While in Post WALKING AND FREEDOM we talked about that path where we feel free to develop any activity or action, that is, the freedom of oneself, personal freedom, now we must analyze that other path where the other essential part of freedom of the human being is found, that other one where we must walk to reach it as an existential longing or as a metaphysical reality, that freedom that we know exists, but perhaps we do not understand it. And here will be the first step we take, answering the following question: Should we look for it and lead our steps to reach it, to be accompanied by it, or should we only try to feel free?
The concept of freedom has been described and registered as “one of the highest human feelings”, but is freedom just a romantic feeling, or is it an instinctive need? Is it an unconsummated longing a failed and inaccessible hope? An emotional mirage, fickle in its versatility and fickle in its fragility or capriciousness, a sentimental obsession, a subjective daydream or an unobjectable reality? Is freedom an unattainable ideal, a chimera, a metaphysical reality? We know that it is a cause of life, that it gives meaning to our life; but that it is also a cause of division, discord and competition.
In general, we can speak of two SUMMITS, which, without being the only ones, could encompass most of the different types and qualities of freedom, and therefore our need for freedom: psychological freedom: of the spiritual, soul, mental and metaphysical type (inner freedom); and physical, civil, political, economic freedom, with all its rights, of worship, of association, of expression and others (outer freedom).
Depending on the field of action or thought or ideology of the human being, we can speak of different paths that lead us to freedom, although all of them, in essence, mean practically the same thing: to lead us to civil freedom or inalienable rights regarding the life of the individual, which implies political, religious, ideological, educational freedom; which in turn include a wide range of specific freedoms according to the fields of action or conceptual to which they refer; and also to lead us to the other freedom, the psychological, mental, spiritual.
In itself, we can imagine that we must climb two types of frank SUMMIT (frank paths), which can lead us, each with its essential characteristics, one physical and the other psychological, to reach freedom.
Before analyzing these two conceptual paths, let’s talk a little about what freedom itself is.
Understanding what the concept of freedom is, it is quite complex; knowing the different approaches that have been formulated over time to explain how we should discover, achieve, feel and exercise it is an arduous task. As a sample of these complexities (crossroads, difficulties), the 103 opinions and points of view that I collected and are shown in my book Freedom 103 (*), issued by an equal number of men and women who studied and wrote about this subject, are enough. For this reason, I have presented in this Post a path that can bring us closer to its understanding, bifurcating it into 2 broad functional branches (of action): the physical and the psychological.
Although these names allow us to distinguish them in two clear and constructive categories, they could be modified, depending on the intellectualized perspective used. That is to say, one could schematize less by increasing the number of paths that lead us to its conception, but truly, I could not assure that it would help us better in that path. It is a representation that has been formulated in my mind after many years of “ruminating” around this concept and consulting about 400 books (physical and digital) that I have in my library that talk about this difficult subject of freedom.
In each of these viable and perspicuous and intelligible categories l have to respond to the following aspects:
Simple or complex?
Plain or rugged?
Natural or artificial?
Broad or limited?
Extensive or diffuse?
Liberal or totalitarian?
Tolerant or intolerant?
Reactionary or anarchic?
Prodigal or insufficient?
True or fictitious?
Certain or uncertain?
Conditional or unconditional?
Fair or unfair?
Clear or twisted?
Open or closed?
Positive or negative?
Restrictive or …?
As can be seen, giving a precise answer to each of these questions is not an easy task either.
Let’s move forward and start our analysis.
It is one thing to approach the concept of freedom through certain complicated paths, and another to approach freedom itself, to discover it, to feel it and to exercise it. Perhaps this is more difficult.
The first scenario I have decided to carry out in the future Post THE WALK OF 20 THINKERS ON THE CONCEPT OF FREEDOM, which I have divided into 3 Parts, which I will present in due time.
The second scenario of How to approach freedom itself! Will be dealt with in this Post.
Anyone would say that first we should focus on analyzing the 1st scenario. Logically so: first understand the “thing” and then get to it.
The reason is very simple as to why I reverse the process of forging a personal and special inherence of freedom. The practice of walking is the ideal means to orient us towards it, and in this case our summons (instigation, induction) is not metaphorical. The walk is an analogical preamble to enter its threshold and this will facilitate us to go deeper into its conceptualization, which in turn, will guide us to choose which of its paths and bifurcations we are inclined to, according to our personalities and attitudes, and of course to our own social, economic and cultural positions.
1047-518-MOKSA (LIBERATION)
PHYSICAL STAGE TOWARDS FREEDOM.
What are the aspects that give this scenario, the physical? It is fundamentally conditioned by social, civilizational, political, economic and commercial dispositions.
It is not possible to hierarchize the different environments and conditioning factors that make up this stage, so our task is to analyze them in an order that I consider convenient, but does not mean hierarchy, importance or subordination.
I consider in the conformation of this physical scenario 8 functional paths that lead us to freedom:
1. Civil path.
Belonging to society. Being a citizen.
Citizen rights and obligations.
Every person, as a member of society, is entitled to social security.
2. Social path.
Relationships that people acquire by belonging to a society.
Social contract. To have the social circumstances to develop the conditions of all kinds of a social group, guaranteeing the human being the natural development of all his physical and mental faculties.
To achieve social welfare.
All human beings have the right to social and economic security and education.
All individuals, men and women, have the right to have a job, as well as the guarantee to rest.
For all individuals there must be legal equality, political equality, freedom of association, freedom of expression and the right to universal suffrage.
3. Political path
Rights that individuals have or acquire to administer public affairs or participate in the government of a state and country.
The political path leads to the observance of the natural and imprescriptible rights of the human being. To achieve democracy in all countries of the world. To seek the application of democratic freedoms.
All individuals have political rights.
All people, men and women, have the right to participate in the government of their country.
For all individuals there is political equality and the right of universal suffrage.
4. Human Rights Path
Human Rights are those from which emanate the guiding principles that guarantee the freedom of the human being. Rights over life, existence and freedom itself.
Avoid injustice and discrimination.
Every individual is obliged to respect the human rights of others and fundamentally the right to live and freedom, as well as the legal precepts from which emanate the guiding principles that guarantee those human rights and individual guarantees, precepts on which are based the rest of the legal and administrative figures emptied in the various governing bodies of citizenship and other economic, political and social activities of the citizens of any country, as well as the rest of the laws and legal regulations that exist in the society of each nation.
Slavery is prohibited. The slave trade is prohibited in all its forms.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
5. Individual Guarantees Path
They are the legal precepts on which the governing bodies of citizenship, both social economic and political, are based for the provision of legal and administrative figures that are used in citizen regulation.
Guarantee of respect for human rights.
All human beings are born free.
All individuals have the right to move freely and to choose their residence. They also have the right to leave their country and to return to their country. They also have the right to a nationality, to private, individual and collective property, and no one may be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
6. Partnership Path
Seek a balance between duties and rights. It seeks respect and protection of human rights in general. Seek equality, right to life and avoid discrimination.
For all individuals there is freedom of association.
7. Religious Path
All human beings have the right to their freedom of belief.
All individuals have the right to religion.
Everyone has the right to freedom of religion, the freedom to change his religion or belief, as well as the freedom to manifest his religion or belief, individually and collectively, both in public and in private, by teaching, practice, worship and observance.
8. Path of Expression
For all individuals there exists the freedom and the right of expression and thought.
All persons, men and women, have the right to freedom of opinion and expression and also to disseminate them, regardless of frontiers, by any means of expression.
To assist in the full exercise of human rights, guaranteeing the development of human beings and their individual freedoms. To prevent the violation of human rights worldwide.
All individuals have the right to freedom of thought and conscience.
All individuals have the right to information.
All of these paths refer to an external freedom and all of them are interrelated, juxtaposed and contain a very important link when they are unveiled before the concept of freedom.
CULTURAL STAGE TOWARDS FREEDOM
On this scenario we can walk taking into account the cultural aspects (**), that is to say, with respect to taking into account, on the one hand, the cultural factors that intervene in this stage, we can point out that 1) culture is a formation of the spirit; 2) culture is the organization of the inner world (personal life) and 3) culture tends to satisfy the essential desire of the human being; a bifurcation that is intertwined with the unconscious, subconscious, psychic, emotional aspects.
I consider in the conformation of this cultural scenario 6 functional paths that lead us to freedom:
1. Psychological path
The psychic causes that explain human behavior, in search of individual freedom, both in a conscious and unconscious state.
2. Spiritual path
Study of the causes that guide the knowledge of people’s spiritual behavior, searching for freedom of the spiritual type (art and religion).
3. Soul path
The soul behavior of individuals, in relation to their position with respect to inner freedom.
4. Emotional path
Study of the emotional states of the being in an analysis of both external and internal freedom.
5. Mental path
State of mind and knowledge of the individual in relation to his social environment, in search of freedom.
6. Metaphysical path
This path is defined by the search for freedom without taking into account the causes that obstruct it. That is to say, it is sought within the natural aspects – not supernatural – but beyond ordinary analysis and transcending known and habitual thoughts.
As in the physical scenario, all of these paths are interrelated, juxtaposed and contain a very important linkage when they are unveiled before the concept of freedom, but they are referred to inner freedom.
The complexity of achieving freedom can be seen by the mere fact that it is necessary to consider the paths of both scenarios in order to reach it. That is to say, it implies the sum of these efforts and not the choice of one or the other. This is what objectively represents to feel it and its achievement: the complementarity of several efforts (work, struggles, battles), since it is indispensable to travel through all these paths for its unveiling and exercise.
Now, I am going to transmute the word “freedom” for that “liberation”, with the precise objective of evaluating how much -and how- the WALK-RWD System and walking can help us to reach it.
For it, simply on the one hand, I will summarize what I have tried to transmit -in the hundred posts that I have published in the Blog- about the multiple aspects that the WALK-RWD System helps us to free ourselves considerably:
– Fatigue
– Boredom
– Negative emotions
– Blockage in artistic creation
– Harmful habits
– Aches and pains
– Discouragement
– Monotony
– Discouragement
– Obesity
– Procrastination
– Sedentariness
– Bad mood
– Illnesses
– Physical dysfunctions
– Irregularity at work
– Negative performance at work
– Indifference and disinterest
– Pessimism
– Pain
– Inner restlessness
– Abnormal loneliness (psychic)
This series allows us to know in how many ways we could free ourselves from all these aspects that restrict and condition us in our daily behavior.
There is also, on the other hand, a similar number of physical, mental, cultural, artistic, etc., aspects that provide us, directly and efficiently, the knowledge of how to achieve personal freedom, which of course are behavioral guidelines:
– Better govern Abstraction
– Improved concentration
– Propitiate Contemplation
– Improve Creativity
– Increase Efficiency and Productivity
– Performing Physical Exercises
– Promoting Positive Emotions
– Substantial Improvement in Enthusiasm
– Writing
– Encouragement of Positive Habits
– Playing
– Reading
– Facilitating and encouraging Meditation
– Increasing Motivation
– Use of free time
– Availability and use of leisure time
– Increased passion in accomplishing things
– Expansion of creative thinking
– Facilitating and improving personal fulfillment
– Encouraging physical, mental, emotional and sentimental Relaxation
– Increased resilience
– Improved sexuality
– Increased production of organic substances
– Improved availability of time
– Positive and beneficial solitude
In these two meanings of the concept of liberation, we observe that one of them means the elimination of “behaviors and afflictions” that trap (reach, apprehend, imprison) the human being, independently of his social or economic position, which could well lead us to think of a negative freedom, under the concepts of liberation from negative aspects, of freeing ourselves from something; the other meaning means the improvement -in quantity and quality- of his diverse actions in his daily proceeding (acting, production), which could well guide us to think of positive freedom since it places us in freedom to perform positive actions.
Let us walk these 2 routes that are impregnable summits with the objective of glimpsing in some way to feel free, the recommendation is to start climbing them and the best way is to experience Freedom by walking, applying the WALK-RWD System in an integral way. I have no doubt that when I start walking I begin -immediately- to feel parts of that” lady Freedom” that begins to touch me with its miraculous influences.
Walking means that we can express ourselves by ourselves, seeking liberation from negativities and pursuing the freedom to satisfy our needs.
I invite you to give it a try. Let’s reverse the process of forging an inherent freedom of our own; let’s go meet that lady, feel her, and then inquire into her conceptualization. Let us first feel its content and leave for later the knowledge of what is said about it. Let us perceive her first and perhaps then we will understand her better. All that is needed is a small personal effort -walking is free and liberating- and to place ourselves on the path; a situation that we can affirm will be magical. Let us walk and seek to hold on to his hand.
Let us pursue and reach for freedom as we walk. Let us seek to walk in order to be free.
In “walking” we generate an essentially human freedom.
(**)DEFINITION OF CULTURE: In order to clarify the concept of culture, we will resort to what Paul Diel expresses: “Civilization is an intellectual formation; culture is a formation of the spirit. Civilization is the organization of the external world (social life); culture is the organization of the internal world (personal life). Civilization tends to satisfy multiple desires; culture tends to satisfy the essential desire, in Diel, Paul, Psychoanalysis of divinity, F.C.E., Mexico, 1974, pp. 71-72.
Indeed, a human characteristic is that cellular replenishment is self-generated in a given time, taking 7 months to replenish the equivalent of a human body.
I will try to be synthetic in order to present objectively how the WALK-RWD System can collaborate incisively in this process of cellular regeneration.
The smallest functional and structural unit of the human body, which generates its own energy, is the cell.
All the cells of the human body produce their own energy by generating certain substances such as proteins, which are fundamental for the growth and development of the human body, as well as allowing them to rebuild and restore tissues and structures that have suffered deterioration and wear and tear. The general process of cellular functioning or metabolism allows the cell to manufacture its own nutritional substances or anabolism, and also to produce other substances or catabolism, which can be distributed in several stages, namely:
1 Introduction of the nutritive substances into the cell.
2. Absorption of oxygen
3. Use and assimilation of the nutritive substances inside the cells.
4. Energy production
5. Elimination of waste substances
6. Cell division
Within this metabolic process, one of the fundamental elements used by cells is oxygen. Being able to absorb oxygen, the cell generates oxidation on some of its own constituent parts; when this oxidation is carried out, the cell releases energy and at the same time generates carbon dioxide, which will be discarded later.
This part of the metabolic process of oxygen absorption (cellular respiration) is the essential mechanism that all cells develop.
The stage of use and assimilation of nutritive substances produces a self-generation and growth in its protoplasm so that it is reconstituted – the protoplasm – and the cell grows. When the substances come into contact with oxygen, they undergo oxidation. This procedure takes place throughout the protoplasm (cell movement and circulation) and the flow of nutritive material with oxygen is constantly distributed. Waste substances are eliminated when they reach the outer surface of the cell.
The availability of the quantity and quality of oxygen is essential for the cells to fulfill their functions, in addition to its regularity and harmony in its supply.
Let us keep in mind that oxygen together with the cells are responsible for the rejuvenation (preservation, renovation, stability, repair, regeneration, reestablishment, permanence, restoration and recovery) and aging of our organism in general terms, from the cell itself, as the simplest unit, to the most complex organs of our body.
This is where the WALK-RWD System makes its appearance.
I repeat verbatim the following 4 paragraphs: We have related 22 different varieties of walking and all of them allow us to develop a favorable exercise for our health, of the aerobic type. That is to say, by performing and applying aerobic dynamisms we generate oxygenation of the whole body, including the brain, we improve blood circulation and collateral circulation, as well as memory function and benefiting determinantly the cardiac activity. The important thing is to walk, always walk, and do some of the activities inherent to the WALK-RWD System, whether it is reading, writing, or drawing, in a combined way.
Many of the physiological problems that we suffer and that we have mentioned in previous posts, related to the fundamental systems, such as the digestive, cardiovascular or circulatory, respiratory, bone system and the neuro vegetative, can be prevented and corrected and maintained healthy with walking and the execution of the WALK-RWD System; in the same way, the functions and tasks of the neurocerebral system can be kept healthy, as we have already mentioned, the WALK-RWD increases the blood irrigation and the oxygenation of the brain, which causes a better work and a healthier and healthier functioning, freeing it from fatigue and weakening, giving it strength to face (discharge generation) better the destructive emotions.
We know that the brain is oxygenated when we exercise, it is true, surely certain types of substances are produced that fully favor the functioning of some of the physical-organic systems of the body, as well as fundamental parts of the brain, which have remained dormant, favoring and stimulating their functions (physiological-mental).
It is not completely returning to the past, because modern man does not walk to hunt, not to gather fruits, not to graze, not to cut roots; he walks to exercise all his muscles (almost 100% of them) and his bone structure. The results (physical and mental effects) of walking are exactly the same since archaic times: exercise, blood circulation, oxygenation of the whole body and brain, and positive functional impact on all organs and body and physiological systems.
We must take into account that not every type of exercise generates good oxygenation of the cells. If we get very stressed or if we do extreme sports or if we run certain dangers, etc. we will see that our organism will not respond in the same way, since it will dedicate part of its energy to counteract the production of certain substances that are not favorable for the good performance of the cellular nutrition and to correct some negative emotions.
The WALK-RWD System is conceived so that the activity of walking and those of reading, writing, and drawing, are all of them safe and enjoyable means, where the practitioner does not run any risk inherent to the system and only performs what keeps him healthy, calm, and fully enjoyed.
The activity of walking in a natural way is in itself an appropriate mechanism to properly oxygenate the nutritional process of the cells. We do not have to set any limits or parameters for it, but simply to walk normally; the rest will be developed by our body on its own.
Now, lately there has been a lot of talk about FREE RADICALS. What are free radicals? They are molecules that have gone into disequilibrium because they have lost one or more electrons, so their need to restore their equilibrium causes a reposition-opposition circle that has repercussions on considerable groups of cells.
Each molecule that replaces its lost electron transforms the molecule that took its electron into a Free Radical, and so on. These switches cause molecular perturbations and cell damage, which in turn can lead to cell death.
Free radicals are necessary in the organism for the realization of several fundamental functions and also to maintain a healthy level of the organism, for example, our immune system generates its own free radicals which allows it to face harmful agents; however, it also happens that this process of circular reposition-opposition, which alters the balance of electrons in the cell membranes, generates a negative state in the organism.
How is this lethal circle resolved? It is clear that molecular stability is attempted to be resolved by localizing electrons in other molecules, but invariably results in an unstable circle. This circle is a process of oxidation (oxidative stress) generated by the imbalance between the unstable molecules and the organic capacity to neutralize the molecular perturbation produced.
However, stability is achieved by means of a natural mechanism that the organism itself manages to neutralize this lethal circle, through antioxidants, with a natural antioxidant process.
These antioxidants are molecules that manage to prevent the oxidation generated by Free Radicals, which have the capacity to yield a variable number of electrons without losing their stability.
How is the balance of electrons in molecules lost? The causes are diverse: nutrition, emotional imbalances, environmental pollution, chemical substances in processed foods (preservatives, sweeteners, colorants, etc.), oxygen in the air and the sun’s rays.
How can the balance be restored by external agents, with an external antioxidant process? Through a good diet, pharmaceutical substances and components, vitamins, and exercise.
Let us keep in mind that Free Radicals are responsible for the aging (decay, degeneration) of our organism in general terms, from the cell, as the simplest unit, to the most complex organs of our body.
Now, this seems to be a contradiction. We were saying that carrying out the metabolic process in the cell requires the absorption of oxygen, which is the fundamental element used by the cells for their production and growth. This with the assimilation of other nutritive substances generates growth and reconstitution of its protoplasm. In all this nutritional and self-recreation process, oxygen plays a central role.
We also mentioned that in order to produce and release energy, the cell generates oxidation on some of its own constituent parts and that this oxidation can provoke an imbalance between the unstable molecules and the organic capacity to neutralize the molecular perturbation produced.
The answer to this paradox is, as we have already mentioned, to have the quantity and quality of oxygen available for the cells to carry out their functions in a balanced way, without producing harmful oxidation.
Walking itself, I repeat, is a natural activity in the human being, an appropriate mechanism to properly oxygenate the nutritional process of the cells. We do not have to point out any limits or parameters for it, but simply to walk normally; the rest will be developed by our body by itself as it will take and process the necessary oxygen, with regularity and harmony.
Let us walk to rebuild and restore the tissues that have aged, suffered deterioration and wear and tear, and to balance, in this natural way, the molecules that have lost those electrons.
The recommendations that I propose throughout this Post assume that we have “solved” the 18 aspects that I mention below and that complicate our relationship with time management:
1. Procrastination
2. Unnecessary chatter
3. Inopportune visitors
4. Talking on the cell phone for long periods of time and continuously
5. Unproductive meetings
6. Unnecessary chats
7. Lack of punctuality and delays
8. Bad decisions and indecision
9. Low productivity in daily activities
10. Mental programming in a negative way
11. Low control in fundamental actions
12. Proceeding with a Negative Attitude
13. Low self-esteem
14. Not knowing what you want to do
15. Behaving with discouragement and dejection.
16. Remaining (Existence) with high degrees of stress.
17. Existence of Unforeseen Events
18. Allowing excuses of any kind.
Note that the resolution of these 18 aspects -which are generally of the daily type- does not imply that we should try to be “perfect beings” in our daily life, but simply that the activities we develop are congruent with what we want to do in any given day. In other words, time management implies being attentive to a number of complex situations, but our existence is thus harassed every day.
Although it is not our objective to present a model to elaborate and manage a program by day of task execution, nor by week, month or any other period, it is not superfluous to mentally elaborate a hierarchical, simple list of the priority and important activities, as well as those that should be carried out without postponing them. The ones classified as urgent should also be included in this list, since they have become priority and important because they have been delayed, postponed or procrastinated for some reason. Likewise, the secondary and non-important ones will be included in this list mentally and/or in writing, since all of them are activities that must be carried out on that day.
Keeping all these categories in mind is important because in each of them we will be able to apply the “use of slack” resource.
Let’s see how to use that total time we have to develop our daily commitments by using slack to improve our efficiency in achieving walking.
Because our fundamental theme is the walking of the human being, in this Post I present the way to manage time, within the sphere of activities that may be related to disposition or indetermination, decision or indecision, mood or discouragement, enthusiasm or indifference, fervor or apathy, conviction or doubt, which are presented in the practice of walking; that is to say, in the scope of those activities that in some way can hinder or delay its practice and that through the use of the time of slack, we can have time to develop walks, favoring the personal control over our management and availability of time.
There are several factors that must be taken into account in order to properly manage time in relation to walking. In the line of the difficulties in general, that are presented to walk (negative branch) we find disorder, indecision, fear, pessimism, discouragement, uneasiness; in the line of the facilities in general (positive branch), we find vocation, encouragement, strong will, tranquility, desire, ability, taste, optimism, self-determination; and in another segment of the inclinations that we will analyze in another Post, we find the economic and social situation and the physical – and mental – faculties, which in certain cases make it impossible to try to manage time, under any method or system, such as physical incapacity, limitations and unacceptable deteriorated psychological states (strongly unbalancing), such as anguish, sadness, depression, etc.
The secret -in part- to have enough time in the trinomial “walking-time-activities” is in managing adequately the concept of slack time.
This concept of “slack” is not very easy to analyze and even less to put it into practice; that is, to make it inherent to ourselves.
The slack time, floating or float time, or simply slack, whatever we call it, is the time we have available to perform any activity without interrupting any other activity that we have scheduled in sequence within the complex of our commitments in the office, and other productive sectors or leisure or recreation. However, there are several functional factors that we will consider and that have an intimate relationship with it, for the administration of time, in the realization of the different activities that the human being carries out, giving priority to the exercise of walking, namely:
Efficiency
Hierarchy (Priority of activities)
Divagation
Freedom (without social conditioning)
Ordering
Organization
Will
These functional factors must be associated with the need to try to avoid anarchy, inefficiency, disorder, digression, bad habits, etc., in short, negative aspects for the achievement of our goals, associated with the trinomial “walking-time-activities”, although the mere satisfaction of those positive elements is, in part, sufficient to overcome the negative ones.
We should not think about PROLONGATIONS, POSTPONEMENTS, or DELAYS. The cases we face on a daily basis in which we can use the “slack” are not very different; that is, in general there are activities that we can postpone and nothing happens, but there are others that we can’t. However, we will have to learn to use “slack”. However, we will have to learn to use the slack in the various behavioral strata of the human being. These are varied for each individual and in all of them we can apply them; so each individual must analyze his or her personal case. In the future post WALKING AND ENJOYING PROPORTIONS AND OTHER NUMBERS I allow myself to approach these categories: “The three elements mentioned, time, space and number, fall in the field of rationalism, however, the number is the element that gives support to time and space, for its interpretation of dimensionality and proportionality. We must take ‘Slack Time’ very much into account for these numerical relations, since it is an inherent characteristic of time and space, considering its own dimensional essences, so we will have to use: slack or conjuncture in the temporal opportunity; slack or profitability (physical opportunity in the right choice) of the material resources; slack or the three-dimensional perspective; slack or term in the application of the financial and economic resources; slack or right timing of artistic realization; slack or leeway in terms of spatial displacement; slack in the timeliness or precision (accuracy) of right thinking; slack or advantage embodied in decision making; slack or speculation on actions of the inner self; slack in the blunder or impertinence of healing of disease; slack in spiritual anachronisms, etc. ” Categories that we will explain in part II, of this Post, in relation to the concept of Slack Time.
Now then: What is slack and how is it managed (handled)? This is what this Post will deal with and specifically its utilization and management while walking. In general, we can say that walking allows us to perform other types of activities, which we do not perform on a daily basis when we walk; but now we can perform them, which will provide us with extra time during the hours of our daily workday.
The secret to have greater availability of -although not necessarily enough- is to manage adequately, and in an acceptable way, the different moments of Slack.
WORK # 564. EVASIONS
First of all, let’s see what is Slack? What does the concept of Slack mean?
We can resort to the Project Scheduling technique, in which the concept of Float Time or Slack Time is used, which is defined as the time where an activity can be delayed without affecting the total duration of a project. In our case, we will define it as the time we can use to carry out activities without affecting the course of our commitments, since we can use it for whatever we wish, because we are obliged to wait for a time T (Floating Time) for an activity to be carried out (or finished) while we wait. This waiting time can always be used to develop any activity without affecting our commitments and itinerary of realization, and specifically we can use it to walk.
In posts THE WALK AND THE LACK OF TIME-PART I and WALKING AND FREE TIME. PART II was not an essential purpose to comment on making more efficient or increasing the time available for certain activities and tasks, which by our social, family and work obligations, we are committed to performing, willingly or not; however, now we will comment and propose some guidelines within the WALK-RWD System, to increase its availability, of the total time we strictly have.
I believe that it is crucial to consider the meaning of the word WAIT, which is related to what we daily qualify as: “to make time, to wait in line, to wait sitting or standing, to give time to time, to make an anteroom, to take a certain time, to wait for a better moment, to postpone, to delay, to linger, to despair”. In a few words, WAITING for an activity to be developed or to be finished, means -many times- that it causes us despair, anguish, anxiety, discouragement, hopelessness, demoralization, impotence, uneasiness, irritation, displeasure, either because we are forced to do so, or because we are persevering in the achievement of some goal, and therefore we must remain waiting for something or wait for certain actions or results to be carried out. However, we can transform this WAITING, almost in the generality of the cases, in a “usable” time since we can take advantage of it meditating, reading, examining, reflecting, writing, contemplating, etc., and other dozens of appropriate actions to use this time of slack, according to the place where we are doing this WAITING. In our case it will be to take advantage of that waiting time to start walking.
All this sounds a bit illusory and chimerical, because in reality we do not have time for anything, let alone trying to use what I am calling “slack”, “waiting”. Someone would say: “…and now, besides, I have to take care of managing slack, less time will I have!
I would like to transmit from this moment on that this concept of slack is real, legitimate, tangible, certain and effective. Let’s move on.
A relevant part of this Post is to convey that all important activities, routine, daily or day-to-day, and also the eventual ones in life, should be planned and executed with slack. It is very easy the theoretical solution, but somewhat difficult to put it into practice. The result of obtaining the satisfactory achievement in it, is that our effectiveness will be greater in the attainment of our goals, but in addition we will realize it avoiding the anguish, the uncertainty and the anxiety that we are always carrying precisely because we do not have enough time. And this series of worries are usually every day and quite stressful.
The behavior of human beings in certain social strata has been studied with respect to the use of time during the performance of their most important activities and where it is most concentrated. One of the results was that 78% of our activities fall into the basket of NOT HAVING an exact date and time to perform them, i.e., those “commitments” can be advanced or postponed without causing us a major problem. The study does not provide information on how much time we can postpone or advance these activities. Nor does it mention whether any indication was made -within the study-survey- between the different degrees or levels of importance of the activities, and it was only investigated by indicating the activities in general. However, the most outstanding aspect of the results is that the activities that cannot be deferred represent only 1/5 of all the activities that we carry out on a daily basis. This means that we should be aware that we have a great margin to organize ourselves and schedule our time more efficiently with respect to those activities that do not have an exact date and time.
Schematically, out of 10 activities that we carry out in a period of time, for example in a day of 14 hours of effectiveness, 2 of them we will have to develop them in a fixed time and moment, but the remaining 8, we will be able to advance or defer them, so that our time can be used more efficiently.
FORECAST OR PRECIPICE
With this image, I want to convey that we are always stressed about the time limit to perform an activity. What is proposed is to schedule activities in time so that we are not always on the edge of a precipice in the realization of our commitments (work, family, etc.). That is to say, to be able to carry out the actions with ease and thus avoid being anguished, for not having enough time to carry them out. This distance (in minutes or hours or days) of SLACK should always be taken into account so that we never find ourselves on the edge of the abyss.
According to the data of the aforementioned study, only 2 activities are those that should keep us in a state of alertness, and the rest we can organize with slack and greater ease to schedule and carry them out. Only 2 we will have to watch out -according to the analysis- in order not to fall into the precipice.
After this remark about scheduling activities in general but specifically the punctual ones (fixed date and time), I would like to point out 2 additional concepts that we must take into account for this: 1) the routine, which is recommended and essential and 2) systematization, which is mandatory and must be a commitment; of course, in this scenario we must be aware of how to use the available “work” slack, which we may not always be aware of its existence.
The Routine itself is the effective solution for any activity that we have programmed to perform during the day, since it only requires us to get going to face its execution. The rest of its execution will be carried out “as we have always done”.
I will dedicate a few more words to these two concepts, and then focus on the management of slack.
Routine is a normal mechanism that human beings use throughout their productive life. (Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND HABITS, Post ADDITIONAL BENEFITS IN THE CONDITIONING OF THE BODY AND THE MIND, Post WALKING, AN EXISTENTIAL METAPHOR. PART 2 OF 4.) Routine is frequently mentioned in a pejorative sense, however, it should not necessarily always be considered as such, unless it is placed in monotony; Bachelard expresses that routine is a repetition of oneself, because we appreciate ourselves and we show it that way. Of course, the routines that we incorporate in our behavior, in the different periods of our existence, have several benefits, but the most important -apart from the one expressed by Bachelard-, considering the subject we are analyzing, is the saving of time.
I point out and use the concept of routine as a voluntary and conscious activity or behavior that self-affirms us in our behavior in the development of tasks, since it allows us to be authentic creators of ourselves and in the achievement of satisfactions for ourselves, leaving aside the physical and social limitations and influences of our surrounding environment, if the latter could be achieved to any significant degree. I would like to differentiate it from the concept of Monotony which is also a repetition of activities, actions or movements that reach boredom and weariness of the individual who practices it, so this would be the word that wears the golden crown of all that is pejoratively assigned to Routine. Of course, this is a personal designation, and the only purpose of being able to express myself in these contexts of communication, with greater clarity and not to confuse with meanings that have been imputed (attributed) to the routine (habit), sometimes with reason and sometimes without reason.
What happens in routines? In each of our routines we do not “waste” time thinking or planning an activity (simple or complex action) about how we will start it, nor how we will finish it – apart from the other questions (WH’s), nor about the time we will spend on it or if we will be satisfied. When we develop our activities in a routine way, we already know in advance their performance and efficiency parameters, which represents a considerable saving of time.
Besides, in this process of formation of routines, perhaps we find ourselves before the creation of a positive habit (Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND THE HABITS), and that is very important for personal development.
However, we must be aware that the routine is not (very) convenient in some situations that are presented to us, nor in certain human activities, as for example in the development of games (Future Post THE GAME AND THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM. PART II. NO TO COMPETITION, YES TO FUN); however, on the process of doing, by means of the use of slack, it could be combined with games; a binomial that optimizes and excites those who are inclined to play always and in everything.
Regarding systematization, I would simply like to mention that its very definition demonstrates the saving of time, but only when it is an inherent part of our actions: systematize a process of action, in the realization of activities to achieve a goal or an objective, is the action according to an efficient model, be it a program, a plan or a method, which allows saving time, money and effort; it is a sequence of activities, which is carried out through a methodical itinerary; it is the chaining of actions and movements that are planned to be performed in an optimal way and that its performance allows reaching the defined objective, in a more efficient and effective way.
One aspect, among others, that should be considered and that shows what this optimization of time and effort (time and effort) represents, is the orderly and safe use of the elements that participate and are used in each activity; this aspect is – for example – not changing the place or position (location and orientation) of the “things” that we are using in our daily or periodic activities.
The way of putting systematization into practice, as well as the routine, and the coordination of the activities that compose them, depends on the temperament and personality of each person.
There is also another factor that is implicit in the optimal administration of time, which must be consciously taken into account: the opportunity to get things done (Future Post WALKING WITH TIME AND OPPORTUNITY, HAND IN HAND). It should be emphasized because all our actions should tend to be carried out punctually (on time), that is, without delay or procrastination. We must always be timely in the beginnings of each of the activities to be carried out, otherwise, we will provoke a concomitant delay in the following ones that are concatenated. This should not be considered as a position of neurosis before the operation and development of activities against time, it is a normal organization of the actions for the achievement of a goal. Let us not be anxious.
Let us analyze the concept of Opportunity. If we are very strict, we could say that any action (activity, thought, idea, reflection, inspiration, movement, sensation, emotion, etc.) that is performed at a moment T1, for example, deep breathing, and the same action of deep breathing that is performed at moment T2, with a difference of seconds, are not identical. If an activity, such as, for example, walking on day 1 and walking on day 2, it will clearly be said that they are different actions.
If walking on day 1 we postpone it to day 2, clearly we know that it was a loss in exercise performance, that we cannot recover it since we did not do it. We cannot make up for certain types of actions that we canceled. We cannot recover that walk and what it represented for our organism on day 1, even if we think we did it on day 2. We will definitely have lost it. The same thing happens with sleeping. However, there are other categories of actions that we can “theoretically recover” if we do not perform them in To time, such as the activities of painting a wall, sweeping the porch, etc. A special case that we must mention are the artistic creations that contain certain core angles that I must point out. Although every artistic work, of any type, is developed over a long and indefinite period of time, there is always a moment of inspiration, specific instants in which those inspirational instants appear, and which are characteristic moments that appear in our mind the images that sting us with ardor our creative mind, and throw us those artistic inspirations. Essay “Acronism” (*).
Efficacy is to time and opportunity, as efficiency is to quality and perfection.
I said earlier that it is very easy to solve it theoretically: the only thing we have to do is to plan all the activities with their appropriate beginnings, with a “previous T time”, which allows us not to start with the right time, pressing. For example, if the arrival time at the office or school is at 8 am and the transportation time is 30 minutes, then add the T time of 15 minutes, which would make leaving home at 7:15. The commute will be done calmly and quietly, knowing that you have enough time to get to the location. You will have defeated anxiety and uncertainty because you know that even if there is a traffic problem, you will be able to arrive on time. In this way you will also be defeating and inactivating the adrenaline, a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands (Future Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND THE SUPRARENAL GLANDS). The more slack time we actually have, the less stressed we will be in carrying out our activities.
What is required is to plan our activities in advance with a little slack, that is to say, with a sufficient amplitude of time so that we do not suffer unnecessary anxieties.
For the correct achievement of this practice, we must take into account – apart from the fact that we do not have enough time – that our commitments often overtake us. It is clear that even if we plan our activities in the aforementioned way, if we commit to a program where activities overlap, and worse, if they are obstructed, it will be impossible to achieve it. For this type of problem, simple planning and scheduling tools are adequate: we only have to accommodate our unavoidable commitments as a priority, and the activities that are not completely indispensable, only as a complement to the priority ones. But, whenever we commit to them, we must use the slack, defining it as a programmatic reality, i.e. put in our executive calendars – mentally or in writing – the “previous T-times”.
An additional achievement in the use of slack is that we can use it in cases where our activities do not require our direct participation, so that those activities that are not concomitant, we can use them at those times. Acting with slack is synonymous to performing activities in parallel, 2, 3 or more at the same time. The typical case is that when we ride the bus or the subway, we do not drive, and we can use that time to read the documents of work, friends, children, that book we are passionate about, write a letter or a poem, or continue writing our novel. This type of cases where we can use these slacks, are repeated dozens of times in our weekly development; let’s take advantage of it. The WALK-RWD System, in itself, achieves the utilization of floating times, when practiced including its 3 structured activities.
My own “professional deformation” as an engineer led me to point out the above described by means of the project scheduling technique; an aspect that I will put at the end of the Post because it is not necessary to read it.
To illustrate these theoretical graphs of project scheduling, we can consider the following simple example. The father takes his daughter to the theater course or workshop, whose duration is 2 hours, in that time he can do any other activity within that time, instead of being totally passive waiting for her to finish the class. That time of 2 hours is the time he can have to do another activity of another task or a set of activities.
The other way of conceiving and realizing the slack is to plan and schedule the development of the sets of activities, so that we can better identify the slack that may arise throughout the process of carrying out each of them.
A global and routine sequence of an individual, man or woman, several days a week, could be:
1. Awakening
2. Getting up
3. Getting dressed
4. Walking
5. Bathing
6. Dressing again
7. Eat breakfast
8. Transportation
9. Working in the office
These 9 Activities are daily activities, so if we could find some slack, we could use them to develop other activities, so it would be great because they would multiply enormously. Where could you locate some slack in these 9 aggregated activities?
It would seem that they are all sequential activities and must be completely finished to start the next one.
However, we could each internally analyze activities 3 through 8, and this would shed some light on the development of other tasks or obligations.
For example,
When dressing any person could listen to music or the news.
When walking we can read, write or draw, as we have already explained in many ways and conditions.
When taking a bath we can always listen to the radio or talk to the wife or husband.
When having breakfast we can do any of the other activities mentioned in the previous points.
When transporting to the office or any other work or professional center, we can listen to the radio and some other means of communication. If we use public transportation, we will also be able to carry out some of the indicated activities, except walking; although we will be able to walk all -or in part- the route from the house to the office or the factory, and to carry out some of the 3 activities structured within the WALK-RWD System.
I could almost assure that we can always find the use of some slack between the activities that make up a set of responsibilities or obligations of a social, family, personal or work type.
In the labor aspects, it is a proposal to optimize productivity, while having some mandatory work and production schedules. Either with the WALK-RWD System or independently (Posts EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN OTHER FIELDS; THE SYSTEM CAN BE INCORPORATED TO COMPANIES). But I have no doubt that it could be highly profitable to apply the WALK-RWD System in an integral way, since time could be better used.
Finally, let us keep in mind that these 4 specific concepts (Routine, Systematization, Opportunity and Slack), briefly explained, are affordable to achieve greater efficiency and increase the time we have for certain activities and tasks, but above all to incorporate daily, half an hour of walking.
(*) Loya Lopategui, Carlos, Acronismo. The creative opportunity in Art. Essay in preparation.
Project Programming Theory.
Now, let’s see and analyze the above by means of some technicalities -part of the post that we can skip reading-, but I think it is necessary to leave it in writing, because what happens to us daily can be solved by numbers, which is not very pleasant, but it is demonstrated reliably in the technique of Project Scheduling (Engineering in general and Economic Engineering). In the Project Scheduling technique, the Slack Time or Float Time is the time where an activity can be delayed without affecting the total duration of a project. In our case, we will define it as the time we can use to carry out activities without affecting the course of our commitments, since we can use it for whatever we wish, because we are obliged to wait for a time T (Floating Time) for an activity to be carried out while we wait. This waiting time can always be used to develop any activity without affecting our commitments and itinerary of realization.
The core aspect of slack is centered on its use, which manifests itself in two ways. One, that it normally occurs while we are performing various tasks or sets of activities; and two, that we can configure it in our own way:
C1, C2, C3, …, Cn
Note: Activities consume time, work and resources. For now we will only be interested in time.
As for their conceptualizations:
Slack is the period of time available to carry out one or more activities without affecting the development of the Task in time, quality and quantity, and without increasing the use of resources in general for its achievement.
The concept of Slack is made up of the following elements:
– COMMITMENT: GROUP OF ACTIVITIES OR TASKS
– ACTIVITY: GROUP OF ACTIONS AND MOVEMENTS
– ACTION: MINIMUM CONVENIENT DIVISION OF ACTION
– NODE: STARTING POINT OR TERMINATION POINT OF AN ACTIVITY
– ARROW: DIRECTION OF THE SEQUENCE OF AN ACTIVITY
– DURATION: TIME LIMIT OF AN ACTIVITY FOR ITS REALIZATION.
COMMITMENT
COMMITMENT is the objective or goal to be achieved in a defined commitment or purpose.
It is made up of a determined number of activities or tasks.
The set of COMMITMENTS make up the structure of a commitment or purpose.
SYMBOL OF REPRESENTATION:
ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY is the concrete work required for the satisfaction of any need.
It is made up of a determined number of actions and movements.
Several activities make up a COMMITMENT.
REPRESENTATION SYMBOL:
ACTION
ACTION is the minimum division into which human efforts can be divided, in order to be able to organize their personal and collective development.
Being the minimum required unit of concrete work to be able to evaluate its importance in the conformation of the achievement of an activity.
Several actions make up an Activity.
SYMBOL OF REPRESENTATION:
NODE
NODE is the point of intersection of two or more activities that make up a Task.
It is also the starting and ending point of a Task.
REPRESENTATION SYMBOL:
ARROW
ARROW is the direction that an activity has for its development within the network that makes up a Task.
REPRESENTATION SYMBOL:
DURATION
DURATION is the period of time in which an activity is carried out within the task.
REPRESENTATION SYMBOL:
t
Its linear and concatenated sequence of them, avoids us any use of slack that can be glimpsed or conjectured.
A classifiable and usable Slack is: While the Set Ci is being carried out, the activity “INCRUSTED”, of the Set Ci+1, can be carried out, and thus all our Daily Sets of activities could be analyzed.
Now the other scheme is that for new sets of activities we plan their sequences of priorities and look for those slacks that we can use in a timely manner and with a certain degree of security.
However, within each task or set Ci we can perform some extra activities in slack times that we can always be detecting.
Let the task or set Ci consist of several activities: A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, AF, from the start activity A0 to the end activity AF.
For the achievement of the final objective, it is required to complete our work until the completion of the AF activity (Final Activity), it is always possible to perform some external activity of any other set, which does not interfere with the development and sequence of these activities of the Ci Task.
This is the end of all the technical aspects, which help the concept of slack from the point of view of Project Scheduling. As already mentioned, we can avoid all this theory.
It has been variously named: Epiphysis, cerebral epiphysis, pineal body, conarium.
Like all the other glands of the body, the Pineal Gland is an organic system that has the fundamental function of producing substances indispensable for the correct functioning of the body, both physical and mental. Even today we still do not have absolute knowledge of all its functions, in a complete way.
The main substance it produces is the hormone Melatonin. What is it used for? We will explain it later.
The glands, in general, are divided into endocrine and exocrine. Endocrine glands are those that release the substances they produce directly into the bloodstream or interstitial fluid. The exocrine glands release their substances into various ducts or cavities to be transported to various points, but they are not discharged into the blood.
The Pinal gland is endocrine, that is, the substances it produces are discharged into the bloodstream (gr. endon: within, inside, internal, interior; krino: to judge, to discern, to separate).
An important part of the glandular subsystem is intimately related to the Limbic system since it supplies it with diverse substances and mainly with hormones. This Limbic system is a set of cellular structures located in the brain that develops functions of regulation of emotions, both positive and negative (Future Post THE LIMBIC SYSTEM AND THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM).
We have already mentioned that when we keep walking in a recurrent way, by the only fact of doing this activity -without incorporating any other-, we promote that our body, generates by itself, certain substances in our organism that are essential for its optimal functioning. Physical exercise (WALKING) and mental exercise (READING, WRITING AND DRAWING), which integrally promotes the WALK-RWD System, stimulate the brain in an intense way that in turn produces positive impulses toward other parts of the brain itself and towards other systems, organs and glands of the body, among the latter, is the Pineal, which produces the hormone Melatonin. However, we know that the Pineal gland decreases in its function as we age, so we must stimulate it by walking, just as we stimulate the generality of the other glands and organs of the body.
It has also been known for a long time that this gland can also be stimulated by darkness, so it invites us to take -also- our walks where the luminosity is minimal, just enough so as not to trip or fall; and consequently, it hormonal productivity decreases with light.
Let us see succinctly this process generated by the intensity of light. The eyes, through their sensitive cells located in the retina (photo-receptor cells of the eye), receive the light and generate stimuli that inhibit the Pineal Gland, so it begins to stop producing Melatonin.
The indication of luminosity begins in the eyes, which through their optic nerves send signals to the brain, within the complete 24-hour circadian cycle (Post THE WALK AND CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS. PART I), and this sends its own waves through the Sympathetic system, up to the spinal cord, and through the superior cervical ganglion, reaches the Pineal Gland, inhibiting it.
The flashes and light signals are a relevant part in the establishment and modulation of circadian rhythms (24-hour circadian cycle) as the optic nerves in turn resend signals through the system composed of the retina and the hypothalamus impacting the Pineal Gland.
Why is the Pineal Gland stimulated by darkness to produce Melatonin?
Melatonin is the hormone that modulates sleep, and is intimately related to circadian rhythms.
Let’s take it one step at a time.
I have already mentioned in several occasions that using the WALK-RWD System the intellectual capacity, the imagination, the memory and the creativity are increased, besides that the potentialities to learn and process the data and the information that we read and write are increased. The answer is that the brain produces substances in greater proportions when performing these 4 activities, either simultaneously or separately, but always walking. In our case, the Pineal Gland increases its production of Melatonin if we walk at night, with low illumination.
The Pineal gland reaches its maximum production of Melatonin in the dark, and with it we can facilitate our inclination to sleep, we will know better which is the time to go to bed, that is to say, our circadian rhythms will be in normal conditions, and this will allow us to reach the best and deepest phases of sleep (Delta Phase, Post WALKING AND SONMBULISM). We express in this Post:
Sleep has several levels of intensity; it can be deep, medium or light.
The Delta phase is when the human being truly rests since it is when the generation of delta waves predominates, hence its name. When we are sleeping in this phase it is very difficult to wake up and if we do we feel confused and disoriented, we do not know where we are. Also some vital signs drop in level, such as heart rate and respiratory rate.
Likewise, in this deep or delta sleep phase, certain anomalies and irregularities are also generated, which have been called “sleep disorders” and sleepwalking is one of them. Within this group it is located in the subgroup of Parasomnias, being these disorders in which the dreamer wakes up during brief periods, without being able to wake up completely, that is to say, the dream is interrupted but the person does not wake up.
WHAT IS THE MELATONIN HORMONE USED FOR?
To what extent is it the imbalance of the hormone Melatonin that generates, in part, these sleep disorders?
What is regularly mentioned about the benefits and scope of this hormone Melatonin is the following: “Melatonin is a very important hormone, it decreases with age; its beneficial effects on the body: it protects against cancer, against radiation and herbicides, prevents certain tumors, improves immunity. It circulates throughout the body and is an antioxidant. It decreases the risk of osteoporosis. NO to melatonin supplements. It must be produced by the body itself”.
All of them are true, there is no doubt about it.
Indeed, we must know that if the Melatonin Hormone is consumed as a pharmaceutical product, in high doses, it is dangerous, since it can alter the circadian rhythms and thus cause sleep problems, with consequences in wakefulness. Even if our organism produces high levels of Melatonin, it is also dangerous.
We must ensure that it is generated by our own body, at acceptable levels. How? The most important thing is to walk in near darkness – without effort – and on a regular basis, but not necessarily every day. Darkness is the basis of Melatonin generation. An acceptable way is to walk in a natural way, on paths with few lights.
It is very important to know that the Melatonin Hormone also acts in organs and other glands of the human body, such as in the ocular system (light-darkness), sexual system (ovaries and testicles), hypothalamus, pituitary, hippocampus, veins, large and small intestine, and others, so its function is quite impacting on mental and bodily functions, for better thinking, proper digestion, good sexual performance, favorable work performance, etc. It is a regulating, balancing, harmonizing, leveling, and stabilizing hormone.
There are several ways to effectively increase Melatonin, without taking drugs:
-Do not take caffeine.
-Do not drink alcoholic beverages.
-No smoking.
-Do not watch television at night.
-Avoiding or decreasing stress.
-Reduce cell phone use at night
Doing:
-Exercise by walking.
It is worth explaining this recommendation.
No strenuous exercise should be performed at the beginning of the night, and less late at night (Future Post WALKING OR RUNNING, THERE IS A DILEMMA). However, we have already commented in previous posts that walking is a natural exercise and can be done in the evenings without being practiced intensely. You can and should walk at night -as we have already mentioned- to increase the production of the hormone Melatonin (Future Post WALKING AT NIGHT. CIRCADIAN EFFECTS); this will give us better sleep and a balance of our circadian rhythms (Post THE WALK AND CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS-PART I).
CIRCADIAN EFFECTS: For thousands of years Homo Sapiens got used (nomadic) to walk day and night (wanderers), so walking should be programmed to be done day and night (Future Post WALKING AT NIGHT. CIRCADIAN EFFECTS).
WALKING IN THE DARK, ON THE BEACH
The hormone Melatonin also favors the strengthening of the Immune System, mainly because a good level of this hormone satisfies the organism making it rest at night.
Perhaps we could say that the Immune System is favored to a greater or lesser degree if the individual is an early riser, a night owl, or any of the different levels between these two demarcations of being able to get a good night’s sleep, every day.
Which “nicteotype” are you? To whatever degree you are, your type is being conditioned and regulated by your Melatonin.
The hormone Melatonin is synthesized from the amino acid tryptophan, which undergoes a transformation to become Serotonin. And during the night, this Serotonin is transformed into Melatonin.
Observing and using other analytical fields, I have to comment on aspects of the collective unconscious and the “Absence Archetype” in order to answer with another foreshortening, of the intellectual type, the generation of Melatonin by stimulating the Pineal Gland. The archetype “Absence”, like all archetypes, is an absolute and universal concept. It is also a psychic projection or spiritual image generated in the collective unconscious and that emerge to the consciousness after long periods of time, produced by repeated experiences fundamentally from the most remote times by the observation with the naked eye of the behavior of the stars (the Sun, the Moon, Venus, etc.) following one another, appearing and disappearing, in a reiterative and infinite way in time and space, in such a way that they have been engraved in the collective unconscious. They manifest and reveal themselves to the physical medium in various ways, among them plastic art. It was shaped by the concealment of the stars that were observed with the naked eye. Jung speaks of this renewal by pointing out that since the archaic mind it has been inscribed that everything must “die” and be “reborn” although I consider that it should not be confused with the new, with the ritual of the new, with the restart of the cycle, of the astrological periods although they are related; that is, it is not coincident with the “revival” of those who lacked life, the resurrection of the hero, of the guide, of the redeemer. The ortho of the sun has always been the new being born from the mother darkness, which defines the cycle of eternal rebirth or eternal return. Frazer in his book The Golden Bough, mentions a mythological manifestation of this archetype, pointing out: “… whereas Zeus’ decision that Adonis [Tammuz, god of the Semitic peoples of Babylonia and Syria] should remain part of the year under the ground [with Persephone, queen of the nether world], in darkness, and part above the ground [with Aphrodite, goddess of love], is only the Greek version of the annual disappearance and reappearance of Tammuz [as a projection of the movement of the stars, of the Sun mainly, in his daily appearance and disappearance; of the god who dies annually and returns to revive the eternal circle of birth-dying-rebirth]”. Dintornism. A plastic-philosophical theory of reality (*).
And continuing with the subject of divinities, we can comment that there is also a relationship with what Rick Strassman (specialist in clinical psychiatry) exposed in the 90’s of the last century. In his book The Spirit Molecule he expressed that the Pineal Gland appears in the fetus 49 days after conception, which caused some Buddhist currents to associate this with their belief that the spirit (the soul) incarnates in the human being in that same period of 49 days.
Some other spiritual-philosophical currents point out that this gland is intimately related to the spirit, with what they point out as the “Third eye”, which has associated it with “awakening” (Post THE PATH OF VACUITY). Reaching Nirvana and Awakening.
Yoga, is an oriental discipline that seeks the body to express itself in rest, in all its varieties and manifestations. It is recursively said that “The body prays in silence”. People who practice this system of Yoga seek to Awaken, communicate and confess with their own Spirit (Loya-Lopategui, Carlos, The Holy Spirit confesses [The Holy Spirit is confessed], 2022 **). De Mello considers that being awake is requisite to be able to reach freedom, but also to be able to exercise and transmit it, asserting that the only experience that is truly worthwhile in life is that of achieving awakening.
The body, besides praying in silence, also prays out loud with the mantras. It does it out loud when it vibrates in the practice of Yoga, with the Sanskrit syllable A-U-M. The mantras are the thoughts that are emitted out loud -although they are also performed in Sotto Voce– which are conjugated in invocations and prayers, which are repeated in some of the paths of yoga, to achieve liberation, awakening, and ecstasy (Post LISTENING TO OUR BODY WHILE WALKING).
To conclude, I would like to raise a couple of questions that I will try to answer in future Posts:
We know at what average age we start walking; we also know at what age women and at what age men -here appears the word Gender in the title of this Post-; but: Why do women start walking earlier than men? Why do human beings not start walking immediately when they are born, like all other mammalian animals?
I will explain the answers in future posts, within the wide subject of Hormonal Glands. Of course, all of them have an important relationship with the human being’s walking: in a high degree of importance the Thymus, Thyroid, Pituitary or Hypophysis, Suprarenal, and also relevant Sebaceous, Meibomian, Salivary, Cowper’s, Sweat, Bartholin’s, Skene’s, etc. glands.
Let’s go for a walk and also enjoy walking at night. Our senses will sharpen, become more sensitive and work in a more perceptive way, and of course, all our organs, systems and glands will gladly start working to the rhythm of our feet.
(*) Loya Lopategui, Carlos, Dintornismo. Una teoría plástico-filosófica de la realidad, EMULISA, México, 2012. Available on Amazon, Kindle Edition: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0D6C18SS9
(**) Loya Lopategui, Carlos, The Holy Spirit confesses, EMULISA, México, 2022. Available on Amazon, Kindle Edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFFQ5P7D
Let us first of all get to know how both mental functions, the consciousness and the unconscious, are constituted (Nature and Composition) and then try to understand how they function.
Both faculties have been named differently in the field of the science of psychology, implying a difference in their qualities and category: mental or psychic entities; psychic or spiritual functions; mental, psychic or psychic currents. All of them are valid in our exposition.
Of course, the concept of Consciousness to which we will mention does not refer to the different meanings such as social consciousness, emotional consciousness or empathy, group consciousness, ecological or environmental consciousness, moral or ethical consciousness, and a dozen more categories, which try to reinforce socially and academically that the human being must realize certain normative precepts for the adequate achievement of the conjugated discipline.
WHAT IS THE CONFORMATION OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS?
First of all, we must say that the human psyche comprises the totality of psychic phenomena of both the consciousness and the unconscious (C.G. Jung). And furthermore, according to Jung himself: “The human personality comprises 2 things: first, the consciousness and all that it encompasses, and second, the vast and indeterminately large background that constitutes the unconscious psyche”.
In order to make an incursion into the conformation of the mental functions, we will resort to a classification that Paul Diel makes in his book Psychoanalysis of the Divinity (F.C.E., Mexico, 1974). Diel clearly points out the psychic functions of the conscious, unconscious and superconscious as the natural and healthy states of the psyche that every human being has; making a differentiation of the subconscious as the damaged function of the mind, freeing the unconscious from that attribution that is regularly made to it.
In his essay Diel shows the unconscious as the vital and vigorous function of the psyche where all the desires, appetites and instincts rejected or repressed by the consciousness accumulate; and he defines the subconscious as the pathological and unhealthy state of the human psyche (Jung calls it psychological shadow), which has desires that are irreconcilable with reality, that which our consciousness assures -most of the time- is true and certain (authentic, truthful). We can say that the psychological or subconscious shadow is the result generated by that which society conditions or forces the human being to hide from consciousness.
Some experts in this field call the unconscious the subconscious; however, I prefer this configuration of Diel, adding that to call it subconscious is to place this healthy function below the consciousness. As a mental entity, the unconscious has three attributes that make it up: it is a receptacle, a storehouse and a processor of those things that the consciousness does not wish to perceive, or is not aware of, because they are lacerating or insignificant for it. Regarding this disqualification, Carl G. Jung (Paracelsica, Kairos, Barcelona, 1989, p. 110), tells us: “…since psychological research has understood that the unconscious is not a mere ‘subconscious’ appendix or a mere well of the consciousness, but rather a largely autonomous psychic system, which on the one hand compensates for the errors and unilateralities of the consciousness, and on the other, in some cases, violently corrects them. The consciousness can err, as is known, both in the natural and in the spiritual, and this is a logical consequence of its relative freedom. The unconscious is not limited to instinctive and reflex processes of the subcortical zone, but goes beyond the consciousness and anticipates in its system future conscious processes. That is why it is also a supraconscious”; and the same author expresses: It is inadequate to designate the unconscious as ‘subconscious’. Not only is it not ‘below the consciousness’, but also above it, and far above it” (Simbología del espíritu, F.C.E., México, 1984, p. 42). And so as not to leave any doubt in this respect, he asserts: “Consciousness can only pretend to occupy an intermediate situation, and has to tolerate finding itself surpassed and surrounded, in a certain way, on all sides, by the unconscious psyche. By virtue of the unconscious contents, it is bound backwards with physiological conditions on the one hand and with archetypal premises on the other. But it is also projected forward by intuitions, which, in turn, are conditioned partly by archetypes, partly by subliminal perceptions, which are in connection with the spatio-temporal relativity of the unconscious” (Jung, Carl G., Psicología y alquimia, Grupo Editorial Tomo, México, 2007, p. 165).
The unconscious is the psychic bag where both internal impulses and external stimuli rejected by the consciousness are received (receptacle and store) and analyzed (processor), causing an inhibition to the being.
Let us underline that there are several non-conscious elements that are intrinsic to the unconscious entity: the instincts, the archetypes, desires or impulses repressed by the consciousness, the habits, both positive and negative, the primitive or archaic impulses.
To carry out its functions, the unconscious uses various symbolic languages (dreams, plastic creation, the literary, Synchronicity, etc.) and to make itself present it resorts in an essential way – although it is not the only form – to what has been called the Numinous. The numinous is that “magic” that every human being has and disposes to create in an original way and independently of his will, that is to say, with autonomy of consciousness. It is a “magical flow” that arises from the unconscious and that revolutionizes and modifies the consciousness of the subject.
Now let us move on to describe briefly how Consciousness and Unconscious function.
HOW DOES THE CONSCIOUSNESS WORK?
The “I” is the center of the consciousness. It is in the consciousness that the reasoning of facts and their rational analysis and interpretation takes place. Consciousness is the entity of the mind that embraces rational knowledge in all its forms. Becoming conscious of an object implies its knowledge through the senses, both external and internal, and/or through the intellect or intelligence.
There are several mental faculties that constitute consciousness: will, reasoning, imagination, speculation, fantasy, meditation, thought, reflection, will, judgment, inventiveness, comprehension, perception, attention, memory, abstraction, cavil, etc. All of them function to achieve a great performance of the human mind, according to its tasks, and the balanced functional achievement of the physical body.
We could say that cognition includes most of these mental faculties, in addition to creativity or creative thinking (Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART I). Cognition, for its analysis, we could divide it into several types: mental, sensory, abstractive, comprehensive, intuitive, quiditative.
The function of consciousness develops within the human brain by receiving data and external stimuli through the senses. The consciousness continues analyzing and interacting with all the information that the being receives both from the external environment and from within, using the mental faculties that constitute it. In concrete terms, consciousness allows us to become aware of what is happening within us and in the social and natural environment external to the individual being. However, it is said that this awareness is only apparent.
Taking into consideration Kantian ideas, we can comment that the human being cannot realize reality, but only what is apparent, and in this sense, real objects cannot be cognizable by the senses nor by consciousness, we cannot have knowledge of “noumena”, only of phenomena, these being mere appearances of real things, an appearance of reality. So much for the Kantian.
The consciousness that we are trying to understand here and to know how it works is the one that allows us the knowledge of ourselves and of what is external to ourselves.
HOW DOES THE UNCONSCIOUS WORK?
We said that the individual unconscious has 3 functions that constitute it: reception, storage and processing. Let us describe its predominant function, which is to channel the things that the consciousness does not perceive, does not understand or does not recognize, and therefore rejects or represses, in order to free it from the unbalancing (disturbing, alienating, unsettling, upsetting) weight of negative emotions.
The individual unconscious is a determined and effective corrector of the conscience.
It is in the referred psychic bag of the unconscious where those rejected and repressed impulses and stimuli are isolated, disintegrated, decomposed, observed, compared and deeply examined; it is a workshop specialized in all these actions of knowledge and analysis, and without it, the consciousness would be acting rudderless and making more mistakes than it does.
In addition, it serves as a cathartic mechanism, as a conductive means to make those rejected stimuli and impulses flow to the consciousness, serving so that the consciousness itself can assimilate them in a suitable (appropriate, adequate, convenient, correct, suitable) or less lacerating way for it.
The unconscious functioning as a mechanism of catharsis, allows the human mind, the reasoning, to assimilate and also to confront and transform the circumstances and events external to the being, into personal events within its interiority, both conscious and superconscious. The unconscious plays such an important role in these aspects that the mind uses it to shape and integrate the individual personality of the being. The constitution and integration of the personality begins with the identification of the being with his own feelings and emotions, with his own self, that is, when the person “perceives and lives” those feelings within his consciousness, achieving experiences that are apprehended by the interiority of the individual being. The unconscious seeks, through this transmission of information to the consciousness, to make the latter “perceive” the events (faults, errors, faults, omissions and sins committed) that have burdened the individual, with the purpose of freeing it – the consciousness – from negative emotions.
The unconscious, manifesting itself by means of any of the symbolic languages it uses (dreams, painting, literary, Synchronicity, etc.), pretending to translate its images into real events or facts, only tries to express and communicate those images that it perceives and perceives in the consciousness, with the ultimate and precise purpose of compensating and correcting the errors committed by the consciousness itself.
A punctual and clear manifestation of its functioning is what has been called the subliminal condition. All subliminal forms are unconscious states, stimuli and impulses that are perceived by the senses without any awareness on the part of the individual who experiences them sensorially. In general, it is expressed that the consciousness does not perceive, rejects or avoids certain stimuli from the exterior and the unconscious receives and stores them in order to observe and analyze them, in order to correct the morbid states of the consciousness, by means of its different symbolic languages, and fundamentally by means of its cathartic function that allows it to make those stimuli and impulses flow towards the consciousness from the exterior and also from the interiority of the being, seeking the identification of the self with its own feelings and emotions, which is nothing more than the integration and strengthening of the personality of the individual himself.
There are other conditions of functioning of the unconscious, but which are associated with the consciousness, which are explained below.
CONDITIONS (COMMUNICATIVE AND TYPICAL) OF THE FUNCTIONING OF THE UNCONSCIOUS AND THE CONSCIOUSNESS.
The most relevant are:
[With CAPITAL letters the function that participates with greater intensity is defined, and with lower case letters the one that participates with less emphasis. This weighting is made according to their participation in quality and influence, and essence of the effect, not in quantity or time].
a) Repression or inhibition: is the repulsion of impulses, stimuli or desires by the consciousness that it considers intolerable (CONSCIOUSNESS, unconscious);
b) Libido: it is the underlying sexual impulse that the repression or inhibition of this is the fundamental cause of psychic disorders (consciousness, UNCONSCIOUS);
c) Sublimation: is the unconscious defense mechanism by which an impulse or instinct is converted into a higher or superior intellectual, artistic or moral activity. Also: it is the transference of a repressed (or inhibited) desire (or impulse) to a new object (consciousness, UNCONSCIOUS);
d) Complex: it is the emotional mechanism causing the patient’s mental disorders (CONSCIOUSNESS, unconscious).
e) Projection: It is the defense mechanism used by the consciousness to identify in another individual the feelings, desires and impulses that it discovers in its inner self and that it considers unbearable or painful and therefore rejects them (CONSCIOUSNESS, unconscious).
f) Compensation: It is the arrangement that the unconscious makes on the consciousness, regarding the imbalances that this suffers when rejecting stimuli from the exterior and its own impulses and desires generated in the interiority of the self (consciousness, UNCONSCIOUS).
g) Introspection: It is the analysis or internal observation that one makes of oneself or of one’s acts. The reflective apprehension by the mind of its own processes. Observation of the self and its mental states and operations. Synonym reflection, internal sense. There are 2 types of introspection: 1) Direct examination of the states and processes of the consciousness at the moment of their production (generation); 2) Reliving the states and processes by means of a retrospective act (CONSCIOUSNESS, unconscious).
As a conclusion I should mention that the Reality in which we are subsumed, is a parallel world that reason has not allowed itself to know, because part of the reality that we observe and perceive, is the result of our mental projections which are unconscious contents that make the world we live in, that macrocosm, a replica of our unconscious inner world (microcosm) and that is unknown to our consciousness.
Now let us see how these 2 mental functions intervene in the application and practice of the WALK-RWD System.
PARTICIPATION OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS IN THE APPLICATION OF THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM
It is indispensable to take into account the will in this aspect, a crucial faculty that shows the intervention of the consciousness (reasoning) and the unconscious, a contest that in some cases manifests itself as collaboration and in others as a dispute.
The intervention of the consciousness in the functional process of the WALK-RWD System is sometimes complicated to orientate, and essentially in that disposition to start walking it is very difficult to convince it so that our will takes positive action to achieve it, by its own effort -of the will. There are many negative spheres in our sensations, attitudes and ways of being that make it impossible for us to take the first steps on any path, which we have pointed out in previous Posts.
In this Post we will not analyze them, as we have already done so in several Posts published previously. What we will do is to try to understand how the consciousness works, that function that governs us most of our waking hours, and how the will performs, that volitional function that we require to perform in most of the activities we perform and in the actions that take course for their achievement.
We must keep in mind that symbolically walking means to move forward and that is what we are transmitting to our inner self when we do this practice, the one that needs to become aware of reality, both external and our inner reality.
Let us see how we can make our consciousness act voluntarily in the WALK-RWD system.
Participation of the consciousness.
Reading, writing or drawing while we walk, generates a considerable number of physical and mental benefits, which in turn – by physiological processes of the body itself – provoke in our consciousness stimuli of the emotional, spiritual and psychological type that impel us to carry out diverse activities with encouragement, among them walking. Likewise, if we take into consideration the 5 cognitive functions for its effective evaluation (reasoning, memory, attention, speaking and behavior), we will see that walking has direct effects in those 5 functions of cognition; this is how the WALK-RWD System in its multiple practice, with the 3 structured activities of reading, writing and drawing, is able to potentiate those 5 compound cognitive functions, as well as its cognitive performance (Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE). The latter is the result obtained when we perform walks conjugated with any of the 3 activities structured within the System, since it generates greater capacities of understanding, comprehension, development, lucidity, discernment, reasoning, sharpness, penetration, harmony, ingenuity, in the conjugation of each and every one of these 3 activities.
As we pointed out in Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE, any mental function that we wish to promote, in a conscious way, will be interrelated with the rest of the others; that is to say, effects of different degrees are provoked in each and every one of the mental faculties (capacities and functions), and specifically in the cognitive ones, when we perform the WALK-RWD system in an integral way, walking, reading, writing and drawing.
In an interrelated way, the human brain carries out the 5 cognitive functions that we have pointed out in that same Post: reasoning (thinking, reflecting, meditating); memorizing (learning, repeating, remembering, forgetting); attention (curiosity, observation, analysis, interest, distraction); speaking (talking, dialoguing, expressing, communicating, explaining, articulating, listening, responding, keeping quiet); and behavior (regulation and control of behavior, attitudes), in such an effective way that allows the being to react as well as possible to stimuli and external agents, and in the case of the application of the WALK-RWD System, it promotes the activities of reading, writing and drawing, while walking. For its potentiation of the cognitive function we can resort to the procedure indicated in the same Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE.
In a precise way we can say that the consciousness participates together with the will and manifest intention, in the practice of the WALK-RWD system, when we perceive, think, understand, judge, desire, reason, choose, reject all kinds of stimuli and agents to communicate with the external environment that surrounds us and with our own physical body.
Participation of the unconscious.
As I expressed, the individual unconscious makes itself present through its symbolic languages and next I will describe outstanding aspects in the language of dreams.
Some specialists comment that during the dream (sleep) at night, the mind (the unconscious) cleans, in some way, of those things that worry and bother us.
I mentioned in Post AUTOLIBERATION OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS THROUGH SELF-SUGGESTIBILITY: “There is no doubt that through dreams the unconscious transmits knowledge of ourselves, and surely a part of that communication works as an effective catharsis. However, for both benefits, additional work is required to really obtain an effective result.” Furthermore, we must ask ourselves: how effective is the unconscious, through dreams, in its cathartic function?
We must be clear that the participation of the conscious also takes place during sleep, to a different degree, so we could divide dreams into 1) those that are a major communication of the unconscious, and 2) those where it is not so much, that is, where dreams are a prolongation of the communication of the conscious as it is effected during wakefulness.
We regularly hear dreamers say that they dreamt of the same thing they were doing or thinking during the day, either as a repetition or as a continuation of the waking state. This type of dreams are perfectly understandable because they are made with the participation of the consciousness, and very little participation of the unconscious. Could it be that the more indescribable dreams are – an encrypted language – the more the unconscious participates? A question that I would hardly dare to answer, affirmatively or negatively.
Specifically we can say that the unconscious does not participate through conscious will, however, in some of its forms of communication that it manages to develop to make itself heard, we can induce it, in the practice of the WALK-RWD system, in an intentional way.
I have experienced, and it is irrefutable, that reading, writing or drawing while we walk, we notice and feel a considerable number of physical, emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual benefits, concretely we decant and purge the unconscious, we perform a catharsis, in that brief period of experience when we walk and perform any of the other 3 structured activities (reading, writing or drawing). And the thesis is that we will no longer dream so much because the unconscious will no longer have to communicate anything -or very little- because it already did catharsis during the walks and the other 3 structured activities. We will feel so good with the WALK-RWD System that during the nights we will no longer dream.
Let us now analyze the phenomenon of Synchronicity as one more of its symbolic languages, as an illustrative and demonstrative example of the participation of the unconscious.
Specifically, I have developed some mechanisms to achieve that the unconscious acts in a voluntary manner in terms of its manifestations within the phenomenon of Synchronicity. In my book “Synchronicity, Predictable Phenomenon” (*), I expressed:
“Likewise, in various parts of the work, we analyze the various forms through which the human being manifests itself outwardly and that in a conscious or unconscious way, represent a message that we must imagine and interpret. Through exploration, we intend to discover in each of these manifestations of the personality and the spirit, the great diversity that the human being has to channel his own creative energy.
Many times, with a silent procedure, we bring to our conscience messages of emotions, feelings or physical movements of our body, which we must analyze with a little more detail, since by this means we will be able to balance and reconcile our inner nature, with our behavior in society; thus we will be able to know what our unconscious thinks and feels about ourselves.
It is therefore through this essay that we try to guide the reader in a field little studied at present as is the Synchronicity, transmit our experiences in this regard, but above all to show that this phenomenon is marking a milestone in the history of each of us and that we must attend to it as if it were our own conscience. In fact, I personally believe that its manifestations are our navigation chart that shows us the way to the future. Not understanding it and not paying attention to it is to renounce in advance to our human essence; we are sure that it is a new attitude to face our inner self. Every human being has this function that allows him to communicate to his unconscious in different ways and that in most cases we assign to it situations of coincidences, and even miracles, what to say about diseases and our immune system.
The transmission of information from the unconscious through the synchronistic function allows us to explain countless phenomena that we have always catalogued as coincidences and that here we will discover that they are actions of the unconscious. In this way we can move forward to obtain a better knowledge of ourselves and to know a tool to transform, in a creative way, the personal conditions of behavior and attitudes towards the environment that surrounds us.
The main part of our thesis that we try to demonstrate in the present essay is that the synchronistic phenomenon can be predictable, that is to say, we can have valuable information that this manifestation of the unconscious is about to occur in our person, and also, as a complementary part to the thesis is that this phenomenon can be provoked voluntarily by stimulating certain elements that participate in it.”
In order to know and understand the predictability of the phenomenon and the different ways by which the unconscious is induced to manifest through the phenomenon of Synchronicity, I expressed in Post READING AND SYNCHRONICITY-PART I, the following:
“I have not the slightest doubt, that reading is a means that allows us to get in touch with synchronicities, and these lead us to find answers, which our unconscious -surely- is certainly tired of trying to communicate to our consciousness in various other ways, and this one has not been aware of them -of the answers- for a long time, either because it is unable to listen to it, or, it refuses to do so.
We must let ourselves be carried away by what our interiority advises us and not by reasoning. If you ‘decide’ to read a book, perhaps your unconscious is inviting you to do so. And if you ‘decide’ to re-read another book you have already read, you will surely find new answers; these could be more important than those ideas you found in the previous reading.
We must consider the following aspects when we have decided to attend to the messages of our unconscious, either by the phenomenon of Synchronicity or other symbolic languages:
1. We have to introject in ourselves that truly these types of actions come from and are generated by our unconscious. We will not be able to listen to it if we do not believe in its existence.
2º. Synchronicity is a predictable phenomenon and it can also be induced, so we can provoke its generation and its incidence in external manifestations.
3º. Each synchronistic manifestation of the unconscious we must identify it, unveil it and rationalize it.
4º. To understand these messages from the unconscious, each manifestation of Synchronicity, we must analyze and interpret it.
What is most important and authentic of our inner being we can know and understand through the different symbolic languages used by the individual (and collective) unconscious and Synchronicity is one of them”.
The WALK-RWD system leads us to an integration of walking with the other 3 fundamental activities of reading, writing and drawing with which we voluntarily induce our unconscious to participate in order to communicate with ourselves and to have a better knowledge of our interiority, besides other valuable information of the external reality (Book Dintornism. A plastic-philosophical theory of reality **). In addition, we can resort to some of the Posts where we present the procedures -through the application of the WALK-RWD system-, to involve the individual unconscious:
We can also remember what I expressed in Post THE CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE AND WALKING, that we must be very aware of:
“Each individual is the creator of his own experiences, and the process of biunivocity that develops between the conscious and the unconscious, during the whole life, is the one that places the being in the path of all of them.
Therefore, all our experiences arise from the conjunction of these 2 functions, so they are all part of our personal and individual essence.
From now on we must take more seriously each of our experiences, no matter how simple we consider them, because they are dialogues between the conscious and the unconscious, which enrich us by knowing -or we try to know- what they communicate between them.
Many times it is not understandable (we do not understand) why certain things happen to us; however, every experience, good or bad, is a product of those dialogues that develop in our deep interiority, between the conscious and the unconscious. (Book “Evanescent Stories”(***) I present dialogues between the consciousness and the unconscious of a writer). And I could assure that they are more easily understood during our walks than if we make an effort sitting on a divan or on a bed. There are several posts where I refer to this type of benefits that the WALK-RWD system has to know our interiority.
The character most interested in walking is our unconscious, which is the one that is most favored. Let us not have the slightest doubt.”
We can only be in harmony with ourselves when our sensations (senses) and feelings express and respond adequately to the messages of our unconscious, and the more punctual we perform this work, the healthy correspondence between our actions (attitudes) and the senses (the 5 external and the spiritual), the better we will feel about ourselves.
The unconscious also has another function (collateral effect derived), besides those of communication to tell us how we are and what we should do, as well as to achieve the functioning of parts of our body -without our will participating- such as blood circulation, heartbeat, breathing, digestion, elimination of substances that must be eliminated, glandular secretions; in short: apart from putting our body into operation and repairing it, telling us what we should do, what and how we feel, it is an infallible engine to achieve what we should achieve in our lives. This other function is that of “positive realization“. We said in Post AUTOLIBERATION OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS THROUGH SELF-SUGGESTIONABILITY:
“Every positive thought that the unconscious makes it its own, is an inescapable and unpostponable sentence, which becomes a real fact in the future.
The desire to improve in future scenarios – near or far – embraces innumerable aspects of the existence of the human being (health, work, happiness, family, and a very long etcetera) and all of them can always be transformed into real facts, into positive achievements: Only two activities are required: walking and repeating out loud a phrase [a positive thought]. The time devoted to these two is variable, but in my experience, only ½ hour a day is required, for a peremptory period of days. […] Finally, and again, I would caution that we should avoid negative thoughts, because the unconscious can make them its own and turn them into reality. I am a staunch believer in the strength and power of both the individual and the collective unconscious, so I recommend that we should be very careful with self-critical, malignant and destructive ideas. The individual unconscious is the genie of Aladdin’s lamp.
In other words: Let us ask the genie of our lamp, our unconscious, in a positive and trustworthy way, what we want to achieve, and it will grant it to us.
We must look for that authenticity with ourselves, with our way of feeling, and we will achieve it by listening and understanding our unconscious, listening to it and obeying what it tells us, in such a way that we allow all our feelings (inner reality) to come to the surface in exactly the way we observe that we want them to manifest”.
The human being has re-created himself, through two types of activities: those that require conscious will and those that do not demand a thought to perform them or that do not need the will.
Walking is an activity that we have developed since always; someone could say: since the moment the human being stood on his two lower limbs, but in both cases it has been done for millions of years, which makes it a pristine and natural activity in its practice.
When our consciousness forces our body to develop activities that are not primal, then it generates a negative imbalance in our nervous system, and in turn this generates other negative imbalances in the various organ systems of our body.
When we perform any of our capacities within these two mental fields, we do not necessarily have to be positive to external stimuli; we must react precisely according to our own sensations in order to act in an authentic way, to carry out those “non-voluntary” actions in a healthy way and not “disrupted” (altered, disturbed, perturbed) by the conscious part of our brain. In short: let us not be negative towards anyone, towards anything, but least of all against ourselves. The repression of our feelings -in all cases- generates a morbid state in the consciousness and transforms us into negative individuals.
Let us keep in mind that we have a healthy unconscious and walking is one of the actions that we must carry out to re-discover that it does exist; to continue walking daily, and in an integral way, is to be able to re-evaluate our own unconscious, and to walk permanently is to allow us to identify ourselves with it.
The only thing we know that is real is what we feel in our interiority, defined by our “unconscious thoughts” (inner reality), and we can make it conscious by doing our integral walks, combining them with reading, writing and drawing.
In this way we can reach a functional harmony between these two mental faculties, the unconscious and the consciousness.
(**) Loya Lopategui, Carlos, Dintornismo. Una teoría plástico-filosófica de la realidad, EMULISA, México, 2012. Disponible en Amazon, Edición Kindle: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0D6C18SS9
(***)Loya Lopategui, Carlos & Edel C. Pinera, Evanescent Stories, EMULISA, México, 20016. Distributed by Amazon, available in Kindle Edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B86GMS8W.
