What is Important?

Perhaps that is a question we should answer each morning, shortly after we get up. Perhaps my serenity. So why am I allowing anything disrupt my serenity today? I am surrounded by idiots, begots, those who live in group delusions, with collective coping mechanisms, those who have their own agendas, mainly to separate me from my money, without regard to my needs or values. I am reminded of Marcus Aurelius 2.1 Today I will meet people who are meddling, ungrateful, aggressive, treacherous, malicious, unsocial. I cannot us his list; the people do not owe me anything, and their attitude must be me first always, just to survive.

I have been with wife's family for a few days, and my serenity is the most important thing to me today. I can understand why we often see groups together, but each on their own cell phones in restaurants. It is the most peaceful way to be together. There is the parasite, the interrupter, the busy body, the perfectionist, the accommodator, the outside, at one table, and no dispute going on. When it come to "who is going to look after Uncle's (brothers) finances as we wait for him to die," there will be disputes and high emotions. None of this is important. It was all being taken care of before, correctly but not exactly legally before. It is illegal for anyone other than Paul to use Paul's debit card to pay Paul's expenses; Oh well. Now it will be all legal. Four days of my life, 1600 Km, with all the travel expenses for that.

So there are those people who hold that Andrew Wakefield was wrong at pointing out that MMP and autism have a link in data. What he found was actually the year to year increase in the frequency of autism; and the same time a year to year increase in frequency of MMP vaccination in the mid 80's in one area in Scotland, not causation, but he was using only 19 autistic children data points. He also found something like75 percent of the mothers were vegetarian, but nobody cares about that, yet that is significant. Oh well, so much for Experimental Design.

Perhaps we all need a coping mechanism, like religion is for so many, providing consolation and comfort...too keep us busy, in our idle time. Serenity would be almost automatic, thinking about a pleasant time and place, where the vicissitudes of life are not present.

Negative Visualization, as Irvine referred to the Stoic process of thinking about the worst that can happen, and making peace with that, can be a release. Even Buddha seems to be doing over statement in "life is suffering", rather than the rational "life contains suffering"; although, in Buddhas time, life was often brutish, harsh and short. Oh well. Practice life without x is a exercise in acceptance, and in change, impermanence. Practice life without much food is a diet, practice life without a phone is quite time, or not if with people. A phone "addiction like" behavior is one way to avoid engaging with those we are with; perhaps that lack of engagement is a way of avoiding topics, politics, religion, gardening... When we live next door to an aggressive, loud, ignorant arrogant elephant that wants it his way... what can one do when we live in such a zoo...