If you have never read Heart of Darkness or seen Apocalypse Now - I highly recommend them both. Below you will find an essay that discusses the historical references in Heart of Darkness. You can link to Roger Ebert's original review of the film below:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19790601/REVIEWS/41214002/1023
You will find that his remarks were and still are dead on cue.
Kelley Pujol Writes:
The historical and literary significance of Marlow’s journey in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
It is common in the American South to hear elders advise young children on the essence of character. One’s character, one frequently overhears, is what one does when no one else can see. What is left unsaid in this epitaph is the implication suggesting that one should operate when alone as if everyone can see. One should imagine the shame and guilt that would be felt if by some chance one’s private actions were, as is also often overheard, “carried out for publication.” But what if one were operating in a system in which everywhere one turned, each unspeakable act one viewed is being topped in its depravity by the next? Who, then, is the holder of the higher moral ground? These are just two of the questions raised by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The literary vehicle Conrad used to raise these questions was the journey of his main character, Marlow, down the Congo River into the interior of Africa as Marlow tries to reach the renegade character, Mr. Kurtz.
Marlow is introduced by the narrator in Heart of Darkness as a man who “had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol” (Conrad 2006, 3). Already the reader is to understand that Marlow is but a mere man, and like an idol, a man who exists on the surface of life. He has no desire to plum the depths of the human heart, least of all his own heart, but he will be called upon to do just that. As he carries out his physical journey down the Congo River, he must also – however reluctantly – carry out the journey into himself. He must examine man’s inhumanity to man, and finds himself feeling less and less kinship with the European “pilgrims” and more and more similarities between himself, the natives, and the mysterious, yet unknown Kurtz. Marlow describes the journey into the interior as he states:
We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness…We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet…The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us, who could tell? We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse. We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign – and no memories (Conrad 2006, 34-35).
Conrad’s refusal to give easy answers as to what character trait or lack thereof enables men carry out atrocities in the pursuit of wealth and power is part of the reason for the continued significance of this novel in the world of literature. Marlow, however, might give a much simpler answer. Men carry out these atrocities for the simplest of reasons: because they can.
Adam Hochschild, in his book King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, quotes Primo Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz. Levi states, “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are…the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions” (Hochschild 1998, 121). Countless European men in the Congo – men who were most likely also fathers and husbands – carried out atrocities on the families of the Congo acting as just such functionaries. Even the members of religious orders of the Catholic church set up schools in order that King Leopold might separate children from their families ( many of whom his soldiers murdered) and then drag these children across miles of physically harrowing journeys in order that the Catholic missionaries might “save their souls” while endangering their lives. Those that lived were in turn, to become soldiers for King Leopold and begin this sick cycle all over again (Hochschild 1998, 133-135). One must ask oneself, is it any wonder that a man such as Kurtz reacted to this depravity in such an extreme fashion?
While the character of Kurtz seems extreme in fiction, Hochschild also notes in this book that there was more than one actual person who could be a candidate for the creation of this character in Conrad’s mind. One such individual, Guillaume Van Kerckhoven, paid his black soldiers to provide him with human heads to display, as he believed this “stimulated their prowess in the face of the enemy” (Hochschild 1998, photo caption). Hochschild goes on to recount the systematic maiming, starvation, torture, and beating of the Congo’s indigenous population by its Belgian occupiers. That a man who could maim a five year old child because her father could not work fast enough or throw a woman’s baby into the bush to die so that the woman could carry cargo before she dropped from starvation and exhaustion – that such a man could then return to Belgium and attend candlelit suppers seems inconceivable to the uninitiated mind. It seems that some degree of madness is necessary to even accept these facts much less to carry out such actions.
If any good can be said to have come from the horrific colonization and abuses by King Leopold II in the Congo, it can only be that through the efforts of men such as E.D. Morel, along with others, the twentieth century began what was probably its first international human rights movement (Strauss 2000). It raised the public’s awareness as to the true cost of their imported goods. Unfortunately, it would not the century’s last encounter with human rights abuses. Hochschild stated in an interview with the on-line magazine AlterNet:
… what draws me to these things intellectually is the mystery of seeing and denial. How is it that Stalin could send some 20 million Soviet men, women and children to their deaths--millions of whom remained true believers to the very end? How is it that thousands of people worked on the docks of Antwerp for years, watched ships arrive from the Congo loaded with cargoes of valuable ivory and rubber, then turn around and sail back to Africa carrying mainly soldiers and firearms, and thought nothing of it? Then E.D. Morel came along, stood on the dock, and deduced: this means the ivory and rubber is being gathered by slave labor. Evil has long fascinated people--or there would be no market for storytelling, from the Greek playwrights onward. I'm also fascinated by who recognizes evil for what it is and who doesn't (Straus 2000).
It would be nice for the reader of Conrad’s novel in this modern age to be able to look back on the colonization of Africa and the atrocities committed by the Europeans as an event that happened in the distant past. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Today men are not harvesting rubber or ivory by such means. Today society must concern itself with the ruination of habitats in the Southern hemisphere so that those in the Northern hemisphere may have an unlimited supply of inexpensive shrimp. It must concern itself with children chained to tables in order that vast numbers of garments may be produced for Western department stores, or children who are chained in even worse places for much worse reasons. It must look upon nations that were former colonies and are now in a constant state of internal turmoil, and understand that the West bears some responsibility for these situations.
Some may argue that globalization ( just as was argued about colonization) is a complicated issue. Perhaps it is. Just as the fog that surrounded Marlow’s boat distorted the voices crying from the shore and blinded his sight as to what was ahead of him, so do the justifications of men who carry out human rights violations in the pursuit of profit attempt to blind and confuse those who wish to find a better way.
Reference List
Conrad, Joseph. 2006. Heart of Darkness. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Hochschild, Adam. 1988. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Straus, Tamara. 2000. King Leopold’s ghost makes a comeback. AlterNet. 26 April 2000. http://www.alternet.org/story/1059. Accessed 14 May 2008.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: A Summer Day in London
A Comparison of William Blake’s 1794 poem London and the city as it exists today
The 2004 Mike Nichols film Closer contains a scene in which the character Larry, played by Clive Owen, expresses his dislike for the city of London. He exclaims that the city has become a type of theme park and compares it to Disneyland. The image this comparison produces could not be further from the image created by Blake’s poem London.
Blake states in the first stanza of the poem that he must “mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (Blake I. 3-4). If one wanders the streets of London’s official “Square Mile” today, one might encounter a few faces looking woeful – perhaps due to a downturn in the stock market – but it is unlikely that much weakness would present itself. London’s streets are crowded with the modern day, ethnically diverse equivalents of men in black suits and bowler hats. Hurrying along her streets are men and women in expensive, tailored suits wearing messenger bags and running shoes. Most are talking on their cell phones in various languages and smoking cigarettes. Occasionally, one will be drinking a cup of coffee from Starbucks.
That is not to say there are no poor people in London. One might witness a homeless man in one of the city’s parks or while walking to the British Museum in the morning. The amazing sight comes later in the evening, outside Covent Gardens, when one will see a large white van arrive and all the homeless gather round to obtain clean socks, sweat suits, and perhaps a sandwich. Gone too are “the Chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every black’ning Church appalls” (Blake III. 1-2). Due to the campaign to gain the 2012 Olympics, London’s very sidewalks are cleaned regularly by a man on a Zamboni – something that just about has to be seen to be believed.
Blake would also have to recant his statement that “But most thro’ midnight streets I hear / How the youthful Harlot’s curse” (Blake IV. 1-2). After nine o’clock at night, unless one is in the theatre district, London is eerily quiet. Of course, when one is paying approximately $3000.00 a square foot for property, noisy neighbors are hardly an option (Wilson, 2007).
The 2004 Mike Nichols film Closer contains a scene in which the character Larry, played by Clive Owen, expresses his dislike for the city of London. He exclaims that the city has become a type of theme park and compares it to Disneyland. The image this comparison produces could not be further from the image created by Blake’s poem London.
Blake states in the first stanza of the poem that he must “mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (Blake I. 3-4). If one wanders the streets of London’s official “Square Mile” today, one might encounter a few faces looking woeful – perhaps due to a downturn in the stock market – but it is unlikely that much weakness would present itself. London’s streets are crowded with the modern day, ethnically diverse equivalents of men in black suits and bowler hats. Hurrying along her streets are men and women in expensive, tailored suits wearing messenger bags and running shoes. Most are talking on their cell phones in various languages and smoking cigarettes. Occasionally, one will be drinking a cup of coffee from Starbucks.
That is not to say there are no poor people in London. One might witness a homeless man in one of the city’s parks or while walking to the British Museum in the morning. The amazing sight comes later in the evening, outside Covent Gardens, when one will see a large white van arrive and all the homeless gather round to obtain clean socks, sweat suits, and perhaps a sandwich. Gone too are “the Chimney-sweeper’s cry / Every black’ning Church appalls” (Blake III. 1-2). Due to the campaign to gain the 2012 Olympics, London’s very sidewalks are cleaned regularly by a man on a Zamboni – something that just about has to be seen to be believed.
Blake would also have to recant his statement that “But most thro’ midnight streets I hear / How the youthful Harlot’s curse” (Blake IV. 1-2). After nine o’clock at night, unless one is in the theatre district, London is eerily quiet. Of course, when one is paying approximately $3000.00 a square foot for property, noisy neighbors are hardly an option (Wilson, 2007).
Monday, April 21, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: A Review of Ted Kooser Essay
A Review: Ted Kooser’s Small Rooms in Time
By Kelley Pujol
I will begin with a disclaimer: I am a fan of Ted Kooser. I loved Delights and Shadows, and I am about to dive into The Poetry Home Repair Manual. Plus, I just like him as a guy- I like his checked shirts, and the way he sold insurance for thirty-five years while writing poetry before going to work each morning. There is something lovely about a working stiff - an insurance man - winning the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Many times I have imagined a woman with curlers still in her hair, a cup of coffee at her side. She is glancing at the paper while a man in an undershirt sits across from her with his cup of coffee. He’s reading the sports page, and she says, “Remember Teddie Kooser who sold you the policy on the Buick?”
“Yeah, what about him,” the man responds.
“Well, Teddie has won the Pulitzer.”…
I could go on from there with my story, but you get the idea. The past and the present cross over in funny, inexplicable ways, and that is what Small Rooms in Time is about. Mr. Kooser opens the paper one morning to discover the horrific murder of a fifteen year old boy (along with other member’s of the boy’s family) has occurred in the home he once occupied with his ex-wife and his son. At the time this discovery is made, Mr. Kooser is involved in creating a miniature replica of his current wife’s childhood home. He states that he “began to think about the way in which the rooms we inhabit, if only for a time, become unchanging places within us, complete with detail.” This is a profound observation that gives voice to questions that I have often asked myself. Why we can see places and people in dreams that we could never remember when we are awake? What is the hold that a place has on us? Why is one place better than another? Why are some places irreplaceable, and even if the physical place remains, the feelings do not?
Mr. Kooser sends a copy of the article about the murder to his ex-wife, Diana. He felt he needed someone else to feel his shock, and it had to be someone who knew they had carried their new born son through the same door where the murder had taken place. Mr. Kooser then goes on to cut to the chase and put into words the unspeakable fear of every parent: “If my luck in life had been worse, I might have been that other father, occupied by some mundane task, perhaps fixing a leaky faucet, when my son went to answer the door.”
Mr. Kooser acquaints us with the other inhabitants of his past neighborhood, and then lets us know that they are all now dead. He states beautifully, “I’ve noticed lately when I’ve driven past that the porch has begun to slope toward the street, as if to pour our ghosts out the front door and onto the buckled sidewalk.”
Sometimes events do occur that cause our past to be somehow thrown back into the orbit of our lives through no effort of our own. Mr. Kooser captures the feelings of those moments when we must confront the ghosts that have been poured into our laps. More often than not, we long to embrace them, quickly, before they vaporize again.
Read about Ted Kooser’s latest book, Valentines, at NPR.org and hear him read from his work: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18990762
Ted Kooser’s essay is from The Best American Essays: 2005 edited by Susan Orlean, series editor, Robert Atwan.
By Kelley Pujol
I will begin with a disclaimer: I am a fan of Ted Kooser. I loved Delights and Shadows, and I am about to dive into The Poetry Home Repair Manual. Plus, I just like him as a guy- I like his checked shirts, and the way he sold insurance for thirty-five years while writing poetry before going to work each morning. There is something lovely about a working stiff - an insurance man - winning the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Many times I have imagined a woman with curlers still in her hair, a cup of coffee at her side. She is glancing at the paper while a man in an undershirt sits across from her with his cup of coffee. He’s reading the sports page, and she says, “Remember Teddie Kooser who sold you the policy on the Buick?”
“Yeah, what about him,” the man responds.
“Well, Teddie has won the Pulitzer.”…
I could go on from there with my story, but you get the idea. The past and the present cross over in funny, inexplicable ways, and that is what Small Rooms in Time is about. Mr. Kooser opens the paper one morning to discover the horrific murder of a fifteen year old boy (along with other member’s of the boy’s family) has occurred in the home he once occupied with his ex-wife and his son. At the time this discovery is made, Mr. Kooser is involved in creating a miniature replica of his current wife’s childhood home. He states that he “began to think about the way in which the rooms we inhabit, if only for a time, become unchanging places within us, complete with detail.” This is a profound observation that gives voice to questions that I have often asked myself. Why we can see places and people in dreams that we could never remember when we are awake? What is the hold that a place has on us? Why is one place better than another? Why are some places irreplaceable, and even if the physical place remains, the feelings do not?
Mr. Kooser sends a copy of the article about the murder to his ex-wife, Diana. He felt he needed someone else to feel his shock, and it had to be someone who knew they had carried their new born son through the same door where the murder had taken place. Mr. Kooser then goes on to cut to the chase and put into words the unspeakable fear of every parent: “If my luck in life had been worse, I might have been that other father, occupied by some mundane task, perhaps fixing a leaky faucet, when my son went to answer the door.”
Mr. Kooser acquaints us with the other inhabitants of his past neighborhood, and then lets us know that they are all now dead. He states beautifully, “I’ve noticed lately when I’ve driven past that the porch has begun to slope toward the street, as if to pour our ghosts out the front door and onto the buckled sidewalk.”
Sometimes events do occur that cause our past to be somehow thrown back into the orbit of our lives through no effort of our own. Mr. Kooser captures the feelings of those moments when we must confront the ghosts that have been poured into our laps. More often than not, we long to embrace them, quickly, before they vaporize again.
Read about Ted Kooser’s latest book, Valentines, at NPR.org and hear him read from his work: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18990762
Ted Kooser’s essay is from The Best American Essays: 2005 edited by Susan Orlean, series editor, Robert Atwan.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: Deepak Chopra's Happiness Prescription : A Product Review
Deepak Chopra’s The Happiness Prescription two CD set : A Review
Without a doubt, the genius of Deepak Chopra is his ability to take ancient Vedic teachings and put them in a form that makes them both understandable and palatable to the Western mind, and this is his most accessible offering to date.
Whether you have read all of Dr. Chopra’s books or you are a new comer to his work, this program has something of value to offer you.
The Happiness Prescription takes the Eight Fold Path that is the basis of the teachings of Buddha and translates them into behaviors and exercises that anyone, regardless of their religious or nonreligious leanings can benefit from. Dr. Chopra begins by explaining some of the current research dealing with the nature of happiness. It will probably come as no surprise that Americans don’t score high as a happy society – according to Dr. Chopra, even our dogs are more unhappy than their less affluent Mexican neighbors.
The first CD in this set points out the ten skills necessary to obtain and recognize personal happiness. The most helpful of these is self awareness. Dr. Chopra points out that many of us are nothing more than a bundles of reactive nerves “at the mercy” of every person we meet on the street – someone says something flattering, we are happy. Someone says something unpleasant, we are unhappy. Until we learn to be self-referred, we really have no chance of happiness.
Another strong point of Dr. Chopra’s teaching is he breaks these larger philosophical issues down into bite size pieces. The second CD breaks down the Ten Keys of Happiness into daily, obtainable goals with practical exercises that are easily carried out. One of the great joys of Vedic teaching is that it promotes evolution and not revolution – its catch phrase is “go slow.” Unlike so much help advice that is prevalent in Western society, it does not make you feel pressured or doomed to fail. Every day, you try and by trying, you become more aware of yourself and thus make progress.
Deepak Chopra’s The Happiness Prescription two CD Set is based on a program that was broadcast by PBS. The set is available through the Chopra Center (http://www.chopra.com/) and most major booksellers, such as Amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/ )
I highly recommend it.
Without a doubt, the genius of Deepak Chopra is his ability to take ancient Vedic teachings and put them in a form that makes them both understandable and palatable to the Western mind, and this is his most accessible offering to date.
Whether you have read all of Dr. Chopra’s books or you are a new comer to his work, this program has something of value to offer you.
The Happiness Prescription takes the Eight Fold Path that is the basis of the teachings of Buddha and translates them into behaviors and exercises that anyone, regardless of their religious or nonreligious leanings can benefit from. Dr. Chopra begins by explaining some of the current research dealing with the nature of happiness. It will probably come as no surprise that Americans don’t score high as a happy society – according to Dr. Chopra, even our dogs are more unhappy than their less affluent Mexican neighbors.
The first CD in this set points out the ten skills necessary to obtain and recognize personal happiness. The most helpful of these is self awareness. Dr. Chopra points out that many of us are nothing more than a bundles of reactive nerves “at the mercy” of every person we meet on the street – someone says something flattering, we are happy. Someone says something unpleasant, we are unhappy. Until we learn to be self-referred, we really have no chance of happiness.
Another strong point of Dr. Chopra’s teaching is he breaks these larger philosophical issues down into bite size pieces. The second CD breaks down the Ten Keys of Happiness into daily, obtainable goals with practical exercises that are easily carried out. One of the great joys of Vedic teaching is that it promotes evolution and not revolution – its catch phrase is “go slow.” Unlike so much help advice that is prevalent in Western society, it does not make you feel pressured or doomed to fail. Every day, you try and by trying, you become more aware of yourself and thus make progress.
Deepak Chopra’s The Happiness Prescription two CD Set is based on a program that was broadcast by PBS. The set is available through the Chopra Center (http://www.chopra.com/) and most major booksellers, such as Amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/ )
I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: Be the Change
Perhaps you have heard the quote from Gandhi, “be the change you want to see in the world.” What does that mean exactly?
Well, recently, I moved into a new house. In this house, all the closet doors are mirrored. My shih tzu has never before had such access to mirrors. Sure, she has seen herself reflected in the sliding glass door at my old house when the light was just right, but to be able to see herself any time day or night is a bit of a novelty to her.
Not that she knows what she is seeing is herself – at least not all the time.
Sometimes she sees her reflection and pays it no more attention than you or I would our faint reflections in a store front window (unless we wanted to check our hair or something). But other times – well, that’s really what I want to write about.
You see, whenever she becomes frustrated or bored – especially when the rest of us first go bed each night – that’s when she wants to get that puppy out of the mirror. She starts by growling at the puppy in the mirror, then starts adopting a playful posture and barking at the puppy in the mirror.
The puppy in the mirror appears to want to play with her too – it is posturing and barking back. At this point, she starts trying to run behind the puppy in the mirror – by going in the closet or circling out into the hall – but then she can’t find the puppy.
So, she goes back to the mirror.
She might give a couple more goes, but then it dawns on her all a new, “oh yeah, that’s me in the mirror. There is no other puppy to get out.”
So it is with us. We get frustrated, we get bored, we could have been contenders… if only it weren’t for the Republicans, Democrats, where we live, who we married – take your pick –
But remember – every situation in your life that has ever frustrated you –
What did they have in common?
You.
You got it –
You’re the puppy in the mirror.
So am I.
Let’s be the change.
Well, recently, I moved into a new house. In this house, all the closet doors are mirrored. My shih tzu has never before had such access to mirrors. Sure, she has seen herself reflected in the sliding glass door at my old house when the light was just right, but to be able to see herself any time day or night is a bit of a novelty to her.
Not that she knows what she is seeing is herself – at least not all the time.
Sometimes she sees her reflection and pays it no more attention than you or I would our faint reflections in a store front window (unless we wanted to check our hair or something). But other times – well, that’s really what I want to write about.
You see, whenever she becomes frustrated or bored – especially when the rest of us first go bed each night – that’s when she wants to get that puppy out of the mirror. She starts by growling at the puppy in the mirror, then starts adopting a playful posture and barking at the puppy in the mirror.
The puppy in the mirror appears to want to play with her too – it is posturing and barking back. At this point, she starts trying to run behind the puppy in the mirror – by going in the closet or circling out into the hall – but then she can’t find the puppy.
So, she goes back to the mirror.
She might give a couple more goes, but then it dawns on her all a new, “oh yeah, that’s me in the mirror. There is no other puppy to get out.”
So it is with us. We get frustrated, we get bored, we could have been contenders… if only it weren’t for the Republicans, Democrats, where we live, who we married – take your pick –
But remember – every situation in your life that has ever frustrated you –
What did they have in common?
You.
You got it –
You’re the puppy in the mirror.
So am I.
Let’s be the change.
Friday, April 4, 2008
For Dr. King: Reflections on Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Reflection on “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
I was told by a former professor that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written around the edges of a day old newspaper because his jailers refused to give him any clean paper. As is apparent from reflecting on his life and his legacy, Dr. King was not a man who took refusal at face value once he was convinced that the necessary course of action was the one that would serve a greater good. Dr. King states in his essay that there are just and unjust laws and that he would agree with Saint Augustine’s proclamation that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Dr. King then goes on to define an unjust law. He states that, “An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself.” He also states that, “An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote.” He reminds his readers that, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything that Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungry was ‘illegal.’” Finally he states that “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come.” I agree with Dr. King’s assertion that there are just and unjust laws and that it is against man’s nature to submit himself to unjust laws.
Dr. King uses both philosophical and spiritual principles in his essay to justify the use of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means of obtaining equality for the American Negro. This essay was directed primarily at a group of fellow clergymen who had called on King to stop using nonviolent resistance as a means to advance the Civil Rights Movement. Therefore, Dr. King was not asking his readers to accept his argument based on accepting his faith views, as those clergymen already claimed to hold the same faith views as Dr. King. They also were claiming that these faith views supported their argument for ceasing to use civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means to speed the acquisition of civil rights for American Negroes. Dr. King makes the excellent point that throughout human history, “…privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily,” and if indeed nonviolent activists are extremists, then “…maybe the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.” I also agree with Dr. King’s assertions that if the Negro population had not been led by him to believe in the effective possibilities of nonviolent resistance, the Civil Rights Movement might have been a far bloodier and violent eruption than it turned out to be.
Dr. King was heavily influenced by the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi stated that, “The world rests upon the bedrock of satya or truth. Asatya, meaning untruth, also means non-existent, and satya or truth also means that which is. If untruth does not so much as exist, its victory is out of the question. And truth being that which is can never be destroyed” (Easwaran 1987). While the view that Dr. King took of injustice was seen through a Christian lens, his assertion that there are fundamental truths and laws that govern humanity was one that can be found echoed in many different philosophies and cultures. This assertion can be found in the works of Mahatma Gandhi, who was a devout Hindu as well as in the thoughts of Socrates (whom Dr. King refers to his essay). It is even apparent in the writings of Ayn Rand, the developer of the philosophy of Objectivism which seems far removed from any type of religiously based philosophy. Rand states as one of the four pillars of Objectivism, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Rand 1996).
This acceptance of the idea of universally just and unjust laws necessitates the breaking of the law when a law is unjust. The basic premise of nonviolent resistance is that no one can oppress someone else without some degree of compliance on the victim’s part. If the victim refuses to co-operate, then he or she can not be victimized. The larger the number that refuse to comply, the more effective the effort of nonviolent resistance will be. One of my undergraduate professors engaged in just such a nonviolent resistance effort during the Civil Rights Movement. She lived in Montgomery, Alabama. The weekend after the bloody confrontations in Selma, Alabama, she and her cohorts (most of whom were female) put on their gloves and went into town to do some weekend shopping. However, they only went to stores that refused to allow Negroes to shop there at all anymore and before handling any of the merchandise, they removed their gloves and slit all their fingertips with razor blades. After handling the merchandise, they then quietly left the stores and returned home. They saw the bloodying of the merchandise as a symbolic gesture reflecting the bloody treatment of marchers the week before in Selma. I have often visualized those young Southern girls dressed in heels, hats, and hose and thought about how much courage such an act required. Dr. King later stated in his 1967 speech, “Declaration of Independence for the War in Vietnam” in that, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces the beggar needs restructuring” (King 2002). I think there were many, such as my professor and her young friends who had made that realization after they were sickened by the treatment of fellow human beings and knew that compassion required them to act.
Gandhi also said, “The law of love will work, just as the law of gravitation will work, whether we accept it or not” (Gandhi 2002). It is disturbing to me that time and time again, we hear that nonviolent protestors are extremist, but war is seen as an institution. So often throughout history, humanity has accepted the status quo simply because to admit that we needed to stop and reconsider might cause us some inconvenience. It is the momentum behind the status quo that slows change, whether that change is for better or worse. There is also fear because with all change comes consequences other than those that were intended. However, when one can see that a current situation is unjust, such as in the case of segregation, there is no option but change. Change must occur and because nonviolent resistance is more in line with just law (as Dr. King described it) than violent resistance, it is the most effective means to this end. Nonviolent resistance is a code than requires the majority to uphold the same standards for themselves as they hold for the minority, and should the minority not wish to participate in this resistance, they are free not to do so.
In Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, one of the main characters Hank Rearden makes the following observation after having engaged in an act of nonviolent resistance: “He felt as if, after a journey of years through a landscape of devastation…he had come upon the despoiler, expecting to find a giant – and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the first sound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us, he thought, the guilt is ours” (Rand 1996).
There are moments recorded throughout history when an individual experienced such a revelation. Dr. King is but one example, as are the individual examples such as Jesus, Amos, Paul and Thomas Jefferson that he cited is his essay. It is said that when Gandhi was thrown off the train in South Africa, as he lifted himself off the ground, he beheld a vision of the entire British Empire crumbling. What makes a society just is its eventual recognition of the validity of the visions of such individuals and the courage to embrace these visions and make them a reality.
Reference List
Easwaran, Eknath, translator. 1987. The Upanishads. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press.
Gandhi, Mohandas K. 2002. My faith in nonviolence (1930). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by the Advocates of Peace. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
King, Dr. Martin Luther, Jr. 2002. Declaration of independence for the war in Vietnam (1967). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by the Advocates of Peace. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Rand, Ayn. 1996. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Signet.
I was told by a former professor that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written around the edges of a day old newspaper because his jailers refused to give him any clean paper. As is apparent from reflecting on his life and his legacy, Dr. King was not a man who took refusal at face value once he was convinced that the necessary course of action was the one that would serve a greater good. Dr. King states in his essay that there are just and unjust laws and that he would agree with Saint Augustine’s proclamation that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Dr. King then goes on to define an unjust law. He states that, “An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself.” He also states that, “An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote.” He reminds his readers that, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything that Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungry was ‘illegal.’” Finally he states that “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come.” I agree with Dr. King’s assertion that there are just and unjust laws and that it is against man’s nature to submit himself to unjust laws.
Dr. King uses both philosophical and spiritual principles in his essay to justify the use of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means of obtaining equality for the American Negro. This essay was directed primarily at a group of fellow clergymen who had called on King to stop using nonviolent resistance as a means to advance the Civil Rights Movement. Therefore, Dr. King was not asking his readers to accept his argument based on accepting his faith views, as those clergymen already claimed to hold the same faith views as Dr. King. They also were claiming that these faith views supported their argument for ceasing to use civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance as a means to speed the acquisition of civil rights for American Negroes. Dr. King makes the excellent point that throughout human history, “…privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily,” and if indeed nonviolent activists are extremists, then “…maybe the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.” I also agree with Dr. King’s assertions that if the Negro population had not been led by him to believe in the effective possibilities of nonviolent resistance, the Civil Rights Movement might have been a far bloodier and violent eruption than it turned out to be.
Dr. King was heavily influenced by the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi stated that, “The world rests upon the bedrock of satya or truth. Asatya, meaning untruth, also means non-existent, and satya or truth also means that which is. If untruth does not so much as exist, its victory is out of the question. And truth being that which is can never be destroyed” (Easwaran 1987). While the view that Dr. King took of injustice was seen through a Christian lens, his assertion that there are fundamental truths and laws that govern humanity was one that can be found echoed in many different philosophies and cultures. This assertion can be found in the works of Mahatma Gandhi, who was a devout Hindu as well as in the thoughts of Socrates (whom Dr. King refers to his essay). It is even apparent in the writings of Ayn Rand, the developer of the philosophy of Objectivism which seems far removed from any type of religiously based philosophy. Rand states as one of the four pillars of Objectivism, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Rand 1996).
This acceptance of the idea of universally just and unjust laws necessitates the breaking of the law when a law is unjust. The basic premise of nonviolent resistance is that no one can oppress someone else without some degree of compliance on the victim’s part. If the victim refuses to co-operate, then he or she can not be victimized. The larger the number that refuse to comply, the more effective the effort of nonviolent resistance will be. One of my undergraduate professors engaged in just such a nonviolent resistance effort during the Civil Rights Movement. She lived in Montgomery, Alabama. The weekend after the bloody confrontations in Selma, Alabama, she and her cohorts (most of whom were female) put on their gloves and went into town to do some weekend shopping. However, they only went to stores that refused to allow Negroes to shop there at all anymore and before handling any of the merchandise, they removed their gloves and slit all their fingertips with razor blades. After handling the merchandise, they then quietly left the stores and returned home. They saw the bloodying of the merchandise as a symbolic gesture reflecting the bloody treatment of marchers the week before in Selma. I have often visualized those young Southern girls dressed in heels, hats, and hose and thought about how much courage such an act required. Dr. King later stated in his 1967 speech, “Declaration of Independence for the War in Vietnam” in that, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces the beggar needs restructuring” (King 2002). I think there were many, such as my professor and her young friends who had made that realization after they were sickened by the treatment of fellow human beings and knew that compassion required them to act.
Gandhi also said, “The law of love will work, just as the law of gravitation will work, whether we accept it or not” (Gandhi 2002). It is disturbing to me that time and time again, we hear that nonviolent protestors are extremist, but war is seen as an institution. So often throughout history, humanity has accepted the status quo simply because to admit that we needed to stop and reconsider might cause us some inconvenience. It is the momentum behind the status quo that slows change, whether that change is for better or worse. There is also fear because with all change comes consequences other than those that were intended. However, when one can see that a current situation is unjust, such as in the case of segregation, there is no option but change. Change must occur and because nonviolent resistance is more in line with just law (as Dr. King described it) than violent resistance, it is the most effective means to this end. Nonviolent resistance is a code than requires the majority to uphold the same standards for themselves as they hold for the minority, and should the minority not wish to participate in this resistance, they are free not to do so.
In Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, one of the main characters Hank Rearden makes the following observation after having engaged in an act of nonviolent resistance: “He felt as if, after a journey of years through a landscape of devastation…he had come upon the despoiler, expecting to find a giant – and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the first sound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us, he thought, the guilt is ours” (Rand 1996).
There are moments recorded throughout history when an individual experienced such a revelation. Dr. King is but one example, as are the individual examples such as Jesus, Amos, Paul and Thomas Jefferson that he cited is his essay. It is said that when Gandhi was thrown off the train in South Africa, as he lifted himself off the ground, he beheld a vision of the entire British Empire crumbling. What makes a society just is its eventual recognition of the validity of the visions of such individuals and the courage to embrace these visions and make them a reality.
Reference List
Easwaran, Eknath, translator. 1987. The Upanishads. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press.
Gandhi, Mohandas K. 2002. My faith in nonviolence (1930). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by the Advocates of Peace. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
King, Dr. Martin Luther, Jr. 2002. Declaration of independence for the war in Vietnam (1967). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by the Advocates of Peace. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Rand, Ayn. 1996. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Signet.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: Exit Frame 1
As you followed your energy and perceptions for the past couple of days, what did you discover? Perhaps you found yourself saying things like, “I hate the way I look, but my mom was always overweight, and so was granny, so, I guess I will be too.” Or maybe you heard yourself say, “This job is a dead end, but it pays the bills. Besides, where else can I work in this town?”
Or worse yet, maybe these beliefs are so ingrained in your subconscious mind that you don’t even hear them anymore.
Perhaps to you, these self imposed limits are givens – like “that is a tree” or “I hear barking, so there must be a dog.”
But maybe there is not a dog – maybe there is a very talented parrot barking.
Maybe that tree is only a clever projection on a screen –
Just as most of the limits you accept in your life are limits you have projected on yourself.
Please note that I did not say all – for example, I am 5 ft 3 inches tall. It is unlikely that under any circumstances, I will ever play for the NBA – even if I wanted to, which I don’t. But there are still many, many situations in our lives that we blame for our unhappiness when our happiness is right at our finger tips – we only have to reach for it.
Let’s go back to our painting at the museum.
What would have happened if instead of walking away from the painting and leaving the museum all together, we did something different?
What if:
We asked the guard on duty “what is the deal with that frame?”
We complained to the museum director, “I can not enjoy this painting or your lovely museum due this distracting frame.”?
We took it upon ourselves to remove the frame and dispose of it while accepting the consequences of doing so?
We are each both the guard on duty and the museum director in charge of our frames – our perceptions – and what we believe about ourselves today puts into play how our lives will feel tomorrow. For the next few days, try this exercise. As you go through your day, ask yourself – If your tomorrow can feel different than today, in each circumstance, how do you want it to feel? Concentrate on the feeling, not the visual. And don’t edit or judge yourself, just witness yourself. There will be time for focusing and editing later.
Or worse yet, maybe these beliefs are so ingrained in your subconscious mind that you don’t even hear them anymore.
Perhaps to you, these self imposed limits are givens – like “that is a tree” or “I hear barking, so there must be a dog.”
But maybe there is not a dog – maybe there is a very talented parrot barking.
Maybe that tree is only a clever projection on a screen –
Just as most of the limits you accept in your life are limits you have projected on yourself.
Please note that I did not say all – for example, I am 5 ft 3 inches tall. It is unlikely that under any circumstances, I will ever play for the NBA – even if I wanted to, which I don’t. But there are still many, many situations in our lives that we blame for our unhappiness when our happiness is right at our finger tips – we only have to reach for it.
Let’s go back to our painting at the museum.
What would have happened if instead of walking away from the painting and leaving the museum all together, we did something different?
What if:
We asked the guard on duty “what is the deal with that frame?”
We complained to the museum director, “I can not enjoy this painting or your lovely museum due this distracting frame.”?
We took it upon ourselves to remove the frame and dispose of it while accepting the consequences of doing so?
We are each both the guard on duty and the museum director in charge of our frames – our perceptions – and what we believe about ourselves today puts into play how our lives will feel tomorrow. For the next few days, try this exercise. As you go through your day, ask yourself – If your tomorrow can feel different than today, in each circumstance, how do you want it to feel? Concentrate on the feeling, not the visual. And don’t edit or judge yourself, just witness yourself. There will be time for focusing and editing later.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: Let's Get Down to Business
We’ve talked about losing weight and we’ve talked a little about some of the tricks our minds can play. But whether what is bugging you is your body, your finances, your job, your marriage – or just a general sense of frustration, in order to stop being frustrated we have to start in the same place.
Now, first off, don’t worry. I’m not your granny and I’m not going to tell you to adjust your attitude. I’m not going to tell you that you can only control one thing in this world and it is your attitude – because guess what? You may not even be controlling that!
What we have to start with is your perception.
Imagine if you will that you are in a museum. It is quiet – you are the only one there. The air temperature is perfect. It feels so crisp. You are seated on a very comfortable padded bench seat, and you are looking at the most beautiful painting you have ever seen.
The colors are exquisite and the texture is so realistic you want to reach out and touch it.
The problem is the frame.
This perfect painting is surrounded by a frame made of garbage. Old vegetables, dirty Kleenex, gnawed chicken bones. Some of it is in a real state of decay – wretched, oozing, putrid, noxious. The scent is overwhelming.
How long are you going to be able to enjoy looking at the painting? At what point will you cease to be able to concentrate on the painting at all – only on the unpleasantness of its frame? When will you decide that it is just not worth it and leave the painting and the gallery all together?
That frame represents your perceptions. Right now, everything you are experiencing is being filtered through the frame of all your past experiences. You are doing this subconsciously, without even realizing it.
I’d like you to try this exercise for the next two days. As you go through your day, I want you notice what is sapping your energy – what you dread, and what is feeding your energy – what you look forward to. Simply notice, but don’t judge your reactions as good or bad. For example, you may ( and probably will) find that many of main people in your life – the ones you say you live for – may seem to be what is bringing you down, and you may feel guilty about this. Don’t. For today, just pay attention and make a mental note. Then we will go from there.
Now, first off, don’t worry. I’m not your granny and I’m not going to tell you to adjust your attitude. I’m not going to tell you that you can only control one thing in this world and it is your attitude – because guess what? You may not even be controlling that!
What we have to start with is your perception.
Imagine if you will that you are in a museum. It is quiet – you are the only one there. The air temperature is perfect. It feels so crisp. You are seated on a very comfortable padded bench seat, and you are looking at the most beautiful painting you have ever seen.
The colors are exquisite and the texture is so realistic you want to reach out and touch it.
The problem is the frame.
This perfect painting is surrounded by a frame made of garbage. Old vegetables, dirty Kleenex, gnawed chicken bones. Some of it is in a real state of decay – wretched, oozing, putrid, noxious. The scent is overwhelming.
How long are you going to be able to enjoy looking at the painting? At what point will you cease to be able to concentrate on the painting at all – only on the unpleasantness of its frame? When will you decide that it is just not worth it and leave the painting and the gallery all together?
That frame represents your perceptions. Right now, everything you are experiencing is being filtered through the frame of all your past experiences. You are doing this subconsciously, without even realizing it.
I’d like you to try this exercise for the next two days. As you go through your day, I want you notice what is sapping your energy – what you dread, and what is feeding your energy – what you look forward to. Simply notice, but don’t judge your reactions as good or bad. For example, you may ( and probably will) find that many of main people in your life – the ones you say you live for – may seem to be what is bringing you down, and you may feel guilty about this. Don’t. For today, just pay attention and make a mental note. Then we will go from there.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Kelley Pujol Writes: Who is the gifted child? Who is the frustrated adult?
Frequently, our idea of a gifted child is an academic overachiever - perhaps a child who is mathematically gifted. But did you know that learning disabilities, such as ADD and dyslexia occur at a much higher rate among the gifted than among the general population? As you read the article below, you will notice that the character Neville Longbottom of the Harry Potter book series might be a much more common version of a gifted child than the more obvious choice of Hermione Granger.
As you know if you have read the Harry Potter book series, things turn out well for Neville despite his rough start. He finds teachers that understand his special needs - yes, I said special needs - because gifted children have special needs that must be addressed if they are not to grow up to be highly frustrated and underachieving adults.
Would you be surprised to learn that most gifted children don't grow up to be highly successful? There are so many more ways to be gifted than strictly academically - an infinite number. Maybe you were one of those gifted, enthusiastic kids that nobody got. Maybe you are now one of those frustrated adults who has a life that seems to have a life of its own - maybe you want to scream, "Turn this bus around!"
Okay, friend, my hand is on the brake. Let's figure out a way to get unfrustrated and unknot your life. Check out the article below, and we'll go from there.
As you know if you have read the Harry Potter book series, things turn out well for Neville despite his rough start. He finds teachers that understand his special needs - yes, I said special needs - because gifted children have special needs that must be addressed if they are not to grow up to be highly frustrated and underachieving adults.
Would you be surprised to learn that most gifted children don't grow up to be highly successful? There are so many more ways to be gifted than strictly academically - an infinite number. Maybe you were one of those gifted, enthusiastic kids that nobody got. Maybe you are now one of those frustrated adults who has a life that seems to have a life of its own - maybe you want to scream, "Turn this bus around!"
Okay, friend, my hand is on the brake. Let's figure out a way to get unfrustrated and unknot your life. Check out the article below, and we'll go from there.
Kelley Pujol Writes: The Portrayal of Gifted Children in the Harry Potter Book Series
The portrayal of gifted children in the Harry Potter book series
Dr. Maria Montessori states in her book The Absorbent Mind, “The child has a different relation to his environment from ours. Adults admire their environment; they can remember it and think about it; but the child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see and his ears hear. In us the same things produce no change, but the child is transformed by them” (Montessori 1995, 61-62). These words take on special meaning when read in the context of the Harry Potter book series. The crux of the story involves the fact that as Harry witnessed Voldemort murder his parents and Voldemort’s failed attempt to murder him, Harry inadvertently absorbed a piece of Voldemort’s fractured soul. Yet Harry’s life is spared because his mother loved him so much that she sacrificed her life to save him. Although Harry has no conscious memory of this, his mother’s love, Dumbledore explains to Harry at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, “…leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign…to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us protection forever. It is in your very skin” (Rowling 1997, 299). While all children crave and deserve such love, gifted children are especially susceptible to being overly sensitive both to their environments and to the subtle emotional overtones of their relationships (Pagnani 2008). Author J.K. Rowling does an excellent job in the Harry Potter book series of creating characters who are gifted children and portraying their individual traits and situational reactions to their life circumstances. Two such characters are Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom.
It is a common misconception that the term “gifted” refers only to children who are academically gifted. While this can certainly be one aspect of giftedness, it is not the only area in which a child can be gifted. There are also varying degrees of giftedness even when speaking strictly of intelligence quotient measurements. For example, a child with an IQ of 140 would be considered gifted, but that child would be a very different case than a child with an IQ of 170 or above – as different as a child with an average IQ of 100 is from a child with a low IQ of 70 (Webb et al 1994,4-6). Add to this the fact that there is a higher incidence of Attention Deficient Disorder and spelling/handwriting disabilities in the gifted population verses the normal population, and one can begin to see what a chameleon the idea of a “typical gifted child” can become (The Rhode Island State Advisory Committee 1997).
The character of Hermione Granger is the type of child most individuals would think of when asked to point out a gifted child. Hermione is academically superior to just about all her peers. The character Remus Lupin tells Hermione towards the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that she is “the cleverest witch” of her age that he had ever met (Rowling 1999, 394). When in that same novel, Hermione nearly gives herself a nervous breakdown by overextending herself academically, she is given some help by Professor McGonagall who procures permission for Hermione to use a “Time Turner” in order to enable Hermione to go back in time and do several lessons at once (Rowling 1999, 395-396). While this magical invention is helpful to Hermione in achieving her goals and in later allowing Hermione to help Harry save his godfather Sirius Black from having to return to the prison of Azkaban, it does not address the root of the problems that Hermione shares with many other gifted children. Those problems are dealing with the trait of being a perfectionist, of feeling emotions more intensively than others, and of having trouble relating to and fitting in with less gifted peers (Meckstroth 2007, 311-322).
This preoccupation with being perfect is demonstrated when Hermione is taking her exam for Professor Lupin in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Rowling writes, “Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the boggart (a shape-shifter which reveals one’s greatest fear) in it. After a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming… ‘P- P- Professor McGonagall!’ Hermione gasped, pointing at the trunk, ‘Sh –she said I’d failed everything!’ It took a little while to calm Hermione down” (Rowling 1999, 319).
When Harry and Ron first meet Hermione on the train taking them all to their first year at Hogwarts, neither of the boys like Hermione at all. They see her as a girl with “…a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth” (Rowling 1997, 105). Hermione’s litany of the background reading she has done in preparation for school, her opinion on how she would have handled being “the boy who lived,” and her analysis of the sorting system at Hogwarts causes Ron to remark to Harry after Hermione has left their train car, “Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it,” (Rowling 1997, 106), and later after Hermione has outperformed the boys in class, Ron remarks, “ It’s no wonder no one can stand her,…she’s a nightmare, honestly” (Rowling 1997, 172). It is only after the three share an adventure that involves defeating a troll in the bathroom that they begin to bond as friends, as Rowling notes, “There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them” (Rowling 1997, 179).
As the three friends develop over the course of the Harry Potter book series, the boys are frequently both stupefied and amazed by Hermione’s emotional intensity. One example of this is her preoccupation with the formation of the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare in the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. While Harry handles her new passion by largely ignoring it, Ron’s brothers George and Fred mock her efforts (Rowling 2000, 366-367). Ron dismisses her efforts by proclaiming, “Hermione – open your ears…They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!” (Rowling 2000, 224). This strong identification with social justice issues and deep empathic feelings such as Hermione experiences are baffling to her friends, yet they are very common occurrences among gifted children (Roeper 2007, 285). It is not until the final novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that Ron begins to catch up to Hermione emotionally as he listens to the elf Kreecher reveal the ordeal that Voldemort caused the elf to endure (Rowling 2007, 192-200).
It is not only common for gifted children to have difficulty relating to their peers due to their accelerated development, but gifted children also frequently run into problems with teachers as well (Reis 2007, 130). An example of this occurs when Draco Malfoy’s Densaugo curse causes Hermione’s already somewhat large teeth to grow to comical proportions in Professor Snape’s Double Potions class. Rowling writes:
He [Ron] forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth – she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape’s back.
Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, “I see no difference.”
Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heels and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight (Rowling 2000, 299-300).
Not all gifted children are academic achievers, though. Frequently, gifted children are actually underachievers. Common causes of underachievement in gifted children can be serious physical, cognitive, or emotional issues that have not been dealt with, a mismatch between the student and his or her school environment, or from the fact that the child is suffering from low self-motivation, low self-regulation, or low self-efficacy (Reis 2007, 130). Many times, this situation can be turned around by the discovery of one key person with whom the child can communicate freely and by whom the child feels accepted (Webb et al 1994, 131). Often once this relationship is established, the child will gain the confidence to use his giftedness to discover and explore an area of passion in which the child can grow and then flourish and expand his understanding of who he is and who he can become (Reis 2007, 131-136). Such a gifted child in the Harry Potter book series is Neville Longbottom.
After having first witnessed Neville and his exasperated Grandmother on platform nine and three quarters, Neville again appears to Harry and Ron as he searches miserably for his pet toad, Trevor. Rowling describes Neville as “tearful” (Rowling 1997, 104). It does not take long for Hermione to champion Neville’s cause and help him look for the toad he seems so desperate to recover. While adults may not always recognize gifted children, gifted children tend to identify and gravitate towards each other (Webb et al 1994, 14). In fact, throughout the beginning of the series, it is frequently Hermione who understands Neville’s intense emotions although none of the children yet understand how much Neville has already lost and endured in his short life. One example of this occurs after Quidditch practice in the novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone:
At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone’s guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.
Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione, who leapt up and performed the countercurse. Neville’s legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling (Rowling 1997, 217).
By the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Neville has earned ten extra points for the Gryffindor house, because in Dumbledore’s words, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends” (Rowling 1997, 306). The real turning point for Neville occurs, though, when he meets that one key person who enables him to see himself differently, and that person is Professor Remus Lupin.
Perhaps it is because Professor Lupin has carried the burden of not fitting in himself for many years, or perhaps it is because he is aware that Neville has lost his parents not to death but to an even greater cruelty that Lupin singles out Neville to be his assistant on his first day as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor after Professor Snape has insulted and embarrassed Neville in front of Lupin’s entire class. Neville had just barely escaped being forced by Professor Snape to poison his dear pet toad Trevor due to the fact that Hermione helped Neville remedy his potions. Rowling describes Neville’s experience in Potions lessons, stating that “Neville regularly went to pieces in Potions class; it was his worst subject, and his great fear of Professor Snape made it ten times worse” (Rowling 1999, 125). Just as one compassionate teacher can make a huge difference to a gifted child, having to perform under a cruel or ineffectual teacher is frequently a burden that a gifted child can not compartmentalize and the child’s frustrating feelings of inadequacy bleed over into all areas of the child’s life (Tolan 2007, 262-267).
Professor Lupin begins the class by allowing Hermione to explain that a boggart is a shape-shifter that can take the shape of whatever it believes will frighten its viewer the most. Lupin then coaxes from Neville that his greatest fear is Professor Snape. Lupin then establishes the fact that Neville lives with his grandmother – and that Neville is also rather frightened of her – and asks Neville to clearly picture his grandmother’s clothes. Rowling writes, “ ‘When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the shape of Professor Snape,’ said Lupin. ‘And you will raise your wand – thus – and cry “Riddikulus”– and concentrate hard on your grandmother’s clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag’ ” (Rowling 1999, 135).
Neville succeeds in his lesson and by the end of class, Neville has “charged forward looking determined” and finished off the boggart for the class (Rowling 1999, 139). Neville’s character continues to develop throughout the series. He begins to display great ability in herbology in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. By the time it is necessary to form Dumbledore’s Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Neville has developed into a more than competent wizard and even saves Harry’s life during the battle in the Department of Mysteries (Rowling 2003, 802). It is in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, though, that Neville fully develops into the gifted young man he always had the potential to be.
The Neville who was once paralyzed with terror when confronted with Professor Snape’s mocking disapproval is the person who dares to charge Lord Voldemort himself when it appears to all others that the battle of Hogwarts is lost. Rowling describes Neville’s response to Voldemort’s invitation to join the Death Eaters: “ ‘I’ll join you when hell freezes over,’ said Neville. ‘Dumbledore’s Army!’ he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort’s Silencing Charm seemed unable to hold” (Rowling 2007, 731). No longer is Neville the son of defeated, insane wizards, nor is he is the victim of Draco Malfoy’s gang, nor even in the shadow of Harry Potter. Neville emerges by the end of the Harry Potter book series as a gifted young man who no longer looks to his grandmother or to his father’s shadow for approval but to his own unique abilities and gifts. Perhaps he is the man that Dumbledore describes when he explains the Mirror of Erised to Harry, stating that “The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is” (Rowling 1997, 213).
Dr. Maria Montessori said, “In the same way, the caterpillar and the butterfly are two creatures very different to look at and in the way they behave, yet the beauty of the butterfly comes from its life in the larval form, and not through any efforts it may make to imitate another butterfly” (Montessori 1995, 195). Neville could not fulfill his destiny or Hermione hers by fitting into a cookie cutter image of what a gifted child should be like. The Harry Potter book series does an excellent job of portraying gifted children as individuals with unique talents and needs. These children are brought together from varying backgrounds and each must develop their own special gifts in order to have a positive impact on their world and the people around them.
If there is any single lesson to be learned from the Harry Potter series concerning children and their gifts, it is that each child is special and every child is a gift. Dr. Maria Montessori also stated, “The child is the well-spring of love. Whenever we touch the child, we touch love. It is a difficult love to define; we all feel it, but no one can describe its roots, or evaluate the immense consequences which flow from it, or gather up its potency for the union between men” (Montessori 1995, 289). This is the love that Dumbledore attempts to explain to Harry. It is the love that exists in Harry’s and every child’s very skin.
Reference List
Meckstroth, Elizabeth. 2007. Abnormally brilliant, brilliantly normal. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Montessori, Maria. 1995. The Absorbent Mind. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Pagnani, Alexander R. 2008. Fantasy and science fiction: New world for gifted minds! Compass Points: Igniting Ideas and Innovations in Gifted Convention Recap, National Association for Gifted Children. Winter 2008. www.nagc.org
Reis, Sally M. 2007. The underachievement of gifted students: Multiple frustrations and few solutions. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
The Rhode Island State Advisory Committee on Gifted and Talented Education. 1997. Characteristics and behaviors of the gifted. http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/character.html . Accessed March 10, 2008.
Roeper, Annemarie. 2007. Giftedness is heart and soul. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Rowling, J. K. 1997. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 2000. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 2003. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic Press.
Tolan, Stephanie S. 2007. The problem of pain. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Webb, James T., PhD., Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, M.S.W., Stephanie S. Tolan, M.A. 1994. Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press, Inc.
Dr. Maria Montessori states in her book The Absorbent Mind, “The child has a different relation to his environment from ours. Adults admire their environment; they can remember it and think about it; but the child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see and his ears hear. In us the same things produce no change, but the child is transformed by them” (Montessori 1995, 61-62). These words take on special meaning when read in the context of the Harry Potter book series. The crux of the story involves the fact that as Harry witnessed Voldemort murder his parents and Voldemort’s failed attempt to murder him, Harry inadvertently absorbed a piece of Voldemort’s fractured soul. Yet Harry’s life is spared because his mother loved him so much that she sacrificed her life to save him. Although Harry has no conscious memory of this, his mother’s love, Dumbledore explains to Harry at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, “…leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign…to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us protection forever. It is in your very skin” (Rowling 1997, 299). While all children crave and deserve such love, gifted children are especially susceptible to being overly sensitive both to their environments and to the subtle emotional overtones of their relationships (Pagnani 2008). Author J.K. Rowling does an excellent job in the Harry Potter book series of creating characters who are gifted children and portraying their individual traits and situational reactions to their life circumstances. Two such characters are Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom.
It is a common misconception that the term “gifted” refers only to children who are academically gifted. While this can certainly be one aspect of giftedness, it is not the only area in which a child can be gifted. There are also varying degrees of giftedness even when speaking strictly of intelligence quotient measurements. For example, a child with an IQ of 140 would be considered gifted, but that child would be a very different case than a child with an IQ of 170 or above – as different as a child with an average IQ of 100 is from a child with a low IQ of 70 (Webb et al 1994,4-6). Add to this the fact that there is a higher incidence of Attention Deficient Disorder and spelling/handwriting disabilities in the gifted population verses the normal population, and one can begin to see what a chameleon the idea of a “typical gifted child” can become (The Rhode Island State Advisory Committee 1997).
The character of Hermione Granger is the type of child most individuals would think of when asked to point out a gifted child. Hermione is academically superior to just about all her peers. The character Remus Lupin tells Hermione towards the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that she is “the cleverest witch” of her age that he had ever met (Rowling 1999, 394). When in that same novel, Hermione nearly gives herself a nervous breakdown by overextending herself academically, she is given some help by Professor McGonagall who procures permission for Hermione to use a “Time Turner” in order to enable Hermione to go back in time and do several lessons at once (Rowling 1999, 395-396). While this magical invention is helpful to Hermione in achieving her goals and in later allowing Hermione to help Harry save his godfather Sirius Black from having to return to the prison of Azkaban, it does not address the root of the problems that Hermione shares with many other gifted children. Those problems are dealing with the trait of being a perfectionist, of feeling emotions more intensively than others, and of having trouble relating to and fitting in with less gifted peers (Meckstroth 2007, 311-322).
This preoccupation with being perfect is demonstrated when Hermione is taking her exam for Professor Lupin in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Rowling writes, “Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the boggart (a shape-shifter which reveals one’s greatest fear) in it. After a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming… ‘P- P- Professor McGonagall!’ Hermione gasped, pointing at the trunk, ‘Sh –she said I’d failed everything!’ It took a little while to calm Hermione down” (Rowling 1999, 319).
When Harry and Ron first meet Hermione on the train taking them all to their first year at Hogwarts, neither of the boys like Hermione at all. They see her as a girl with “…a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth” (Rowling 1997, 105). Hermione’s litany of the background reading she has done in preparation for school, her opinion on how she would have handled being “the boy who lived,” and her analysis of the sorting system at Hogwarts causes Ron to remark to Harry after Hermione has left their train car, “Whatever house I’m in, I hope she’s not in it,” (Rowling 1997, 106), and later after Hermione has outperformed the boys in class, Ron remarks, “ It’s no wonder no one can stand her,…she’s a nightmare, honestly” (Rowling 1997, 172). It is only after the three share an adventure that involves defeating a troll in the bathroom that they begin to bond as friends, as Rowling notes, “There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them” (Rowling 1997, 179).
As the three friends develop over the course of the Harry Potter book series, the boys are frequently both stupefied and amazed by Hermione’s emotional intensity. One example of this is her preoccupation with the formation of the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare in the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. While Harry handles her new passion by largely ignoring it, Ron’s brothers George and Fred mock her efforts (Rowling 2000, 366-367). Ron dismisses her efforts by proclaiming, “Hermione – open your ears…They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!” (Rowling 2000, 224). This strong identification with social justice issues and deep empathic feelings such as Hermione experiences are baffling to her friends, yet they are very common occurrences among gifted children (Roeper 2007, 285). It is not until the final novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that Ron begins to catch up to Hermione emotionally as he listens to the elf Kreecher reveal the ordeal that Voldemort caused the elf to endure (Rowling 2007, 192-200).
It is not only common for gifted children to have difficulty relating to their peers due to their accelerated development, but gifted children also frequently run into problems with teachers as well (Reis 2007, 130). An example of this occurs when Draco Malfoy’s Densaugo curse causes Hermione’s already somewhat large teeth to grow to comical proportions in Professor Snape’s Double Potions class. Rowling writes:
He [Ron] forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth – she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape’s back.
Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, “I see no difference.”
Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heels and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight (Rowling 2000, 299-300).
Not all gifted children are academic achievers, though. Frequently, gifted children are actually underachievers. Common causes of underachievement in gifted children can be serious physical, cognitive, or emotional issues that have not been dealt with, a mismatch between the student and his or her school environment, or from the fact that the child is suffering from low self-motivation, low self-regulation, or low self-efficacy (Reis 2007, 130). Many times, this situation can be turned around by the discovery of one key person with whom the child can communicate freely and by whom the child feels accepted (Webb et al 1994, 131). Often once this relationship is established, the child will gain the confidence to use his giftedness to discover and explore an area of passion in which the child can grow and then flourish and expand his understanding of who he is and who he can become (Reis 2007, 131-136). Such a gifted child in the Harry Potter book series is Neville Longbottom.
After having first witnessed Neville and his exasperated Grandmother on platform nine and three quarters, Neville again appears to Harry and Ron as he searches miserably for his pet toad, Trevor. Rowling describes Neville as “tearful” (Rowling 1997, 104). It does not take long for Hermione to champion Neville’s cause and help him look for the toad he seems so desperate to recover. While adults may not always recognize gifted children, gifted children tend to identify and gravitate towards each other (Webb et al 1994, 14). In fact, throughout the beginning of the series, it is frequently Hermione who understands Neville’s intense emotions although none of the children yet understand how much Neville has already lost and endured in his short life. One example of this occurs after Quidditch practice in the novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone:
At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone’s guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.
Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione, who leapt up and performed the countercurse. Neville’s legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling (Rowling 1997, 217).
By the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Neville has earned ten extra points for the Gryffindor house, because in Dumbledore’s words, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends” (Rowling 1997, 306). The real turning point for Neville occurs, though, when he meets that one key person who enables him to see himself differently, and that person is Professor Remus Lupin.
Perhaps it is because Professor Lupin has carried the burden of not fitting in himself for many years, or perhaps it is because he is aware that Neville has lost his parents not to death but to an even greater cruelty that Lupin singles out Neville to be his assistant on his first day as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor after Professor Snape has insulted and embarrassed Neville in front of Lupin’s entire class. Neville had just barely escaped being forced by Professor Snape to poison his dear pet toad Trevor due to the fact that Hermione helped Neville remedy his potions. Rowling describes Neville’s experience in Potions lessons, stating that “Neville regularly went to pieces in Potions class; it was his worst subject, and his great fear of Professor Snape made it ten times worse” (Rowling 1999, 125). Just as one compassionate teacher can make a huge difference to a gifted child, having to perform under a cruel or ineffectual teacher is frequently a burden that a gifted child can not compartmentalize and the child’s frustrating feelings of inadequacy bleed over into all areas of the child’s life (Tolan 2007, 262-267).
Professor Lupin begins the class by allowing Hermione to explain that a boggart is a shape-shifter that can take the shape of whatever it believes will frighten its viewer the most. Lupin then coaxes from Neville that his greatest fear is Professor Snape. Lupin then establishes the fact that Neville lives with his grandmother – and that Neville is also rather frightened of her – and asks Neville to clearly picture his grandmother’s clothes. Rowling writes, “ ‘When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the shape of Professor Snape,’ said Lupin. ‘And you will raise your wand – thus – and cry “Riddikulus”– and concentrate hard on your grandmother’s clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag’ ” (Rowling 1999, 135).
Neville succeeds in his lesson and by the end of class, Neville has “charged forward looking determined” and finished off the boggart for the class (Rowling 1999, 139). Neville’s character continues to develop throughout the series. He begins to display great ability in herbology in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. By the time it is necessary to form Dumbledore’s Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Neville has developed into a more than competent wizard and even saves Harry’s life during the battle in the Department of Mysteries (Rowling 2003, 802). It is in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, though, that Neville fully develops into the gifted young man he always had the potential to be.
The Neville who was once paralyzed with terror when confronted with Professor Snape’s mocking disapproval is the person who dares to charge Lord Voldemort himself when it appears to all others that the battle of Hogwarts is lost. Rowling describes Neville’s response to Voldemort’s invitation to join the Death Eaters: “ ‘I’ll join you when hell freezes over,’ said Neville. ‘Dumbledore’s Army!’ he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort’s Silencing Charm seemed unable to hold” (Rowling 2007, 731). No longer is Neville the son of defeated, insane wizards, nor is he is the victim of Draco Malfoy’s gang, nor even in the shadow of Harry Potter. Neville emerges by the end of the Harry Potter book series as a gifted young man who no longer looks to his grandmother or to his father’s shadow for approval but to his own unique abilities and gifts. Perhaps he is the man that Dumbledore describes when he explains the Mirror of Erised to Harry, stating that “The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is” (Rowling 1997, 213).
Dr. Maria Montessori said, “In the same way, the caterpillar and the butterfly are two creatures very different to look at and in the way they behave, yet the beauty of the butterfly comes from its life in the larval form, and not through any efforts it may make to imitate another butterfly” (Montessori 1995, 195). Neville could not fulfill his destiny or Hermione hers by fitting into a cookie cutter image of what a gifted child should be like. The Harry Potter book series does an excellent job of portraying gifted children as individuals with unique talents and needs. These children are brought together from varying backgrounds and each must develop their own special gifts in order to have a positive impact on their world and the people around them.
If there is any single lesson to be learned from the Harry Potter series concerning children and their gifts, it is that each child is special and every child is a gift. Dr. Maria Montessori also stated, “The child is the well-spring of love. Whenever we touch the child, we touch love. It is a difficult love to define; we all feel it, but no one can describe its roots, or evaluate the immense consequences which flow from it, or gather up its potency for the union between men” (Montessori 1995, 289). This is the love that Dumbledore attempts to explain to Harry. It is the love that exists in Harry’s and every child’s very skin.
Reference List
Meckstroth, Elizabeth. 2007. Abnormally brilliant, brilliantly normal. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Montessori, Maria. 1995. The Absorbent Mind. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Pagnani, Alexander R. 2008. Fantasy and science fiction: New world for gifted minds! Compass Points: Igniting Ideas and Innovations in Gifted Convention Recap, National Association for Gifted Children. Winter 2008. www.nagc.org
Reis, Sally M. 2007. The underachievement of gifted students: Multiple frustrations and few solutions. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
The Rhode Island State Advisory Committee on Gifted and Talented Education. 1997. Characteristics and behaviors of the gifted. http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/character.html . Accessed March 10, 2008.
Roeper, Annemarie. 2007. Giftedness is heart and soul. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Rowling, J. K. 1997. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 2000. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 2003. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic Press.
--. 2007. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic Press.
Tolan, Stephanie S. 2007. The problem of pain. High IQ Kid: Collected Insights, Information, and Personal Stories from the Experts. Keisa Kay, Deborah Robson, Judy Fort Brenneman, editors. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Webb, James T., PhD., Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, M.S.W., Stephanie S. Tolan, M.A. 1994. Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press, Inc.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Ayurveda and Weight Loss
Ayurveda and Weight Loss
The Weight-Control Information Network, an information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, estimates that approximately two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and that almost one-third of these people are obese. The prevalence towards being overweight or obese has steadily increased among Americans over the past forty years. This increase has been wide ranging, including both genders, all ages, races, ethnic groups, and educational levels. Between 1960 and 2004, the number of overweight adults increased from 44.8 percent to 66 percent. The number of obese adults increased from 13.3 percent to 32.1 percent, with the majority of this increase occurring after 1980 (The Weight-Control Network 2008).
George L. Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D., the S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Nutrition Medicine at Harvard Medical School, estimates in his introduction to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2002 report, “Weight-Loss Advertising: An Analysis of Current Trends,” that in the year 2000, Americans spent roughly thirty five billion dollars on weight loss products or services. At any given time, almost seventy million Americans are trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain (Blackburn 2002, v). The Federal Trade Commission report goes on to state that sales at the nation’s eight largest weight loss chains topped 788 million dollars in 2000, and that same year, sales of dietary weight loss supplements from retail outlets alone were in the range of 279 million dollars (Cleland et al 2002, 2).
Americans are becoming increasingly desperate to lose weight, and both marketers and manufacturers have found great profit potential in attempting to meet this need. Since 1992, the number of ads for weight loss products in mainstream publications has increased by 129 percent while the number of weight loss products had increased by 157 percent. According to a sample study done by the Federal Trade Commission, approximately forty percent of these ads contain promises that are almost certainly false, while fifty-five percent contain promises that are likely false (Cleland et al 2002, 21). Americans continue to search for a painless, effortless way to maintain a healthy body weight despite the fact that the Federal Trade Commission has concluded that “almost all weight loss experts agree that the key to long term weight management lies in permanent lifestyle changes that include, among other things, a nutritious diet at a moderate caloric level and regular physical exercise” (Cleland et al 2002, 1). In short, there is no magic bullet or single solution to maintain healthy weight. Healthy weight is a reflection of a healthy lifestyle that is a multi-faceted undertaking. It must involve an individual’s entire being. This does not, however, have to be a painful or unpleasant undertaking, and this is how the ancient philosophy of Ayurveda can help Americans to maintain healthy body weight.
Ayurveda is a philosophy and a system of healing that has its roots in ancient India. Ayurvedic philosophy is based on the Shad Darshan, which was developed by ancient sages from the scriptures of India. These scriptures are known as the Vedas and are among the oldest bodies of written knowledge in the world (Lad 2002, 1-3). The Vedas also contain the basis for Hindu religion, but one does not need to embrace the Hindu religion in order to use the principles of Ayurveda in order to maintain healthy body weight. According to Dr. Vasant Lad, founder of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, “Ayurveda is a medical science and its purpose is to heal and to maintain the quality and longevity of life…There is no concept of specialization in Ayurveda, as there is in Western medicine. Ayurveda treats the whole person, not just the organ or system involved” (Lad 2002, 1, 2). Neither does one need to accept on faith the notion that what occurs in the mind affects the body and vise versa, because medical research continues to compile evidence to prove that this relationship between the body and the mind is real.
One recent study by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer brought sharply into focus the effect the mind and an individual’s perception of reality can have on the individual’s body and on that individual’s ability to lose weight. Dr. Langer decided to study how much of an effect the perception of exercise has on how the body actually responds to the effort. In order to do this, Dr. Langer decided to study hotel maids. These women spend the majority of their day engaged in fairly strenuous physical activity. What Dr. Langer discovered, though, was that these women did not see themselves as physically active. Sixty-seven percent reported that they did not exercise. More than one-third reported that they did not get any exercise at all. What was even stranger was that these women’s bodies reflected their perceptions. Their bodies did not seem to be benefitting from the exercise these women were experiencing on a daily basis. In fact, when Langer measured the women’s health indicators, all the indicators matched the perceived amount of exercise as opposed to the actual amount of exercise these women were experiencing (Spiegel 2008).
Dr. Langer then divided the women into two groups. The first group was given insight into how the tasks they already engaged in each day benefited their bodies and approximately how many calories each of those tasks used. These women were also told that they were already getting enough exercise each day to meet the surgeon general’s definition of an active lifestyle. The second group was given no information at all. One month later, Langer returned to re-measure the health indicators in both groups and was surprised to learn that in the first group, there was a decrease in their weight, their waist to hip ratio, and a ten percent drop in blood pressure (Spiegel 2008).
These findings would be of no surprise to either the student or the teacher of Ayurveda. Dr. Robert E. Svoboda has stated, “Health is a harmony of body, mind, and spirit…Whatever affects the body, affects the mind and vice versa” (Svoboda 2003, 3, 5). One can not expect to maintain a healthy body weight if one is living a life that is laden with stress and full of unhealthy choices, and one is feeling miserable most of the time. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, in his speech at the tenth annual convocation of the Symbiosis Center for Management and Human Resource Development in Pune, India, stated:
Anywhere you go today; people are talking about “stress management,” especially a few years ago when I first went to the United States, wherever I went people were talking about “stress management.” I could not understand why anyone would want to manage his stress. I can understand you want to manage your business, your finances, your family, your property, whatever, but why would you want to manage your stress? It took me a while to realize that these people have come to the conclusion that there is no other way to live. Somehow people have come to the conclusion that, if you do things in the world, you’re bound to be stress[ed]” (Vasudev 2008, 57)
Ayurveda: A Literature Review
The literature concerning the study of Ayurveda is wide ranging in its degree of complexity and orthodoxy. Ayurveda has become a bit of a buzz word in the popular media and in marketing in the last few years. Recently, popular publications such as Body and Soul magazine have featured articles concerning how to incorporate Ayurveda into both exercise and weight loss regimes (Hanley 2008, 125; Ottaway 2007). The Today Show on NBC recently produced a series of segments entitled “Alternative Treatments,” and discussed the use of Ayurveda for chronic conditions with Dr. Deepak Chopra and neurologist Dr. David Simon (The Today Show 2008). Part of the popular appeal of Ayurveda is its recognition of each person as an individual with specific traits and tendencies which may or may not reflect the normal or average tendencies. Ayurveda recognizes three basic mind/body types – vata, pitta, or kapha – of which an individual will have a dominant and most likely a secondary type. Ayurveda teaches that one’s mind/body type influences everything from one’s basic personality traits to what types of food and exercise will be the most effective for maintaining health (Chopra 2000, 36-37). While this may seem a bit esoteric at first glance, it is very similar in concept to the Western notion of ectomorphic, endomorphic, and mesomorphic body types. Ayurveda simply takes this notion to a more holistic level.
At the other end of the spectrum in Ayurvedic literature are the writings and teachings of Ayurvedic doctors such as Dr. Vasant Lad and Dr. Robert E. Svoboda. Both of these doctors are practicing Hindus and see Ayurveda not only as a means to health but as a vital component in the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. Dr. Vasant Lad is the author of The Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles (2002), The Textbook of Ayurveda: A Complete Guide to Clinical Assessment (2006), The Secrets of the Pulse: The Ancient Art of Ayurvedic Pulse Diagnosis (2006), The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies (1998), and Ayurvedic Cooking for Self-Healing (2006). Dr. Lad is also the founder of The Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico as well as an accomplished artist and poet. Dr. Robert E. Svoboda is a professor at the Ayurvedic Institute with Dr. Lad, and Dr. Svoboda is the first Westerner to ever graduate from a college of Ayurveda in India and be licensed to practice in India. He is the author of The Hidden Secrets of Ayurveda (2002), as well as Ayurveda: Life, Health, and Longevity (2004), Ayurveda for Women: A Guide to Vitality and Health (2000), and Lessons and Lectures on Ayurveda (2003). While both of these doctors are clearly experts in their field and devoted to Ayurveda, the depth of their material as well as the spiritual undertones of the material may prove to be overwhelming to the American who is previously unexposed to Ayurveda and is simply looking for answers that will help him or her maintain a healthy body weight through manageable daily practices.
Perhaps the most cited and accessible expert on the subject of Ayurveda and its application in the United States today is Dr. Deepak Chopra. Dr. Chopra has written and spoken extensively on the subject of Ayurveda and maintaining a healthy body weight. Most importantly, he has produced works with varying degrees of practical and theoretical material so that the American who is simply looking for a plan to enable him or her to eat more healthfully may have his or her needs met, as well as the American who feels in need of a complete lifestyle makeover.
The most basic of these works, The Chopra Center Cookbook: Nourishing Body and Soul (2002), is co-authored with neurologist Dr. David Simon and Leanne Backer. This book introduces the basic concepts of utilizing the six tastes classification system used by Ayurveda (foods being sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent) and the need to have all six of these tastes represented at a meal at least once a day in order to avoid unnatural and unhealthy food cravings (Chopra et al 2002, 10-12). This book also introduces the concept of mindful eating – that is being aware of the sensual experience of eating and enjoying it. According to Ayurveda, the problem is not that an individual eats a piece of chocolate cake after dinner; the problem is that the individual eats the cake and is unaware and not focused on the experience. Therefore, the individual is unsatisfied and more than likely reaches for a second piece of cake in order to feel satisfied (Chopra et al 2002, 12, 15-18).
Dr. Chopra’s book Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging (2001), also co-authored with Dr. Simon, takes the concepts of Ayurveda to the next level and introduces the ideas of mind/body types, the importance of perceptions, the use of meditation to increase mindful living, the importance of restful sleep, and the importance of eliminating toxins (both physical and emotional) from one’s life. This book also gives a basic explanation of the mind/body connection that is the basis of Ayurvedic philosophy in easily understandable Western medical terms:
Mind and body are intimately interconnected. Your body is composed of physiological systems, organs, and tissues, but at its basis is a collection of molecules. Your mind is composed of ideas and beliefs, memories and desires, but is essentially a collection of thoughts. Your body is a molecular field; your mind is a thought field. Giving rise to both your field of molecules and your field of thought is an underlying field of consciousness, which is the source of both your mind and body. Every time you have a thought you precipitate a molecule in your nervous system that influences the other molecules throughout your body (Chopra et al 2001, 109).
Americans will also find it reassuring that Dr. Chopra does not reject Western medicine, stating in his January 25, 2008 appearance on the Today Show that,“ Ayurveda works in conjunction with [Western medicine]. Western medicine is very good for treating acute conditions – if you have pneumonia, you better take an antibiotic. If you break your leg, see an orthopedic surgeon; but for many chronic conditions, it [Ayurveda] can be used by itself or in conjunction with pharmaceuticals” (The Today Show 2008). For most Americans, maintaining a healthy body weight is definitely a chronic condition as it is a life-long challenge.
A more advanced offering from Dr. Chopra on the subject of Ayurveda includes: Perfect Health: The Complete Mind Body Guide (2000). This book broaches the concepts with the use of more Ayurvedic terminology and discusses the idea of raising one’s consciousness in order to live a more fulfilled life. Perhaps the most interesting concept to most Americans introduced in this book will be the Ayurvedic concept of healthy exercise, which is in direct conflict with the basic Western notion of “no pain, no gain”:
Since life is generally meant to be comfortable and happy, Ayurveda views exercise as a means to that end. It holds that exercise should leave you ready for work. Exercise shouldn’t be work itself. If you get one benefit from Ayurveda’s approach to exercise, it should be that “no pain, no gain” is a myth…How much is enough then? As a general rule, Ayurveda wants us to exercise to 50 percent of maximum capacity. If you can bicycle for ten miles, go for five; if you can swim twenty laps, make it ten. These lower limits are not detrimental to fitness; in fact they make exercise more efficient, because you are not giving your body so much repair work to do afterwards, and your cardiovascular system will have an easier time returning to normal after your workout (Chopra 2000, 319).
More importantly, this gentle attitude is encouraging as opposed to discouraging to the individual who is attempting to build and maintain a life long habit.
Conclusion
Ayurveda is the Sanskrit word which means “Knowledge of Life” (Svoboda 2002, 10). Ayurveda dates back more than 5000 years as Indian sages began to compile this information many centuries before the construction of the Pyramids in Egypt (Chopra 2000, 11). Although Ayurveda is based in Indian Vedic scriptures, which are also the basis for the Hindu religion, one does not need to embrace Hinduism in order to implement the practical advice Ayurveda has to offer on the subject of maintaining a healthy body weight.
The first of these practical solutions would be to determine one’s mind/body type. Questionnaires are readily available online at both www.chopra.com and at www.ayurveda.com as well as other websites. Once an individual has made this preliminary distinction, he or she will find it easier to sort through the dietary and exercise options available and find the most rewarding scenario. Secondly, the individual should begin to practice eating awareness, such as not eating when upset, eating only when hungry, experiencing all six tastes at least one meal each day, eating freshly cooked, high quality food whenever possible, becoming aware of the speed at which one is eating, and what it feels like to be hungry or comfortably full. It is important not to use Ayurvedic knowledge of food to become obsessive about diet. As Dr. Chopra states, “…don’t get caught up in the details of whether food is too hot, too cold, too heavy or too light, too oily or too dry…This is not the way of self-knowledge” (Chopra 2000, 121).
Thirdly, the individual should find some type of exercise that is rewarding and relaxing. Once the individual has determined his or her mind/body type, he or she will have several suggested exercise options to explore. For example, a Vata body type tends to crave motion and might enjoy a fast-paced activity such as tennis. The Pitta body type tends to have high endurance and might enjoy long distance running. The Kapha body type tends to be more sedentary and will respond better to exercise of a more gentle nature, such a yoga or tai chi (Hanley 2008).
All body types benefit from walking outdoors and experiencing nature, which encourages the final component of an Ayurvedic plan for maintaining a healthy body weight, and that component is restful sleep. Studies have shown that if an individual does not achieve adequate and restful sleep, not only is the individual more prone to weakened mental and physical health, minor and major accidents, but the individual’s very immune cells do not function well for the next twenty-four hours (Chopra et al 2001, 51). While additional suggestions for restful sleep include warm milk, a warm bath, and meditation, many times sleep quality will increase with adjustment of dietary and exercise principles (Lad 1998, 211-212).
All in all, Ayurveda presents Americans with a reasonable and more importantly, a sustainable option in their continued struggle with maintaining a healthy body weight. Once the basic premises have been embraced, increased energy and a greater feeling of well-being make adopting this plan an attractive long term option for most individuals. Also, because Ayurveda takes a gentle, evolutionary approach to lifestyle change as opposed to the violent upheaval taken by fad diets and exercise extremists, the individual is less likely to experience low energy, moodiness, sickness or injury and therefore be encouraged to stick with the Ayurvedic plan. With the gentle, evolutionary approach to health, failure is not an option because with each new day, there is a new opportunity for success.
Reference List
Blackburn, George L., M.D., Ph.D. 2002. Introduction. Weight-Loss Advertising: An Analysis of Current Trends. Cleland, Richard L., Walter C. Gross, Laura D. Koss, Matthew Daynard, Karen M. Muoio, authors. The Federal Trade Commission. www.ftc.gov/bcp/reports/weightloss.pdf (accessed March 14, 2008).
Chopra, Deepak, M.D. 2000. Perfect Health: The Complete Mind Body Guide. New York: Three Rivers Press.
--., David Simon, M.D. 2001. Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging. New York: Three Rivers Press.
--., David Simon, M.D., Leanne Backer. 2002. The Chopra Center Cookbook: Nourishing Body and Soul. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Cleland, Richard L., Walter C. Gross, Laura D. Koss, Matthew Daynard, Karen M. Muoio. 2002. Weight-Loss Advertising: An Analysis of Current Trends. The Federal Trade Commission. www.ftc.gov/bcp/reports/weightloss.pdf (accessed March 14, 2008).
Hanley, Kate. 2008. Your best shape. Body and Soul Magazine. March 2008.
Lad, Vasant. 1998. The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies. New York: Three Rivers Press.
--. 2002. The Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Ayurvedic Press.
Ottaway, Celina. 2007. Weight loss action plan. Body and Soul Magazine. September 2007. http://www.marthastewart.com/article/weight-loss-action-plan?lnc=18a9cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&page=6&rsc=articlecontent_health (accessed March 15, 2008).
Spiegel, Alix. 2008. Hotel maids challenge the placebo effect. Your Health. National Public Radio. 3 January 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17792517 (accessed January 3, 2008).
Svoboda, Robert E., Dr. 2003. Lessons and Lectures on Ayurveda. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Ayurvedic Press.
--. 2002. The Hidden Secrets of Ayurveda. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Ayurvedic Press.
The Today Show. 2008. Ann gets Ayurvedic: Alternative treatments series. 25 January 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22841276#22841276 (accessed March 15, 2008).
Vasudev, Sadhguru Jaggi. 2008. Management for wellbeing. Jan Darpan Magazine. January 2008.
The Weight Control Network. 2008. An information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://win.nih.gov/statistics/index.htm#other (accessed March 14, 2008).
The Weight-Control Information Network, an information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, estimates that approximately two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and that almost one-third of these people are obese. The prevalence towards being overweight or obese has steadily increased among Americans over the past forty years. This increase has been wide ranging, including both genders, all ages, races, ethnic groups, and educational levels. Between 1960 and 2004, the number of overweight adults increased from 44.8 percent to 66 percent. The number of obese adults increased from 13.3 percent to 32.1 percent, with the majority of this increase occurring after 1980 (The Weight-Control Network 2008).
George L. Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D., the S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Nutrition Medicine at Harvard Medical School, estimates in his introduction to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2002 report, “Weight-Loss Advertising: An Analysis of Current Trends,” that in the year 2000, Americans spent roughly thirty five billion dollars on weight loss products or services. At any given time, almost seventy million Americans are trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain (Blackburn 2002, v). The Federal Trade Commission report goes on to state that sales at the nation’s eight largest weight loss chains topped 788 million dollars in 2000, and that same year, sales of dietary weight loss supplements from retail outlets alone were in the range of 279 million dollars (Cleland et al 2002, 2).
Americans are becoming increasingly desperate to lose weight, and both marketers and manufacturers have found great profit potential in attempting to meet this need. Since 1992, the number of ads for weight loss products in mainstream publications has increased by 129 percent while the number of weight loss products had increased by 157 percent. According to a sample study done by the Federal Trade Commission, approximately forty percent of these ads contain promises that are almost certainly false, while fifty-five percent contain promises that are likely false (Cleland et al 2002, 21). Americans continue to search for a painless, effortless way to maintain a healthy body weight despite the fact that the Federal Trade Commission has concluded that “almost all weight loss experts agree that the key to long term weight management lies in permanent lifestyle changes that include, among other things, a nutritious diet at a moderate caloric level and regular physical exercise” (Cleland et al 2002, 1). In short, there is no magic bullet or single solution to maintain healthy weight. Healthy weight is a reflection of a healthy lifestyle that is a multi-faceted undertaking. It must involve an individual’s entire being. This does not, however, have to be a painful or unpleasant undertaking, and this is how the ancient philosophy of Ayurveda can help Americans to maintain healthy body weight.
Ayurveda is a philosophy and a system of healing that has its roots in ancient India. Ayurvedic philosophy is based on the Shad Darshan, which was developed by ancient sages from the scriptures of India. These scriptures are known as the Vedas and are among the oldest bodies of written knowledge in the world (Lad 2002, 1-3). The Vedas also contain the basis for Hindu religion, but one does not need to embrace the Hindu religion in order to use the principles of Ayurveda in order to maintain healthy body weight. According to Dr. Vasant Lad, founder of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, “Ayurveda is a medical science and its purpose is to heal and to maintain the quality and longevity of life…There is no concept of specialization in Ayurveda, as there is in Western medicine. Ayurveda treats the whole person, not just the organ or system involved” (Lad 2002, 1, 2). Neither does one need to accept on faith the notion that what occurs in the mind affects the body and vise versa, because medical research continues to compile evidence to prove that this relationship between the body and the mind is real.
One recent study by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer brought sharply into focus the effect the mind and an individual’s perception of reality can have on the individual’s body and on that individual’s ability to lose weight. Dr. Langer decided to study how much of an effect the perception of exercise has on how the body actually responds to the effort. In order to do this, Dr. Langer decided to study hotel maids. These women spend the majority of their day engaged in fairly strenuous physical activity. What Dr. Langer discovered, though, was that these women did not see themselves as physically active. Sixty-seven percent reported that they did not exercise. More than one-third reported that they did not get any exercise at all. What was even stranger was that these women’s bodies reflected their perceptions. Their bodies did not seem to be benefitting from the exercise these women were experiencing on a daily basis. In fact, when Langer measured the women’s health indicators, all the indicators matched the perceived amount of exercise as opposed to the actual amount of exercise these women were experiencing (Spiegel 2008).
Dr. Langer then divided the women into two groups. The first group was given insight into how the tasks they already engaged in each day benefited their bodies and approximately how many calories each of those tasks used. These women were also told that they were already getting enough exercise each day to meet the surgeon general’s definition of an active lifestyle. The second group was given no information at all. One month later, Langer returned to re-measure the health indicators in both groups and was surprised to learn that in the first group, there was a decrease in their weight, their waist to hip ratio, and a ten percent drop in blood pressure (Spiegel 2008).
These findings would be of no surprise to either the student or the teacher of Ayurveda. Dr. Robert E. Svoboda has stated, “Health is a harmony of body, mind, and spirit…Whatever affects the body, affects the mind and vice versa” (Svoboda 2003, 3, 5). One can not expect to maintain a healthy body weight if one is living a life that is laden with stress and full of unhealthy choices, and one is feeling miserable most of the time. Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, in his speech at the tenth annual convocation of the Symbiosis Center for Management and Human Resource Development in Pune, India, stated:
Anywhere you go today; people are talking about “stress management,” especially a few years ago when I first went to the United States, wherever I went people were talking about “stress management.” I could not understand why anyone would want to manage his stress. I can understand you want to manage your business, your finances, your family, your property, whatever, but why would you want to manage your stress? It took me a while to realize that these people have come to the conclusion that there is no other way to live. Somehow people have come to the conclusion that, if you do things in the world, you’re bound to be stress[ed]” (Vasudev 2008, 57)
Ayurveda: A Literature Review
The literature concerning the study of Ayurveda is wide ranging in its degree of complexity and orthodoxy. Ayurveda has become a bit of a buzz word in the popular media and in marketing in the last few years. Recently, popular publications such as Body and Soul magazine have featured articles concerning how to incorporate Ayurveda into both exercise and weight loss regimes (Hanley 2008, 125; Ottaway 2007). The Today Show on NBC recently produced a series of segments entitled “Alternative Treatments,” and discussed the use of Ayurveda for chronic conditions with Dr. Deepak Chopra and neurologist Dr. David Simon (The Today Show 2008). Part of the popular appeal of Ayurveda is its recognition of each person as an individual with specific traits and tendencies which may or may not reflect the normal or average tendencies. Ayurveda recognizes three basic mind/body types – vata, pitta, or kapha – of which an individual will have a dominant and most likely a secondary type. Ayurveda teaches that one’s mind/body type influences everything from one’s basic personality traits to what types of food and exercise will be the most effective for maintaining health (Chopra 2000, 36-37). While this may seem a bit esoteric at first glance, it is very similar in concept to the Western notion of ectomorphic, endomorphic, and mesomorphic body types. Ayurveda simply takes this notion to a more holistic level.
At the other end of the spectrum in Ayurvedic literature are the writings and teachings of Ayurvedic doctors such as Dr. Vasant Lad and Dr. Robert E. Svoboda. Both of these doctors are practicing Hindus and see Ayurveda not only as a means to health but as a vital component in the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. Dr. Vasant Lad is the author of The Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles (2002), The Textbook of Ayurveda: A Complete Guide to Clinical Assessment (2006), The Secrets of the Pulse: The Ancient Art of Ayurvedic Pulse Diagnosis (2006), The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies (1998), and Ayurvedic Cooking for Self-Healing (2006). Dr. Lad is also the founder of The Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico as well as an accomplished artist and poet. Dr. Robert E. Svoboda is a professor at the Ayurvedic Institute with Dr. Lad, and Dr. Svoboda is the first Westerner to ever graduate from a college of Ayurveda in India and be licensed to practice in India. He is the author of The Hidden Secrets of Ayurveda (2002), as well as Ayurveda: Life, Health, and Longevity (2004), Ayurveda for Women: A Guide to Vitality and Health (2000), and Lessons and Lectures on Ayurveda (2003). While both of these doctors are clearly experts in their field and devoted to Ayurveda, the depth of their material as well as the spiritual undertones of the material may prove to be overwhelming to the American who is previously unexposed to Ayurveda and is simply looking for answers that will help him or her maintain a healthy body weight through manageable daily practices.
Perhaps the most cited and accessible expert on the subject of Ayurveda and its application in the United States today is Dr. Deepak Chopra. Dr. Chopra has written and spoken extensively on the subject of Ayurveda and maintaining a healthy body weight. Most importantly, he has produced works with varying degrees of practical and theoretical material so that the American who is simply looking for a plan to enable him or her to eat more healthfully may have his or her needs met, as well as the American who feels in need of a complete lifestyle makeover.
The most basic of these works, The Chopra Center Cookbook: Nourishing Body and Soul (2002), is co-authored with neurologist Dr. David Simon and Leanne Backer. This book introduces the basic concepts of utilizing the six tastes classification system used by Ayurveda (foods being sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent) and the need to have all six of these tastes represented at a meal at least once a day in order to avoid unnatural and unhealthy food cravings (Chopra et al 2002, 10-12). This book also introduces the concept of mindful eating – that is being aware of the sensual experience of eating and enjoying it. According to Ayurveda, the problem is not that an individual eats a piece of chocolate cake after dinner; the problem is that the individual eats the cake and is unaware and not focused on the experience. Therefore, the individual is unsatisfied and more than likely reaches for a second piece of cake in order to feel satisfied (Chopra et al 2002, 12, 15-18).
Dr. Chopra’s book Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging (2001), also co-authored with Dr. Simon, takes the concepts of Ayurveda to the next level and introduces the ideas of mind/body types, the importance of perceptions, the use of meditation to increase mindful living, the importance of restful sleep, and the importance of eliminating toxins (both physical and emotional) from one’s life. This book also gives a basic explanation of the mind/body connection that is the basis of Ayurvedic philosophy in easily understandable Western medical terms:
Mind and body are intimately interconnected. Your body is composed of physiological systems, organs, and tissues, but at its basis is a collection of molecules. Your mind is composed of ideas and beliefs, memories and desires, but is essentially a collection of thoughts. Your body is a molecular field; your mind is a thought field. Giving rise to both your field of molecules and your field of thought is an underlying field of consciousness, which is the source of both your mind and body. Every time you have a thought you precipitate a molecule in your nervous system that influences the other molecules throughout your body (Chopra et al 2001, 109).
Americans will also find it reassuring that Dr. Chopra does not reject Western medicine, stating in his January 25, 2008 appearance on the Today Show that,“ Ayurveda works in conjunction with [Western medicine]. Western medicine is very good for treating acute conditions – if you have pneumonia, you better take an antibiotic. If you break your leg, see an orthopedic surgeon; but for many chronic conditions, it [Ayurveda] can be used by itself or in conjunction with pharmaceuticals” (The Today Show 2008). For most Americans, maintaining a healthy body weight is definitely a chronic condition as it is a life-long challenge.
A more advanced offering from Dr. Chopra on the subject of Ayurveda includes: Perfect Health: The Complete Mind Body Guide (2000). This book broaches the concepts with the use of more Ayurvedic terminology and discusses the idea of raising one’s consciousness in order to live a more fulfilled life. Perhaps the most interesting concept to most Americans introduced in this book will be the Ayurvedic concept of healthy exercise, which is in direct conflict with the basic Western notion of “no pain, no gain”:
Since life is generally meant to be comfortable and happy, Ayurveda views exercise as a means to that end. It holds that exercise should leave you ready for work. Exercise shouldn’t be work itself. If you get one benefit from Ayurveda’s approach to exercise, it should be that “no pain, no gain” is a myth…How much is enough then? As a general rule, Ayurveda wants us to exercise to 50 percent of maximum capacity. If you can bicycle for ten miles, go for five; if you can swim twenty laps, make it ten. These lower limits are not detrimental to fitness; in fact they make exercise more efficient, because you are not giving your body so much repair work to do afterwards, and your cardiovascular system will have an easier time returning to normal after your workout (Chopra 2000, 319).
More importantly, this gentle attitude is encouraging as opposed to discouraging to the individual who is attempting to build and maintain a life long habit.
Conclusion
Ayurveda is the Sanskrit word which means “Knowledge of Life” (Svoboda 2002, 10). Ayurveda dates back more than 5000 years as Indian sages began to compile this information many centuries before the construction of the Pyramids in Egypt (Chopra 2000, 11). Although Ayurveda is based in Indian Vedic scriptures, which are also the basis for the Hindu religion, one does not need to embrace Hinduism in order to implement the practical advice Ayurveda has to offer on the subject of maintaining a healthy body weight.
The first of these practical solutions would be to determine one’s mind/body type. Questionnaires are readily available online at both www.chopra.com and at www.ayurveda.com as well as other websites. Once an individual has made this preliminary distinction, he or she will find it easier to sort through the dietary and exercise options available and find the most rewarding scenario. Secondly, the individual should begin to practice eating awareness, such as not eating when upset, eating only when hungry, experiencing all six tastes at least one meal each day, eating freshly cooked, high quality food whenever possible, becoming aware of the speed at which one is eating, and what it feels like to be hungry or comfortably full. It is important not to use Ayurvedic knowledge of food to become obsessive about diet. As Dr. Chopra states, “…don’t get caught up in the details of whether food is too hot, too cold, too heavy or too light, too oily or too dry…This is not the way of self-knowledge” (Chopra 2000, 121).
Thirdly, the individual should find some type of exercise that is rewarding and relaxing. Once the individual has determined his or her mind/body type, he or she will have several suggested exercise options to explore. For example, a Vata body type tends to crave motion and might enjoy a fast-paced activity such as tennis. The Pitta body type tends to have high endurance and might enjoy long distance running. The Kapha body type tends to be more sedentary and will respond better to exercise of a more gentle nature, such a yoga or tai chi (Hanley 2008).
All body types benefit from walking outdoors and experiencing nature, which encourages the final component of an Ayurvedic plan for maintaining a healthy body weight, and that component is restful sleep. Studies have shown that if an individual does not achieve adequate and restful sleep, not only is the individual more prone to weakened mental and physical health, minor and major accidents, but the individual’s very immune cells do not function well for the next twenty-four hours (Chopra et al 2001, 51). While additional suggestions for restful sleep include warm milk, a warm bath, and meditation, many times sleep quality will increase with adjustment of dietary and exercise principles (Lad 1998, 211-212).
All in all, Ayurveda presents Americans with a reasonable and more importantly, a sustainable option in their continued struggle with maintaining a healthy body weight. Once the basic premises have been embraced, increased energy and a greater feeling of well-being make adopting this plan an attractive long term option for most individuals. Also, because Ayurveda takes a gentle, evolutionary approach to lifestyle change as opposed to the violent upheaval taken by fad diets and exercise extremists, the individual is less likely to experience low energy, moodiness, sickness or injury and therefore be encouraged to stick with the Ayurvedic plan. With the gentle, evolutionary approach to health, failure is not an option because with each new day, there is a new opportunity for success.
Reference List
Blackburn, George L., M.D., Ph.D. 2002. Introduction. Weight-Loss Advertising: An Analysis of Current Trends. Cleland, Richard L., Walter C. Gross, Laura D. Koss, Matthew Daynard, Karen M. Muoio, authors. The Federal Trade Commission. www.ftc.gov/bcp/reports/weightloss.pdf (accessed March 14, 2008).
Chopra, Deepak, M.D. 2000. Perfect Health: The Complete Mind Body Guide. New York: Three Rivers Press.
--., David Simon, M.D. 2001. Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging. New York: Three Rivers Press.
--., David Simon, M.D., Leanne Backer. 2002. The Chopra Center Cookbook: Nourishing Body and Soul. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Cleland, Richard L., Walter C. Gross, Laura D. Koss, Matthew Daynard, Karen M. Muoio. 2002. Weight-Loss Advertising: An Analysis of Current Trends. The Federal Trade Commission. www.ftc.gov/bcp/reports/weightloss.pdf (accessed March 14, 2008).
Hanley, Kate. 2008. Your best shape. Body and Soul Magazine. March 2008.
Lad, Vasant. 1998. The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies. New York: Three Rivers Press.
--. 2002. The Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Ayurvedic Press.
Ottaway, Celina. 2007. Weight loss action plan. Body and Soul Magazine. September 2007. http://www.marthastewart.com/article/weight-loss-action-plan?lnc=18a9cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&page=6&rsc=articlecontent_health (accessed March 15, 2008).
Spiegel, Alix. 2008. Hotel maids challenge the placebo effect. Your Health. National Public Radio. 3 January 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17792517 (accessed January 3, 2008).
Svoboda, Robert E., Dr. 2003. Lessons and Lectures on Ayurveda. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Ayurvedic Press.
--. 2002. The Hidden Secrets of Ayurveda. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Ayurvedic Press.
The Today Show. 2008. Ann gets Ayurvedic: Alternative treatments series. 25 January 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22841276#22841276 (accessed March 15, 2008).
Vasudev, Sadhguru Jaggi. 2008. Management for wellbeing. Jan Darpan Magazine. January 2008.
The Weight Control Network. 2008. An information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://win.nih.gov/statistics/index.htm#other (accessed March 14, 2008).
Welcome!
Welcome to Educate Your Bad Self! My name is Kelley Pujol. Have a problem that is bugging you and looking for a solution that isn't the same old tired answer? Well, original solutions that work for you is what this blog is all about.
We begin with a pretty common problem - a few unwanted extra pounds that will not go away - okay - maybe more than a few. Maybe like ten or twelve...
Here is an answer that is showing a great deal of promise for me. It's the ancient Indian system of Ayurveda. The following article is a great beginning course - enough for you to see if it is interesting to you, maybe think of some questions, and we can go from there.
Be sure to check out the references at the end of the article if you want more in depth information.
Let's go!
We begin with a pretty common problem - a few unwanted extra pounds that will not go away - okay - maybe more than a few. Maybe like ten or twelve...
Here is an answer that is showing a great deal of promise for me. It's the ancient Indian system of Ayurveda. The following article is a great beginning course - enough for you to see if it is interesting to you, maybe think of some questions, and we can go from there.
Be sure to check out the references at the end of the article if you want more in depth information.
Let's go!
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