Living in harmony with Nature

All things can be divided into self, the world and mankind. Self can further be divided it up to me, and not up to me.  The universe can be seen as beyond the home rock, the home rock, and the organic matter that lives on the home rock. Part of that opportunistic organic matter is the human species. The natural purpose is to survive and multiply (you may need log tables if you can only add).

I have started to read "Donald Robertson,  Stoicism and the Art of Happiness. It is one more interpenetration of the ancient philosophy. It is striking how one word can be translated in so many ways. Virtue or flourishing or character development. OK. But then to say that it is thoughts that lead our beliefs and desires. Our automatic thoughts, decisions of judgement are largely due to our individual beliefs and patters of thinking. Ah yes. Thinking that something would taste great leads to overeating. It must be stopped before that thought. Baiting ourselves to eat is not good; that is over the slippery slope for sure, headed to an undesirable situation, a vice, an evil of personality behavior.

Do not allow thoughts to wander, to even consider and thing beyond my portion to be food at this time.

It is thinking that makes it so. And then thinking seeds the desire, and the desire leads to a drive to satisfy that desire. Plato had it pegged the third part of the mind that houses desires, after emotional, and rational. In the triune brain scheme, this would be the primal part. This is where motivation comes from, the desire to move, to do something, to act or not. It is fed by the conscious and unconscious parts. So it is thinking that seeds the primitive, and the way to address this is to not even consider it is possible, as if it were evil as it is. Some other ancient thought we would not knowingly do wrong, and if we consider even thinking about the possibility of eating more to be wrong, perhaps we can rationally end overeating long enough to make it habit. But our bodies will not let this happen. We who were obese can absorb more food than we need, faster than we need, and so become ready for more food too soon. We need to down regulate the intake and absorption process to more closely match our need. Since up regulation is quick and natural, cheat days cannot be considered possible, as they will completely destroy the effort to down regulation of absorption rate.

But then what do I know?

Duties, responsibilities, and appropriate actions are all the same.