THE EVER PRESENT LIFE THEME GOOD VS. BAD WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

My latest ridiculous theory relates to how the concept of good and bad are constants.  They are played out in all of our moments, and we aren’t even aware of them. After finishing the Butterfly Garden, I was thinking about the Gardener's belief that was he was doing was a good service to the world. I’ve chosen the words, good and bad rather than using “evil” because it is much stronger than what I’m thinking about, and we all have a preconceived notion about that quote.

 

Definitions:

Good: Having the right qualities; untainted; virtuous; considerate, etc.

Bad: worthless; inferior; defective; unfit; wicked, etc.

As I see a certain, moral quality involved, I'll define moral.

 

Moral: Capable of distinguishing between right and wrong in conduct; good or right in conduct of character; principals or standards, with respect to right or wrong in conduct; ethics.

Ethics: Is the study of standards of conduct and moral judgement.  The system or code of morals of a particular person, religion, group, profession etc.
 

THEORY:

The ethical code that we were brought up with is imbedded in our neurological system and functions automatically, without our conscious awareness.

HYOPOTHESIS:

When going about our daily lives, we conduct ourselves according to these embedded ethics without any mindfulness. We are only aware of good or bad, when we are faced with something that creates a disturbance between our behavior and our beliefs.

 

RESEARCH DESIGN:

As this is a blog of my design, I have chosen not to do any actual research. I had my fill of that when I had to do my dissertation and other various papers.

I am going to put these research studies into two footnotes. These are powerful studies which I hope will make you think about your own beliefs in the strength of your own moral code.

 

footnotes

1. The Stanford Prison Experiment       

2.The Milgram’s Obedience Studies.

 

DATA/FINDINGS:

Collected from my personal life experience and a little bit of Freud.

I often think of characters in books, TV shows or movies in terms of Freud’s model of the id, ego and superego.

I first remember doing this for the original Star Trek.  I saw Captain Kirk as the ego. That part or ourselves, that has to deal and interact with the outside world. Its other job is to deal with thoughts and impulses of our inner life as well. Freud made a model that divided our inner workings into three parts.

A HELPFUL MINI-LESSON IN FREUD'S MODEL OF THE EGO:

The ego, well, I explained that already. See Captain Kirk.

The id, is that part of us that is uncivilized and all about fulfilling our needs. It’s the seat of impulse, and desire, the pleasure-seeking part of our personality.

The super-ego has two sides. It’s our conscience and tells us what is right and what is wrong. It also has a judgmental side which is our ego-ideal. The picture of the “perfect me”. If, in our super-egos eyes, we fail at this ideal, we tend to punish ourselves for not being good enough.

BACK TO STAR TREK:

So, Kirk was the ego. Spock was the Super-ego. The black and white thinking of, this is right or this is wrong. Bones, was like the id, all emotional and at times irrational and angry at not getting his way.  Kirk had to make choices between right and wrong, whether or not to give in to his emotional impulses or listen to reason. He often made the wrong choice as the episodes began.

GOOD AND BAD ON A DAILY BASIS:

It doesn’t matter whether you believe in Freud’s model. It’s just a theory that helps me to organize my views.

As I go throughout my day, I am constantly making choices between good and bad.  When I leave the house and get dressed, what do I wear? When I am hungry, what do I choose to eat?  When I speak to someone what do I say and how do I say it?

Each of these actions has ethical component in it. I just don’t think about it as it is so ingrained in me.

For example, I could put on a really, really, short skirt and skimpy top, a lot of makeup and flashy jewelry. First, at my age, this is probably not a good look. I could say it’s hot as hell here in Florida and the less I wear, the less I sweat, so I want to be comfortable. So, F You! That’s true. But, I don’t think I want to look like a slut,[I'm not judging if you dress this way, well ok I am. Are you beginning to get an idea that this being complicated?] because in my mind, that’s what I would see.  That’s my judgement. Your ideas may see that as good.

 

That brings up the question of, do we all see good and bad as the same thing?

The obvious answer is no. Which of course even further complicates things.  If we can’t agree on what’s good or what’s bad, we will be in conflict. Not just with ourselves, but with other people as well. I suppose I just gave another theory of why we will always be at war, but why go there? It's too depressing.

Every thought and encounter we have, gives us the opportunity to act or think in a manner that is good. Is my mind judging everyone else? Yeah. More often than I would like, so I'm working on it. So, one solution is that I may not say anything to anyone, but is judging other people an ethical thing to do? Whether you keep it to yourself or not?

Do most people even think about it? That’s what I mean about automatic.

We gossip with our friends. We know it’s not “good”, but we do it anyway. And our superego doesn’t seem to mind. Unless...... Your ego ideal says, "oh no. That makes you a bad person. My mother always told me not to do it", so you begin to feel guilty. You can substitute any word for gossip for anything you were told was bad, or you shouldn't do, and boom!! You're there.

 

We have a fight with our spouse and say something really hurtful. We do it on impulse.[oh no. how did my ego let that through. were you sleeping again?] Damn that id. It got through the barrier. What do we do then? Do we apologize? Do we let it stand because we’re angry? This would depend on what your superego thinks is the right thing.

Do I curse out the driver who cut me off? Do I dare give him the finger? Or do I remember that I am not always aware of how well I drive, and forgive him because there have been days I too have done this.  Do I let someone else into the stream of traffic, or do I just keep going. Life is of course about balance. I would still be stuck somewhere in a car if I let everyone go All the time. It's about being more aware of the choices.

 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

 

I’m just a regular old human being. Please don’t stress the old. I’m having trouble with aging. I would like to believe that I am a good person. It would be an assumption to say that others think this too.  There are probably many people who either don’t care, or never give it a thought. About whether they're good or not. I'm not saying that people are all thinking about me. It sounded like that when I read it so I felt the need to clarify. Do you often think about whether or not you're being a good person or not? Just saying.

I’m writing this because I believe that it is important to give it some thought. More than a thought really. Most of us go about our days on autopilot and it makes life easy. Does not thinking about things make us better? Personally, I don't think so, but that's me. I used to be a shrink who thinks too much.

I believe in the potential for good. That’s what I started thinking after reading The Butterfly Garden. I began to see that all our waking moments are filled with opportunities to choose. Of course, not having the same definition of good makes it hard, but still.

 

TODAY, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO CHOOSE? NOT ONCE. NOT TWICE. BUT ALL DAY WITH EVERY THOUGHT AND ACTION.
FIRST, JUST BE AWARE. THAT’S WHERE IT BEGINS. JUST NOTICE. ONCE YOU’RE AWARE, YOU CAN MAKE CHOICES. YOU DON’T HAVE TO FLY ON AUTOMATIC. YOU CAN BE IN CHARGE OF YOURSELF.

footnotes

1. The Stanford Prison Experiment.

  In 1971, in Palo Alto California, 10 male college students had agreed to participate in a study on “prison life” for $15 a day. Which back then, was a nice chunk of change. I am trying to be brief, so you can read about this study if it peaks your interest.

  Phillip Zimbardo wanted to examine whether normal people might behave in extreme ways when thrust into situations where they are either powerless or powerful.

  The study was ended in six days. Both guards and prisoners were playing their roles too well.

  The prisoners went back and forth between plotting riots and having emotional breakdowns.  Getting sick and crying.

  The” fiction” and “reality” lines had blurred so badly that they had to be released.

This brought to mind another experiment that was able to be repeated because no one wanted to believe the results.

2. Milgram’s Obedience Studies.

Milgram did this experiment at Yale University. The question was, would you electrocute a stranger, if someone in authority told you to. Long story short.

Yes. In this case though, the students only thought they were inflicting pain as they couldn’t see the subject. They could only hear the screams. That doesn’t sound so good either. In any event, the generator had numbers and words. Switches marked 15 to 450 volts, with corresponding labels from light shock to extreme and Danger, Severe Shock.   The shocking [LOL] finding was that 65% of the students went all the way to danger.  The experimenter in his white coat, kept saying, “keep going”.

  This experiment was done by many other researchers in the USA and in Europe because they couldn’t believe the results. Well, they all found out the same thing.

 

THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN BY DOT HUTCHINSON A BOOK REVIEW

THE BLURB THAT I READ ON AMAZON THREE TIMES BEFORE I BOUGHT THE BOOK, starts like this:

"Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens."

There were two more paragraphs about the book. In the name of brevity, I have left them out. I read the blurb and I didn't want to read the book, but the title kept coming back while I searched for new books to read. 

 I have always been a reader. Perhaps, like Maya, the main character, I too loved to escape into the world of books. Unlike her, I have read both the classics and a whole load of trash. Even with my ADHD, I have always been able to sit for hours at a time if the book pulls me in. I'll get up for some chocolate or something to drink, but take my sustenance back to my chair in the corner.


I've been reading it for either two or three days and am 71% through it's pages.

I hope to finish it this morning.

So why am I writing it before I'm done?  I hope I'm not disappointed in the ending. That happens very often. And so, I want to share it while it's still totally compelling.

I'M AS CAPTIVATED BY THE STORY AS THE GIRLS HE KIDNAPPED.


 Reading in my corner is the one place where I can block out the world. Maya , the story teller and main "butterfly" used to recite Edgar Allen Poe in her head in order to block out the visits from the Gardener. I can relate to that.

While I'm in my chair, my husband talks to me, even though I've explained how I feel. I've learned to be able to stop reading while he talks, so he doesn't feel shut out. He just wants to feel connected. It's not his fault that I need to feel, well, like I'm somewhere else. I've learned to put down my book, and it's not so difficult when the book is not becoming a part of my consciousness. And he's a good man who I shouldn't be shutting out.

WHY THIS BOOK?

From the moment I began to read it,  I was pulled in.

 The tale is told by Maya, a survivor of what I'm supposing was a raid. She's speaking to two FBI agents. I still don't know how the Garden and the Gardener were found out. He's a very wealthy man, who has been doing this for thirty years.

The agents aren't sure if Maya was just a victim or a part of what had been going on. Why would they be thinking that? How could she be a part of this since she's only eighteen, and has been there only two years?

 Some possibilities are that she appears to be in better shape physically and mentally, that the other survivors and is not exactly being open and completely cooperative. When asked a direct question, she is able to answer with the ability of a politician. She gives a lot of information, so we learn all about the Garden that she and the other "butterflies" were in, however, she manages to avoid answering the actual question.

The writing is beautiful, and flows like music. There is a lot of underlying psychology which is of course, for me is always and added perk.

The descriptions of the Garden, the personalities of the girls, and even the Gardener are fascinating and lyrical. As disgusting as the Gardener is, I find myself ambivalent about him. That may say more about me, than the book.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS?

I can't help you with that question. I don't know what you like or how disturbed you might be at what the Gardener has been doing. The Gardener's son Avery also used the garden. He was not "kind" like his father. He was a sadistic bastard and the one character I wanted dead.

If you like stories that unfold. If you don't mind "kind rape", [if there is such a thing.]  If you don't mind death and captivity. If you have patience as the suspense quietly builds. Then, I think you will be just as happy as I am that I finally decided to read this.  If not, perhaps it's not for you. Perhaps.

Like most other readers. I give it 5 stars.

HOW DID CAVEMEN DEAL WITH INSOMNIA? DID THEY HIT EACH OTHER OVER THE HEAD WITH CLUBS?

 

My latest ridiculous theory:  Insomnia is a modern illness that is responsible for more than half of human beings problems.

Theory:  Effective sleep is necessary for effective functioning, which includes sustained attention. When one does not get sufficient or efficient sleep, one is unable to sustain one’s attention and a good immune system.

Hypothesis: When a person is physically weakened and unable to sustain attention to his environment, bad shit happens.

[*ad1]

Research design:

Well, none. Basically proving this theory takes gathering information, explaining it and attempting to prove the hypothesis.

DATA COLLECTION

In order to avoid confusion, it’s proper form to write out, working definitions of the terms being used. This way, everyone is on the same page. Here are some.

• Insomnia: Difficulty in getting to sleep or staying asleep “also not feeling rested after sleeping."
• Consciousness: Mental awareness of sensations, perceptions, memories and feelings.
• Restorative sleep: Sleep from which you awaken feeling rested and alert.
• Sleep disturbances: there are sleep disorders and one text listed 12 of them. We will focus on insomnia.
• Sustained attention: the ability to maintain focused awareness on a target or idea.
• Waking consciousness: a state of clear, organized alertness. 

 It’s interesting to note, that in many psychology texts, there is no definition of sleep. There is a lot written about it, but much is still unknown. So for today, we’ll say it’s an altered state of consciousness which changes the quality or pattern of mental activity. 

 

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

 

Even back in Shakespeare’s time, sleep was something that was sought after. I can’t help but wonder when not being able to sleep became an issue.

This is my rambling part. It should be under another digression, but I think it's not that off the path. Did cavemen have trouble sleeping? And laborers, and farmers and if you look back in history, until there was a way of making light, we kept pace with sunrise and sunset. Our circadian rhythms are still set for day and night. However, technology has turned that upside down and I believe that is one of the reasons for having so many sleep disorders.

 

The text books will all tell us that sleep is an innate biological rhythm that can never be entirely ignored.  There are numerous theories about sleep but they are very hard to prove. Letting one’s subjects die during an experiment is generally frowned upon, unless you work in the pharmaceutical sector. 

[*ad2]

Fact: Everyone needs to sleep. Some can get by on more, some on less but you’ll eventually fall asleep whether you want to or not.

INSOMNIA:

According to one textbook, there are several types of Insomnia. They listed

worry, stress and excitement as a cause of temporary problems. If it goes on for longer than three weeks, they will call it chronic.

 The other type they referred to was drug dependency insomnia, caused by withdrawal from sleeping pills. That’s rich. You take something to help you sleep. Then you stop taking it and you can’t sleep because either your body is in withdrawal from being addicted to it, or you’re having what’s called rebound which may cause terrible nightmares so you go back to the drugs. Now you may realize why I made that nasty remark about the pharma industry.

 And that’s it. Those are the only two reasons they give for insomnia. They forgot to mention depression. I suppose they saved that for another chapter, but depressions favorite trick is called early waking. That’s when you can fall asleep without a problem, but then, you wake up at an ungodly hour, like 4 am and cannot get back to sleep.

 

All insomnia sucks, but it really is awful when you are a worker bee. For me, who has a lifetime membership in that club, being retired has given me a pass. As long as I don’t have to get up at a specific time, usually early, if I can’t sleep or don’t sleep well, it doesn’t ruin me like it used to. It's still no fun, but the consequences aren't as bad.

SYMPTOMS OF LACK OF RESTORATIVE SLEEP:

• Miss work
• Make bad decisions
• Take more risks
• Have trouble concentrating
• Be irritable
• Be depressed
• 

  And Symptoms of daytime fatigue include:

• Weariness, weakness, and/or depleted energy
• Lack of motivation
• Poor performance
• Memory problems
• Lack of productivity
• Tendency to make errors and mistakes
• Depression
• Low interest in being social
• Eat foods high in calories             

   You can see how these symptoms would be problematic in your life. Right?

COMPARE THESE SYMPTOMS TO HOW YOU ARE AFTER A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP:

1. awake,
2. alert
3. able to maintain your focus
4. energetic
5. able to remember things
6. better mood

Findings:

Sleep is necessary for survival, although scientists have only theorized the reason for this. However, lack of sleep has been researched and the findings are:

Insomnia increases your risk for health problems, including:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Infections
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Depression
• Pain
• Substance abuse
• Early death

According to the CCD:

Sleep is increasingly recognized as important to public health, with sleep insufficiency linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters, and medical and other occupational errors.  [Like a doctor cutting off the wrong leg.]Unintentionally falling asleep, nodding off while driving, and having difficulty performing daily tasks because of sleepiness all may contribute to these hazardous outcomes.

Conclusion:
I believe that I have proven my hypothesis. Insomnia creates conditions that are conducive to wreaking havoc in your lives. It can cause illness and accidents. Drugs are not the solution. As seen, they are part of the problem.

The help for insomnia is called sleep hygiene. There are several steps that when done as directed, are very helpful. I will not list them, because I'm trying to keep this brief. However, there is help. As with everything else, you will have to work at lessoning the episodes of insomnia. [*ad3]

And, if all else fails, you can just start reading my blogs from the beginning, and I'm sure they will put you in a nice restful sleep, or possibly a coma. I cannot guarantee either because I don't want to be sued.

footnotes
*ad1 - man, this is dry and boring. Well, maybe this part. it get's better.

*ad2- I am having a very hard time sticking to the format. I can see that it will not work for all topics.

*ad3- This was harder to write. Well, actually easier since I just had to look shit up and copy it. That was no fun for me. And, the answers were actually in the material so I didn't have a chance to really say what I wanted to because it would have been redundant and I'm not sure this is shorter anyway. Oh well.

Thanks for reading.

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT REFORMATTING THIS BLOG

MY LATEST RIDICULOUS THEORY ON LENGTH OF ANYTHING.

When I look at my blog, after it's posted, I see that it's way too long to keep most people's attention. Even mine, and I wrote it!

THEORY:
People's span of attention is short. Especially when reading news articles or articles on line. Due to the length on my posts, fewer people read them.

HYPOTHESIS:
If I change the format of my blog, so it reflects a theory, hypothesis etc., then, limiting the number of words in each section there will be a surge in followers.

RESEARCH DESIGN:
The design [*a digression1]  for this type of query is difficult. The variables are, I think, the two different formats of the blog. I think that makes sense.
The population is a bit more tricky. I can only go by my current statistics and say that the number of people who read each post varies from 17 to 36. The sample would be the entire population of Google+ who has access to reading this. Therefore, infinite. That's good because the larger the sample, the more accurate the results. LOL for this one.

  

The only thing I can do, really is a descriptive study. That means, that I will write five blogs in the new format. I will use the same hashtags for all five. [*ad2.]  Basically, I'll write my usual blogs, sticking to this format. Heaven help me, they won't be dry and scientific like this one. Shorter. I'm only attempting for shorter.

I will describe what I did to get my results, if anything. Only I will also add in the data, findings and conclusion.

DATA:
What? I'm not a magician. I only started the experiment. I ain't got no stinkin data.    All I got is an idea. So sue me.

FINDINGS:
This format may be too limiting. I'll have to see. I have no findings because we have just begun. You are my research subjects. Please, pretty please, help me do this experiment. Don't let me down. [ *ad3.]

CONCLUSION:

I conclude that I'm a brave individual. I have no conclusion yet, but I have hope. If I had money, I could pay you, but I'm a scientist. Not a politician. They pay people and they manipulate the statistics. That's another post for another day.
So, you'll just have to wait and read the five new posts, and hope I can keep it short.

I'm going to still put in pictures. I like pictures and it's my research and I can do what I want. So there.

*FOOTNOTES

[My footnotes have always been referred to as digressions. Since I have more than one, they are titled, Another Digression. I have decided to use the symbol *ad with a number. This way, it give me leeway to go off on the tangents that make my posts longer. So, you have choices. You can read the post and then the foot notes, or ignore them if you're in a hurry.  You can read them as they occur or you can just read the footnotes because that's usually where most of the funny stuff ends up.]

*ad1- I looked up the different methodologies in my Psychology text.  It was not easy to decide which one fit.
According to the scientific method, which I am trying to follow, A. One first, observes, B. then predicts, C. tests, D. interprets and E. communicates the results.  Okay. But how do you do that if you don't have an actual experiment? 
It's the research design that stymies me.

*ad2 -If I changed them, they would be extraneous variables. Those are things that could throw off all your research. And, make a researcher look like an idiot.

*ad3- I feel like I'm back, doing my dissertation. That was torture. I used the teachers in the school I worked in and had to pray they returned their surveys. Approximately 97% did. That was huge. And, if any of you besides Shelley are reading this, you still have all my gratitude.