Too much of...anything

Too Much of Anything

Destabilizes Us.

TOO MUCH of anything destabilizes us, and the body and mind suffer, as well as others, in the community, organization or the like.

The Swedish language has an appropriate term for adequate condition, which is “lagom”. It means somewhat like:  “balanced”, “enough” or “adequate” or “lack of excess”.

As fuzzy as ordinary languages are, --and special languages have been invented for precision: like math, music, literature, lets leave it at this--; some languages chose precision, or lack of it.

Probably most common languages, have words or expressions for this. Many events, or situations  are  rather ambiguous or sometime have a “too much” quality. But people speak and deal in very informal ways; it’s a fact.

Changes are inevitable. Change is built-in the fabric of life and reality. Our body changes—we all know—the environment changes (physicist call this “the second law of thermodynamics” as degradation of matter) and so forth.

Mind changes, society changes. The whole universe is in motion, many times we do not like it al all, but cannot avoid it either, it is a law of life and the universe.

So whether we like it or not, we are “forced” to change; and sometimes it is “too much.”

Daily life, for generations, has shown these patterns of change once and again, and excess or restraint come and go. Some of this is being researched by brain and behavior neurosciences.

This is an account of common experience.

There are six extreme states of “body-mind” everyone can experience in relation to “outer” conditions, which might become problematic. 

SIX TYPES OF “TOO MUCH”

1. Too much wealth or fame; fosters greed, pride and attachment of all kinds.

Money is fine, reputation is also good. However, too much –richness or fame--easily destabilizes us. When this has happened to a person for a decade or two, all evidence suggests, people become destabilized in many ways.

2. Too much poverty or lack of livelihood means; foster fear, anxiety and a “poverty mentality” (low self-esteem).

Chronic lack of material means, poverty, is an issue. In this extreme condition, the mind becomes obsessed with food, and hunger ensues, and the search for f goods and other complications follow. Lots of problems may come form this condition. We all know this.

 
3. Too much sex; fosters intense attachment to the body, and usually makes one “puffed-up” and of course, distracted.  

Sex life has three functions. The two most common ones are reproduction and shared pleasure and intimacy in a couple for its own sake. Most people who want to increase their satisfaction in early or informal couples, practice sex life in a non-reproductive manner. All societies regulate sex life in different manners.

Recent research shows evidence, that sex for intimacy is good for health in the short run (days or weeks).  However, as relationships and attachment are established, couple relationships become much more complex and demanding. So in the long run (months or years), sex alone, is not enough to overcome anxiety and dissatisfaction in a couple.

4. Too much alcohol or problematic drugs: make one stupid, foggy-minded, lonely and fighting for irrelevant things.  

Alcohol and drug abuse themselves are not a problem, it’s craving and attachment, to the point of intoxication and aggressive behavior. Evidence shows, there is no “typical” alcohol “abuser”, anyone could become one; perhaps some people more or less prone than others.

One of the problems with alcohol and illegal drugs is that the body requires more and more each time, to produce the same pleasurable effect. In medical jargon this is called “tolerance”. So addiction sets in, and toxic amounts of residual substances accumulate and destroy organs. The “down spiral” goes on and on, cognitive qualities suffer and affective behavior is confused, erratic and increasingly problematic.

5. Too much illness and pain; drive us to be absent mindedness, to complain, and to fear. 

Some pain, all of us can tolerate; however excess pain, usually drive people insane, or they break apart. Medicine has made great strides in pain management.

6. Too much work or stimulation, propel us to unhappiness, isolation, pain and absent-mindedness.

Too many people are overworked and underpaid, as the British say. Lots of media use throughout the day, and being always “connected” –day and night--, is excess stimulation. The mind become obscure the body tenses and is stressed.

When people get out of balance they suffer, become intoxicated or sick, so does the community and maybe organizations.

All this has one single origin: a selfish and self-centered attitude.  This is difficult to recognize, even to accept, because it is so subtle, most people will disregard it.

When mind dwells in itself, self obsession might become paramount and inadvertently damages others and ultimately it boomerang and bounces back to one.

Too much of what?

What do we mean by too much? Let consider only a statistical definition. Those people who are in the range of-- minus and plus three standard deviations-- in the statistical “Bell curve”,  of the population in the sensibility or these different traits, account for some 97% or more of all populations.

So how much is too much? It all depends on thresholds, sensitiveness and other parameters of people.

What about Mind?

Yes, what is mind? Since this is not an academic paper, we will roughly say it is cognition, affect and where behavior originates from. Some equate mind to brain activity, some others to consciousness, and yet others equate mind to culture. We neither will nor elaborate further.

There is an old saying about change: “too little, too late.”

This is a long quote. Please be patient and bear with me.

 "Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter.
"I do not understand," said the little prince.
"There is nothing to understand," said the lamplighter. "Orders are orders. Good morning."
And he put out his lamp.
Then he mopped his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares.
"I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable. I put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening I lighted it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep."
"And the orders have been changed since that time?"
"The orders have not been changed," said the lamplighter. "That is the tragedy! From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed!"

The Litte Prince- Anrtoine de Saint-Exupery

 

Gustavo Jimenez Lagos

May, 2011

V.6