain de Botton’s
“Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness”