The over-used advice about college tells us that these years are few and are going to be the best of  our lives. The moments we remember aren’t going to be the ones spent studying or in classrooms. The true learning happens in times spent interacting with the real world. While all of these are most likely true, there seems to be a theme among these that is antiestablishment and opposes the structure of college.

My views notoriously call for the overhauling of our societal system. But, over the past few weeks, as I’ve reflected on the departure of the class of 2012 and my own, quickly approaching collegiate mortality, I’ve come to realize the necessity of the unifying aspect of a university.

I’ve spent three years with the current graduating class, obviously longer than any other before it. The closest relationships have been built from the exuberance and hardships of distance running via the JCU cross country and track teams.

Last autumn, the cross country team was of a skill level not approached in years. With this ability came lofty goals, unachievable without the collective effort of every runner. As we prepared for the conference and regional championships, hearing the final, inspirational words of the team’s seniors moved many of us close to tears.

Toeing the line for a race, a runner typically tries to clear the mind of everything to remove the influence of any conceivable negativity and unharness raw potential effort: a very individual and introverted action. Yet, the atmosphere prefacing these events was of something greater than the self. This sense is analogous to the hundreds of miles through treacherous waters which salmon swim during spawning season. They do this together for the continuation of their species.

This feeling was refreshed  before the 10,000 meter run at the OAC Championships this weekend. Before approaching the line, two juniors and two seniors huddled together, and the eldest reminded the others that when the going gets tough, to have fun; that’s why we run.

About 800 meters into the 5,000 meter race the following day, I was instructed to take the lead to help my teammates run faster. Their abilities, being better than mine, I expended all the pep left if my legs as the three of us held the top three positions, until my legs were spent a mile later. Despite my poor-resulting finish, in the end I can’t remember having more fun on the track.

In the past I have written about the freedom of simplicity and nothingness. Rabbi and philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “Freedom presupposes the capacity for sacrifice. Man’s true fulfillment cannot be reached by the isolated individual, and his true good depends on communion with, and participation in, that which transcends him.” The realizations I have had from the culmination of my running seasons and my friends’ college careers have altered my perspective. The things we do are not glorious or fulfilling because of the actions themselves, but rather because of those with whom they are shared.

Many of the most rewarding experience we have are bad ideas. Drinking too much, acting like an idiot and eating terrible food the following morning are all bad ideas. By themselves, they ruin the body and the reputation. Most normal people probably wouldn’t do these things alone. When one is with a group of friends, though, and later recounts the experiences, the camaraderie transcends rationality.

Famous recluse, Christopher McCandless, who abandoned his family and possessions to experience his idea of ultimate freedom by living alone in nature, is shown writing, “Happiness is not real unless shared,” as he is close to death in a film about his experiences. One can do many things alone. Knowledge, art, literature, adventure and normally unfulfilling experiences are greatly enhanced when one is sharing them with others.

There is a lot about college that many of us are not happy about. Without those with whom to share the misery, complaints and, at times, tears, this discontentment would be intolerable. Something that mustn’t be forgotten is that college brought us all together, through better and worse. The roughness caused by assignments and loss of motivation can distract us from the collective of people and experiences of which we are a part.

Without the tribulations, we would not reap rewards of their binding properties. Revel in them and the recognition that they’ve brought to you the most intimate, consistent and continuous string of paradoxical rewards you might experience for quite some time.

You are part of something bigger. Not necessarily a collective goal, but, indubitably, a collaborative sense of transcendent being.

The commercial is titled “Back to the start” and features a Willy Nelson cover of the Coldplay song “The Scientist.” It shows a pleasant animated family farm raising pigs and cows. The farmer builds a fence, then barn which contain the animals. These buildings eventually transform into industrial buildings that pollute bodies of water and churn out overweight pigs pumped with chemicals. The farmer then tears down the barn to release free roaming cows, pigs and chickens and getting everything back to the happy, sustainable way it started.

I have heard stories from relatives of the way the farming and purchasing of food used to be. Food was bought from local farms and supported one’s local community. The tomatoes were always deep red and the chicken juicy and flavorful.

While I’ve expressed in the past my disapproval of the agricultural revolution, I realize that we must work to improve our current situation instead of dwelling on the ways of the past.

Sure, pasture-raising animals is more expensive, more difficult and produces less than industrial-sized farms. However, it is argued that when animals are not crammed in cages, fed grains, given antibiotics, having their genome manipulated and living in insufferable conditions they are happier and thus healthier. This movement  is spreading and persuading a lot of people to rethink the ethics of food. It is no longer solely about what you put in your body but the quality and care that goes into that food.

Even though people have put together the pieces of the puzzle concerning the happiness and health of animals, most continue to fail to draw the same correlation between happiness and the health of our own species.

Raising happier animals requires them to be raised in a more free environment, closely resembling a natural habitat. In the beginning of humanity we roamed freely on the plains, grazing scavenging and hunting.

Our industrial minds are impregnated with delusions of the glories of being productive. People sit in cubicles or at desks, hunched over computers, uncomfortable, stressed and overworked.

Everyone knows that student that everyone thinks is a slacker. His productivity is terrible and everyone believes he is mostly useless to society. I am that kid. From my experience, I know that we need to get out and roam the plains and mountains once in a while. If not, I’ll just be distracted by my desire to do so.

But, companies are beginning to discover that creating a work environment that encourages freedom of body and spirit cause their workers to be happier and thus more productive and creative.

Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia Inc., wanted his business to encourage employees to pursue their outdoor passions in the hope that they would be enthusiastic about coming to work. Under this principle, the company continues and has been named one of Outside Magazine’s 50 Best Places to Work. The other companies on the list similarly have alternative work environments with flexible hours, encouraging rewards and pursuit of passions. As a result, the companies are not only successful, but the employees volunteer and give back to the community and environment. Those companies realize that unhappy people are unhealthy people. Healthiness results in higher quality production.

Forcing perfection only pushes us further from it. Pressuring the earth to produce only plunders the soil of its richness. Badgering and constraining people only robs them of physical and emotional strength and therefore motivation and productivity.

To continue to progress we must cease to destroy. To move forward in the right direction requires getting back to the start of sustainability of the earth and its denizens.

If happiness is what one desires, then the options are limitless. However, not every choice will bring you what you want. When most people are trying to figure out what to do with their lives, they consult an older, wiser, more respected person for advice. Depending on this person’s background they could tell you a variety of things. In my experience, those who most sincerely have my best interest in mind have told me to do something I love and am passionate about. With the world at our finger tips, and innumerable options, how does one begin to find the thing he or she is passionate about?

I’m not a true believer in destiny in the way that one’s path is pre-deteremined and unavoidable. However, I do find that things have a way of coming together for the better in the end. Though the accessibility of the vastness of the world is overwhelming, it is advantageous to our generation. The likelihood that we come across the thing we are passionate about is much greater without the confines that restricted past generations. It’s a matter of mathematics; things in the world are now separated by fewer degrees, therefore one thing of interest will be linked to another thing of interest and somewhere down the line our passion will lie. If the path of interest is followed, we will be led to our passion.

The marvelousness of a passion is far greater than an interest and determining the difference is quite difficult. In the bucket of options one will collect on a passion-seeking odyssey, undoubtedly there will be things interesting enough to actually practice rather than just learn about. For example, if one finds economics and finance interesting enough, perhaps they will try investing in the stock market. Or, if one is enraptured by penetrating power of literature, possibly he or she will try writing some poetry or short fiction. Still, knowing when the line between interest and passion is crossed can be uncertain.

If one is enthralled by the idea of becoming a doctor, lawyer, engineer, scientist or businessperson then it is likely the path of pursuing that passion will be filled with encouragement, especially from parents. These careers are practical and secure to subscribers of conventional thought. However, successfully completing all of the education and preparation required to become a professional in whatever field you choose is arduous.

For the more independently (Indie) minded people, like myself, conventional careers aren’t that appealing. For some, money might not even be that appealing. Our interests like art, writing, farming, adventure or extended bipedal travel seem like fairly insecure passions which may not even have jobs to accompany them. While this might appear to make life more difficult, it actually makes finding a passion easier.

In that difficulty that comes with working and preparing to get a job and the disapproval of our choices from people we are close to lies the indicator of passion. A passion is the thing that one is continually motivated to pursue, no matter how difficult the journey or how much denouncement is faced.

Finding a passion is an extensive process. It could take a lot of time and be filled with failure and disappointment. Succumbing to this difficulty is tempting and taking an easier, more conventional route. According to Larry Smith, professor of economics at the University of Waterloo, “Passion is the thing that will help you create the highest expression of your talent.” Passion can make or break your life. This isn’t something to give up on. It will require courage and fortitude. But, ultimately, all facets of our life will be more successful if we are happy and without regret.

If our passions are neglected, then who will we be to encourage our children to pursue theirs?

Species interaction is at the foundation of life. Actions generally either have good intentions or bad. Identifying the intention is half the battle. The other half is deciding what to do about it.

A difficulty the judicial system faces is its inability to objectify every action since all occurrences are subject to their context. Unfortunately, things we observe are too often interpreted as if existing in the same context that we do.

In order for those of us who are carnivores to eat, animals must die. The slaughter of cattle, chickens, pigs, etc. is repulsive to some people. Videos made by PETA have converted many a meat eater to vegetarianism by showing the brutality of the meat industry. Images of human vs. animal brutality are censored from (even fictional) films. This is wrongful death.

On Animal Planet, majestic and powerful lions and cheetahs are shown tackling the gracefully athletic gazelle and crushing its trachea with their powerful jaws until death. Five-year-olds watch these shows and they are educational. However, some turn their heads and shriek when they encounter a visualization of death or killing. “That’s so sad,” they exclaim. They see the gazelle as a victim and the large cat as a vicious murderer. But the lion is not malevolent. The cheetah has no vendetta against the gazelle. This killing is just life; an action required for the continuation of species.

What makes the killing for food seem so bad is the miscontextualization of the action. The offended view these deaths from a “civilized” human perspective. Murder is so prevalent that a rancorous impression of all death is ingrained in our minds. This imposition of falsely constructed intentions, emotions and norms to situations such as this cause a slew of false information to be created and spread.

It seems more understandable to misinterpret animal intentionality since we are so divorced from our own animal nature. The kicker is, we misconstrue behaviors of our own species far more often.

Perhaps our intimate immersion in the ways of our species serves to complicate the factors that must be considered when deciphering the maneuvers of our fellow homo sapiens. The introduction of social media only exacerbates this problem. Body language and vocal inflection are eliminated in Internet interactions. There are so many indicators and qualifiers that contribute to determining meaning that if some are neglected, significant interpretive accuracy is compromised.

It is sometimes easy to offer advice on a subject we are separated from. We can see the situation objectively and without emotion. We don’t read too much into things that those involved do. However, the all-encompassing perspective of one involved would lead to a better action in the end, if only emotional distress could be eliminated.

If the number of contexts is infinite, the possible interpretations are of equal number. The unreliability of our intuition is so vast that we might never be sure about anything. What are we left to do if we are so likely to be wrong?

The most secure course of action is defined not by procedure but by technique: do not be hasty to reach a conclusion. There will be more comfort and confidence felt in an ignorant, well-thought-out decision than an informed, quick one. Even though you might be wrong, you worked with the equipment you had and used it to it’s maximum potential. Being wrong isn’t so bad if you did what was right.

Why does this seem to diminish as years pass? Is naivety to blame for its existence or does culture unnecessarily and unfortunately demoralize us to the point where we abandon our dreams?

I remember my senior year of high school as probably the greatest year of my life so far. I was doing well academically, I qualified for state’s in cross country, my social life was great and I was winning a lot at life. I was ready to take college by storm. I would easily take a spot on the honor roll, graduate with a top-notch degree and have the intellectual and professional power to change the world in some way.

I’m sure many of us felt this way: like we were on top of the world, invincible and capable of anything. For some, it might also be the case that these sentiments have changed since our time in college began. The real world closes in on us fast and hard. It is merciless and has little tolerance for idealism without action. The hopeful goals of many are crushed by the pressure to produce from an idea, not just come up with an intangible concept.

Today, the deeds and culture of generations past are both revered and ridiculed. In our parents’ and grandparents’ youth, racial segregation was commonplace and socially acceptable. Women were almost always limited to becoming homemakers. Every generation has made mistakes.

In our rebellious adolescence and early adulthood, we defy our parents. As many people grow old, they get senile and stubborn. Their close-mindedness and lack of adaptation to present conditions, trends and devices is frustrating to us. They seem stuck in a past way of living. Perhaps they still believe in what we view as problems of their generation.

It’s easy to defiantly say with certainty, “I will never become like that! I’ll continue to examine cultural changes and suitably adopt or reject them.”

But, are we destined to become just like our elders? Is it a natural human tendency to revert to the ideals to which we grew up in accordance?

Proverbs 20:29 says, “The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair.” As vital youths perhaps we are naive. Our strength makes us feel as if nothing can stop us and anything is possible. As we age and grow weaker but more wise, we might come to peace with our mortality. Adhering to ingrained tendencies might be a subconscious effort to hang on to our youth. Or, possibly we lose the energy to make efforts to constantly revise our ways of life.

The lifestyles and philosophies of some people and religions follow the creed of going with the flow. While I find this to be beneficial when unfavorable circumstances unexpectedly arise, I can’t help but see a better way of living that makes one less a subject of the world. As William Ernest Henley worded it, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

Those who remain physically active throughout their life are able to maintain their health, vitality and strength for much longer than those who do not. This seems obvious. Yet, when it comes to our ideological condition, too easily do we seem to just let things happen. If continuous efforts are made to perpetuate our mental and ideological adaptability, then we might not dwindle to the intolerable old people that scare children.

Likewise, the idealistic mindset we have in our youth can be retained if we not only have ideas but act on them. When we get to the real world, the relationship dynamic between us and our ideas changes a lot. The elated feeling we get when we have a brilliant idea will increase exponentially when we see it come to fruition.

Do not allow your strength and adaptability of body and mind to diminish with age, but keep it alive and live your idealistic dreams! If you don’t, all you have to lose is yourself.

Day in and day out, we, as students, are generally working on improving our knowledge or abilities on a given subject. In turn, our grades will improve. That will improve our transcripts and resumes. Our chances of getting a good job will improve and, once that job has been obtained, the pay will increase and so will our freedom and security to buy whatever we want. This job might even give us opportunity to do something great for the world. Once we have been established we will then procreate and give our spawn the same opportunities to progress.

To assume that humans have the absolute power to infinitely improve every condition of the world is an arrogant claim. Not only that, but we give our species an omniscience that gives us the ability to know what needs improved upon and how to improve it.

For about 10,000 years, humans have lived by these assumed capabilities. While we have made the ways of life less rigorous for the developed world, humanity has failed to realize that we don’t actually have these powers of omniscience. Consequently, we have progressed down a path that has given us more problems than it has solved. Furthermore, the most influential, powerful people of the past and today have and continue to fail to realize this. We are so blinded by progress, that we don’t see that it’s actually pulling us backward.

For example, the horseless carriage seemed to be a great invention at first. It made transportation easier and faster. Over the years it has led to the destruction of the Earth, the draining of its resources and a society dominated by obesity.

The agricultural revolution made obtaining food in great quantities much more consistent and reliable. The idea of agriculture seemed so good that it was imposed it upon people living in places where agriculture is not practical. By trying to develop those societies inequality, violence and suffering have increased.

Now that the world’s population is at an absurdly high level, the quantity of food that can be grown naturally is not enough. Major corporations like Monsanto create genetically modified organisms that are larger and more resilient, equalling more food. Yet, the long term effects of the consumption  of some GMOs has not been tested and could be very harmful.

The Internet brings the entire world to our finger tips and we can learn about the most advanced ideas across the world. Yet, indigenous cultures that have knowledge about their environments that have been gained over thousands of years are being drowned in modernization and the environments are being destroyed. These “primitive” people, who have more knowledge than our most advanced ecologists, are being eliminated along with their oral traditions.

The way of life that has been developing for the past 10,000 years has brought us to a very delicate state. Continuing to mine the world’s natural resources, all the while destroying the very earth that all known life has depending on for hundreds of millions of years is both unethical and not sustainable. Fossil fuels are not necessary for survival of any species, including our own. However, organisms are absolutely necessary for the continuation of life. By destroying the forests, we are only accelerating the process of our own demise.

Though it appears that we live in a more intelligent society, over the past few hundred years, human brains have been shrinking. Though it is unsure what the cause is, some scientists think that our “civilized” diet is deficient in nutrients. Others claim that we’ve domesticated ourselves, which has shown to cause brain shrinkage in domesticated generations of foxes. When we lived in the wild, we needed to be smarter to survive. We’ve eliminated human evolution and inferior genes spread into the next generations.

By attempting to change the conditions of the world, we’ve messed it up more. We’ve denied our true nature and pretended to be something we aren’t. This lie has brought along an influx of even more lies. Most of us have bought into the great lie that how we are living is good for us and there has never possibly been a better way.

Our progress has now encountered the law of diminishing returns. What happens next is up to us. We are at our own mercy.

For millennia, ease has been sought through simplicity. To better understand something we ask that it be explained more simply. There are the eternal questions for which simple answers are sought. The thing is, the reason they are eternal is because in their most reduced form, they still cannot definitively be proven and typically require an extensive justification. Without complex elaboration it is very easy to be misunderstood or appear to have foundation-less thoughts, beliefs or actions.

Commonly, people are questioned about their religion. Do you believe in God? Are you Catholic? Very often, the answer is not simple. You might be a cafeteria Catholic (you pick and choose what aspects to follow). Then you would have to explain which pieces you ascribe to and elaborate on them individually.

There is no problem with wanting simplicity. Living simply is, personally, the most desirable lifestyle. The trouble lies in the manner we hope to attain simplicity. Like mostly everything, the majority of people want things to be easily achievable. Somewhat ironically, it is a difficult and complex road to simplicity.

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.” It’s funny that a quote about simplicity is so difficult to decipher. But, in a way, that difficulty parallels the meaning of the quote.

What Holmes meant is that the world we live in is intricate. We must understand the complexity of things before we can simplify them. We must break down things as much as we can. Once every piece of a complex whole is extracted, the simple idea can be identified.

Contemporary culture approaches the goal of simplicity correctly. Using the ENIC was very complicated and inefficient. To improve computers the technology had to advance more, i.e. get more complicated. This new technology, which now resides in our laptops and smartphones, has made the use of such devices much simpler and easier. This hasn’t come without a price, though.

Since it has become so much easier to be reachable at any time by anyone, have access to any bit of information up to the minute and even do work while on the go, we have created conditions that allow our lives to become even more complex! Our multitasking capabilities have been heightened.  The “simple” technologies of today are able to do much more than the ENIC could.

This is where another part of Holmes’ quote comes into play. The simplicity of today’s complexity is much more stressful than before. The other end of complexity is that composed of problems of natural origin, like the complexities of emotions and human interaction. These simplicities compose the true joys of life.

Finding and embracing the simplicities of the world is a life-long journey. It must be understood the universe is made of complexities. Rarely are there easy or simple answers to anything. But, all complexities are made of simplicities. Perhaps the most difficult thing to grasp is the unity between the two.

It’s strenuous to not have the immediate gratification of a simple answer or the ability to pinpoint a singular cause of a problem so it can be solved. However, if this fact of life is accepted, one will be less displeased with such inconveniences and much more efficient at dealing with complexities by reducing them to their simplest forms.

It has been almost a year since the epic Charlie Sheen interview came out where he claimed to have tiger blood and coined the term “winning.” Most thought he was crazy. I thought, “This guy is on the same wavelength as I am!”

Now you think I’m crazy. What’s new?

Winning is something that has existed long before Charlie Sheen. The winning lifestyle was a concept originally laid down by two of my best friends and me four years ago. Since we aren’t internationally recognizable celebrities, only those in our high school knew of this philosophy. However, there have been innumerable winners throughout history. They are the people that have conquered life and become outrageously successful despite all hurdles encountered.

Being a winner requires no special genetic attributes or occupations. All you need is strong conviction and devout belief in and dedication to winning, even to the point of absurdity.

Some might think that winning is the same as being optimistic. While they follow the same principle, optimism is looking at the bright side or finding the best in a situation. Winning is much more extreme. You must not only find the best in a situation but find a way to win, a way to defeat any adversity and come out on top. You must live winning, not only think it.

When you become a winner you will most likely be questioned about your awesomeness by non-winners. It is important to understand that those who are not winners are not losers necessarily. They just aren’t winners and thus, very normal. Losers do, however, exist. It is their choice to be a loser. Take Eleanor Roosevelt’s word for it, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

The most elementary method of winning is carrying yourself like a winner. Everyone knows those people that walk around like they own the world. You don’t need to know who they are or their story, but they radiate staggering positivity and power. You can have this radiance by thoroughly believing that nothing has power over you and that you can own the world.

Sometimes when a microorganism infiltrates my body and my immune system responds (most non-winners call this “being sick”), I deny being sick. Sickness implies weakness and weakness leads to loss. When I deny being sick, I take away all power from the sickness. If one’s mental and spiritual power is dominated, then that person will most likely be defeated. Believing strongly enough that you are not sick will make you feel better and defeat the disease. It also helps to know that many symptoms of sickness are signs of your immune system being a boss and defeating the invaders.

One of the most difficult concepts for non-winners to understand is my most frequently recited treatises on winning: I win even when I lose. Even the best winners are defeated sometimes. When this happens, winners take that loss and find some way to benefit from it. If you fail a test or class, you can win by knowing what not to do again. You can win by not letting anything make you feel like you’ve lost and continuously bettering yourself physically, mentally and spiritually.

I’m sure you’re asking how this all works? I don’t have a definitive answer, but I can tell you that there is a strange metaphysical connection between one’s mental state and happenings in reality. The power of thought is intangible but very real. There is the old saying, “what you think about, you bring about.” If you don’t believe that you are capable then what else do you have going for yourself? Decide how you want a situation or your life to turn out and believe that is the way it is or will be. This is how you win.

Be unconquerable, resilient and confident. Live what you want to become and believe that you are more powerful than any negative force imaginable. This is how you win.

Disclaimer: You should believe you have tiger blood, but doing the amount of drugs Charlie Sheen did does not make you a winner.

Though nice guys are everywhere, few people understand their way of life, their motivations and, most significantly, their fallability. Most of the people who know me well will attest that I am a bonified nice guy and as such I am one who understands all of these things and I find it important to enlighten the world to these facts.

Nice guys become such, usually, as a product of both nature and nurture. They are usually slightly more emotional than normal men, but not in an effeminate way. It isn’t always a conscious choice to become a nice guy; their natural disposition usually leads them that way. Nice guys are nice because it is right. Often, they just logically don’t see any reason to not be nice or they are nice simply because they want to be.

Typically, they have many friends. Naturally you’d want to be friends with a nice guy because he’ll come through in a pinch if you need him. Plus, he’s a pleasant character. Because he’s so nice, people will often return the niceness to the nice guy and give him free food, free drink or offer any service they are capable of to this nice guy at any time. But, because he’s so nice, rarely will he take advantage of these offers.

Being a nice guy sounds pretty awesome doesn’t it? It appears that there are unlimited karma points and benefits. Be wary though, nice guys all are affected by nice guy syndrome. It is a disease. Sometimes you get special treatment because of it, but very often it is unavoidably painful.

I’m positive you have a nice guy friend. He listens to your life problems, will go out of his way to help you and makes sure you don’t get roofied. He genuinely cares for your well-being. Unless he is in a long-term relationship, he probably goes home alone every night. Because of his high moral code, he will rarely pursue any hook-ups. The frustrating part about this is that there is a wealth of irreverent tools who are not suffering from the same absense of after-hours company. The nice guy is, in fact, too nice. It is assertiveness he lacks. He is told he is the marrying type and to give girls time to mature. Sometimes he is forced to be older and more mature than he wants to be. But, he will rarely tell you of his displeasure because he doesn’t want to drag you down with his problems.

Nice guys fear making others feel bad and they will often gladly suffer if it means others will not.

The baseline behavior level for nice guys is much higher than that of the normal person. Thus, they are held to a higher standard. Just like you inevitably have a nice guy friend, you inevitably have a jerk friend. Because it is understood that he is a jerk, his jerk-like behavior is accepted as his normal state of being and he is allowed to go about his jerkish business without question. If, however, your nice guy friend was to behave momentarily like the jerk normally acts, it would be frowned upon.

Nice guys are human though, and occasionally a situation comes up where they have to make someone feel bad. It is indescribable how much it probably pains them. It is a fundamental principle of their life philosophy to not always do what’s easy, but do what is necessary. You should trust that the nice guy is doing what his judgment has determined will be best in the long run.

You may be reading this wondering why all of this matters? If you haven’t already, you are bound to encounter a nice guy sooner or later. At some point, he is probably going to break down from the pressures of trying to be constantly diplomatic and make everyone happy. It will be overwhelmingly frustrating when his efforts will inevitably fail occasionally. The nice guy can do a lot for you without asking anything in return. All he could hope for is that you are understanding when his humanity shows.

Perhaps you are now inspired to be a nice guy. It has its ups and downs. But, ultimately you will feel satified and be able to sleep better at night. Even if it is alone.

Many of our daily practices are performed on almost a subconscious level. We are guided by our intuition and our automatic evaluation and reaction in most situations. This employs the reasoning capabilities of the brain and most of our reasoning is based on experience. This experience can be a real-life encounter or be absorbed from the experiences or teachings of others. Thus, our instincts are not ingrained naturally as some might think, but rather they can change as our lives change.

The knowledge we have gained over time is liable to be false if the experiences that have been taught to us are faulty. Life experience isn’t usually able to be checked on Wikipedia. Your gut feeling can be wrong.

I wouldn’t say that I am the ultimate authority on life, but I do tend to adopt lifestyle choices that many find to be counter-intuitive. Many who do this might be called “indie,” “hipsters” or “non-conformists.” However, I do not blindly go about doing things only because they defy convention. I just happen to find that convention sees things backwards a lot of the time.

The most significant example of this is pain and suffering. It is normal to think that pain is a bad thing. After all, it hurts. Have you ever thought about what that pain means? Surely, it means you just took a fist to the face or something of the like. But what is your body doing when you feel pain? You might be surprised to find out it is actually doing good things.

When you feel physical pain, your brain is receiving messages to protect that area because it’s already damaged enough and needs to heal. You can take anti-inflammatories but that only encourages you to further damage the injury. Inflammation has a beneficial purpose. When something gets swollen, blood carrying leukocytes will be cleaning up the injury site, mopping up pathogens and healing the injury.

There is a similar correlation to emotional pain. You feel emotionally torn up because something has damaged you. You might get reclusive because you don’t want to experience further suffering.

The point is that pain and suffering, both physical and emotional, is a sense natural and necessary to life. Perhaps it should be avoided, but it happens unexpectedly sometimes. Unless you know what the true meaning behind the suffering is, chances are you won’t conduct yourself in the most beneficial way possible if it is encountered.

The neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl was an important figure in existential therapy, more specifically “logotherapy.” Among the main principles of his methods is finding meaning in life even in times of suffering. This isn’t to say that everything happens for a reason, but that something can be gained from every situation. We also have freedom to find meaning in what we do and experience, even if these bring suffering beyond our control.

According to Frankl, “We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: 1) by creating a work or doing a deed; 2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and 3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.”

We can’t always control what we are being taught and the things by which we are influenced. However, we always have the power to change the way we view things. This can be as simple as tweaking the minute ways you live your life so that you are smarter, healthier or stronger. It can also be as complex as dealing with deep emotional turmoil. Essentially, we shouldn’t go about life like sheep, blindly accepting influences and conditions. Instead, find your own way of going about things.

Having doubts about the legitimacy of this method?

It got Frankl through almost three-and-a-half years in a concentration camp.

I have done my fair share of questioning things. Most of my close friends can attest that when the cause of every conceivable grievance is questioned, I trace the cause back to the agricultural revolution and blame the advancement of civilization. Yeah, it’s true.

I have a set of fairly anachronistic skills. In the past, I would have been a fairly successful hunter-gatherer, foot messenger or philosopher. However, hunting and gathering have been replaced by the food industry, motor vehicles and airplanes have been invented and my “original” thoughts have already been thought by others. This realization has been the cause of much depressive sulking.

The recent Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris” has its main character, Gil, facing a similar situation. He believes that the golden age was Paris in the 1920s and lives a nostalgic life which, as Gil’s foe points out, “[is] denial of the painful present [...] it’s a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present.” As harsh as this is, it’s true.

Over Winter Break I had a revelation similar that Gil has at the end of the film: You can romanticize the past and wallow in the unfortunate timing of our life infinitely. That will only hold you back and prevent you from living a fulfilling life.

Looking for a solution? It’s as simple as looking at the present and focusing your energy on doing what you can right now. Sure, accidents do happen and there are times when we are blameless for the bad things that happen. Dwelling on these as “acts of fate” only ensures your stagnancy in a demoralized state. Bob Dylan’s timeless lyrics have it right, “It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe. It don’t matter anyhow [...] Don’t think twice, it’s alright.”

For the sake of strengthening my argument, let’s say we DO live in the days of the prehistoric hunter-gatherer. Those who sat around, feeling bad about things, died. People would kill them because they appeared to be weak, easy prey, or they would starve from waiting for their food to come to them instead of going hunting for it.

Empower yourself! Take responsibility for your own life instead of leaving it in the hands of your environment. If you sit around and wait for opportunity to come around, chances are you’ll never reach your full potential; make opportunities.

“But things in the world are so incredibly wrong,” you might say. “Why do we have to live  amidst so much wrong?” You’re right, a lot of things are disgustingly horrible in the world. Chances are no one is going to want to revert back to a life of hunting and gathering so not everything can be immediately solved. But, there are small things that can be done every day to change the world inch by inch.

Tucker Max, renowned for his reproachable jackassery and sexual exploits, may not be the best role model for humanity. However, his approach to life is something most of us can learn from. He takes life by the horns and lives the life he wants to live, he is the person he wants to be and finds a way to come out on top of nearly every situation, no matter how doomed it seems.

I’ve entered this semester with a revitalized outlook on life. No longer will I allow myself to be too severely weakened and defeated by happenings. I’m going to be proactive and reinstate myself into a state of winningness. I will win at every opportunity, even in the face of adversity. Maybe you can’t completely change the world but, at the very least, you can change your life.

In a conversation I was having on this subject last week, the topic of appreciation came up. Some do not appreciate the subtleties of an item that give it quality. For instance, many would call a $12,000 Savile Row-made suit “overpriced” or “a waste of money” without appreciating the fact that it was made entirely by hand of the best cloth in the world, specifically for the person who bought it.

The sturdiness and character of an 80-year-old iron skillet still in use today might not be valued by those on Fairmount Boulevard with their brand new, non-stick, stainless steel sauté pans.

While I’m a practitioner of admiring intricate products, their quality and longevity, the ability to do so is only a superficial reflection of one’s morals of industry, not their creativity or intellectual capabilities. Instead of appreciating something, I find the capacity to appreciate nothing much more versatile and respectable.

Appreciating nothing isn’t disrespect and dissatisfaction for everything but rather contentedness despite the absence of things. This is not limited to material items, however.

Some might call this approach to life “minimalism.” I’d argue that it is better termed “necessitism.”

In George Carlin’s famous stand-up routine “Stuff” he notes, “That’s all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn’t have so much stuff, you wouldn’t need a house.” There is freedom in nothingness. There is nothing you are obliged to carry around, no worry of forgetting anything.

In my running experience, the most enlightening feeling has come from the realization that my body is capable of quite a bit with very little or no equipment or sustenance. The best endurance athletic performances have come from athletes who can clear their minds from all conceptions of fatigue or weakness. There is empowerment in nothingness.

I’m sure that many  have experienced the pleasure and productivity that comes with that almost blank state of extreme focus in which one can just crank out quality papers and tasks, one after the other. Though constant psychological nothingness is bad (because that’s a sure sign of being in a vegetative state or, perhaps, death) the focal nothingness is pure creative intellect, stripped of all societal impediments and pressures.

Everyone always wonders what  special ability the geniuses of the past had that enabled them to be such revolutionaries? I find that these people all were probably able to rid their minds of the handicaps of conventional thought. To be frank, many of the major intellectual, mathematical, literary and artistic figures in history used alcohol, opium or other mind altering substances. It is likely that these removed them from reality and allowed the full capabilities of their brains to be released.

A state of nothingness can enhance abilities. Possibly the best feeling of nothingness comes with the appreciation of things that haven’t been screwed up. With nothingness, things are allowed to flourish in their natural state. There is purity in nothingness.

When I’m living in a small wigwam of my own construction on the side of a forgotten mountain, without a job, money, or even other people, I’ll be content. I will find solace in my ability to survive on only the necessities and being resourceful enough to obtain them with only my own cunning. And if I go mad or my assets perish, perhaps I will too.

But it will be without the heartbroken mourners, without the hopeful Bible readings and without a steel box to separate me from the raw processes of nature that, in their simplicity, have continued the cycle of life successfully since the genesis of all life.

Most often, I try to make up for the lack of geographical displacement and cultural adventure in my life by doing crazy or intense things. Almost entirely this materializes in something running related. I usually end up challenging myself (at least subconsciously) to something no one but I will witness being completed.

This Saturday, cross country season ended. On Sunday I decided to do an easy seven miles to shake out the previous day’s race. That seven miles turned into nearly 17. Two hours, four minutes and 25 seconds by myself. I would have preferred to have been among the mountains on some forgotten strip of trampled dirt, the thin air causing laborious breaths but sweeter than those of half the trouble in a sea level city. But, the silence of Sunday night suburbia brought more solace than I would expect.

The streets of Cleveland Heights are filled with some incredible houses. Not very far away from the mansions on and north of Fairmount Boulevard are the less fortunate neighborhoods of East Cleveland. In both areas, houses represent more than just dwelling places. Their collective presence makes a community. On an individual level, they are the places of families. Houses solve the problems of exposure to unwanted people and unwelcome natural elements. Though they are an answer, on Sunday night to the outsider trotting down the street, their security and permanence raised more questions. Though neighborhoods are such a common thing, there is much that is unanswerable about them.

An unexpected feeling of diffidence came over me as I passed house after house. The physical and financial comfort the prosperous homes emanated brought a feeling of insecurity that comes with the realization of an unsure future.

Sometimes the mundane seems incredibly unachievable. Most of the time I’m just trying to figure out what I’m going to do in the next 10 hours. Owning a house is one of those landmarks in one’s life. It’s something most people aspire to do and it shows they’ve reached a landmark of stability. The life college students live is very temporary and though we are more independent than we were for the first 17 or 18 years of our lives, our decisions are usually made easier by the structure of campus life. The world seems to be coming so fast. We are left to fend largely for ourselves.

Where do we go from here? How do we become that comfortable middle to upper middle class family like the ones that seem so happy strolling with their children on Saturday afternoons? Which of us will be forced into lower class neighborhoods, struggling to get by?

In the words of Lord Byron, “There is pleasure in the pathless woods, /There is a rapture on the lonely shore, /There is society, where none intrudes, /By the deep sea, and music in its roar: /I love not man the less, but Nature more, …” Everything is simplified in nature. There is hardly  ever injustice in the “wild” and though the functioning of ecosystems is complex, everything is reduced to simple forms. Because of the uniform material necessities of all organisms, living conditions are equal; it all makes sense. Though nature is much more awe-inspiring, civilization is indubitably more fascinating because of its peculiarity.

Perhaps to experience adventure we don’t need to see the great monuments or exotic locales of the world. Almost equally moving experiences can be found if one becomes locally separated from the immediate environment and is able to realize and question the intricacies of our conventional habitat.

As adamantly as I felt about this, over the past few months I have felt my mental sharpness decline and it seems that I, too, have been swept away by the undercurrent of apathy.

Recently, much of my time has been devoted to finding a better way to practice my daily life. There are ever-present mundane tasks that usually aren’t too appealing. More often than we would like, problems arise with friends, family members, or significant others. Whether they are simple or complicated, these things are tough to deal with.

I’ve found that often the best approach is the most simple: to calm and clear your mind and proceed dealing with whatever difficulties you face. It’s not that your mind is shut off, but focused and not thinking negatively about what you’re doing. With interpersonal problems this changes slightly, but the principles of rationality and objectivity remain.

Aristotle separates intellectual virtue into two categories: philosophic wisdom and practical wisdom. The former is concerned with competence in theoretical and abstract thought. You mustn’t be well versed in the thoughts of others, but rather capable and practiced in your personal philosophical thoughts. Practical wisdom refers to the ability to live tactfully well in the tangible world. Having practical wisdom helps one to make good decisions and form good relationships among other things.

From my observations, Aristotle is pretty on point with this. We’ve all seen drastic imbalances in these two wisdoms in people around us. There is that tool or ditz you see everywhere. They have many friends and live pretty well practically. But, ask them to read Emerson or to write down the most intellectual original thought they’ve had and the results will probably be unsavory. Yet, there are also those that live too deeply inside their heads. They’re often brilliant students and writers, but incapable of having a normal conversation or enjoying anything around them for simple reasons. Ernest Hemingway said, “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” Though that may be true, those people aren’t very intelligent if they’ve settled for constantly being miserable, are they?

My quest to focus and calm myself has made me better at doing annoying little things, enjoying each day, not letting negative things wear me down and running what some consider absurd distances at an absurd pace. However, I’ve noticed my philosophic mind die a little bit. I’m not as good at explaining, arguing, or figuring things out as I used to be. Comprehending and composing thoughts has become more difficult. Though enjoying simple, external things is great, if we cannot use our minds to their full potential it feels like a piece of us is missing.

I’ve learned the importance of overlooking many of the problems we come across everyday. A lot of them aren’t worth the trouble that fighting for them will bring. On the same token, unless we take note of worthwhile troubles (and maybe even get upset about them), work on understanding them, and coming up with solutions, rust will form on the magnificent philosophical part of us. Every intricacy of life is worth contemplating because it has a cause and an effect. Figuring out the fundamental solution to the troubles of the world (we should still live in small, nomadic tribes) does not allow us to throw in the towel.

Our friend Mr. Hemingway also said, “The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.” He and I are more on the same page this time. We all live complicated lives filled wall to wall with obligations. Too often, our lives are so consumed with fulfilling these obligations, that we don’t have time to think for the sake of thinking. If we live more simply without, we will be able to live more complexly within.

The key lies in maintaining balance between the philosophic and practical wisdoms. Heavily focusing on one will surely cause disappointment with the other. We should simultaneously exercise our intellect and work toward figuring out the best methods of living. This needs to begin now. First on my agenda: Why doesn’t everyone think like I do?

Whether we had an answer or not the ice was broken and we were given hope for our collegiate future. We were already beginning to make friends and we’d have plenty of time to figure out what our path in life will be.

Times have changed. We’ve all made friends and found our niche in college. One thing seems to have remained a constant point of interest, though: What are we going to do for a living? Some of us still have an answer, maybe the same one we had at orientation.

If you’re a freshman or even a sophomore, it’s cool to still be discovering what you want out of life. However, for many frantic upperclassmen like myself the path to a successful and happy future has become less illuminated than the campus sidewalks.

I have gotten used to the heckling from everyone, accounting to psychology majors, about how, as a philosophy major, I won’t have a job. If there is anyone that is alright with living outside, it’s me.

If I don’t feeling like taking any ridicule on a particular day, my standard response to any career question is that I’m going to law school. “Philosophy majors do well on the LSAT,” I say. That usually provokes a contented response from the inquisitor, showing they approve of my potential career and lifestyle. Has the status and approval from others that comes with a prospective career become one of the major factors in choosing a focus of study?

As I’ve said before, we should dedicate our lives to things we are passionate about. More often than not our parents, teachers or the whole of society do not deem our passions practical. All the acceptable passions are thrown together in a university to which we are shipped.

For many people I know, including myself, our majors are not exactly things we most enjoy but instead there is simply nothing else we’d rather do out of the available options.

This place of higher education we attend is supposed to help prepare us for a better future. Most of the people that surround and influence us limit that to a career. Despite all the career focused information I’ve personally been fed, the most truthful bit of advice was that which was give to me by a wise nonagenarian: “College doesn’t teach you how to do anything. But it does put you in a better position to learn.”

As my college years pass, I find myself to be more and more unsure of where I am going and what I want to do. I know I am not alone. But, if my 94-year-old friend was correct, then that does not necessarily put me at a disadvantage. In fact, I am reaping college for all it has to offer. Those like me also share the sentiment that we have grown as people. Perhaps our focus doesn’t need to be as precise as some tell us. Though we may not be enjoying our classes very much or doing particularly well at them, being able to learn and adapt with whatever changes or opportunities come our way could be just as useful as learning how to manipulate the human genome or play the stock market. We simply have to make the most out of whatever we’re given

Before moving to college, I recall hearing that it’s important to wait at least six weeks before returning home. The reason? Something about independence and getting used to being away. Nonsense. Perhaps it does make it easier to function at this place we pay almost $40,000 a year to attend. What really is at stake here, though, is our soul or psyche: the foundation of our being. Such a thing can’t be reduced to a single aspect like independent living.

Sure, the more superficial parts of home definitely make it more appealing than the dorm life. However, what truly separates the two is immeasurable and intangible.

When the world gets us down, we all have the place we go to where we feel protected and free from the judgements and pressures of the world. This is the place where we can just curl up in a ball and cry if we want to. Before leaving home, I would imagine this concept would never cross the minds of those who had good home lives. Your house is the default and always has been until you don’t live there anymore.

Those of us who have been around for a while might find ourselves in a difficult place these days. We’ve spent enough time away from our homes to be used to living elsewhere but the complete comfort that was once at home no longer storms our senses when we walk in the door. Yet, our current residence is too impermanent to set down roots. So where does that leave us? Abandoned in the limbo between childhood and adulthood with nowhere to turn but within ourselves when the waters get rough? Sometimes it can seem like that.

For some of us, an activity like running or yoga can bring us resoluteness and serenity. To the recluses out there, nature is the perfect place to flee free of criticism and nonsense.

Our ancestors were nomads, following food sources, never settling in one area for too long. Though we live dramatically different lifestyles these days, why should we think their emotional needs were any different from our own? Naturally, they would have needed a safe, reassuring place to go when they didn’t catch the antelope. The only permanence they would have known was their tribe.

When we aren’t home we can’t always be with our families. The only place to turn is to each other. The empathetic potential of our fellow students is immense; we understand what each other is going through. Sometimes empathy, not answers, is all that’s needed. Forming strong friendships is essential and perhaps one of those might turn into a romantic relationship. I find that relationships that last aren’t necessarily based on similar values or interests. Instead, in the words of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, “Home is wherever I’m with you.” That person becomes our safe place and whether on top of a mountain or in a shanty, we feel security and tranquility if they are there.

It is important that your safe place, wherever or whomever it may be, does not tie you to a certain time; it just exists. This place/person/people must be geographically and chronologically in the present; its value should not be based in sentimentality. No matter the circumstances, you’ll be safe there. The foundation of your being will have a foundation itself. From this unshakable origin, your thoughts and actions can be built strongly. When a brick gets knocked down, there will be support from which you can rebuild and carry on.

Have you ever wondered why Mondays are so bad? Because they’re Mondays, right? Sort of. That’s the common explanation that doesn’t explain anything (logicians and philosophers like to call this a circular argument; it is a logical fallacy). Others say, “It’s because the weekend is over.”  Again, close. This Monday, my very intellectual roommates and I had a discussion about this very topic. Though it was not unanimously agreed upon, we came up with a metaphysically based elucidation.

The universe works very mysteriously and things that you think only affect you can affect the whole world. What we’re talking of here is collective negative consciousness. When enough people think negatively about something, that bad energy seems like it makes the world worse. In other words, Mondays are so bad because the dreadful emotions and thoughts a large quantity of us experience make the air of Mondays so gloomy. Now that we know the direct cause, let’s track down the root of the problem.

We shudder at Mondays because our free time is over. You can drink your face off Friday night, because Saturday is free of obligation. You can sleep your hangover off Saturday without worries, after all you have Sunday to be productive. But Sunday is the day of rest and we do go to a Catholic university. It is also important to recover from hangover number two; nothing could be pressing enough to put your health at risk by not convalescing. Then Sunday evening rolls around and the sense of urgency kicks in. You lose sleep because you’re cramming for that test, writing that paper and definitely not looking forward to having to do the same thing for the next five days. The negativity takes over the minds of millions and that has the power to shake the earth.

It’s not that anyone is in the wrong for being upset about beginning the week. It is only understandable to not look forward to doing things we don’t like. Wait! We don’t like school work and regular work?! Curious …

By the way, you don’t have time to be sick or catch up on that essential sleep. Stop wasting time thinking about your romantic interest and procreation. And please, eat quickly.  There are things to be done! That’s right, you aren’t allowed to carry out natural functions because you have to live an inherently unnatural lifestyle since that’s the only way to continue to live and provide for your natural needs, like food and shelter, that get in the way of your productivity.

It seems like how we’re living is a paradoxical, circular argument of sorts. Perhaps it is also fallacious. There is the saying, “There just aren’t enough hours in the day.” I beg to differ. Days are fine. They have been for 13 billion years. There is simply too much to do in a day.

Just imagine how much grander things would be if the whole world looked forward to Mondays. The negative energy that makes things bad would instead be positive. Not only would we work for happiness, but our collective happiness would make the world happier! Making this change would require extreme action. Yet, so is pounding a bunch of Natty and a bunch of people do that.

So, if there is one thing you do differently this weekend after you throw up, work for happiness, think positively, and consider what you need to do to truly make the world better.

Fifty-four days ago, Casey Miller began his bike ride across the country in Portland, Ore. with his destination set for Boston. Until two weeks before he began, he hadn’t ridden a bike since middle school, he didn’t even know he was going on the journey until that time.

Casey has traveled the world. He has a few masters’ degrees from Harvard. He built a company that retrieved energy from garbage. You know, no big deal. He did what he thought he was supposed to do: go to college, make money in business, etc. Having accomplished those things, he wasn’t fulfilled. He sold his company and, searching for his true calling, he soon set out for Boston.

Most of us are in college because that’s just what you do once you finish high school. The path of convention is an easy one to take. It seems that once we get on that path, though, it’s easy to get lost in every possible way. We become so focused on the pressures of school that we lose a sense of ourselves and others. True human desires and character become clouded by “practical” pursuits. As the Vampire Weekend lyrics go, “We mostly work to live/Until we live to work.”

When he left Portland, Casey had no plans other than heading east. Along his journey he’s been very generously housed and fed by people from all different backgrounds all over the country. We were fortunate to be among those people.

As much as we were inspired  by him, he assured us that it was mutual. His journey has taught him a lot about human nature. He believes that when people know or find what they are called to do, they get immense joy out of giving what they are to others. He believes this is at the root of altruistic actions. Once we discover what gives our lives meaning and joy, there is little else that can make us feel better than  being able to spread that meaning and joy to others.

Does anyone do soul searching these days? I’m sure it creeps into  the minds of mostly everyone, but is it ever taken seriously? It would only seem natural to pursue what defines our core desires. But my bet is that we push things aside for a later time when we don’t have homework or a job to go to; when we have free time.

One of the most impactful, however common, insights that Casey gave us was to write our obituaries  as if we were to die tomorrow, then to write them as if we died in 50 years. If there are any discrepancies between the two, change something now because maybe you don’t have all the time left that you imagine.

Casey named his bike Socrates.  and his website is SocratesSpoke.com. The second meaning of this double entendre is the guidance and inspiration Casey found in Socrates’ quote, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” He hopes to examine his life and find out what his calling is, all the while discovering what makes people find meaning in their lives.

So what are you supposed to take from this vague critique of the constraining, culturally-imposed life compass? Examine your life so it will be worth living. Take a step back and think about what you’re doing and if it’s how you want to live and be remembered. If that isn’t the case, then do what’s necessary to become what you want, no matter how “unrealistic” or “impractical.”

Of course, not every source of meaning can be achieved from a long-term plan. Remember, you could die tomorrow. That person you want to ask to homecoming, that marathon you want to run, those places you want to see, etc. are all sources of meaning and should be pursued. You might have to go through a nerve-racking situation, save money or train for months, but all things are achievable.

In any situation you encounter in life, your allegiance is primarily to yourself. As Casey has discovered, once you help yourself and find true meaning, you’ll be more enthusiastic and better able to help others live their life to the fullest. This is what I would call success and there isn’t necessarily monetary gain.

So, get after it!

The majority of humans have forgotten where we come from. I’m not talking about Gram and Gramps, but about Grok and Grak. That’s right, no matter how many fancy things you have, for the most part, you are no different genetically from a dude that lived in a cave 30,000 years ago. Even though we have techonologically advanced immeasurably, are more people actually living a higher quality of life and are things better for future generations of humans? I’d say not.

Humans are animals and even though we have things that mold our environment to accomodate our needs, we still are at the mercy of the laws of nature, no matter how far removed we are from them. All of our toys are going to fail some day and then our abilities will truly be evaluated. Problem? Not really. My solution to your perceived problem: embrace your true nature.

Have you ever noticed the numerous afflictions animals get in captivity? Those same things happen to humans because we are essentially in a zoo. There are growing movements in our comprised of people that are sick of being “zoo humans.” Among these are the paleolithic diet and primal exercise movements. They focus on living as modern humans evolved live. The paleo diet mostly consists of eating fruit, vegetables, meat, and nuts. Grok didn’t have Mr. Schwebel to bake him bread. Ergo, our bodies did not evolve to perform fueled by grains. The same goes for dairy. Grak didn’t grow cows and drink their milk. He hunted them! Besides, have you ever considered how strange it is that we drink another animal’s milk?

Movnat is a workout program that trains muscles to work together in pratical situations. Don’t go to the gym and isolate your muscles in a disgusting environment. Go outside, swim, climb trees, run around, throw things and have fun! You’ll get sexier without looking like a meathead. That’s how primitive people have managed to fight obesity and live healthier than we do, even with all our doctors and medicines.

There are other ways (some of which I have adopted) that you can get more in touch with your true nature. Most of these require you to rethink everything you’ve ever been taught and accept that many of those things are wrong.

Evolution doesn’t necessarily choose the strongest to survive, but the most adaptable. Be adaptable. With the rough weather coming along, you’ve been taught to crank up the heat and watch winter pass by. Instead, leave your window open and expose yourself to the elements. It’s tough, but after spending last winter in a 50-degree room, the cold felt less cold. The more you put your body in situations where it needs to adapt to survive, I believe it learns to more readily adapt to any situation. Plus, while others are shivering, you’re body will already be warm and  therefore better to cuddle with.

Are you sick of being sick? Your constant use of antibacterial items is only making you more suceptible to common diseases. By exposing yourself to bacteria and germs in small amounts, you’ll be better able to fight them off should they wage war on your body. Doubtful? Take it up with the guy who thought of the vaccines you’ve been given all your life.

Don’t wear shoes. You don’t need the support and cushioning like marketing teams have told you. Bacteria that you are “protecting” yourself from actually choose warm, moist environments to raise a family. Your shoes are the perfect homestead. Shoes also deform and weaken the bones and muscles of the foot and cause many other musculo-skeletal problems.

Things many people perceive as being necessary to life have largely bred softness. We’ve forgotten how to use our bodies to do things. We have placed this stigma on our species as being fragile and incapable. Instead of trying to build things to solve our problems, maybe we should get back to the old ways and use our strengths to help each other instead of encouraging classicism, envy, all the while weakening ourselves, spritually and physically.

Things many people perceive as being necessary to life have largely bred weakness. We’ve forgotten how to use our bodies to do things. We have placed this stigma on our species as being fragile and incapable. Instead of trying to build things to solve our problems, maybe we should get back to the old ways and use our strengths to help each other instead of encouraging classicism, envy, all the while weakening ourselves, spiritually and physically.

There was one period when she would read the horoscopes from the newspaper every day to me. I listened with excited anticipation as oddly titled prophesies were disclosed. I didn’t fully understand their meaning then or how an unnamed person could look at the stars and find out so much about one’s life. My sister is super cool, so I liked what she liked, even if that was the only reason.

I find horoscopes no less intriguing these days, but for different reasons. Some people religiously read and follow their horoscopes while others dismiss them completely as hocus pocus. As with anything in life, I find the middle-way is the best approach to take. Dogmatic dismissal only exhibits one’s narrow-mindedness, which they should probably work on before criticizing anything (you know who you are, though you probably won’t accept it).

I suppose the reason for horoscopes’ existence must initially be questioned. Many people have the constant urge to be prepared and when someone claimed they had a way to predict the future using the cosmos, apparently some of those people hopped on their train. The problem with being prepared lies in the likelihood of preparing for the wrong thing.

The main problem most people have with horoscopes is their inaccuracy. Fortunately for the astrologists, most horoscopes are streaked with ambiguous and sweeping statements; thus they can be applied to almost any situation. However, this can cause some problems for the readers. For instance, the other day I was reading my horoscope and it said something along the lines of, “Your instincts and intuition can lead you  down a precarious path today. But, down the line they could bring happiness and success.” So I should intuitively follow my intution which has just been described as unreliable. #Paradox.

It doesn’t seem that the astrologists are a group of sinister magicians seeking to rule the world. Almost always horoscopes are encouraging or they urge caution. This is where their value can lie. We’ve all had those days that we are unsure of ourselves and feeling down about the day. Reading a horoscope can give you that extra bit of motivation needed to calm you down and approach the day with optimism and  a calm confidence. If the horoscopic outlook is hazy, perhaps you’ll feel less frantic about the negative feelings in the air, lay low and let the day pass.

The bottom line is that taking an extreme stance on either side of the spectrum by either dismissing horoscopes or living by them is not wise. Living one’s life according to a newspaper clipping will only set the stage for disappointing experiences. Removing the nearly infinite human potential and control over a person’s life is perhaps the worst thing to do.

Plaguing oneself with constant paranoia or tirelessly searching for a way to apply advice of any kind is no way to live. The harder one obsesses about a goal or looks for an answer the less likely it is to be achieved or found. The metaphysical “flow” of the universe is inexplicable. It is astonishing enough to be part of the foundational ideologies of many Eastern religions. Riding this flow and embracing all that comes with it can be remarkably rewarding.

Just as friends, family and mentors always offer advice, don’t be afraid to consider some from a more objective source, like a horoscope. It might provide valuable insight into a day and help to clear the air so that one can unlock every opportunity they might encounter.

I’m sure you’re probably thinking, “Who is this clown? Does he hate people, encourage suffering, and promote discrimination?”

In short, sometimes, sometimes, hardly ever.

The problem with the diversity we accept that it isn’t that diverse. We have a narrow definition of acceptable diversity and it is usually based on superficial characteristics, like race, no matter how often superficiality is lambasted.

Before agriculture was everywhere, the human population was much smaller. More food equals more people. When smaller communities didn’t control their food supply, they had to live somewhat restricted lives, but not necessarily worse ones.

Agriculture became a destructive force throughout the world as it was thought by some to be the universally beneficial way to live. Traditions and ways of life that lasted for millennia were obliterated. The proven practices of peoples were erased and replaced. The “universal solution” doesn’t work everywhere, though. This resulted in thousands of years of strife and suffering trying to alleviate and fix problems by following the practices of the system that caused the problems in the first place.

There is no universal strategy for living. Far too often we are coerced into adopting a different technique for doing something. As much as the acceptance of diversity is taught in schools, the diversity of interest and learning capabilities are rarely accommodated for. When we are children, we are fed fairy tales, stories of heroes and optimism, encouraging creativity and an ambitious approach to life. Yet, as our education and responsibilities increase, we are corralled into adopting a practical plan for living within the constraints of a designated lifestyle in juggernaut of a society. Sure, we can choose what job we want or what to study. But, ultimately, we must be driven by numerical or monetary goals. At least that’s what we’re bred to believe.

Constantly many of us are asked why we do certain things as if our personal interests are absurd or impractical. But I ask this: Is anything besides the basic actions required for survival (food, water, shelter) necessary or practical? If not, shouldn’t any means of survival be respected? Isn’t every other practice or interest relatively insignificant?

Obviously, very few people, if any, choose to solely devote their lives to the basics of survival. Many people choose to obtain the means of survival through a series of unnecessary actions. This is called a job. Some jobs focus on finding the best way to do something. The catch is that there can be multiple ways of doing the same thing correctly, even with insignificant, time-filling practices like sports. I’ve never watched Sports Center but I can be sure that championship athletes and coaches have a multitude of strategies that can bring success.

A different facet of the principle that applies to survival extends to the aforementioned insignificant practices: different strategies work successfully for different people(s). The key to living and exciting and fulfilling life, at least in some respects, is to accept the ways people do things if it has worked successfully for them. If you’re struggling, try something someone else is doing, maybe you’ll have a good time. In this process, feel free to discriminate against those who stick to a certain practices even though they have consistently caused problems. Yes, I just told you to discriminate against nearly everyone.

We’ve all been there, 12 a.m. on the night before a test, fretting over how much there is to study or the difficulty one is having learning it. Similar emotions are evoked in contexts outside of academia, namely, life. It is normal to be anxious when one is about to face a difficult task. There is the possibility of failure and that is scary. But how many real life tests have you not lived through? Since you’re reading this, I’m guessing the answer is zero.

From the beginning of our lives in this educational system, we are bred for perfection. We need to memorize nearly every detail of every topic we encounter. Certainly, this is necessary for professions in the medical field. But, in subjects of the liberal arts, that are supposed to study the products of human life (not really for a reason essential for the preservation of human life), students are penalized for something integral to human life: being wrong. We are told that the way to be successful is to never make mistakes. This idea makes most of us do all we can to be perfect.

If you look around at the people of the world, from the business people, to the intellectuals to the impoverished, you’ll notice something interesting. It is often the most perfect people, those with Ph.d.s, photographic memories, and 4.0s,  that have the most skewed views of reality. The people that seem to have the most wisdom are usually those who have made the most mistakes, no matter their educational background.

Being a Catholic university, our policies and missions are influenced by the teachings of the Church and its scholars. The well-respected St. Augustine is noted as having said, “Fallor ergo sum,” meaning, “I err therefore I am.” I concede that Augustine was a little wrong about some things, like the whole “sex is sinful” idea. But, his thoughts on being wrong are pretty insightful and express the essense of what it means to be human. Our superiors often treat us as if all minds have the potential to be perfect. Except, they’re wrong. All minds only have the potential to be human and to improve their humanity.

Self-improvement is what we should be evaluated on because, let’s face it, we aren’t all good at every subject or skill. Yet, we are judged  according to  the same standard as those who are talented in certain subjects or are just good at school. There is no allowance for individuality. The only solution, providing we stick with the same general education system, is to be evaluated on our own personal progress, whether it be improvement in critical, writing, or other skills.

Despite the number of people who share these views with me, we keep doing things the way we have for too long. The reason? Most are too lazy to have to evaluate on a subjective basis and society seems to want to breed an elitist population with the similar talents, all the while suppressing creativity. It is dehumanizing and ignorant.

So now you’re dead. You’ve worked all of your life striving for perfection but in the end you’ve failed life, the largest test. Except now you’re in the most perfect state that many believe is possible.

Some, who are unfortunately deficient of intelligence, might find themselves constantly in such a condition. For that, I am sorry. However, the contentment one normally experiences doesn’t seem to do much except encourage complacency.

What could have such a dramatic impact on that state of the world? Aliens? Terrorists? Inuits?

What’s fun about this is we can cause change ourselves. How empowering! I know, I know, I still didn’t describe what I’m talking about. Precisely.

Far too often people get stuck in a sand pit that is the comfort zone. This has come from years of taking the path of least resistance. I’m in full support of efficiency in all practices of life; but what is the good of doing anything if there is no reward? Naturally, I am not only speaking of physical discomfort but emotional and intellectual turmoil.

Being the Jesuit University in Cleveland, we pride ourselves in appreciating many complex and sometimes conflicting perspectives. Yet, the populous of this university is shockingly similar. Of course it is easy to accept other viewpoints if we never have to face them.

You know that person you can’t stand and disagree with every product of their brain? You say, “enemy.” I say, “opportunity!” It is very desirable to avoid conflict and simply agree to disagree. But really, how fun is that? Besides, what ever happened to standing up for our principles and fighting to the bitter end for things we feel strongly about?

Of course, arguing whether the pizza or the calzones in the dining hall are better for you that than the other is hardly worth the effort. Either way, you’re going to need triple bypass surgery in three years. But, what has happened to quality arguments in all settings, not only the classroom? We don’t want to offend anyone by saying something politically incorrect or hurting their feelings by pointing out, with logical, supporting evidence, every way that they are deficient.

I actually find it more offensive if one says nothing, for inaction is still an action (see “Hamlet”). What I think you are communicating by not communicating is that you don’t care about my betterment. You want me to be a slug, like you. Misery does enjoy company…

Universal acceptance is quite often preached. By keeping our thoughts to ourselves, uniformity is encouraged. Ergo, we are accepting a lower standard of human by eliminating brain competition.

Oh well, you can just take a test, get a high GPA and secretly be better than everyone else. At least no one will get upset at you.