Blogcritics Author: Regis Schilken

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Book Review: Naked Thinking - The Power of Feeling Less, Thinking More, and Making Better Decisions by Phil D'Agostino

Regis Schilken — Thu, 17 May 2007 03:10:04 EDT

Phil D’Agostino’s self-help book, Naked Thinking: The Power of Feeling Less, Thinking More, and Making Better Decisions will not be helpful, read like a novel. If you really want to take charge of your emotions and set free your creative energy, the different parts of the book must be read enough times for you to start integrating it into your everyday life - your very being. D’Agostino says at the beginning of his book that being emotional is the consequence of being human. But intellectual thinking, not mere emotionality, should be the “stuff” out of which great decisions, excellence, successful goals are created. To obtain these ends, Naked Thinking suggests numerous paths of thinking, doing, believing and choosing. Each item on the list below is thoroughly explained in D’Agostino’s book.ThinkingThink about the success you are aiming for, if you could magically create it and always -- always -- walk forward on that path. Shortcuts can be hazardous, especially if loaded with hidden emotional content. This is where a realistic plan with mileposts in place becomes critical, because it forces you to reach each smaller goal on your path to success. When talking to yourself and those persons helping you reach your goal, it is essential to use positive, active terms. They must see you as showing real concern for their welfare - you need positive pets; they need positive pets. During this process, you can gradually teach yourself to be less emotional to setbacks and negative comments. You particularly, and your colleagues generally, must internalize that you mean exactly what you say, and nothing will stop you except reaching your prized goal.DoingYou can create your own excellence by deliberately exposing yourself to challenging disagreements. Learning to use your logic against opposing arguments can build self-confidence. Naked Thinking suggests reading some well-known work and deliberately disputing a philosophical point of view from the book, just for the sake of exercising your own intellect. Like a muscle, it becomes stronger with use, says D’Agostino. Doing what you can do well and seeing the results builds self-esteem. But improving neophyte skills not only helps you develop talent, but knowing you’re improving increases self-confidence. Sometimes, doing the most difficult task first and breaking it into simpler ones is all that is necessary to gradually learn a new skill or grasp what seemed an unreachable milemarker. BelievingBelieving in the sensibility of your own judgment, provided it is based on a wide criteria of data, will incline you to select with wisdom, what course of action is good and right to reach a goal. Following this guideline, you will know what makes sense - and what doesn’t.Failure? This is always a possibility, but can anything be a true success without the risk of failure? Believing in yourself, along with an open faith in your colleagues, will earn you their confidence, minimizing the risk of failure. The importance of trusting yourself “first, last, and always,” D’Agnostino would say, is the silver key to convince others to believe in reasonable, obtainable goals you’ve set for them. ChoosingIt has often been said, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Naked Thinking would posit this same idea. You can choose to gripe, which leads to negative, dead-headed thinking, or you can offer a solution. You can choose ill-will toward disagreeable colleagues or you can support and love them and bring them to your side by asking what they want — what they hope to get out of a project — what goals they’ve chosen for themselves. You can create the response you want from them by modeling the kind of reply you’d like in return.Naked Thinking is an easy read but it is not to be taken lightly. It is filled with workable suggestions to help you choose to be the person you want to be. For some, the task may seem daunting, but the mere fact that you’ve made the commitment to read the book is proof that you can do it. It is a positive beginning. I would recommend this book to any person seeking to improve their cognitive, creative ability based on intellectual reasoning instead of emotion. The book is fascinating, well written and speaks directly to you, almost like your own conscience. Practicing its precepts can help you think more clearly, better able to unleash your hidden powers and lead a more dynamic existence.

Regis Schilken's stories reflect his search for meaning in a very human but frightening way. He has produced five novels, two of which have been published: THE OCULI INCIDENT and THE ISLAND OFF STONY POINT. Both have been adapted into screenplays.

Book Review: Hick by Andrea Portes

Regis Schilken — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:04:09 EDT

Hick, by Andrea Portes, is an extremely-well written novel whose clever dialogue is both hilarious and pathetic. To say the language is crude yet honest, both appropriate and inappropriate, for 13-year-old Luli McMullen, who grew up within the uglier side of human existence, is an understatement. Author Portes paints Luli’s raw, not-so-innocent spirit perfectly - with words on one page to make a reader repelled by the precocious little brat, but then on the very next page making the reader worried about her emotional heartaches and well-being.Luli kinda just grew up in a small ramshackle home in rural Nebraska with neither parent as any hint of a role model. Her cheating mother, Tammy, has little concern for Luli’s welfare. Tammy’s only whim is to run off with any man who offers sexual favors and/or a few bucks. Luli’s father, a wasted man who never worked a day in his life, puts up with his wife’s unfaithfulness because he is usually too intoxicated to care. Plus, he often has dames of his own. Yet throughout the book, Luli expresses real feelings for both parents. She comically describes her father: "If you threw Elvis and a scarecrow in a blender, topped the whole thing off with Seagram’s 7 and pressed dice, you would make my dad." Luli takes her mother's $200 and leaves her ramshackle home for good, determined to reach Las Vegas where she plans on finding a “sugar-daddy” to keep her and make her rich. Creepy Eddie Kreezer offers her a ride in his truck. Although she is attracted to him physically, she describes him hilariously:When I say he’s crooked, I don’t mean it in any sort of poetic sense. I mean he’s crooked. Literally. Like his body looks like an italic. He veers to the left ... He’s like some kind of daddy-long-legs spindling behind the wheel. Eventually, even Eddie Kreezer is no match for Luli. Her nasty, fiery-mouthed invectives and raging hormones cause them to separate. Luli meets gorgeous Glenda who appears rich and influential, but as Luli finds out, is nothing more than a glamorous drifting thief, stealing whatever and whenever she can. She advises Luli about her philosophy of life: "You don’t want to be squeezed in between ... a bunch of limp city folk that couldn’t figure out how to pour whiskey out of a boot with directions on the heel."She convinces Luli to “seizure” on the floor of an elderly store owner while she grabs whatever cash is in the till. Luli is so good at her role that the elderly, terrified store owner has a stroke trying to lift her. He topples over pinning her to the floorboards until Glenda unceremoniously rolls him off. Glenda takes the cash but complains: "Not exactly what I had in mind kid. Nice work. Now we’re murderers."Luli eventually reencounters harebrained Eddie Creezer. This time, he has a rather unique sexual encounter planned for her. Luli is fascinated by his face: "His eyes oogle around like toy button eyes on a sock puppet."Luli plays up to him, only to get herself tied helplessly to a bed at Beaumont Kluck’s Cabin Retreat where she is molested for several days. Not exactly unhappy with her feckless situation she seems to enjoy the attention and sensations plowed into her by freaky skinny Creezer, affection she has never known before.Eventually freed, Luli moves on. Like a magnet, misadventures follow her throughout Hick. Portes has Luli meet a variety of troublemaking dregs from whom she eventually concludes there must be a better approach to life because she is bumbling through the worst of it. She learns quickly. She has to in order to bounce back and survive as a very young teen. Luli never lets herself fall into depression or despair. Heartbroken at times, she keeps her rainbow dream of a better life in sight. If she must look back, it is only to wonder what happened to her dysfunctional parents who gave her life, but who are no use to her now. She knows she will survive.Hick is fast paced, it is original, it is an outstanding novel of perseverance and courage. Luli’s sometimes crude descriptions will make a reader howl but at the same time, root for her survival amidst all the foul play tugging at her heartstrings. She is out there, she is alone, but damn, she will survive. "I’m not looking back playing that same old song no more. I ain’t gonna spend my life staring at my socks, slouching to a chorus of mighta coulda shoulda woulda."I would recommend Hick to any reader looking for a fascinating story and is not offended by the “F” word. Luli has heard it from infancy. Her speech would sound unnatural without it considering the years of low-life she endured before taking off on her own. I would sincerely hope that author Portes is planning a sequel to Hick so readers who fall in love with charismatic Luli like I did, can ultimately see her fate. I would personally like to congratulate Andrea Portes for writing Hick. One would never know it was a first novel.

Book Review: Congratulations, You Have Cancer by Leslie Bishop

Regis Schilken — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:28:11 EDT

Leslie Bishop's uplifting approach to accepting a diagnosis of breast cancer underlies her inspirational work, Congratulations, You Have Cancer. Her positive mindset toward having the deadly lump removed, subsequent radiation, and then chemotherapy can help give anyone diagnosed with the same invasive ailment hope for a joyful future.Cancer does not mean death. Throughout Congratulations, You Have Cancer is Bishop's overwhelming belief system that a wholesome outlook after the diagnosis is a critical factor in restoring health to your body, mind, and spirit, and possibly preventing future recurrences. Merely admitting the presence of the cancerous growth is not enough. You must accept it. Initial shock and denial and even anger are only natural, especially if you are an outgoing, physically active and fit individual. Cancer claims its victims seemingly at random. You don't need to know why the disease started. Dwelling on a cause or the "Why me?" syndrome is an obsessive waste of time. Accepting cancer as a chance to foster new understanding about your self and your existence can lead to enrichment and enlightenment. It can help you "Send it on its way."Bishop tells about her first reaction when chemotherapy was recommended. The idea that toxic chemicals would be injected into her, chemicals which would attack the cancer but would also kill healthy blood cells as well, was indeed fearful. She was terrified. Congratulations, You Have Cancer also tells of the importance of belief in an "awesome God/Universe." Bishop claims that, "Every person who crosses our path is an angel in disguise." In her case, one particular angel had a supportive, optimistic message for her. She just needed to tune in and listen to it instead of paying attention to negative thoughts in her own head. Her angel/friend suggested a different outlook about chemo. Instead of thinking of cells dying within, Bishop was taught to think of the chemicals as rejuvenating and healing every single part of her body that they would touch. Sure, she would lose her hair, her appetite, but like a newborn babe these things would begin anew within her. Her body would start over without the cancer cells present. Well-being would be slowly restored.Equally important in overcoming cancer or any negative mindset is self-talk. Since we are what we think, allowing pessimistic thoughts to grow into negative beliefs is like "rowing a canoe in the opposite direction of a rolling river." Our spirit becomes frustrated, disillusioned - emotionally we experience sadness, anxiety, and fear. Positive self-talk, if done regularly, can turn our canoe around so we flow with the river and find real hope. The book gives several examples of meditative self-talk. You begin this exercise by stating exactly what your frightening bad feelings are. For example: I'm really scared. I don't want to die of cancer. How did I get it? Then you shift the self-dialogue to defeat each gloomy thought: Of course I'm scared, but I have good people helping me through this. Millions undergo chemo each day and are reborn to good health. Makes no difference how I got it, but since it got in, I'm chasing it the hell out.Leslie Bishop's book is well-written and easy to read. In fact, it can be read in one sitting, but I doubt that is the author's purpose nor will it be helpful. To feel hopeful about yourself and your condition, each chapter must be read as many times as necessary, until the words on that page affect your belief system. Likewise you must sit quietly and practice talking to yourself every time you feel overwhelmed by sadness and fear until you begin to feel hopeful.I would highly recommend this positive book to anyone diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. It can provide your soul with a guide to mastering thoughts, feeling good about yourself, and finding peace and joy within.

Book Review: You're Not Very Important by Douglas W. Texter

Regis Schilken — Tue, 8 May 2007 14:42:07 EDT

You're Not Very Important explodes the myth that if people raise their level of self-esteem, the world will somehow be better off. It claims that ideals and "dreams aren't worth getting out of bed for." Why such tongue-in-cheek negativity? Texter feels that raising your own self-esteem can only lead to the downfall or ruination of others leaving the world more screwed up than it already is. In You're Not Very Important, he suggests viable ways to minimize self-esteem and improve today's troubled world. Good planning should be avoided, particularly if you're one of those methodic, task-oriented persons who must write down your plans. Unwritten plans are more easily forgotten. For the same reason, Daytimers, To-Do lists, and calendars should be trashed immediately. Not completing tasks is a surefire way to leave well-enough alone while not screwing up things for others.Avoid education at all costs. An unenlightened society will be unable to produce most, if not all of the ideas which led to so-called improvements that caused the world's problems in the first place -- cancer being an example. In an uneducated society, there would be little cancer because heavy industry, which produces cancer-causing agents, would dry up.If you cannot live off your parents and must work to support yourself, rather than wasting your life by working hard, carefully plan a work-related accident. It will provide monetary compensation for the rest of your life and provide employment for another person.Shuck everything that hints of God or religion, says You're Not Very Important. Self-esteem built on religion is a powder keg. A simple glance at past history, regardless of its holy books, music, and beliefs, reveals the hypnotic horrors of an inspirational belief system. Texter would recommend avoiding everyone who might con you into an organized belief system. This includes writers who author self-help manuals to raise esteem when it is obvious the world is screwed up as is. There is no reason for you to make it worse.Indulging your creative imagination and developing your talents could be considered downright tyranny over others because they'll feel compelled to copy or out-perform you. "People learn by imitation," says Texter, so by all means don't inspire them. Avoid books, movies, and anything motivational lest you become monkey-like and copy their tripe. You're Not Very Important insists that you should spend whatever money you have. Don't bother saving it. The more you and everyone else spend, the quicker the economy will implode. Texter estimates it will take about twenty minutes. After all, saving money "is a way to get yourself out of the situation you're in." There is no reason to deny yourself anything because when the economy collapses, everyone will be in the same low-esteem situation.If certain diverse people, their ideas, and their life styles bother or inconvenience you avoid these obnoxious folks. When traveling, stick with package tours because they filter out these undesirables for you. Why witness poverty and distended bellies when you can stay in grand hotel suites or even penthouses? At home, move to a gated community where rubbing elbows with the poor is kept to a bare minimum. Furthermore, stay clear of volunteerism. People are asked to volunteer because the organizations that work with the destitute are so poor themselves they cannot afford to pay you. Low self-esteem will keep you unmotivated.Monumental problems can occur when people begin reading, writing, and speaking. These three avenues of communication need to be shackled, lest you learn about someone else's failed philosophy and unwittingly write about it, or even converse about it, adding your own hare-brained ideas to trip up possible followers. What you read, write or talk about, unless it is the weather, isn't worth the effort because it might cause damaging ideas and wild-eyed schemes. There is no sense discoursing about innovation. You don't need a "new sense of vision" if previous innovation has failed.General ignorance in a most cases is desirable. It is dangerous to read about the ills in foreign countries where people are being victimized and brutalized, because of the hypnotic desire to help. If you don't learn about such places, your life will remain unfocused, bland, and unsuspicious. After all, what better way to live than to block out the problems of others and revel in your own joy and self-complacency?You're Not Very Important pokes fun at everything most people hold sacred. It provides a nonsense look into modern life and its problems yet suggests equally comical ways for dealing with them. I would highly recommend the book to a reader as a comical satire on our political, economic, religious, scientific, and educational systems today.For my own enjoyment, I read each chapter, then deliberately waited a while, sometimes another day, before reading the next chapter. This kept the comedy of the book from becoming slapstick and tedious. I would recommend that readers do the same so they can reduce their own self-esteem and become like tiny ants, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Book Review: Becoming a Man of Power by Matt Guest

Regis Schilken — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 05:19:53 EDT

According to Becoming a Man of Power, a man can be whatever being he allows himself to dream of. Guest states, “You are a shadow of your potential magnificence.” The outside physical world and all its people can yank the paradigm of what a man thinks of himself in a bazillion different directions if permitted. That does not have to happen. Being sensitive to oneself is the key. In order to become powerful, a man must have a stable, loving vision of the Source within.This requires effort. It requires down time where a man sits alone and ponders what lies inside his deepest being. Eventually rock-like faith in his light body and feelings will lead to a new energized man who is firm, stable, self reliant, creative, able to face reality without becoming affected negatively by it.Guest explains that the light body and physical body are one. It is the light body that gives man wings to carry him wherever he wants to go. The only limit to this freedom is self imposed, and with time and practice, a man’s distorted beliefs and those of others can be left behind.Much of what holds a man back from reaching his goal is fear. When confronted by someone with a different opinion or belief system, quite often a man reacts with bravado, arguing his viewpoint, afraid to be put down. He’ll lose esteem (manliness) in the eyes of his challenger, those witnessing the scenario, and his own self image.Some men might choose to remain silent, afraid to incur disfavor, especially if that person is a boss or authority figure with greater influence. This is often true of romantic relationships. Fear of disapproval in the eyes of a loved one for fear of breaking off an affair, often leads a man to inner anger and frustration with himself because he remains silent.A man who has reached a genuine sense of power might handle things differently. As if wearing a suit of armor, he would listen intently, but would have enough faith in his own light body armor to respond or not respond as he sees fit. Sometimes silence is golden. He has no fear of being hurt or getting back at someone because he no longer holds onto or craves anything. He can remain silent without hurt.Guest talks of love and sexuality. He says “sexuality is unrealized spirituality.” In a relationship spirited by love, intercourse but not ejaculation can store sexual energy that is redistributed throughout the other seven body chakras. Ejaculation is meant to be the ultimate spurting forth of life force energy to procreate. Orgasm without this intention is “dribbling out” a man’s power over time until he finally weakens himself in death.Copulation according to Becoming a Man of Power should consist of deep penile penetration with an equally loving and understanding woman and then utter quiet, non-movement between the pair as they embrace one another. They are enjoying the intercourse between two bodies. Power will course in both directions, strengthening their light and physical bodies. Guest feels a couple that sits facing one another with legs comfortably entwined can enjoy true sexual pleasure without movement or orgasm. In this position, it is easy to sit comfortably still for a long period of time. When they eventually disconnect, neither man nor woman experiences the usual feeling of exhaustion and the desire for sleep. In fact, both have been overwhelmingly energized and look forward to their next coupling.Becoming a Man of Power is an interesting read primarily because its philosophy is so different from other self-help books. It stresses the power that comes from stripping off all the feelings of wanting to be an esteemed person in the eyes of others, of attempting to live up to the expectations of others, of wanting to be a person different from the self.Instead, it stresses that a man should accept his imperfections rather than expending the wasteful energy to hide them from himself and others. This will release vast quantities of power to the light body and the physical body. For the most part, Becoming a Man of Power is saying: The power to soar comes to any man who has lost all fear from outside influences and is following his dream wherever it may lead. I would recommend the book to any person who wants to fly. I would also check medical literature on deliberately not ejaculating after intense sexual arousal. There is some indication that this practice can lead to prostatitis. The Mayo Clinic recommends that regular sexual activity may help patients with this condition.

Book Review: The Face of Power by Matt Guest

Regis Schilken — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 07:09:59 EDT

According to The Face of Power, the ability to reach full awareness of the Spirit in this existence requires learning about both the physical body and the dreaming body. Once achieved, the wisdom gained from this power will lead to true fulfillment. Author Matt Guest claims to be a pilot, a “man of power” who can steer the way for anyone brave enough to allow the “energy of creation” to flow through them, to seek the truth and find the Unknown. The author says that at the age of two, he had his first enlightening experience while watching the ebb and flow of the ocean’s waves at his feet. His mother sat nearby. As the water came up and touched his toes, Guest became overwhelmed by the power of the salty ocean water intermingling with the minute grains of sand on the beach and the vastness of the sky and clouds above. So consumed was he by the crystal clear power of possessing that moment that his mother had to rescue him when a large wave knocked him down.Throughout his life, Matt Guest has had the innate ability to make himself aware of such awe-filled moments. Rather than proselytize, The Face of Power shows the way to fulfillment through interactive dialogue, mainly with Court, a beloved friend of Guest, who also found the awareness of the Spirit.The author tells of feeling outside his own body when a moment of enlightenment occurs. When it happens, a feeling of fear deep inside overpowers him and the nape of his neck feels hot and cold at the same time. His sense of sight and hearing becomes extremely exaggerated then “pop,” he feels he is in a dreamlike state where he utters words that are “completely out of character for me.” It is a vulnerable and sexual feeling wherein he enjoys extreme happiness and dreads the thought of returning to reality.His seer friend Court explains that the dreaming body is a spiritual reality similar to a soul. It sometimes is driven to leave the physical body and experience the Unknown especially when a person is very fearful. The dreaming body keeps one from becoming a victim. It returns to its original state prior to entering this world where “it sees ... the world as a dream.” It reminds the fearful person of what it needs to bring safety and true happiness.Throughout the book, Court and Matt Guest discuss real-life adventures, either or both have had, involving love, happiness, sexuality, attachment, fear, perception, past lives, reincarnation, and a host of topics. These discussions are to help readers access their potential to understand the mystery of being, their dreaming and physical bodies, and the love and affection necessary to view the Unknown and lead happier lives.The Face of Power is a well written and fascinating book for anyone who believes as Matt Guest that life is more than the reality encountered each day through the senses and normal logic. To enjoy the book, one must believe there is a world of unseen energy which each person can tap into, to enhance life each day.The book makes no effort to prove that the dreaming body is a separate entity from the physical, or that each person has existed in the past and will be reincarnated in the future. The Face of Power is written for those who already believe such concepts, or are interested in discovering them.It contains controversial material one might question. The book mentions that marriage results from fear of loss rather than feelings of love. It is a matter of ownership. Couples refer to their mates as my wife and my husband. What exactly is it each owns in the other? Their “privates.”Some material might even make one shudder. Guest and Court discuss sexuality, specifically ejaculation. Court says it can weaken the body particularly when it occurs regularly. Semen contains the “best of your body’s proteins, minerals, and hormones.” To ejaculate is to empty the body of this primal substance. At the same time, the blood must weaken itself to provide material necessary to restore the lost ejaculate - nutrients which are no longer available in the blood to nourish and cure other vital body parts. Ejaculate too frequently and “old age will set in quickly.”I would recommend this book with caution, even to those endowed with the same or similar belief systems as Matt Guest. Although it claims to show the way for an individual to reach maximum potential by encountering The Unknown, I found it strange that the initial disclaimer was a rather severe warning: “... all parties involved in the creation and production of this work shall have neither the liability nor the responsibility for any injury caused ... by anything contained herein.” Whether this statement was inserted as an advertising gimmick to arouse curiosity about this somewhat cabalistic book, or whether it is a true warning, the reader will have to decide.

Book Review: Indestructible - The Unforgettable Story of a Marine Hero at the Battle of Iwo Jima by Jack H. Lucas with D. K. Drum

Regis Schilken — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:06:08 EDT

According to Indestructible: The Unforgettable Story of a Marine Hero at the Battle of Iwo Jima, Jack Lucas was 13 years old on December 7, 1941, when he decided to go to war against Japan. He wanted to “make the Japanese pay for the attack on Pearl Harbor.” The United States was soon at war with Nazi Germany, but since it had not attacked America, it was the Japanese Jack picked to fight.Jack’s mother was aware of his resolve to join the Marines but she would not lie and sign admission papers. After he forged her signature, he hugged her goodbye and headed for the recruiting office. Jack would admit there was no real love or respect between him and his stepfather, who assured the recruiting office that Jack was really 17. Jack was accepted as a Marine warrior.At the top of his class in 1943, Jack easily qualified for heavy machine gun operation. But his next assignment disappointed him. Along with nine others, he was to remain in camp to take the place of senior instructors who were shipping out. This wouldn’t work for Jack. He had joined the Marines “to kill the enemy myself ... I was hell bent to go to war.” Ignoring his orders, he went AWOL and jumped the train for California. There, his missing name was added to the roster after he convinced a sergeant a mistake had been made.Indestructible tells of a cocky bunch of Marines who singled Jack out because of his height, and verbally abused him. When a man dared touch Jack’s hat, Jack exploded with a right to the man’s jaw that knocked him unconscious. Punching out a fellow Marine was dishonorable in Jack’s eyes because Marines became his family. Yet he was “never one to accept abuse.” Arriving at Oahu, Hawaii, Jack felt he was finally getting closer to deal with the Japanese, “one body count at a time.” He was as feisty as ever. Too much so. He was locked up 17 times for fights while on liberty. He was thrown into the brig for punching out a Marine and messing up his tent quarters. That Marine called him a runt and refused to give him a light. For this incident, Jack was locked up for 45 days where he pounded rocks 12 hours a day, while awaiting court martial. When released, Jack would wait no longer. He became a stowaway on the USS Deuel heading for the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. On the 29th day at sea, he turned himself in. Although he was an administrative nightmare, eventually he was reclassified as fit for action and assigned to an outfit. At last, he felt he was a real part of the Pacific war operation, “ready to explode at the first opportunity to draw blood.” Jack was now 17.Artillery shelling followed by heavy aerial bombardment softened up the tunneled out Mount Suribachi. Jack scrambled from a Higgens boat into deep water and struggled toward bloody Red Beach shore. Lifeless and wounded Marines lay everywhere, along with scattered body parts. Ruined machinery blocked the way. Yet Jack and his outfit struggled forward through the powder-like sand of Iwo Jima.As a team of four they approached a bunker. Flame throwers were firing napalm deep into enemy tunnels. As the Japanese fled out into a trench, Jack’s foursome killed many at point-blank range. It was here when they were so close to the enemy, Jack spotted two live grenades tossed into his trench. Without hesitation, he covered both with his body, shoving them deep into the loose ash as far as possible with his hand and his rifle butt. To Jack’s recollection, only one exploded, but he may not have heard the second one. The blast lifted him into the air and dropped him on his back.Jack describes the numbness throughout his entire body, the terrible ringing in his ears, the feeling of warm blood oozing from his head, chest, abdomen, and thighs. It ran down his throat. Pieces of wood from his rifle butt were blown into his chest. What little clothing was left was shredded. Because he remained conscious through the entire ordeal, Jack spit out blood in his throat that “cleared the way for life-giving oxygen.”Needless to say, getting Jack and thousands of other wounded men off Iwo Jima was a miraculous task in itself, but he eventually made it back to the States. For his absolute bravery above and beyond what could ever be required by mere military code, Jack was awarded the Medal of Honor. He considers the medal and his association with the Marines as a brotherhood the highlight of his entire life.Indestructible is a fascinating story of one hero, Jack Lucas, who would insist that a similar story could be told by the thousands of service men whose voices were stilled forever on the slopes of Suribachi -- soldiers who never reached the top — soldiers who were killed as they stepped out of their Higgens crafts and struggled to reach The Red Beach of blood.I would recommend this story to anyone who likes to learn about the heroes of “the greatest generation” and what they endured to free this world of tyranny. The story is well-written in the first person. I enjoyed the first half of the book leading up to Jack’s encounter with the enemy grenades, more than the second half replete with the honors and opportunities bestowed on him as a result of his Medal of Honor.As strange as it may seem, although I enjoyed the story and cannot imagine the courage it took to throw his body on two live grenades, I did not like Jack as a person. Yes, he was a genuine hero but numerous times in his dialogue he talks of wanting to “kill Japanese” as if he hated the Japanese as a people when in fact, it was the Japanese leaders and military responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor.Then too, it seems he recalls with pride the number of times he punched out those who disagreed with him, even punching out a man in a hospital. He seemed determined to paint himself as a real tough guy, afraid of no one, no authority, who made his own decisions in spite of military protocol. He would do things his way to get into the war and “kill Japanese.” In the second half of the book, he talks about his broken marriage and the number of failures he encountered attempting to get his life back together. He mentions a second close call with death when, as a paratrooper, a tangled chute refused to open properly, landing him in a hospital. Reading Indestructible was a fascinating story, but Jack’s personality left me cold - making for a courageous hero I respect but have no desire to meet.

Book Review: The Anatomy of Judgment by Philip J. Regal

Regis Schilken — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:09:57 EDT

Philip Regal began writing The Anatomy of Judgment for college science students so they might avoid some of the pitfalls involved in human thinking. However, the completed work is for anyone attempting to make better, more accurate judgments about themselves and the world around them. According to The Anatomy of Judgment, proper thinking “must be cultivated” if one is to escape the layers of influences that already manipulate the Western mind. Thus, Regal’s work studies these influences in some detail.He begins by explaining that much of the Western World’s thought is influenced by the philosophy of the ancient Greeks, particularly Plato and Aristotle. Plato’s world was one of shadows. In earthly existence, humans could not see real objects, but only a reflection of their perfected forms which existed in the ideal world with the Demiurge (God). Upon death, humans would then arrive in the ideal world and see perfected objects for what they really are.Aristotle was much more scientific. He urged students to gather and analyze facts about their world before attempting to make a synthetic judgment about what a thing is. Truth about the underlying substance of a worldly form could only be gotten by sense observation. But The Anatomy of Judgment would caution that the senses are easily misled. A look at the figure below is disturbing because the mind repeatedly tries to make sense of the object but cannot. Although most people feel they make non-prejudicial analyses of the world around them, author Regal would caution against such thinking. The society in which a person is raised has already exerted a certain mind control. The fact that different cultures have often developed far different systems of laws, customs, and arts over long periods of time often leads to serious misunderstandings, particularly when two peoples meet who do not share a common language.Evidence of this is obvious when the Europeans invaded North and South America bringing along their religions, their customs, their value systems, and their goods, and, one might be wont to add, their greed. Clashes were inevitable as the Indians watched white settlers clear sites and build homes and protective forts in what had been their home lands -- their family or tribal garden areas -- their sacred burial grounds. As the line of coastal settlements grew, Indians could no longer reach the ocean for fish and other sea staples. (See National Geographic’s May, 2007 issue: “Jamestown – The Real Story.”)From their earliest invasive landings, Europeans thought negatively about the Indians who they quickly labeled savages when these poor (by European standards) folk attempted to prevent the rape of their territories. In addition, the Indians worshipped non-Christian gods, lived in primitive homes, dressed oddly, and often seemed to follow strange if not frightening customs. American history is gradually being rewritten to show how thoroughly disenfranchised the native Indians became at the hands of white immigrants as settlements grew into more powerful colonies and righteous palefaces moved relentlessly westward.There is little doubt that the land grabbers and Indians ever really understood each other’s culture. Europeans could wage war killing off whole tribes of Indians because they concluded wrongly that these people were sub-human with no rights to American soil. As far as human value judgment was concerned, killing obstinate Indians was not considered a criminal offense or morally wrong. And yet these same righteous tribal killers regularly stood to worship their God led by an equally naive minister.What I’ve said about Indian exploitation is relevant to The Anatomy of Judgment. Regal would hold that when a conclusion is drawn -- whether it be religious, political, scientific, artistic, or about the rights and welfare of the American Indian -- it cannot be made blindly or with prejudice for that judgment to be sound. It must be made with an awareness of all factors that could enlighten the decision so that fair and decent conduct results.One need only look at the blind decision of the United States to invade Iraq with no real stop sign in mind. The influences of thousands of years of Mid Eastern history, religion, culture, and customs were ignored in favor of a quick, political act of revengeful war against terrorism. I would strongly recommend The Anatomy of Judgment be read not just by scientists for whom it was primarily intended. This book is a must read for the politicians who have already shown their overwhelming need to make better judgments after nose-diving our country into another country’s civil war. It is interesting that much of the common citizenry in America has already arrived at the conclusions of Regal’s book while our government is still hunting for the forest in the trees.

Book Review: Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches - The Riddles of Culture by Marvin Harris

Regis Schilken — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 23:05:42 EDT

Marvin Harris points out that human life is not merely a panorama of random happenings of divergent cultures. One wonders how this is so when confronted by the belief systems of peoples around the globe, some of which seem to make little or no sense. He shows that “even the most bizarre-seeming beliefs and practices” are a result of ordinary conditions arising from “guts, sex, energy, wind, rain,” and a “host of ordinary phenomena” built from emerging history.In Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture, Harris begins with an explanation for why the hungry peasants of India do not kill and eat the “sacred” cows which roam the country at will. Does this make sense? Cows are kept alive for the simple reason that killing them is economic abortion. Cows are revered because they provide milk. Their dung can be burned like peat to heat homes and cooking pots. Dung can be mixed with other ingredients and spread like cement across the ground for flooring material. The cows are far less costly than unaffordable tractors for cultivating fields. Finally, cows that freely walk the streets eat most anything, saving the cost of paying street cleaners. Yahweh and Allah denounced the pig as unclean to Jews, Moslems, and some Christians. To even touch a pig or pork meat, let alone taste it made one unclean. Why? Harris traces this phenomenon to several factors. One of the most popular is that swine when left in a watery pen are delighted to wallow in the mud, eating their own urine and excrement. Maimonides (Egypt) in the 12th century claimed that God intended his ban on pork as a health measure. In the 19th century, the discovery of trichinosis in poorly cooked pork seemed to prove his theory. However, it is interesting that God is choosy. He did not decry cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and mules which transmit deadly anthrax while pigs do not.The next topic Harris addresses is the irrationality of war in ancient times and today. He claims that humans are not basically warmongers. In Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches he attempts to show that people invariably go to war because “they lack alternative solutions to certain problems.” He mentions the Maring, a tribe in New Guinea that wars on a regular basis every so many years.Why? Ceremonial war stops the tribe “from eating too much forest too fast.” Each time a defeated tribe is routed from its garden fields, the conquered land is left fallow for many years so that forest plants and cover can regenerate. Harris also denigrates the idea of males being savages by nature. Not so, claims Harris. From ancient times, male physiology and psychology have been bred to favor warrior-like behavior necessary to defeat enemies like the Maring mentioned above. Males are expendable in battle whereas child-bearing women, needed to continue a tribe or race, are not. Without an understanding of another’s belief system, war is necessary for survival. Finally, Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches addresses the idea of messiahs, witches, and witchcraft. The Holy Roman Empire extended over most of what was believed to be the civilized world surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. This Christianization brought about by the spread of Christ’s message as a Messiah brought with it a certain predictable regularity to everyday life. The Christian church provided a format – a liturgy to follow from birth, through life, to death and an afterlife. People literally did not have to think. Baptism brought them into the church where they were told what to believe and how they should live. The church and its clergy provided the leadership to get Christians through heaven’s pearly gates. Of course, to the Jewish people in the Holy Lands, Jesus was not their messiah. His message was one of a gentle life of acceptance, of living and loving, forgiving and forgetting. But The Old Testament is filled with predictions of a militaristic messiah who would come and lead the Jews to triumph over adversity, win back Jerusalem, and rebuild their temple so they could truly live as God’s chosen ones.Anyone who dared speak out against the Christian Church’s abuses and/or its beliefs were labeled heretics. It was against them that Rome first authorized the use of torture to persuade these erring believers to rescind their sinful ideas and agree to return to the Roman Church. Many went underground to form anti-Roman Church organizations. According to Harris, it was an easy logical step to connect heretical beliefs with devils, sorcery, and witchcraft within these secret organizations. Witches, particularly during and after the inquisition, were accused of causing everything from hailstorms, to outbreaks of disease, to death of livestock. Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches reveals some of the ingeniously cruel torture devices used to force persons to confess witchcraft - guilty or not.Harris ends his book by explaining that without genuine knowledge of others and their beliefs, humans can make the mistake of repeating the past. He believes that just as scientific objectivity explained the misunderstanding about cows, pigs, messiahs, and witches, this same objectivity can show mankind the diversity of lifestyles today -- diversity that when misunderstood was responsible for Vietnam, and is now responsible for Iraq -- diversity that determines how nations are forced to interact with their environment, either positively or negatively.While the title of this book, Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches, may seem trite, the material presented makes for a fun, educational read that will demystify some mysterious past beliefs that most take for granted. The material is presented orderly, clearly, and often humorously. I would recommend the book to a reader searching for a tale that reads more like an adventure than a sociological or anthropological treatise. But as the author warns, it must be read in the order presented. Without understanding “cows,” one cannot easily understand “pigs.” Each section builds upon the preceding one. Hopefully, the ideas presented in Harris' book will lead its readers to a better understanding of the human condition.

Book Review: Only a Promise of Happiness - The Place of Beauty in the World of Art by Alexander Nehamas

Regis Schilken — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 02:11:32 EDT

In past ages, artists and philosophers regarded the passion for virtue and wisdom as the catalyst for an educated, honorable, if not heroic life. In Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in the World of Art, Alexander Nehamas explains how this passion, this eros (Plato), often erupted into vivid, intense, and beautiful art forms.Nehamas, like Plato, sees the object of passion or desire as beauty. Desire begins in the senses. To give an example, he speaks of a man in ancient Greece who becomes obsessed with the Adonis-like appearance of a young boy. The man is unable to quench his desire for the youth. Still, safely distant, he continues to delight in the boy's bodily features at every chance. Upon reflection, this man will discover the truth about his passionate longing. It is a deep sexual desire – a love for the beauty of the ideal human body the boy represents. In his example, Nehamas points out that although the man cannot possess the boy in spite of his erotic desire, it is the longing for possession that makes the boy beautiful in the man’s eyes. And so it is with art. A painting, a photograph, a sculpture that provokes this same desire to possess and enjoy, contains authentic beauty.In a deeper sense, one wonders if what a person craves is not the perfection of that form, which Plato claimed existed in his ideal world. He believed that after birth, we long to return to this ideal world where every shadowy form on earth exists as a perfect object. Thus the boy in Nehamas’ example above could also represent male perfection in Plato’s ideal world. In Only a Promise of Happiness, the author draws a similar parallel to various representations of nudes or semi-nude art media. In particular, he mentions how, for several years, Edward Manet’s reclining nude, Olympia, has continued to obsess him. He has tried in vain to find a meaningful gestalt for the entire painting but it eludes him as it has other art lovers and critics. Yet he is drawn to it. Olympia is his enigma. He cannot understand the work yet he desires to possess it, to look at it, to contemplate it, to continue hunting for meaning, knowing that eros drives him to seek what he cannot have or figure out.Nehamas sees a barrier between the way art and beauty are viewed in our time compared to the past. Beauty has become separated from passion. It is “... limited ... to a kind of beauty to which desire seemed inappropriate.” Art today to the general masses has little meaning especially when so many modern art pieces line the walls and hallways of museums. It is empty, lacking zeal. Today’s art is merely aesthetic: easily described in such words as nice, pleasing to the eye, interesting, balanced, colorful, curious, odd, appealing, and any number of similar words.Nehamas would attribute this emptiness to a philosopher like Schopenhauer who helped build the modern barrier between art that is beautiful, and art that is merely aesthetic. The exact opposite of Plato, Schopenhauer’s philosophy claims that the beautiful can never be seen unless all eros for it has been removed. He would contemplate the human body as if it were a landscape, devoid of erotic stimulation or human desire. He even objects to still life paintings that excite the appetite because once the will is stirred, aesthetic contemplation ends.Only a Promise of Happiness can be a fascinating read if one takes the time to examine the figures coinciding with the text along with the colorful plates near the book's end. Nehamas’ language itself is fascinating, often giving rise to thoughts that in themselves are worth contemplating: “Beauty is ... everything we love in a person ... but are unable to say what that is.” This same statement applies to art. A person may like a painting because it would look good on this wall or that, or because it’s just perfect for a room, or because its colors blend with furniture or draperies. One may like a landscape because it is serene and quiet and draws the eyes to a beautiful sunset. But when an artwork is bought because a person loves it – wants to possess it, that individual buys something of beauty, something that provokes unexplained happiness.I would recommend this book to any reader who wants a glimpse inside the theoretical mind of an art lover. Alexander Nehamas is such a person. His fascinating book will show that appreciating beauty is its own reward – is, as he says, “Only a Promise of Happiness!”