The wellness epidemic

[sufi]

So, the “epidemic of wellness,” located in the confluence of capitalism, bad-faith science, and classism, has thus been centuries in the making. It is especially optimized for this historical moment, when the “increasingly polarized economic situation demands the more nebulous and elastic concept of ‘wellness.’”

From a review of Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book, though i beleive the original article with that title was a takedown of Gwyneth Paltrow's goop.

I like the challenge to wellness as a displacement activity to avoid acknowledging our own helplessness in the face of brutal destiny, not to mention the collapsing of spurious concepts around mental and physical healthiness

[luka]

my first thought was hmmm im not sure this is what
i/babs/danny had in mind. my second thought was
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ego-Mechani.../dp/1855750384

[john eden]

I fucking love Barbara Ehrenreich.

"Smile Or Die" is amazing takedown of the power of positive thinking. She does good twitter also:

‏@B_Ehrenreich

Looking for incels eager to transition to voluntary celibacy through my scientifically tested program of endless household chores and relentless sarcastic abuse.

5:15 PM - 4 May 2018

[baboon2004]

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/h...20180425148001

I think Luis Bunuel asked what the point was of having a body if you weren't going to ruin it by the time you were old. he did die of cirrhosis of the liver though.

[luka]

all things considered i think i prefer being well than unwell.

[luka]

but of course i am a notorious and kneejerk contrarian etc

[john eden]

all things considered i think i prefer being well than unwell.

Same. Not sure that what currently passes for "wellness" will help with that though.

[luka]

ultimately it is about trying to become aware of what is happening and what are the factors involved.

what is the effect of diet, of exercise, of interpersonal relationships and the emotional entanglements that go with them, of the weather, of habits and addictions, of every single
input imaginable in other words.

some of these are probably outside our control (the weather probably, for the most part, geopolitcal upheavels, the current economic system and moral climate)
some of them we can control. again it's primarily a question of awareness, working out
the process of cause and effect, extrapolating from your own experience
and drawing some tentative conclusions, most of which will be commonplaces
but they mean more and they stick when youve observed it happening in your
own body/mind/psyche etc

it sounds stupid but i remember early on some explaining that my nervous
energy and irritability was because i was overdoing the coffee and cigerettes.

it was like a divine revelation. that things have causes and we can exercise control
over emotional and physical states (to a degree) by taking control of these things,
by making changes.

most people arent as stupid and obtuse and lacking in insight as i was at that time
im just giving an example

[luka]

Mark was trying to get at this with his Spinoza kick.

[luka]

you get it in nietzsche as well. judging things by their effects and consequences.
so sin is just another name for snare. it's not primarily a moral question but a pragmatic one.
Greed, lust, sloth, envy and so on. Just the way to bait a trap. This is where the confusion lies. It’s a guide to avoid getting tricked

[luka]

http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/003767.html

(and not just cos i get a namecheck)

In place of the 'right' and 'wrong' a vulgarized Kantianism and vestigial Christianity has inculcated into us, Spinoza urges us to think in terms of health and illness. There are no ‘categorical’ duties applying to all organisms, since what counts as ‘good’ or ‘evil’ is relative to the interests of each entity. In tune with popular wisdom, Spinoza is clear that what brings wellbeing to one entity will poison to another. The first and most overriding drive of any entity, Spinoza says, is its will to persist in its own being. When an entity starts to act against its own best interests, to destroy itself - as, sadly, Spinoza observes, humans are wont to do - it has been taken over by external forces. To be free and happy entails exorcising these invaders and acting in accordance with reason.

[luka]

so you're just sort of checking the feedback all the time. for example right now intellectually im fairly dull and foggy, which is mostly tiredness and too much time in the sun. im inarticulate. there's no sparkle in my words.

emotionally im fairly ok by my standards. i dont have too many spats on the go. trying to keep up with my (very few, by design) commitments. some guilt in the background around things i havent patched up yet, and things i need to do but havent. some frustration and impatience around wanting to talk about these things but knowing there's no one to have the conversation with at this instant and that i have to log off and find soemthing else to do.

physically my neck and back are uncomfortable cos ive been lying all funny on the bed going on the computer like a dick and not being a wholesome boy scout but fairly good awareness of what i feel and where which is not always the case.

i feel broadly speaking that im in one of the better worlds in the multiverse but im also aware that this can change in an instant, that the tracks can switch and throw me into hell.

[HMGovt]

Latest thinking is that one can achieve wellness in both mind and body by adopting the Bronze Age Mindset and so become akin to a Greek god.

[luka]

well yes! so i hear.

[luka]

i think resistance, in the psychoanalytic sense, is a crucial mode of feedback.
i identify resistance not just within the self but in the field, in the wider social
network, in the world at large.

i tend to think that responding to resistance with force, resorting to violence (not necessarily in the physical sense) means you've failed. back to square one.

i don't think bulldozering the resistance, overpowering it, browbeating it into submission, ever
really works. i think negative feedback should be responded to by altering
the trajectory, sometimes just a little tweak to the flight path.

so your friends, your social circle, the wider world, is part of your psyche in a sense. provides you with information.

i've definitely relied on force as a response to resistance in the past, force or surrender or retreat, and i've wasted a lot of time and opportunities as a result.