Gold & Silver Forum (http://goldismoney.info/forums/index.php)
- Survival Prep (http://goldismoney.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=141)
- - I voted for "making it" and I'll tell you why. (http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=116660)

keehah | 03-08-2007 02:10 PM
I voted for "making it" and I'll tell you why. Found this comment over at PeakOil.com that stands alone as a good article. Could not find any other source so I will give credit to BlisteredWhippet. Quote:
Post subject: Re: Are you going to make it? Feb2007 http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic26764-90.html BlisteredWhippet: I voted for "making it" and I'll tell you why. Even though rationalism would dictate the odds poorly to any individual in the maelstrom of change, personal volition makes or breaks any specific individual's chances of survival. In other words, statistics predict the outcomes in the abstract, not the particular. And the particular experience of any individual depends on his or her mental state. At the heart of issues of survival is the physical, and anyone who has undergone physical training also knows that the mind succumbs before the body. Therefore the correct posture toward a goal of survival is mental in nature. If the mental picture is consistent with survival, then the body can be dragged along. This does not mean one can jump into freezing water and escape hypothermia by believing that one's body is immune to freezing saltwater. It only means that a tough mental attitude precipitates a tough physical posture. Statistics is irrelevant. Genetics is irrelevant. Chance is irrelevant. The correct survival posture is belief in and planning for, survival. It might be internally consistent with predictive logic to assume by statistics or genetics alone the abstract outcome of survival. But the hopelessness of logic simply means that a self-fulfilling mechanism is in place for failure. This is problematic because the mind tends to fulfill its prophesies. I think a good way to illustrate the illogic of chance and the primacy of volition is motorcycle riding. In any statistic measure, motorcycle riding is dangerous, holding a near 100% chance of accident for any rider who rides for a good length of time. Every instance of zipping across the surface of the planet without being strapped in, reassured by safety devices, inches from an unforgiving hard surface, surrounded by dimly aware idiots eating Chinese takeout in massive two-ton vehicles is akin to balancing on a 360 degree fulcrum where any move to any direction will result in a fall. The statistics of motorcycle accidents are frightening. The chance of injury and death is many times higher than most other activities. Yet the fact remains that in the realm of the particular, the human mind influences the survival factor. Choice of ride, level of skill, plan of attack, technique, foresight in choosing safety gear, physical conditioning- all these things modify the damage potential and skew the statistics. The fact is that looking at bare statistics and planning eventualities is a prescription for failure, in itself. The least successful riders, the ones involved in the most damaging, fatal accidents, are found to be those who neglected to wear safety gear, who took unnecessary risks beyond their abilities, and who ironically "crashed" in order to "avoid crashing". From a statistical point of view, the individual's chances are much, much better for correcting in practice the errors which worsen statistical chances. None of these corrective, odds-bettering practices are precipitated by anything but mental conditioning. The attitude of prudence in getting your gear together. The attitude of a proper balance of comfort and safety, an especially, an attitude that you are NOT going to crash, that you are NOT going to ditch your bike to avoid an accident, that you are NOT going to go down in any situation, that you will TRY to stay on the bike, ride out any problem, any situation, NO MATTER WHAT. To the extent that a prepared mind conditions an individual to anticipate and deal with reality, severely skews any abstract assessment of survival probability. So I don't plan on dying, I plan on surviving. Probabilities and statistics cannot kill or hurt you and will not influence material reality. The proper attitude toward survival, though is essential. Many don't have it. I think its something that is apparent in everyday life, in "non-survival" situations, as well. Dedication, perseverance, foresight, fortitude, all virtues of survival. People without these virtues are shot through with a sort of fatalism or defeatism. The reaction formation is one of doubt, not necessarily fear. It is simple ignorance, really, of a whole set of mental components that exist to modify survival chances. These virtues and tools are built-in features of the human mind. They are not and have not been necessarily encouraged by a postmodern technological lifestyle. The physical degeneration of America's population is clearly influenced by this mental deficiency. The values exist, but are underutilized. That being said, I think many people who theorize on peak oil and these issues are probably better off. A component of mental conditioning is mental exercise like scenario-building and visualization. These are the building blocks for cognition. This is preparing for testing. They might seem like useless daydreams, nightmares, or prattling message board commentary, but they are really conditioning. The understatement of chances by individuals highly committed to such exercises is also an aspect of this conditioning. The "objective" de-emphasis on personal survival chances is just another way of keeping an individual's perspective under control, a type of restraint. For myself, such restraint is unnecessary because I subjectively believe in my own success. I would invite anyone assuming the worst to replace those expectations with affirmations along the lines of the virtues described above in order to strengthen the frame of mind required to overcome physical challenges, thereby releasing the mind from the occlusive constructs of abstract risk analysis. When it comes to physical survival, the prime skills are going to be mental: the resistance to pain, hunger, thirst, disgust, hopelessness, cold, heat, all types of discomfort. To prepare go out and hurt yourself if you don't know what pain feels like. Starve yourself to make hunger your friend. Go skinny dipping in freezing water. Walk for miles in bare feet. Commit to mental exercises like inner silence, isolation from people, going without sleep. Just some ideas. All this develops perseverance. Push yourself to physical exhaustion in some way every day. Lift your body weight and try to do more than you are able. It is impossible to hurt yourself trying to do more pushups that you ever thought imaginable. The point is trying to push yourself to the point of physical nausea. If you feel like you're going to throw up, you've reached your goal. Do not, of course, throw up. The point is actually to push yourself to that point and then resist throwing up. This builds fortitude. Believe that you will live, that nothing is unsurmountable, and attempt new and previously impossible tasks every day. Sometimes it is difficult to find inspiration to recognize the things which represent the greatest challenges because the mind tends to deny perception of things that appear not to be possible. For some reason I am thinking of Parkour, (Youtube- Parkour <HTTP: results?search_query="parkour&search=Searchhttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=parkour&search=Searchhttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=parkour&search=Searchhttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=parkour&search=Searchhttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=parkour&search=Searchhttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=parkour&search=Searchhttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=parkour&search=Search" www.youtube.com>) mainly because it explores the possibilities in the mundane. Dedicate yourself to goals tied to time frames. Finally, do go ahead and plan for the future you think is going to happen. Develop a lifestyle in line with your essential values. Continually develop inner dialog and meditate on virtue. Study wisdom, acquire intelligence. You'll be fine...

Libertarian_Guard | 03-08-2007 04:34 PM
Re: I voted for "making it" and I'll tell you why. Keehah Outstanding find! Thanks

RichG | 03-08-2007 05:53 PM
Re: I voted for "making it" and I'll tell you why. Nice find keehah... I have never bought into the 'If the whole world is nuked...I don't want to live crowd'. Taking stock of what I have learned in my life I have come to the conclusion...I don't know squat. Almost every rule has an exception....and the things I think I know for 'a fact' are usually handed to me with my ass. But faced with the choice of life over death....I'll take life everytime.....cause you never know what a new day brings. My life so far is an accumulation of billions of past events (mostly out of my control), and my future lays in billions of future ones (mostly out of my control), so I say 'let the show continue'. None of us here are where we 'thought' we would be 20 yrs ago....right....so what makes you think you can see 20 yrs into the future? Most here already know the virtues of at least preparing the necessities to sustain life in a world of chaos...because we want to 'make it'....and bring along the ones we love and care about. Yeah the future may bring on horrors we could never dream of, heartbreak, and sadness....but we get those now....just a little more spread out....time to heal. Just like my friend who recently died of cancer he was battling for at least 6 yrs......I'll fight for each day....no matter how much that day sucks (you want suck days.....try carrying cancer in your body). Yep....one up on the 'I don't want to live' crowd when they suddenly realize that they do.....:smokin:

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:17 AM. |

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright = None use it and Link to GIM