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NANAHUATZIN, after jumping into the flames was reborn as TONATIUH, and subsequently became NAHUI OLLIN, the Sun of the Movement; upon observing this, TECUCIZTÉCATL jumped into the flames and was reborn as the MOON; and thus, humanity began to walk.

The Post presents an emphasis on Venus, as a planet; however, we will also have to analyze the correspondence of this star with the Goddess Venus for what mythologically has been established, and for the same reason, with the Greek Goddess Aphrodite.

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Let’s start, but let’s go by parts.

A) Characteristics as a star.

Venus is the second planet of the solar system, being located at an average distance of 67 million miles from the sun. Its mass is 0.815 times the mass of the Earth, that is, it is 20 percent smaller. Its diameter is 7,520 miles; its orbit takes 0.72 Earth years.

It rotates in a retrograde direction, that is, in a direction opposite to that of its orbit, which causes its day to be longer than its year.

Venus has a dense atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid clouds.

The surface of Venus is one of the hottest planets in the solar system, with an average temperature of 460 degrees Celsius.

Its translation around the Sun takes 123 Venusian days (280 Earth days).

Of all the planets in the solar system, Venus is the most Earth-like in size and composition, yet its climate is extremely hot and quite hostile, making it inhospitable to life as we know it on Earth.

B) The planet Venus as the morning and evening star.

Since ancient times, the planet Venus has been known as the “morning star” and the “evening star” because of its bright appearance and its movement in the sky. From Earth, Venus appears as a bright star before sunrise and after sunset, which explains why it is called “morning star” and “evening star,” respectively.

Several ancient cultures called it this way: the Mayan culture, the Babylonian culture, the Egyptian culture and the Hindu culture.

In the ancient Mayan nation, the astronomical behaviour of Venus was very important, since its use was implicit in the determination of astronomical calculations related to the Sun: “All astronomical calculations were made by relating the stars to the Sun (Kín), fundamentally to the Earth, the Moon (Uh), Venus (Chac Nom Ek or Nohoch Ek), and to the visible constellations such as the Pleiades (Tzab). The astronomical coincidence of the Sun was defined in two ways: 1) with the culmination of the constellation The Pleiades, which occurred every 52 years (half a Mayan century) and 2) with the 65 synodic revolutions of Venus which occurred every 104 years (1 Mayan century)[ The Mayan calendrical reset period consisted of 18,980 days, which was the minimum number of days in which the two calendars, the Haab and the Tzolkín, both restarted from the beginning; this cycle corresponded to 52 Mayan astronomical years (365 days) or 73 . sacred years (260 days)]. “(1) El Dintornismo en la plástica de los Antiguos Mayas.

The astronomical trajectory of Venus as “morning star” and “evening star” refers to its apparent position in the sky as seen from Earth. It is considered “Morning Star” when it is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth and appears before sunrise. From Earth, it appears to move to the right in a straight line across the sky until it reaches the highest point in the sky, at which time it begins to fade.

It is considered an “evening star” when it is between the Sun and the Earth and appears after sunset. From Earth, it appears to move to the left in a straight line across the sky until it fades.

It is important to note that this description is based on the Earth’s perspective and that the actual orbit of Venus around the Sun is actually an ellipse, not a straight line. However, this simplified description is useful for understanding the appearance and disappearance of Venus as “morning star” and “evening star”.

The appearance and disappearance of Venus as “morning star” and “evening star” from Earth depend on its position relative to the Sun and Earth. In a tropical year, the following are some approximate astronomical data for the appearance and disappearance of Venus in the sky:

As the “Morning Star,” Venus may be visible in the east before sunrise for approximately about 2 to 3 months. The exact duration depends on the position of Venus in its orbit around the Sun and the geographic location of the observer on Earth.

As the “Evening Star”, Venus can be visible as in the west after sunset for approximately 8 to 10 months. The exact duration also depends on the position of Venus in its orbit and the geographic location of the observer on Earth.

It is relevant to note that these periods may vary slightly from year to year due to the complexity of planetary orbits and the axial motion of the Earth.

However, if we place an observer at the Earth’s Equator, we can refine these data.

The exact dates of the appearance and disappearance of Venus as “morning star” and “evening star” for an observer positioned somewhere on the Earth’s Equator vary from year to year due to the complexity of the planetary orbits and the axial motion of the Earth. However, in general, the following approximate patterns can be expected. As the “Morning Star,” Venus may be visible in the east before sunrise for approximately about 2 to 3 months, beginning in December or January through March or April.

As “Evening Star”, Venus may be visible in the west after sunset for approximately 8 to 10 months, from May or June through November or December.

It is also relevant to make the clarification that these periods may vary slightly from year to year, and that the best way to know the exact dates is to consult an astronomical calendar or an astronomy program.

C) Relationship of Venus as a planet and Venus as a Goddess

Venus as a planet and Venus as a goddess have a historical and cultural relationship. In ancient times, Venus was regarded as a deity in many cultures, such as ancient Rome, where she was known as Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. The identification of the goddess Venus with the planet Venus was probably due to the fact that the planet Venus is one of the brightest and most easily visible celestial bodies in the night sky and was often associated with love and fertility in mythology. Thus, the relationship between Venus as a planet and Venus as a goddess is an example of how astronomy and mythology have been closely intertwined in human history.

Venus as a goddess was not venerated, in any mythology, as a protector of roads and wayfarers, so we will not include her in future posts. However, we will analyze her importance as a Goddess, both in Roman and Greek mythology, as Aphrodite (Goddess of Beauty and Love) in the future Post FOLLOWING THE STEPS OF ADONIS (VENUS-ASTARTÉ) is where I express what refers to the divine influence -in general terms- in walking, and likewise, in the participation of the Gods protectors of the roads and the walk (series of future Posts), mentioning Astarte as the infinite lover of Adonis, who was in turn one of the lovers of the Goddess Venus.

D) The relationship of the planet Venus with the human being’s walk

There is no direct, scientifically proven relationship between Venus as a planet and human walking. However, some ancient cultures have associated Venus with luck and fortune, and in some cases, it was believed that observing the movement of Venus in the sky could predict success or failure in human activities and actions, including travel and walking. For example, in the astrological discipline, Venus is considered a planet associated with harmony and cooperation, and its position in the sky can be interpreted as an indicator of the ease or difficulty of interpersonal relationships and the ability to reach agreements during a journey or walk. However, these interpretations are merely symbolic and have no solid scientific basis.

On that correlation, it is possible that some ancient cultures may have taken into account the trajectory of Venus to trace some antique paths, that is, a relationship with walking. The Mayan culture most probably took into account the astronomical trajectory of Venus in the construction of their roads and in the layout of their cities. The ancient Maya had an advanced knowledge of astronomy and were experts in the study of celestial bodies, Venus being one of the most important. It is known that they resorted to the observation of celestial bodies, including Venus, to predict eclipses and to establish their sacred calendar and civil calendar, and it is possible that they used this information to orient their roads and cities in relation to the movements of Venus. However, there is no conclusive evidence that the trajectory of Venus directly influenced the construction of their Maya White Roads (Post THE ANCIENT MAYANS AND THEIR WHITE ROADS. PART I). This is an interesting theory, but needs to be further investigated through archaeological excavations and more detailed studies of the astronomical and archaeological records of the Mayan culture.

For the ancient Maya, the appearance and disappearance of Venus as the “morning star” and “evening star” had important significance for their earthly journeys. Venus was seen as an important god in Mayan mythology and it is believed that its movement in the sky had an impact on agriculture, astronomy, religion and calendarization of this people. In addition, the movement of Venus in the sky was used by the Maya to mark the passage of time and to guide their treks in the jungle. In short, the appearance and disappearance of Venus in the sky had a profound meaning and functioned as a valuable tool for the ancient Maya in their terrestrial journeys. (1) El Dintornismo en la plástica de los Antiguos Mayas.

E) The concept of the appearance and disappearance of the stars.

It is of utmost importance to understand the essence of the appearances and disappearances of the Sun and the consequent appearances and disappearances of the Moon and the stars, of the eclipses and the movement of Venus. Light hides the existence of certain things, in the same way that when the Sun sets other forces that were hidden in the day appear and flourish in the dark night. In the period of 584 days it takes to complete its cycle to return to the same point of the solar system, Venus (NOHOCH) was observed appearing sometimes in the east and sometimes in the west, contrary to the sun, as the ‘evening star’. In the Mayan region, 43% of its appearances were made by the west and 40% observed it appearing in the east, as ‘morning star’; the rest of the days of its cycle, 17%, could not be observed on the firmament. “Such a knowledge of the apparent revolution of the planet Venus, which takes approximately 584 days in its apparent revolution around the Earth, enabled the ancient Maya priests to predict to their parishioners that Venus would appear as the morning star for 236 days; that it would not be visible after withdrawing from the east on its journey to the west for 90 days (disappearance in its upper conjunction); that it would reappear in the west for 250 days as the evening star, and finally, that it would take 8 days to return to the east (disappearance in lower conjunction)”. Pavón Abreu, Raúl and Morley, Silvanus G., Cronología maya, Ayuntamiento de Campeche, Mexico, 1985, p. XX. For that reason, of appearing in the morning and in the afternoon, some other cultures considered that they were two different stars. The Maya knew that it was the same celestial body.

I would like to mention some outstanding aspects of the archetypes and of the collective unconscious in order to better introject the importance that the planet Venus has had in all peoples since the most remote antiquity. The archetype “ABSENCE”, like all archetypes, is an absolute and universal concept (Jungian conception). It is also a psychic projection or spiritual images (productions) generated in the collective unconscious and that emerge to the consciousness after long periods of time, generated 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 themselves and reveal themselves to the physical medium in various ways, among them plastic art. It is probable that in this archetype “Absence” that I have been defining can or should be included the renewal of God as one of its forms of manifestation.

The archetype “Absence” is a variant or derivation of the archetype of Creation; it represents the concealment and annulment of images, as well as the appearance in both the conscious and the unconscious of the human being in an infinite persistence of occurrences. I have erected the archetype “Absence” to characterize and identify those spiritual projections and psychic images that the unconscious of the human being transmits by diverse means and that emerge to the consciousness after long periods of being stored generated by recurrent and controlled experiences in the collective unconscious since very remote times. The experiences were generated from the origins of the human being by the observation at simple sight of the behavior of the stars (the Sun, the Moon, Venus, etc.) happening in a reiterative and infinite way in time and space, in such a way that they have been recorded in the collective unconscious.

This antithesis or figuration of the astral occultation, the Mayas observed it more reliably in the presence and disappearance of Venus (NOHOCH), since the same star appeared on the opposite sides, sometimes from the east (the most) and other times from the west (the least). Venus appears in the west (black: Tlapallan) as “morning star” and is hidden in the east (red: Tlillan) as “evening star”. “This identification of the morning and evening stars has given rise to multiple myths in humanity and explains almost all the legends of Quetzalcoatl”. Caso, Alfonso, El pueblo del Sol, F.C.E., Lecturas mexicanas, S.E.P., Mexico, 1992, p. 37.

To demonstrate that the astral positions and movements, fundamentally of the Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, and some other celestial bodies observed with the naked eye – without the aid of modern instruments – are the generators of that archetype “Absence” is a very complex task and it is not within my modest plans for this Post to reach that goal. “A different question is whether each of the forces of nature in particular are made the object of mythological interpretation and religious worship, or whether, so to speak, they only appear as carriers of a universal temporal order. In the first case we are still entirely in the realm of the substantialist view; the Sun, the Moon and the stars are animated divine beings, but they are also individual things endowed with perfectly determined particular forces. In this respect, between these divine beings and the subordinate demonic forces that dominate nature there is a difference of degree, but not of essence. But another conception, a new sense of the divine is maturing when the mythical-religious sense ceases to be oriented simply towards the immediate existence of the individual objects of nature and the direct operation of the various forces of nature and both acquire a well-expressive characteristic in addition to their direct existential significance; when that feeling becomes a means through which one arrives at the idea of a lawful order that rules and prevails in the universe.” Cassirer, Ernst, Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, volume II, F.C.E., Mexico, 2003, pp. 149-150.

The most important manifestation of the archetype “Absence” is that it is intuited, or in its absence, it is known and recognized with complete certainty that the “object” is hidden (since the star is somewhere) because it is out of our sight and that it will appear again. It is known, by one’s own experienced observation that one only has to wait for a certain period (time T) and the object will reappear. Surely this astrodynamic process of all celestial bodies is also the origin of the essential universal and cosmogonic myth of creation, but equally difficult to prove.

An outstanding aspect of this process of archetypal formation is the influence that leads the human being in three aspects of his condition: one, trying to recreate what his astro-god performs and is, during the time he cannot observe it, triggering mechanism of his imagination -not to say that it was most probably an essential element of his ingenital structuring-; in the other, having the conceptualization of space and time -surely of number as well-, driving element of inquiry (curiosity) and of the inclination to research (technique and science); and in the third, the circumstance and expectation that the star will not reappear, then we will be immersed in the case of non-existence, a stimulus towards the understanding of the meaning of death, as a constituent part of the continuum of life. Probably this third astrodynamic circumstance is the cause of the myth of the Apocalypse that has been generated in almost all the peoples of humanity.

I have no doubt that the Sun, the Moon and Venus are the 3 main actors (essential) creators of this archetype “Absence”.

Now, what closer relationship can we observe between what has been for mythologies the planet Venus and walking and with the WALK-RWD system, in what aspects and ways are they linked?

There are in total 5 cycles that relate the planet Venus with our essential cycles (rotation, translation, energetic, vital, mortuary, harvest, annual, solar, lunar, etc.).

1. Venusian cycle of 584 days that it takes to complete its cycle to return to the same point in the solar system.

2.            Cycle where Venus appears as the morning star of 236 days.

3.            Cycle of absence or non-visibility of 90 days.

4.            Cycle where Venus appears as the evening star of 250 days.

5.            Cycle of absence or non-visibility of 8 days.

The last 4 cycles (2 to 5) make up the complete cycle of Venus around the sun. We see it appear 486 days and disappear 98 days (Venus cycle of 584 days).

Our circadian rhythms are governed by the light of the sun and the darkness of the night. As we have observed, walking in these periods have a different influence on our body, both physical and mental, but what about Venus, does it have any influence?

Of course, archetypes are sources of human behavior. The archetype “Absence” also participates in our behavior and attitude.

Venus has always invited us to walk in the morning (very early) and in the evening at dusk), and the Moon, the always silver guest, to participate in our lives, inviting us to walk in the evenings.

I propose that we start walking in these Venusian cycles and observe the results that we will obtain, becoming aware of the movement that the archetype “Absence” generates in us.

(1)Loya Lopategui, Carlos, El Dintornismo en la plástica de los Antiguos Mayas, EMULISA, Mexico, 1995.

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I have developed this post for those people who refuse, in a determinant way, to read, write or draw while walking.

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The exercises are practical, concrete and simple to understand and to carry out, in such a way that they “move” the mind to increase and improve its functions (memory, creativity, ideas, cognitive, etc.); at least one exercise for each mental and bodily function. The fundamental objective is to make the brain work by exercising the senses – all of them, external and internal – and the physical parts of the body, which are set in motion.

As the title says, the exercises presented in this Post, are performed by walking; however, in some of them, walking is not performed in the usual way as we are used to do it.

We have already commented that walking should be done in a natural and normal way (Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART I: “… I would like to emphasize that walking is a natural activity of the human being and that its realization is balancedly perfect for its optimal functioning, since it is performed in a harmonic and balanced way that gives the body and the mind that medullar rhythm that is indispensable for the proper functioning of all its systems and organs”) and in this series of exercises, we should also perform them walking as we do naturally; however, some of them, as we said, are developed by making some alterations -small- in our natural walking.

We can consider that by means of these exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics it is possible to substitute -in part- the structured activities of reading, writing and drawing of the WALK-RWD System, but with lower levels of effectiveness and always walking. This post is closely related to several of the posts that deal with the “physical body”, explaining and applying the concepts of symmetry, rhythm, cadence, compass, harmony, and their counterparts (opposites, opposites, antagonists) since the exercises that are developed in Cerebral Gymnastics are based on these same concepts. (ENJOYING OUR PERCUSSIVE MUSICAL WALKING, BEAT AND RHYTHM IN OUR WALKING, PERSONALITY DEFINED BY RHYTHM IN WALKING, BODY PARTS FOR WALKING-THEIR CARE, LISTENING TO OUR BODY WHILE WALKING, SYMMETRY OF THE BODY AND WALKING, ADDITIONAL BENEFITS IN CONDITIONING THE BODY AND MIND, LET HEALTH FLOW THROUGHOUT THE BODY, THE GOLDEN RATIO (FIBONACCI) AND THE HUMAN BODY IN WALKING, VITRUVIAN MAN AND THE PROPORTIONATE WALKING OF THE HUMAN BEING, FOUCAULT’S PENDULUM AND THE HUMAN COMPASS AND THAT OF OTHER ANIMALS, A SMALL STEP FOR ONE MAN, A GREAT LEAP FOR MANKIND).

DEFINITION, PRACTICE, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SCOPE OF THE EXERCISES:

All the exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics mentioned and explained in the present Post, are performed walking in a safe and comfortable way, except that some of them contain certain difficulties that impact some of the senses, both internal and external, and some alterations regarding members of the body, so they should be performed with care; that is, while performing these exercises the arms, hands and the senses -mainly sight (eyes) and orientation- are put in motion assigning them certain additional efforts, which may have repercussions on the proprioceptive capacity of the person performing them.

1.       All exercises are performed walking, none of them in a static way.

2.       Exercises with eyes closed (or blindfolded) must be performed in safe spaces, smooth floors (not slippery) and without obstacles.

3.       All the exercises must be performed according to the conditions and recommendations that have been issued in the preceding Posts to develop the WALK-RWD System.

4.       The sequence of the exercises presented is not obligatory. You can start with any one of them and finish with the one you wish.

5.       Each exercise should be performed a minimum of 4 times and a maximum of 7 times, according to the intensity that the person supports and according to the function to be stimulated.

6.       The recommendation is that the greatest number of these 29 exercises should be performed, but if desired, only some of them.

7.       You can select some of the exercises to develop them one day and leave others for another day, or the following week.

8.       Each person can elaborate his or her own program for performing the exercises.

9.       Each exercise has an impact on specific physical and mental functions, so the recommendation is to perform them all on different days.

10.     All exercises should be performed slowly or very slowly, completely comfortably, according to the needs and capabilities of each individual.

11.     Care should be taken with respect to the spaces where the exercises are performed, as well as reading and applying all the indications that are indicated in the tables where we present them in a precise way and with their different images with the character Quale.

12.     The exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics are only effective if they are practiced in 10% of the time that we dedicate to the walk, either during the same day or in several of them. This percentage should not be exceeded and the rest should be done alternating with reading, writing or drawing.

13.     Compliance with the Principles of Symmetry, Dynamic Equilibrium, and of course, with the Energetic Principle of Perturbation, which is established in this Post, should be carefully observed.

To better communicate and expose the benefits, effects and impacts that are achieved with these exercises, during a walk, I will allow myself to quote some relevant aspects that I have mentioned in some of the Posts, already published:

In Post WALKING AND ITS SYMBOLISM: “Walking can be considered to contain two forms of symbolism by which the human being communicates. The part of physically moving from one place to another, represents a symbolism that implies the transformation of the being as he moves bodily from one circumstance to another, as if he were transforming himself, by moving on his own feet, from one physical-sensitive stage to another, with different sensitivities and bodily manifestations.

The other symbolic form is the language of the body itself; being in movement allows it, through its body language, to communicate what our physical being (bodily catharsis or mechanistic method) intends to achieve through this movement of walking; on the one hand to help the mental part to free it from its harmful emotional state, sending messages to all parts of the body and functional organs, to improve the state of mind; and on the other hand, through this mechanical practice (behavior) that allows the physical catharsis of the subjection and immobility, which chains, suffocates and makes it impossible to unleash (overflow) their exercise needs. Walking is the symbolic mechanism that has the meaning of reconforming and integrating the character and personality of the individual.

An analogical extrapolation of this is traveling, which is nothing other than the search for a renewing experience, the beginning of a change that seeks to get somewhere; initiating a metamorphosis for transcendence.

In other words, the symbolism of walking is the abstraction of external conditioning, it is to let your thoughts flow towards your inner self, it is to find yourself”.

With this I intend to give me a better understanding of the core aspects of the activity of Cerebral Gymnastics that we can perform, because there are still incomprehensible ways of how the body and mind (especially the mind that receives information through the internal and external senses and physical parts exercised) that transmit information to parts of the brain itself and other parts of the body (messages, rules, groping, manifestations, warnings, requirements, silences, etc.) that make it react favorably, that is, these exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics -but walking- have that goal.

In Posts THE SYMMETRY OF THE BODY, ITS BALANCE AND WALKING; and BODY PARTS FOR WALKING-THEIR CARE, I mention the importance of principles 1 and 2 of the WALK-RWD System. In the first Post, I express that: “Walking is an example of the application of this principle, regarding the second option of alternating the respective symmetrical limbs, in this case, the legs, knees, ankles and feet. However, the 2nd fundamental principle of the WALK-RWD System should also be taken into account, and the “unbalanced” states in movement, such as walking, which generate very important effects in our brain and in the body (stable unbalanced movement)”.

In the second Post, I mention that: “Indeed, we know that walking, on the one hand, is an excellent example of the application of the 1st principle since it is performed alternating the lower limbs (bipedalism) and this principle is fundamental in its unrestricted application for the efficient care of the body and its full development. Secondly, the practice of walking is a dynamic balance that rests on the 2nd principle, being this essential for the achievement of what are the displacements in “disequilibrium” and the “unbalanced” states in movement, which as we know, walking generates very important effects in our brain and body (stable unbalanced movement)”.

In this regard, I must comment that when we walk in a natural way the movement we make of the limbs-legs-arms is made in a crossed way, that is, when we advance the left leg we move the right arm, and when we advance the right leg we move the left arm. This way of moving our upper and lower extremities in a crossed way is only done while walking, and this is one of the great benefits that cannot be obtained with any other type of exercise in a natural way. In some of the exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics, efforts are made where this harmony is broken in order to provoke in the brain unbalanced states which in turn provoke imbalances that cause it to send signals to the rest of the body and especially to the senses, both internal and external, and to itself, causing the use of brain areas that have been asleep. These exercises -in general- substitute the 3 activities of reading, writing and drawing, structured within the WALK-RWD System, generating very strong impulses towards the cerebral system, which seeks to rebalance itself by making other areas of the same brain work, which without these efforts, would remain asleep, almost inactive.

The two principles mentioned are:

1st Fundamental Principle or Principle of Symmetry:

“All the exercises to be performed must be carried out with respect to the vertical axis of anatomical symmetry of the human body, either simultaneously or alternating the 2 respective symmetrical limbs, always in a harmonic way, in both options”.

This can be seen in one of the exercises we have proposed:

2nd fundamental principle or Principle of Dynamic Equilibrium:

“Keeping the body in physical movement through walking, generates by itself a vibration of the brain, which causes it to enter into an imbalance and normal functions are carried out and effects are generated, of the dynamic type, on the different systems, organs and glands of the body”.

The application and fulfillment of this 2nd Principle can be seen in all the proposed exercises.

A 3rd Principle results as a corollary of the other two, incorporating the exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics to the WALK-RWD System:

3rd Fundamental Principle or Energetic Principle of Perturbation (Instability, Active, Energetic, Efficient, Effective, Vivid, Energetic, Vigorous):

“The functional efficiency of the brain and the other systems, organs and glands of the human being is maximized and optimized by walking and special structural instability exercises performed while walking.

This principle considers the cerebral instability that is achieved by making certain modifications in our walking, which generates a very vigorous, vital and effective active structural imbalance in the functions of the mind, increasing its capabilities.

The instability or imbalance caused by accidents, by excessive efforts or in extreme sports, is not the same as those generated systematically and methodically that we propose.

A typical example of this 3rd Principle is the practice of writing, drawing or painting with the left hand (when right-handed) to “awaken” the right side of the brain. It is truly impressive the positive results obtained: imagination and creativity are immediately present.

In Post WALKING AND SEXUALITY: “We have already commented that the WALK-RWD System is a very effective procedure to stimulate brain functions and those of the neurovegetative system. When the human being is in movement when walking, the brain works by sending signals to the whole body to create energy (strength) and to keep alert specifically by means of the Sympathetic system (alarm preparation); signals received by the rest of the systems, organs and glands of the body, which in turn produce – as a response – biochemical substances. When reading -or writing or drawing- at the same time as walking, the effects that are generated are greater, because in a continuous way, the parts that constitute the sense of sight try -constantly- to keep the sight focused and precise on what is being read (written or drawn) and therefore also send messages to the brain, which in turn helps to keep the sight fixed. This process, stimulated by the activity of reading and walking, produces stronger impulses to the encephalic system, which seeks to rebalance -permanently- making other areas of the same brain work, which usually, without these activities, would remain inactive, almost asleep (Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART I). Now, those electrical impulses that the neurovegetative system receives manage to place it in an operative harmony, in such a way that its signals directed to the different organs and glands of the body, are more efficient, so that their respective functioning is better performed and at the same time they produce their corresponding biochemical substances in an optimal way. Regarding the functional optimization I present an analysis in Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND THE CELLULAR SELF-GENERATION OF THE ORGANISM by touching on the topic of Free Radicals (HARMONY OF THE BODY WITH THE MIND; ADDITIONAL BENEFITS IN THE CONDITIONING OF THE BODY AND THE MIND; and LISTENING TO OUR BODY WHILE WALKING)”.

In Post THE WALK AND CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS. PART I, I state: “Walking sideways (right or left) or walking backward, would not be biologically correlated with the circadian rhythm that we execute when we walk normally forward, because we have always done it that way. Circadian rhythms are probably a reptilian part of the human brain”.

I also mention on the subject of walking with disarrangements and not necessarily in a normal way, in Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART I: “With just walking we achieve these effects, however, when we walk and we can also read, write or draw, the effects are greater and are potentiated. [… The WALK-RWD System, in an integral form, generates a greater ‘movement’ of the head because not only with the exercise of walking, but with reading, writing and drawing, it provokes ‘vectors of efforts’ in other parts of the body and in the other senses, which increases the state of alertness (DECOMPENSATION-DESTABILIZATION-UNBALANCING-UNBALANCING) of the brain and the body, generating in turn, that it sends messages to preserve and restore harmony, in such a way, that it uses new neuronal circuits activating new mental functions, through the stimulation of other areas of the brain that are kept asleep. Walking causes an imbalance that affects the vestibular system, sending messages to the brain to maintain or restore balance, so that it uses new neural circuits to activate new mental functions. […] Reading inside a car or bus (any moving vehicle) is not the same as walking, since the same effects and results are not obtained in the brain and other organs, glands and organic systems”.

According to my experience, when we make some movements out of the normal, very abrupt or moderately abrupt, such as turning, rolling, swinging, or even if they are not very abrupt (for example: reading, writing or drawing while walking, skating, sliding, going up or down, climbing, moving our arms while walking, closing our eyes while walking, singing while walking, walking backwards, turning backwards while walking, or turning to both sides, etc.), we certainly activate the vestibular system by sending signals to the brain to recover (or maintain) balance. With age, it becomes more difficult to maintain or recover balance due to the hardening of the small organs of the ear. The degree or intensity of this type of movement is what must be taken into account so that the exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics are applied safely and effectively while walking.

When we incorporate the mobility of the eyes in the respective exercises, what we are trying to do is a functional parallel (analogy, simile, equivalence) to how we move them when we read, write and draw, while we walk, with the difference that we do not generate any “pressure” on the higher brain functions (reasoning, thinking, memorizing, attention, speaking, creativity, imagination, perception, decision making, intellectual intelligence, emotional intelligence, emotional behavior) in a direct and complete way (full, total, absolute, radical, integral) as it is achieved with the WALK-RWD Integral System, by incorporating in practice, the 3 structured activities of reading, writing and drawing (Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART I; Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART II -future-; and Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART III -future-).

We must emphasize that these exercises are appropriate and positive, and in no way can they be considered ineffective.

However, we should also mention that doing these exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics without walking, is like going to the psychiatrist and doing the catharsis sitting or lying on the couch (Post PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM), yes they are helpful (beneficial) but not completely effective (efficient).

On the other hand, we must point out that the sense of hearing, and other internal senses such as orientation, are stimulated by the walking itself (the walk itself) and by the mobility that we cause to the eyes (Post WALKING AND THE CARDINALS POINTS; Future Post THE DIRECTION AND SENSE OF ONE’S OWN WALKING: A PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD. CARDINAL POINTS).

Walking I can “analogize” with art in (about) the aspect of the participation of the 5 external senses. In my book COCINOPEA, I mention: “Let’s make ‘preparing food’ a pleasure that invades all our senses, from the first moment we begin to devise the dish of our next meal, to how to get the ingredients, its preparation and tasting. Cooking and eating is the self-transcendent binomial that allows us to reach beyond ourselves; it is the best way to gather all our senses in a single pleasure. Let us be aware that sight, smell, touch and taste will always be present throughout this journey; but also, let us have a guest at our modest feast, and from the moment we start with the preparation of the dish, let us invite the sense of hearing by playing the music we like the most. Sounds are eternal units that reside in the mind, in the interiority of the being, entities that participate in the creation when they are emitted by the voice or received by the ear. It would seem that someone whispered to us advising us that the highest art, the best art, is the one that is performed with the greatest number of human senses. And therefore, we could venture to say that the rhythm in the corporeal movements has a profound and subtle effect in the preparation of the dishes, that rhythmic faculty, sensation and capacity are determinant in the being, for it”.

That is to say, the more senses participate in an artistic genre the greater the enthusiasm and passion projected in the creator of the work itself. In the case of walking, the same must happen, the greater the number of senses that we can make participate during its realization, surely it will move us with greater pleasure and enthusiasm to do so.

To finish, I would like to point out that the WALK-RWD System must be carried out by incorporating the 3 structured activities within the same, nevertheless, as we already mentioned, we have incorporated to the system these exercises for those people who refuse to read, write or draw, same that although they do not generate the same effects, yes an important part of effectiveness and efficiency is achieved.

Let’s organize our walks incorporating some exercises of Cerebral Gymnastics. The results are immediate.

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In the activity of walking, I know that I can start, stop or restart, if I wish, in several points of the path, I can also at any time, if I so decide, modify the direction or the path, even change the path itself.

I can do the same with my life.

Let us begin an analogy that has an impact on decision making, change, transformation, disturbance, transition, renewal and evolution of our lives.

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Δ§Δ Why shouldn’t I start a walk? There are several reasons; some powerful, invincible, and others trivial, weak; an ordinary one would be because it is raining! For some people, the mere fact that the sky is cloudy, it discourages them from doing so, it persuades them not to start a walk.

If we want to live life to the fullest, we have to get out of bed every day with our spirits up and fight with ourselves to face all the negative aspects, from the moment the sun rises, transforming the bad approaches, to feeling and thinking positively. Let us remember that we must move forward, that is, with joy, love, approving ourselves, with order, with humility, with affection, with slimness, with health, always accepting ourselves.

Δ§Δ I can see on the road, at a certain distance, that it divides in two, because I see a bifurcation in the road. I immediately think: when I get there, I will have to choose which of the two ways I will continue my walk.

In everyday life, we continually have to choose between different options; and this may or may not mean a significant change. We must be alert to be able and willing to transform ourselves and make the right and most convenient decisions.

Δ§Δ Every stone in the path can stop me, and provoke in my walk, a change of speed, rhythm, cadence, compass, etc., and this can mean and generate a disturbance in my walk. We must take advantage of each stone on the path to become aware that each one can represent a positive change, always positive.

Let us go forward through life with a correct, positive sense of “looking forward”; and backward only to analyze our personal experiences. Let us avoid barriers and obstacles along the way by facing them or avoiding them. Let us view existential disturbances in a positive light and take advantage of life opportunities.

Δ§Δ When we reach the bifurcation, we will inevitably have to make a decision, and this will represent a deviation, that is, a change.

This bifurcation is analogous to the feelings we have about the things we do not want to change. Let’s accept and confront the transitions.

Δ§Δ Now that we are close to that point of the bifurcation, we observe that they are two similar paths; however, as we get closer we realize that both have undoubtedly different directions, one goes North and the other goes East.

Moreover, as we approach the bifurcation we observe that one goes into the woods, while the other stays in an area without vegetation, one is seen to be lost in the distance, near the mountains, while the other reaches a lake; probably one is more winding than the other, one with slopes and the other flatter, one with more pitfalls than the other.

In everyday life we would like to have a crystal ball that would tell us with certainty what kind of change or by which avatar we should orient our existence. That quartz crystal sphere used by magicians to divine future events.Which step we should take to reorient our life. That first step is the most important because we are deciding on a renewal.

Δ§Δ Now we are stopped, resting at the precise point of the bifurcation and we have no choice but to opt for one of them.

Once we have set out on either of the two bifurcated paths, our feet will continue walking without stopping, they will find their rhythm, their compass, and will move at a speed in step with the rest of the physical body and the mental acceptance that has just decided to make the change of direction; we were walking in a North-East direction and changed to the North.

Now we just have to continue walking along that path with a new direction.

All our fears, anxieties, pretexts, mental resistances, we must reconcile them, make them conscious, to act with responsibility and freedom, with our best effort, in the different tasks that a new avatar brings in our lives. Let us be ready to change.

Δ§Δ After restarting our walk along the new chosen path, heading north, and in a small curve that descended we came across a bridge that crosses a small stream. The bridge is old and extremely deteriorated, it is advisable not to go over it and I must cross the creek walking, because its small stream of water would hardly wet the shoes. However, there is the option of returning to take the other bifurcated trail, heading east.

Sometimes, during a moment of our existence, we wish to go back to a certain past time in our lives, where we were better off; because we are suffering at that moment from great problems; however, going back in time is impossible. We must be tolerant and accept transitions.

Δ§Δ We better decide to continue on the same path and get our feet wet, because on second thought, perhaps on the other path we will find worse physical conditions to move forward.

If we have stumbled over some stones during the crossing, it does not mean that we will have to encounter others in the future.

Crossing the stream while avoiding the bridge is significant, because we have realized that it could fall down if we use it by crossing over it, due to its deterioration.

In habitual life, avoiding repeating mistakes is synonymous of changing the feeling of being a victim, because of bad decisions, and we should avoid negative thoughts and attitudes, replacing them with a new pattern of behavior where we ourselves make the decisions, and no one should be asked for authorization to do so; moving forward is under our power, and this will allow us to stop being a victim. We must not allow anyone or anything to disturb our existence. Let us accept ourselves.

Δ§Δ Once the stream has been crossed, the possible sinuosity of the path can be seen ahead. We should check the elapsed time it has taken to get there. Half an hour, one hour, etc.

We should make a small reminder of the events we have experienced. Everything has been pleasant, we do not feel tired.

One should think and feel that what is really important is not to reach the end of the road, but the experiences that have been lived, the contemplation of the road itself, as well as the nature that surrounds it, the vegetation and the animals that have been observed, its ups and downs, the stones, the bridge, the stream, etc.

All this will help us to feel good about ourselves.

However, in daily life we suffer from negative habits, which often cause us discomfort and irritation with other people and with ourselves. All our experiences should be lights that illuminate our future to acquire new positive habits: the bad habits let’s put them aside.

Δ§Δ The pitfalls and the big stones that come our way must be avoided, evaded, or better, faced by passing over them, taking care not to fall.

How to change our way of being, of feeling, to eliminate those evil habits, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, shouting? we only have to identify that “need” in us that generates that habit; once fully identified, analyze ourselves, become aware of the harm it does us and eradicate it from our life. Easy or very difficult, it is necessary to achieve it.

We have to look back, analyzing our personal experiences to understand why we have that “need” and in this way we will be able to eliminate and with it the symptoms of smoking, drinking, shouting, etc., and in the same way free ourselves from the past that imprisons us, eliminating those evil habits.

Δ§Δ We will have to continue walking on the new path, although there will be opportunities, if we decide so, to stop to review how we feel physically and spiritually, or to go back to where we came from. Either option is possible.

The important thing, in every decision, transformation, disturbance or transition in our life, is to feel what we want to do, if we do not feel it we cannot know how to achieve it; if we cannot feel it is that we do not want it.

Δ§Δ Now, the option to return can be carried out in different ways, one is exactly on our footsteps, also through some bends that we observe during the journey, through some gap, etc. What is relevant in this possible option of change in the trajectory and in the sense, is not only to stop, but to go back implies that we are not interested in reaching the end of the path immediately, or that we are insecure, fearful or tired, and we prefer to decline in the continuation of the walk.

In everyday life we often tell ourselves that it is difficult to make decisions to move forward, and not so much to keep moving forward where we have become accustomed to doing so. This habit is difficult to break or change, however, we must impose in our feeling and our thinking that transitions are necessary, and we must continue moving forward, even if at certain times we have to stop, to take a breath and to analyze our emotional and intellectual circumstances of the inner self, until we find a balance between what we desire, what we truly feel and what we can achieve.

Δ§Δ The bifurcations in the paths (Future Post SARUTAHIKO, GOD OF TRAVELERS IN ANCIENT JAPAN, Gods of the bifurcations) are analogies of the crucial moments in the decision making of our existence.

Let us take a walk along any path, observe each bifurcation in the road and make each one of them a metaphor that coincides with our own circumstantial decisions. They will help us to better understand and become aware of our lives and encourage us to get ready to walk (Future Post WALKING AND VITAL OPPORTUNITIES).

To walk is to live evolving.

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Before going into the biunivocal subject of instinct-walking, let us answer the following 3 questions: What is an instinct? What are the instincts that human beings have? How are instincts classified?

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Instinct is an inborn behavior in the human being and therefore its origin is not the result of learning over time; that is to say, instinctive behavior is not a response to reasoning or reflection, even different from intuition, which is also a human function that is far from will and reasoning. Instinct is the capacity that living beings have that empowers and drives them naturally to develop action in a spontaneous way without the intervention of reasoning, consciousness or will.

Let us see which are the human instincts, in order to know and be able to concentrate on those that have a direct relation with walking. To do so, we must consider a pertinent classification.

We would like to analyze the pros and cons of the different theories of instinct that have been formulated; however, we do not intend to highlight which of them is the most accurate or the most acceptable.

There are two positions that have been valid up to the present day, and which in themselves contain extreme representativeness: one of these perspectives demeans instinct by submitting it to reason, and the other considers that instinct manifests itself without ties, free with respect to reasoning and with an impermutable intrinsic value. Although we will not stop to elucidate the validity of one with respect to the other, we maintain that even if instinct is a degraded intelligence, our postulation of orienting ourselves to its strengthening and rescue as one of the healthiest ways for the human being to develop fully, in accordance with his pristine nature, would still be valid.

An exemplary classification is one that divides the instincts in basic and vital; considering all of them fundamental for the full development of the individual.

The basic instincts are:

1. Survival instinct.

2. Instinct of Reproduction and Perpetuation of the Species.

The vital instincts are:

– Preservation or conservation instinct.

– Instinct of personal, spiritual, scientific and artistic realization.

– Instinct of self-care.

– Instinct to flee and escape from danger, or to reject and repel aggression.

– Instinct of territoriality.

– Instinct of curiosity and inquiry.

– Sexual or Procreation instinct.

– Eros or life instinct.

– Thanatos or death instinct (aggression and anger).

– Instinct to leave the maternal womb.

– Instinct to leave the place of origin.

– Mythological-religious instinct (traditions and rites).

– Instinct of defense, protection, security and alertness.

– Instinct of submission and resistance to aggression and danger.

– Instinct of solitude

– Instinct of repulsion to the unknown

As can be observed, some of them are confused within others; however, I decided to mention them all to be more illustrative.

The human being is born with an instinctive programming, that is to say, he is born with all these instincts but some of them appear and are manifested since we are born, even from the maternal womb, but others are incorporated as we develop.

The instinct of procreation, although it is kept in the biological-cellular part, it appears until a certain age, when the reproductive organs -both of the woman and of the man- reach their maturity (the adequate age) to function as such. Territoriality, however, does not; it develops from the maternal womb.

I must point out that some classifications detract from their crucial and transcendental importance since they include the lower instincts.

Briefly, I would like to comment on the need that the human being has had to live in society, which has been confused with a natural impulse. We can affirm, in a summary way, that man is not a social being by his natural condition. Man is a sociable being by necessity. He is not inclined, by his natural condition, to meet with other beings of his own species, but is driven to socialize by external stimuli, to seek protection, greater strength within a group to defend himself, to seek food, to preserve the species. There is no such instinct in human beings that impels them to be social. It is a mistake to think that by its very essence, homo sapiens is a sociable being.

The instinct to leave the place of origin is gestated in two temporal phases; one is when the fetus leaves the womb, as an individual being, and the other phase is when it reaches a certain age in adolescence that manifests itself with the desire to leave the place where it has developed most of its early age.

I like to comment on the fetus in the womb because it is very explanatory of what happens to the human being when he needs to leave his place of origin. It is a second stage of the being that reaches its age -at 11-15 years old- and requires to be expelled from that second womb formed by parents, relatives, place, etc., to be able to reach that new vital environment and breathe by itself. I repeat what I mentioned in Post THE WALK AND THE INSTINCT TO LEAVE THE PLACE OF ORIGIN: “Going for a walk is not only a physical impulse to exercise the body and give movement to the mind, but it is closely related to something much deeper in the soul: going out to strengthen the individual personality. This going for a walk is a metaphor of the unconscious that seeks the healthy awakening of the personality of the being. Leaving one’s place of origin in a timely manner -at a certain age- allows one to develop better and to search for one’s own personality. Definitely this is an action that every human being -man and woman- must put into practice by himself, as his own decision and encouraged by his parents”.

“Leaving one’s place of origin in a timely manner -at a certain age- allows one to better develop oneself and seek a personality of one’s own. This is not a mere recommendation on my part, but this is a natural need of the human being to achieve his own personality and not to be frustrated, in his immediate future, for not making that exit with opportunity (Future Post THE WALKING AND THE INSTINCTS). However, to seek to obtain a re-integration of the personality that is lost by living comfortably within the family bosom, after a certain age: After having passed our youth, where the interference of the participation of the parental home -parents, family and educators- that have prevented a healthy development of the personality, is quite complicated from the psychic and behavioral point of view”.

“Of course, this departure should not take place before a certain age when the being cannot support himself; nor after a certain age, when the personality already suffers distortions, preventing its autonomous development, and the unconscious work that must be carried out by means of this departure (evasion, absence), is lacerating for the person who does not manage to do it in a timely manner”.

It is also possible that it is true that in both scenarios the human being has the desire to return, both to the mother’s womb and to the place of origin, but we cannot be sure of this. Good topic for someone to investigate and develop.

In several posts I have mentioned that it is only required to take the first step, placing oneself on the path, as the simple mechanism required to get excited and get rid of laziness. Some walking scholars mention this “taking the first step” in different contexts in order to point out and promote its benefits and “products”, and it is true in the vast majority of the topics discussed (undertaken). In our case, to be able to take the first step is to be able to detach ourselves from where we are rooted (rooted); rooting (rooting) that is established in the demerited state of mind of the being.

We explained this chronic rooting in that Post THE WALK AND THE INSTINCT TO LEAVE THE PLACE OF ORIGIN, and one of its manifestations is certainly that we do not feel like walking.

Walking is an indubitable (unquestionable, unquestionable, undeniable, irrefutable, incontrovertible) symbol of moving forward, of wishing to get somewhere, be it physical or sensory-sentimental (work, family, professional, social); and if we cannot leave our place of origin it is because we are afraid -among other denials of the personality- and we invalidate (and frustrate) one of the most important instincts of being.

On the other hand, the instinct of territoriality is not to stay in one place, but to look for that place outside of where we are rooted. A new place to look for our own particular development, physical, mental and spiritual. A plant or bush that is sad needs to be pulled out of the soil where it is planted and moved to a place where it can flourish. Likewise human beings, it is necessary, at a certain age, to uproot from his place, and take him to other places where he can develop all his capacities.

Walking also has this other “product”, in addition to the benefits that we have pointed out and described above.

Let us concentrate on those instincts that walking has direct effects on, such as the instinct of territoriality, the instinct to leave the place of origin, and the instinct to flee and escape in the face of aggression and danger.

All of them -the instincts- are cultivated, favored (encouraged), exercised, developed and preserved by walking, however, not walking also prevents them, represses them, restricts them, slows them down, prevents them from developing fully, and sometimes cuts them off, and the result in the future is to have a barren (sterile) being (Essay Peoples without Instinct *). As we have mentioned in the same Post THE WALK AND THE INSTINCT TO LEAVE THE PLACE OF ORIGIN, if this instinct to leave the place of origin is not attended to, the personality of the individual can become atrophied and it will be difficult to achieve a correct and satisfactorily finished (consummated) personality.

“Freedom, physical and mental, is born with the human being himself, it is inherent to him. Any action against it is reflected in a setback in the evolution of the species.

These involutions invade the different psychomotor spheres, which are impacted by subtracting from the human being physiological, psychic, emotional and instinctual aptitudes, both at the individual and collective levels.

It is not possible to distinguish with certainty in which of these spheres the impact of the loss of freedom is stronger, however, we must review the one where injuries can be provoked whose damage is not easily reversible, or that endangers the existence of the human being, by attacking his instinct of reproduction and survival as a people and as a species.

The sense of adaptation as an option for survival has been one of the ways that has shown the greatest damage to the human race; submission to dogma plays a determining role in the suppression of vital instincts, and thus in the prolongation of the status of servility and secular stagnation that peoples currently show” (Pueblos sin Instinto *).

WALKING AS AN EXPRESSION OF A HIGHER INSTINCT.

Now, I would like to argue certain ideas trying to support and validate that walking is a fundamental activity of the human being (Future Post WALKING, THE MOTOR OF THE REST OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES), a superior activity, it is a meta-activity. The prefix “meta” is to denote its status of “superiority” and “transcendence” that it has over other natural activities of the human being.

If we go back to the past, when hominids did not walk upright, we could ask ourselves about this “instinctive” walking.

Were they unable to develop that instinctive activity?

Did they stand upright to fully develop it and the rest of the instincts?

For a natural reason did they acquire that capacity and therefore they stood upright?

These questions open other avenues of research for the future, which I will try to answer in Future Post WALKING, THE MOTOR OF THE REST OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES. For now, in the here and now, let’s start walking to strengthen our instincts, both basic and vital.

(*) Loya Lopategui, Carlos, Pueblos sin Instinto, EMULISA, México, 2022. (An English version will be published soon).

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It is important to start by mentioning Paul Diel regarding his conception of the unconscious and the subconscious. In Post THE UNCONSCIOUS AND THE CONSCIOUS IN THE APPLICATION OF THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM, we said: “In order to make incursions into the configuration (conformation) of the mental (cerebral) functions, we will resort to a classification that Paul Diel makes (elaborates) in his book Psychoanalysis of 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; he also includes 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 (repressed) by the consciousness accumulate; defining 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 us -most of the time- is the authentic one”. We will use and adhere strictly to this definition as I consider it to be the most accurate.

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Furthermore, we need to underline that the subconscious is not part of the unconscious; that is, the unconscious does not contain any damaged element or part.

Now, let us see what the EROS and THANATOS instincts are.

In the science of psychology these two instincts have been defined to signify the inclinations that the human being has towards life (Eros instinct) and towards death (Thanatos instinct). Both instincts are innate and natural in all human beings, since they are born, live and until they die; and both can be developed, increased or decreased, depending on the individual being and his environment and social surroundings.

THANATOS INSTINCT

The Thanatos instinct is an impulse or inclination to death and destruction, a concept that sounds aggressive, but in our field it indicates that generalized dissatisfaction -in a high percentage of human beings- that we feel and that overwhelms us, because we do not feel happy in an appreciable and constant way.

Resorting to some definitions, we find the following meanings and scopes of the concept Thanatos. Freud incorporated this concept in his psychoanalytic theory, as the opposite of the Eros instinct.

It is considered to be a force of discord and rupture, contrary to the meaning of EROS, being this instinctive of union.

Thanatos is a vigorous energy towards death in general, manifesting itself also in a particular way as an impulse towards self-destruction, in which the individual is not conscious of it; in other less crude (rougher or softer) words, in those cases that are not reduced, it is a propensity (predisposition, disposition, tendency) towards the negation of the self.

In Post WALKING AS PHYSICAL PRACTICE AND AS ALEGORY, I expressed: “No one should be afraid of death if one has lived genuinely and vitally in the light of one’s own spirit, under the guidance of the force of the particular reason, the feeling of personal emotions and under the WAY of knowledge indicated by the instincts [EROS instinct] and the individual unconscious”. Of course I was referring to the EROS instinct.

EROS INSTINCT

Let us now devote a few words to its counterbalancing companion, the Eros impulse.

This instinct is a determining inclination to life, to the desire to live, to the yearning to live.

Resorting to dictionary definitions, we find the following meanings and scopes of the concept Eros: 1) Desire for possession or love, almost always erotic. 2) In Platonic philosophy, the driving force of life that tends towards the absolute God; hence, the motive that explains education, the arts and philosophy. In Plato’s use of the term, he insists on the character of fascination, impersonality and intense desire. 3) This is why Eros must be distinguished from the Indian Bhakti (altruistic surrender), from the Buddhist Metta (disinterested benevolence), from the Confucian Jen (humanity, charity) and Ai (personal love), and from the Christian Agapao (sacrificial, protective, fraternal love) and Phileo (personal affection or fondness). Source: Dictionary of Philosophy, Dagobert D. Runes, Grijalbo, Mexico, 1981 (Original title: Dictionary of Philosophy).

In these scopes we can observe that in the different languages each one gives it a different meaning and this leads us to multiply the content of the word. Of course, we have made incursions into the understanding of the concept, and now we will do so in what instinct represents in itself in the human condition.

According to Freud both instincts, Eros and Thanatos, are complementary and both are indispensable for the survival of the individual being.

The unconscious is EROS.

The subconscious is Thanatos.

To walk is to advance. To advance is EROS.

THANATOS is not to advance, is not to walk.

For my own reasons to promote walking, I will dedicate more effort to elucidate the behavioral and directive manifestations of the Thanatos instinct, in human behavior, more than of Eros (Of this instinct EROS, sheltered by the individual unconscious, I already spoke in Post THE EMOTIONS AND THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM), although I did not mention it with that name. Aspects that I will try to show that this negative drive tries to dominate the Human Condition, since it is a “natural” reflex in the behavior of the human being.

I will try to list, as completely as possible, the equivocity (multivaloration, polyvalence) of Thanatos, an instinct that we locate its manifestations concealing itself in other attitudes and actions of the human being: punishment, war, aggression, overweight, damage, alcoholism, drug addiction, excommunication, revenge, torture, sadism, masochism, smashing, whipping, beating, stoning, lynching, expulsion and imprisonment; which I believe are the most representative manifestations, and that there will surely be some more that I have not included.

As we can observe in this list, some human actions are clearly seen to be a homologue to this instinct, but others are observed with different ranges (graduation, scale).

As is to be expected, the conscious is influenced in its actions by both instincts, and both seek to influence it to the greatest degree possible. Thus, the Thanatos instinct seeks the support of the conscious and achieves it in a relevant percentage (it would be important to know this percentage).

In general, we must also assume that the conscious is not always alert to the very different onslaughts of the Thanatos instinct, in order to reject it or at least not to support it.

Both instincts are a prefigured part of the self and each seeks its support to perform and discharge itself.

Thanatos uses, as we have already mentioned, dozens of masks so that it is not recognized and thus can perform freely, as “part of the self”.

Thus, in a high percentage of its actions it manages to incorporate itself to the will and the actions of the self, and sometimes it also manages to fuse itself to the character and personality of the individual, which in this way the individual self makes it its own and manages to deceive itself that this is its authentic way of thinking, feeling and acting, so that the conscious does not manage to identify it, behind its disguises. In Post AUTOLIBERATION OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS THROUGH SELF-SUGGESTIONABILITY, we express: “Therefore, the next step is that of tranquility and/or happiness that is achieved through having each one the ‘control’ of our emotions, but not the type of control that we have been taught to practice: repressing them or hiding them, so that others do not see them or do not notice them; and I am referring to the systematic learning to hide them from the eyes of others that ends with our own self-deception of not being able to recognize them in ourselves, or in getting to confuse them by not having them clear and thus unbalancing and preventing our development or emotional maturity, which is often transformed into a neurotic (or deceptive) state, being ourselves the victims of that self-deception”.

On the other hand, and because of that same acceptance and self-deception, there is also the possibility and risk that the conscious turns to the Thanatos instinct and seeks it more frequently, because the subconscious has been invaded by that malignant and destructive drive, and the need arises – at the level of the consciousness – to go through some of the masks that represent the Thanatos instinct completely (in its totality).

Of all the most representative manifestations of Thanatos that we have pointed out above, we will choose only one, punishment, to analyze this negative drive, but all that we will point out about punishing in the human being, will be valid and useful (profitable) to consider for the rest of the other manifestations, in terms of the relationship between Eros and Thanatos.

Punishment is a sensitive volition (predisposition, resolution, will) in the human being that anoints him with power. And it is in this aspect that the Thanatos instinct begins to function.

Every human being has a degree of interference of Thanatos in his interiority. Some more and others less.

The degree of dominance that Thanatos has in the being, is the level that defines how sick that individual is of the need for power. The more Thanatos, the less love he has for life, the less will to live. The less love he has for himself and therefore the less love he has for other human beings and for humanity.

This predisposition to punish works in two scenarios. One is self-punishment, which translates into an instinctive need to punish other people. The other scenario is the need for power that the self needs to level its frustrated personality. It is sick. The way to resolve this imbalance in its personality (an insufficiently developed and formed personality) translates into a need for power, and one of the ways the self uses is to punish – in various ways – other human beings. The diverse forms of punishment can be counted by the thousands, so it is not necessary to try to enumerate them. It is enough to know that all of them are representative and manifestations of the Thanatos instinct that nests in every human being. One of our voluntary actions should be: to permanently “fight culturally and intelligently” against Thanatos, our own and that of the rest of human beings.

I expressed in Post THE GAME AND THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM. PART II. NO TO COMPETITION, YES TO FUN: “The neurotic implication of superiority, expressed in the Potlach can be extended to tips, charity, alms, donations, etc., a neurotic egocentric form disguised as giving gifts to dominate and place oneself above others. A game, a competition, a party?”. This need to have power is found in conditions and attitudes that we do not even imagine. It is very subtle in this, the Thanatos instinct.

The more the human being needs to punish, the higher the level of the Thanatos instinct that dwells in him.

Punishment has always been recognized as part of human nature. In Greek mythology there were 3 deities, the Furies or the Erinias, who represented punishment – among other symbolisms (personifications) -, who lived in hell; these were Tisiphone, Megara and Alecto. In the Greek Furies are represented practically all the violent actions of the human being: assaulting, whipping, punishing, torturing, destroying, beating, warring, harassing, stoning, lynching, sadism, viciousness, cruelty, revenge, etc.

A question I am obliged to ask here is: To what extent can we associate the Thanatos instinct with affections of the emotional type? We might well extend it to mental illnesses, but that would be too much to attach importance to this instinctive solicitation. Of course, we cannot answer this question in this short space and time; however, I would like to comment on neurotic conditions.

I will comment on aspects of the collective unconscious in order to better grasp this emotional inclination. ABSENCE ARCHETYPE: From the Jungian point of view, like all archetypes, it is an absolute and universal concept. This is also a psychic projection or spiritual images (productions) generated in the collective unconscious and that emerge to the consciousness after long periods of time, generated 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 themselves and reveal themselves to the physical medium in various ways, among them plastic art. It is probable that in this archetype “absence” that I have been defining and studying, the renewal of God can or should be included as one of its forms of manifestation. Jung speaks of this renewal in Psychological Types, volume I, pp. 260 and 298: in the archaic mind it is inscribed that everything must “die” and be “reborn” (God, Jesus, the astral gods, etc. the resurrection); although the archetype “absence” should not be confused with the new, with the ritual of the new, with the restarting of the cycle, of the astrological periods, although they are related: the punishing God for the good, loving God. Also to make a distinction with the analysis of the “revival” of those who lost their lives: the resurrection (resuscitation) of the hero, of the guide, of the redeemer. The ortho of the sun is the new being born from the mother darkness, which defines the cycle of eternal rebirth or eternal return. According to Frazer in his book The Golden Bough, pp. 381 and 378-380, he mentions a mythological manifestation of this archetypal phenomenon, noting: “… whereas the decision of Zeus 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] 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 religious projection of the movement of the stars, the Sun chiefly, in its daily appearance and disappearance; of the god who dies annually and returns to revive the eternal circle of birth-dying-rebirth]. The Greeks adopted Tammuz in the 7th century B.C., changing the name to Adonis: “The true name of the god was Tammuz, and the appellative Adonis is only the Semitic Adon, ‘Lord,’ an honorific title by which the worshippers addressed him. But the Greeks, by mistake, converted the honorific title into a proper name.” Tammuz is the husband of Istar, goddess of reproduction, the Mother Goddess. Tammuz died every year, a part was hidden and the reproduction on Earth ended. Prophet Ezekiel 8, 14. Tammuz is disputed between Aphrodite and Persephone, between the goddess of love and the goddess of death, so Zeus intervenes to resolve this dispute.

One of the most frequent and pitiful manifestations is that which – consciously or unconsciously – is used by some researchers who attribute negative actions (of those we are mentioning) to ethnic groups, copying or repeating what their minds project (Thanatos) for having read or heard that some other human group carried it out with that destructive instinct, with capital cruelty. I quote my own comments in this regard: “…in most of the plastic representations where the planet Venus appears, we find it symbolizing a warning -and not a punishment- about an event of aggression -warlike or not- that the Mayan people should keep in mind, and not as they have wanted to make it appear, in this type of symbolism, as an aggressive and hostile people”.(*)

Let us return to the center of the subject: Let us see some aspects that we have pointed out in previous posts and that will lead us in the subject. The neurotic uses diverse ways to communicate with the rest of the people, he uses camouflages just like the Thanatos instinct, and it is not only because of this that they identify themselves, but also because this instinctual character can enter into the interiority of the being to separate it from the Eros instinct, facilitating the work of that other that neurotically envelops the healthy part of the ego. “Indeed, this Vicious Circle is fed back by the neurosis itself, which provokes in the individual different neurotic states, which rest on the Inner Need, which takes different specific forms of behavior and attitude towards the apparent reality, Idea of Idealistic Perfectionism (IP), Being Superior to Others (BSO), Egolatry (EG), Having a Higher Power (HP), Egocentrism (EC), Dominating Others (DO), Narcissism (NA), a myriad of neurotic states that invariably lead to depression and anxiety” (Post COMBATING VARIOUS ENEMY HABITS WITH WALK-RWD, SOLUTION TO PROCRASTINATION). In direct words: negative emotions feed back to the Thanatos instinct. We said in Post THE POWER OF EMOTIONS: “We must be aware -know fully- that negative emotions by themselves will not want to allow us to free ourselves from their dominion, because that is precisely where they feed and self-generate, from our lacerated and dejected feelings. Let us break their powerful destructive chains by going for a walk”.

We can paraphrase Jung, when he spoke of emotions: Thanatos is the same that has always affected us, referring to primitive and modern man. Jung alluded to the emotions and not to the Thanatos instinct. Surely there are several psychic elements that relate these two characters: Thanatos and Emotions.

We said in Post THE EMOTIONS AND THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM: “How can we avoid diseases generated by uncontrolled emotions? The good functioning of the brain allows a better control and regulation of emotions, provides a better obstruction to the bad ones, to the disturbing ones and to the destructive ones. An individual who maintains a healthy sympathetic system, which is the core of the neurovegetative system, will have less disturbing emotions; in the same way, he/she will be able to face negative emotions more effectively (Vicious Circle), since he/she will be able to regulate them better and keep them under control, and therefore will be able to avoid diseases, since controlled emotions will no longer be able to generate them. In other words, people who do not have a healthy sympathetic system or a healthy brain, fatigued by stress, increase their predisposition to suffer strong emotions of anger, frustration, jealousy, hatred, or any other disturbing, by a slight irritation or by being presented with a slight stimulus of external discomfort”. Is it a coincidence that these states are the same as the covert manifestations of the Thanatos instinct? The practice of walking and the WALK-RWD System operates in two senses and levels: on the one hand, it allows us to recover the feeling of certain pleasant emotions that for various reasons we have come to stop feeling; that is, we will rediscover some of them as if it were the first time; on the other hand, it also helps us to eliminate negative emotions.

Negative emotions and unpleasant habits govern our existence on a daily basis.

I have also expressed: “All the harmful effects coming from negative emotions are generated within a functional imbalance of the brain, and their greater or lesser degree of manifestation is directly related to brain incapacity or fatigue; we know that a healthy state of the brain, freed from exhaustion (from stress, for example), allows, even in very unpleasant situations of emotional imbalance, that the person can recover quickly, because he can better self-control himself and restore his balance immediately. His nervous system will function better, giving him total control over his disturbing emotions.”

“The WALK-RWD system increases the blood irrigation and oxygenation of the brain, which causes a better work of it, and a healthier and healthier functioning, freeing it from fatigue and weakening, giving it strength to better face (discharge generation) destructive emotions.”

“The soul of the walker generates an (invisible) force that seeks to correct emotional, mental and physical aspects. He receives a complete encouragement to his being. That form of ‘physical, mental and emotional animation’ is received by each and every part of the walking person’s organism, which infuses it with an empowering effect.”

“When we are under the influence of a negative emotion, we cannot feel or think about anything else, other than that harmful emotion. However, we must make an effort and go for a walk, because it has been proven that the practice of walking restructures the nervous system, that which is formed by nerve cells, managing to potentiate that nervous reconfiguration and its nervous-emotional healing effect by complementing the walk with the other 3 structured activities within the WALK-RWD System. This allows us to face the two sides of emotions, both the negative side (unpleasant emotions) and the powerful side (powerful emotions). For both sides it is necessary to make immediate decisions.”

“The WALK-RWD System, applying it in an integral way, reading, writing and drawing, while we walk, balances, compensates and harmonizes us in our interiority in relation to negative emotions, and keeps us at a certain healthy distance from unpleasant worries and relationships of all kinds (social, family, school, work, etc.). The system is not only walking but is structured with 3 basic activities (they promote and develop the artistic impulse) that allow evolution and mental and emotional revolution, a permanent exercise that moves us positively and transcendentally towards the future, making us live our existence in the here and now”, inviting – by its own systemic and functional structure – to the effective participation of EROS.

“Writing, as we walk, is the ideal means to be able to know the different ‘vital vessels’ that we have under our emotional psychological domain, by allowing us, by this means, to extract some or several of the elements that make up each vital vessel.”

I have expressed in Post SELF-FREEDOM FROM NEGATIVE EMOTIONS THROUGH SELF-SUGGESTIONABILITY: “Keeping ourselves walking in a recurrent way, we arouse and impel that mental and emotional negations, such as can be, in general, insecurities, prejudices, distrust, hesitations, indecisions, negative ideas, fears, doubts, phobias, manias, hatreds, etc., in any degree of development [of all kinds (category, class) and depth (degree, level)], that have been stored (latent, underlying, hidden, concealed, disguised, potential, silent, furtive, dissimulated, treacherous) within our interiority (our inner being) begin to become positive affirmations, by the mere fact of physically and symbolically moving forward in space and time”; in a single word: let us walk!

To finish with this word Punish, I will quote what I expressed in Post HOMO SOCIABILIS OR SOCIALIS? HUMAN AGGRESSION WALKING IN CROWDED PLACES. PART IV of IX: “This natural attitude of aggressiveness in the human being is observed in diverse actions in social coexistence: How many times have we not been impeded in some action that we wish to perform, by other individuals? Each one of us has hundreds of occurrences (events and anecdotes) of this type. It is a fact that man is not sociable by essence (nature); this is evident in the course of life; as we get older, we become insensitive to our own weaknesses and fears; we no longer need the help of others, and to that extent, we move away from others (until we reach the 3rd age and this is another very different situation); as a natural process to recover our essence of being accompanied with ourselves. So do not panic if you are losing those friends who were dear to you, either because they move away from us or we move away from them. Here we must differentiate between bonds of sociability and bonds of love and reproduction. Sociability is lost, however, the need for love and the instinct of reproduction are maintained. In the latter two, the bonds are maintained almost until the last day of life. Regarding the degree of intensity between men and women, there is a differentiation: in women love persists longer, in men the instinct of reproduction lasts longer. This can be amplified when the confrontation between the instincts Eros and Thanatos is established. In all cases that we have the opposite aspect: good and bad, black and white, day and night, which is almost at all times of life, we can point out the same thing, in that the human being always seeks his natural or essential state, in this post is not to be sociable, although sometimes we get confused and do not know what we really are more: if Eros or Thanatos.”

At the age of 21 I wrote a poem consisting of 2 stanzas, which I would now title EROS VERSUS THANATOS, which goes like this:

LIFE

Life, I have it,

but as if I didn’t have it;

it is an impossibility to try to keep it alive;

Alive, like the desire to live,

like the desire to die

to see if I am really living.

&

In itself, what do I have?

Desire to live or desire to die?

I do not understand;

Why then the desire to die,

if I love the desire to go on living?

END

And another one, of 9 stanzas, at the age of 23:

LIFE AND ITS DEATH

Life: before it, the desire to be;

after it, to cease to be.

Two unreachable poles,

moments that cannot be postponed

inexorably join each other;

one is the day, the other the night.

&

One ends, the other begins.

Links in a chain

that ineluctably comes to break.

&

Pieces joined in different ways,

some are kept, others are forgotten;

true reason to live is to make them remain,

to forget them is to die, it is to end, it is to pass away.

&

To remember them is to persist; to recreate them in order to transcend

to exalt them in a quest for immortality.

To let them be lost is to die,

only death can unite them again.

&

Life: continuity of the work;

human effort invested that must not be abandoned;

work, part of life itself,

important or not for those, but for you;

pain and sweat poured that should not be disdained.

&

Death: end and beginning; beginning and end

that should not be overlooked.

To faint with its pain,

is not to transform it

in conscience, in courage and in strength.

&

And in this endless chain of links,

your being will continue to be present

in the unfathomable mystery of the night.

&

Mystery of life,

anguish of death,

unite the night to the day;

renew the spirit with astonishing fortitude.

do not think that the chain is broken,

only it begins.

&

Death: before it, the desire to be;

after it, not to cease to be!

END

I ask myself: What about my own chain, in those years, how would my Eros and Thanatos get along?

It has been commented at various times that tranquility is the anteroom of happiness; the satisfaction of human needs is the reasoned process by which we can presuppose and define the pleasant over the unpleasant, according to what is available, and hence the self-evaluation of our own happiness for decision making and selecting what is most convenient, valuable and profitable.

In other words, this allows us to become aware of what we are and what we can realize, of what we have, and that we do not know how to enjoy as we can and should, due to that spirit of nonconformity that is fed and governed (governed, administered, manipulated, directed, led, guided, nurtured, sustained) by the open – but unconscious – struggle that these 2 instinctive characters celebrate daily within our intimate being: eros and thanatos, which undoubtedly the impulse to “death” is always defeating and dominating the eros instinct.

The most extreme result would be -in this scenario of not knowing how to live life- from the confrontation between these two characters, as in some cases it happens, to point out ourselves as the character we would like to become.

For the time being, I believe that we must go for a walk to strengthen our self, so as not to allow Thanatos to have the upper hand. Let us strengthen our Eros instinct by going for a walk every morning.

Last minute note: Before I say goodbye, with all that is happening regarding Artificial Intelligence, I invite you to read the last book that I published on Amazon on February 20, entitled “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PROMPTS AS A SECOND LANGUAGE”,  Kindle Edition. I have been so amazed to discover this new technology that I would like everyone to get involved in it; for this reason, I decided to exercise and managed to find certain techniques and ways to develop questions to this type of tool, which I am sure will serve to obtain almost all the answers required in most areas of knowledge and activities of human beings, in a precise, fast and effective way.

The way you ask is the formula to get your answers. You have to experience it for yourself.

(*) Loya Lopategui, Carlos, Dintornism in Ancient Mayan Plastic Art, EMULISA, México, 2012.

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