Masculinity, Donald Trump, Cultural Cachet, Cultural Biology, Freedom of Speech, Vigorous Political Debate, Automaton Feminized Political Candidates, the Feminization & Neutering of the American Male, the Proposed Iran Nuclear Deal and Why Trump is Winning- by Gary S. Smolker

The Great King David was an extraordinary warrior, an accomplished musician, a skilled author, a man of great wisdom, and a dutiful Sheppard over his father’s flocks.

He was also courageous, passionate and flawed.

Few men in the Bible are as recognized for their manly qualities as he.

As he lay dying, he called his son Solomon to his bedside and gave him final instructions: “I am about to go the way of all the earth.  So be strong and show yourself a man.”

Feminized American Male Political Candidates and Politicians vs. The Pistol Packing Face Slapping Tough Guy From An Old Movie Political Candidate

The United States is at a decisive moment.

The American public is fed up listening to male political candidates who come across as feminized politically correct whimps and robots.

The majority of the American public is fed up with American political candidates who appear to be professional handholders and toadies.

The majority of the American public is fed up with politicians who act like, speak like and walk like a sheep.

The majority of the American public is fed up with politicians who project “a member of the flock” personality .

When robot politicians speak, the public readily feels their lack of authenticity and their smugness and shallowness.

Donald Trump is not one of the unmanly men seeking to become president of the United Sates.

Donald Trump is given to bold talk, bolder strategies, and has an authentic confrontational style.

His confrontational style ranges from brusque to insulting.

On top of that:

1. Donald Trump is disdainful and hostile towards the status quo.
2. His “in-your-face” style, take-no-prisoner-tactics and reputation engender strong feelings.
3. He loves to come on as gangbusters.
4. People get the feeling that Donald Trump is cut from a different cloth than other politicians; they get the feeling he is cut from the same plain course, ordinary cloth that they are cut from.
5. “Hostile” people see themselves when they listen to him speak out against the status quo.
6. Donald Trump is very effective and very successful in relating to people fed up with the status quo.
7. Other people don’t like anything about Donald Trump but enjoy listening to him and like what he is saying.
8. Donald Trump’s take-no-prisoners tactics are very appealing to many people.
9. Many people believe rules and regulations promulgated by the government and the government’s management of many aspects of everyone’s lives has gone too far – the government and its rules regulations and policies desperately need to be cleaned up and cleared out and that Donald Trump is just the bulldozer for the job.

Cultural Biology

Americans, and people all over the world, are raised on a cultural diet of movies portraying manly heroes, i.e. Selma, Mandela – the Long Walk to Freedom, and American Sniper.

The men in those movies were not whimps.

The heroes in Selma and Mandela- the Long Walk to Freedom were hostile and outspoken against the status quo.

The Rebel Instinct

We all have a rebel instinct that makes us instinctively resent being subordinated.

Why Trump Is Winning [updated on August 30, 2015]

Donald Trump has made himself impossible to look away from; everyone wants to know what Donald Trump will say next and Donald Trump’s fans are legion.

GOP Aristocrats have made it clear that Donald Trump is too hot for them (leaders of the Republican Party) and for the Republican party itself, to handle.

That thrills the rebel instinct in everyone who is not a GOP Aristocrat.

Donald Trump talks about things that are on everybody’s mind either before he talking about such things or after he starts talking.

Donald Trump promotes himself and has cleverly undermined his competition, i.e.

• by saying Jeb Bush is low energy;
• by saying all the other candidates are puppets controlled by major donors to their campaigns;
• by saying he is not beholden to anybody because he is not accepting major donations from major contributors;
• by saying he is against political correctness;
• by saying Washington doesn’t work because politicians are (incompetent) don’t know how to get anything of consequence in the real world done.

Donald Trump is in touch with the populist economic and political logic deeply ingrained in the American people and the everyday frustrations of average Americans and the hidden currents of American culture.

People understand what Donald Trump says and care about the things he talks about.

Donald Trump knows what people want.

People want what Donald Trump says he will deliver, “Make America Great Again.”

It is obvious that Donald Trump is a high energy person.

During his campaign Donald Trump has struck a posture of being uncompromising fuck-the-world of business as usual in politics who gets things done in the real world.

Donald Trump has completely out-maneuvered his competition.

Compared to his competition, Donald Trump is always thinking three steps ahead.

This is very appealing to many people.

The Liminal Contours of Human Perception

The human ear does not act as a microphone.

Instead it is an adaptive organ which natural selection has determined should (1) hear and interpret language and (2) provide an early warning system against enormous carnivorous cats.  It is only as good as it needs to be to achieve those goals and no better.

The strongest human instinct is to survive.

Americans do have brains and use their brains.

Their brains have neurons.

Neurons are the basic building blocks of the brain.

Mirror neurons cause humans to “experience” what they are seeing.

For example, if someone who agrees with what Donald Trump is saying or admires Donald Trump for speaking out in plain English in a “manly fashion” when watching/hearing Donald Trump “slay holy cows”  right and left that person will likely (if their mirror neurons are activated and firing) imagine themselves saying it.

Donald Trump appears to have no “off-switch.”

Donald Trump appears to be having a great time, doing “battle” with anyone who gets in his way.

Unlike other candidates Donald Trump does not a “flip-flop” and doesn’t seem to mind insulting other people.

He appears to relish his pugnacious take no prisoners reputation.

People imagine they are like Donald Trump when Donald Trump talks straight and acts tough.

Think of what you experience when you look at a person eating an apple – if you are like many other people you will be able to taste a little bit of that apple in your own mouth.

Mirror neurons cause most people watching other people having sexual intercourse to experience the same pleasure.

That is why Donald Trump is currently leading the polls of Republican candidates for President.

Donald Trump Gives People Pleasure

Watching other people have sexual intercourse on film (pornography) gives many people pleasure.

So much so that pornography is responsible for about thirty percent of the content on the Internet.

In the United States, pornography is about a $15 billion a year business.

I assume Donald Trump’s popularity as a political candidate is the result of the same mirror neuron effect that directly causes so many people to enjoy watching pornography.

Watching Donald Trump campaign for the Republican Party candidate to be the next president of the United States is the best entertainment on TV.

Donald Trump is giving all of us a masterful class in effective communications.

Anger in the United States

Lots of people in the United States, not only Republicans, are angry about many things.

They feel helpless.

They are hostile to the status quo.

For example, many parents, grandparents (including myself) and teachers are mad that standardized testing and rote memory have taken over our public schools.

Below is a copy of part of a note I sent my eldest daughter several minutes ago:

The world of standardized testing and rote memorization has taken over our schools.  Teachers are hamstrung by the battery of No. 2 pencil test and the requirement that they have every student “pass” forced on them.

As a result students are no longer “taught” how to write cursive.  Instead, they are forced to memorize facts.

The most intelligent kids are bored to death.

Smart kids spend their time in the typical public school being prepared to be drone workers. 

The smart kids are not being engaged in learning, they are not having their curiosity stimulated, they are not being exposed to things that will make them “wonder.”

They are being turned off by school instead of having their enormous founts of intellectual energy unlocked.

Smart kids are not being taught to take the risk of being alive.

Only people who take the risks of being alive – who take the risk of failing – cause great things to happen.

The idea that everyone is a winner is ridiculous.

There is such a thing as post trauma success syndrome:

1. People who fail learn from their mistakes which makes them a better person.
2. People who fail increase their tolerance for failure which enables them to take the risks that make new and better things happen. 

If everyone is tricked into thinking they are a winner they will never have their tolerance for failure increased.

The idea that it is more important to “help” the special needs child than the gifted child is also ridiculous.

Our public school systems

1. Are destructive of our kid’s curiosity;
2. Do not support opportunity for our children to wonder;
3. Do not introduce kids to things to wonder about, or increase our kids capacity to wonder. 

By destroying our kids innate capacity for wonder our school systems are destroying the possibility for bright future; “wonder” is the most pregnant human facility for in it are born our art, our science and our religion.

I agree with Neil Armstrong’s statement: “Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.” – Neil Armstrong.

Unless our schools make our kids think, make our kids “wonder”, and introduce our kids to “mysteries” that make our kids think up questions they want to find answers to we are in big trouble.

Donald Trump definitely makes people wonder.

Additionally, Donald Trump makes people feel they are speaking out when he speaks out.

While Donald Trump is addressing facts and issues and things which some people agree with that piss other people off the people who agree with Donald Trump vicariously feel like they are doing that too.

The more some people criticize Donald Trump for being “a bad boy,” the more other people like him and the more “free publicity” he gets.

Donald Trump’s Well Deserved Notoriety and the Early Rolling Stones’ Publicity Campaigns

Many people think Donald Trump is a moron.  He is not a moron.

Donald Trump’s current “thumb in your eye bad boy campaign” to be the Republican candidate for president of the United States mirrors the early (1963) public relations campaigns and crusade to obtain publicity followed by the Rolling Stones before they were well known.

To many, Donald Trump is as mesmerizing as Mick Jagger.

By the way, Mick Jagger and Donald Trump are both a genius, both are a quick study who has successfully climbed a steep learning curve.

Arousing People

GETTING BACK TO WHAT CAUSES PLEASURE: Neuroscientists have determined that it is not merely the suggestion of sex shown in movies/pictures/images that arouses people.

A section of a person’s brain that provides the intense pleasure associated with having sex is “tricked” into believing he or she is having sex in the moment they watch other people having sexual intercourse.

Our mirror neurons fire [are activated] just as easily when we see an action on a screen as when we see it in real life.

We most positively react [via the firing of our mirror neurons] to people doing what we would like to be doing.

We positively react to people who are acting the way we think people should act.

We relate most positively to people we sense would understand and relate to us, to people we think will protect us.

That is the reason Donald Trump is surging ahead in the polls.

Unflagging Energy

Both Mick Jagger and Donald Trump have unflagging energy.

They are extraordinarily mesmerizing and aggressive.

They both have high energy and real world understanding of people.

They take everything to the next level.

They don’t play nice mannered music.

They are slyly subversive and massively appealing.

They have turned the “fame equation” on its head by becoming famous by not sitting up straight, by not behaving themselves and by not being nice.

They know exactly the impact they will have on other people.

In Donald Trump’s case he may be more famous for being infamous – his thumb in the eye political campaign – than for anything else.

They know exactly what they are doing – creating a buzz around them.

They both purposefully became famous by intentionally making you feel like they were putting their “thumbs in your eyes.”

They are a testament to the power of male self-confidence.

Donald the Bulldozer Trump stands out in the politically correct feminized world those of us living in the United States are currently living in.

Masculinity

Feminism and political correctness have emasculated (neutered) men.

Manhood is suffering today.

To be a man you have to do man things.

Many people are asking these days, “Where are all the real men?”

Call to Action

This Is A Wake Up Call:  America needs more real men because nothing great will ever be achieved without great men.

“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“A woman simply is, but a man must become.  Masculinity is risky and elusive…and it is confirmed only by other men.”  – Camile Paglia

“Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain.  And you gain it by winning small battles with honor.”  – Norman Mailer

“Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are, for it shows me what your ideal of manhood is and what kind of man you long to be.”  – Thomas Carlyle

“Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.  For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her.”  – Charles de Gaulle

Thought for the Day

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” – Mark Twain

When U.S. President Obama and U.S. Presidential Political Candidate Hilary Clinton and the establishment of Republican political candidates criticize Hucklebee (spelling ?) for saying the proposed Iran Nuclear Deal is leading Israel to the oven — by saying ‘there is no place for rhetoric like that in politics’ — and no one stands up to defend Hucklebe’s right and ‘duty’ and ‘responsibility’ as a responsible citizen and political candidate to say that — its time for the rest of us to PUKE and to kiss our asses good bye.

You either believe in “free speech” or you don’t.

You either believe in vigorous political debate or your don’t.

If Hucklebe’s critics are the people who are going to lead the United States in the future we are in big trouble.

Hilary and Obama, wake up, context is everything, there is a time and a place for everything.  You don’t pass the “smell test.”

There are many reasons to vote for Trump and many reasons not to vote for Trump.

There are many reasons to vote for Hilary and many reasons not to vote for Hilary.

In the last analysis who you vote for depends entirely upon your imagination.

My Predictions

1. Neither Hillary Clinton, nor Barack Obama, nor the Republican establishment will be able to neuter former Arkansas governor Huckabee or Donald Trump.
2. Hopefully the former Arkansas governor will never be incorporated into a New York Times crossword puzzle, because if he were 50 thousand man hours will be lost to employers the following morning due to the tremendous amount of time  crossword puzzle solvers will spend trying to figure out how to spell Huckabee’s (spelling?) name .

Gary S. Smolker

 

 

 

Copyright © 2015 Gary S. Smolker

Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin – by Gary S. Smolker

Copyright © Gary S. Smolker 2014

Updated June 28, 2014

The only thing that matters is how one feels in one’s own space.

It is very important to be comfortable in your own skin.

As a result of people striving to be comfortable in their own skin -to enrich their own lives- many significant changes are taking place.

 

ONLY YOU CAN BE COMFORTABLE IN YOUR OWN SKIN

We are living in a time of large scale social change, marked by creativity, innovation, questioning of authority, rugged individualism, concern for self, the emancipation of women, changing demographics, wide scale use of smart phones and many other significant life style transformations.

Today, people are devoting significant amounts of their personal time and energy focused on themselves.  Many people are making strong efforts to take charge of their own individual future.

Today, a developing emphasis on the individual and individual responsibility is growing, the power of authority over the individual is constantly being questioned and reassessed, the traditional authority relationship between men and women – granting authority to the men – is undergoing change and scrutiny, and there are significant changes in the racial educational and economic composition of the population in the United States.

The increased emphasis on the individual cannot be over emphasized.

Concern for individualism has vigorously appeared.

Today, compared to times past, women have attained a great deal more responsibility and freedom.

As a result of having more freedom and responsibility women have themselves come to question their traditional family and social roles and reciprocally, males have raised similar questions about male-female relationships.

As women move out of confinement to the domicile, they experience new outlets and opportunities, demand power/empowerment, respect and “equality”, and are more and more interested in change.

Improvements in methods of contraception and the increase in experiential access to opportunities outside of the home have released women for participation in new roles and functions as never before.

As a consequence of “women’s liberation”, on-going debates on issues of gender and racial equality; the government’s ever growing increase of public debt and social change, including laws regarding contraception and birth control; a cascade of new technologies; and, being bombarded by an avalanche of messages, visual images of massive disintegration of society, a steady stream of information and misinformation and ideas; and, as a result of being constantly exposed to loud acrimonious debates over different points of view, it has become impossible for anyone to live in solitude or in the past.

People Are Tired of Being Talked To, They Want to Be Talked With

The mega-trends that are shaping our times have massively accelerated.

One mega-trend is that there has been a seismic shift from presentation to participation in many areas of daily life.  People are fed up with being talked-down-to.

The shift from presentation to participation means that the days of the Gods, sitting up on Mt. Olympus and telling us how things are and what to do, are long gone or rapidly coming to an end.

People are tired of being talked to they want to be talked with.

Today, people can use technology to search for information and to have a global conversation.

People are hyper-connected: As a result of our use of the Internet and other communications technologies we all engaged in a global conversation.

We are using technology to connect with others – not just with people we already know, but with people who have similar or related interests that resonate with us – and not just to search for information.

In fact, it is estimated that 3 billion more people will join the Internet’s community by 2020.

Everyone’s perceptual space, expectations, life style and peace of mind has been shaken up.

Taking Care of Your Body and Mind

People want to feel cared for.

How does that play out in the practice of medicine?

Consider being told by an MD to put an eye-drop in your child’s eye or in your own eye.

Have you ever been told to do so by an MD?

Have you ever noticed that the eye drop falls onto your eye and/or onto your child’s eye then off your [child’s] eye and wondered how much (if any) of the eye drop actually got in the eye?

Health is “emotionally charged.”

If you are told by your physician to put an eye drop in your child’s eye and you see the drop dribbling down your child’s cheek you are going to be stressed out.

Did your physician tell you that is supposed to happen?

The moisture of an eye drop is too much for an eye to handle; part of the eye drop will ALWAYS dribble down your face or down you child’s face!   That is what is supposed to happen!

MDs, for the most part, have no clue that they should tell you that an eye drop you apply to your child’s eye will always dribble down off the eye.

Is your physician or you partially “brain dead?”

It is not “easy” to know what to communicate, or to know how to communicate or to have empathy or to show empathy.

Being “smart” is not enough.

Always ask questions if you don’t understand something!

You are in charge of your own health.

If you have a young child, you are in charge of  your child’s health.

You are in charge of your own life and your child’s life if you have a young child.

Understand Your MD’s Behavior

One of the large scale social changes being experienced today is that many people are appalled at their personal experience of how medicine is being practiced today on a day to day basis ; they are appalled at the lack of scientific curiosity, the lack of social skills, the lack of humanity, and by the medical profession’s lack of understanding of what is required and expected in a physician patient relationship and the money obsessed focus of the mindset of their MDs.

A galaxy of feelings and impressions is involved in a healthcare encounter.  The medical profession has a name for this: “patient experience.”

There is a human dimension to medical care.

If you are one of those people who are disappointed by the way your current MD practices medicine, understand why your physician acts the way your physician acts and get over your disappointment by moving forward.

If your physician is not adequately addressing your educational, emotional, spiritual needs and feelings, doesn’t make you feel cared for, move on.

You have lots of options.

Move forward because only you can be comfortable in your own skin.

We create ourselves in the everyday choices that move us in life.

It is up to us to create our own lives; it is up to us to create the life we want to live.

If you think you are not deriving “value” from your office visits with your physician: Ask your physician questions. Tell your physician you want answers to questions and/or changes in the way your physician treats you.

Demand your physician’s personal attention.

There are many physicians vying for your attention, bringing medical information to you and exposing you to them and their ways of thinking.

Magazine stands and book stores are full of publications which claim to tell you how to take care of your health.

Newspapers and TV shows and radio shows and the Internet constantly publish information on how to take care of your health.

If you can’t have a forthright conversation with your physician and/or you don’t get any satisfaction or enough satisfaction or enough value from seeing your present physician, look for another physician who is amazingly brilliant, touchingly humane, highly trained, superbly skilled, up to date on the latest research findings and medical thinking and who has a great personality, warmth, empathy, great people skills, is practical and puts you the patient first, puts your concerns, your feelings, your condition (physical and mental conditions) first.

Physicians need to treat the soul and spirit of the patient, not just the body.  In the olden days, when most doctors were solo practitioners ministering to patients, the offered patients communication and empathy as well as technical proficiency and excellence.

There are physicians that still do that: there are physicians who care about how well they communicate with patients and conduct themselves as professionals.

Caring, nurturing, knowledgeable, educated, skilled, brilliant and helpful people exist; some of them are physicians.

Even if you are not trained as a physician, you know whether or not you feel cared for.

Move Forward

Take responsibility for your own life.

Accept your “freedom.”

Don’t behave like a helpless puppet.

You are in charge.

REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS

 

Creative talent is a highly adaptive one and involves specific and complicated processes of thought.

Creativity requires an open mindedness and removal of inhibitions.

Practicing medicine, the stress on conformity in the medical profession and psychodynamic forces inherent in the practice of medicine do not encourage open-mindedness.

Many physicians have mental limitations as a consequence of studying to become a physician which are exasperated by their training and which become severely debilitating as they get further and further experienced in the daily routine of practicing medicine day to day.

A MD friend of mine recently mentioned to me that most physicians lose their dynamic sensory and information processing capabilities.

He explained to me that the memorization demands of the natural science/life sciences courses taken before and while attending medical school destroys their capacity to solve problems by thinking creatively. 

According to this friend: A physician’s creative orientation and ability, if they had any, diminishes and finally goes away as they practice medicine.

While practicing medicine their mental capability due to following standard methods which are recipe book like protocols they follow while they are engaged in their day-to-day professional work.

He explained that very few lectures, in medical school, engage a student’s mind. 

Relatedly, he explained that physicians are not taught to think innovatively so that as they work, they can gain insight into patients’ needs and strive to find new solutions. 

In summary: Young doctors are not educated to be curious researchers and inventors as well as knowledgeable, compassionate, and effective healers. 

They are not trained to be physician-investigators. 

Mind Expanding Experiences

Medical training is not entirely a boring brain deadening experience. 

Throughout basic clinical education small groups of students are presented with a realistic case study (in a hospital or elsewhere) of a patient showing special symptoms. 

The students work together to figure out what is wrong with the patient and what to do about it. 

Tasks are assigned by the instructor that allow the medical students to discover the skills and knowledge any doctor needs in treating a patient that is ill, in traditional areas such as pharmacology, anatomy, and physiology.

“Diagnosis” of medical conditions (i.e. problems) does require a limited amount of analysis, called “differential analysis” [a hit and miss way of determining the cause and/or existence of a medical problem], AFTER the problem already exists.

Because medical training revolves around lecturing and the rote presentation of facts and the practice of standard diagnosis techniques it does not foster the curiosity and inquisitiveness that great innovators commonly display.

As a result, in their every day medical practices very few physicians reach or come to medical conclusions on a particular case after completing many studies and giving a matter much thought; instead, they come to their “medical conclusion” re diagnosis and treatment by following a “one-size-fits-all” a recipe in a recipe book. 

Physicians not been trained to become lifelong learners – strong thinkers who are curious and who work proactively to satisfy their curiosity.

They have been trained (some might say programmed) to follow standard procedures – they are in effect highly trained robots, that is why the standard practice of medicine is in the midst of a huge change, it is being overtaken by innovations. 

A willingness to innovate (which is totally lacking in the standard practice of medicine) will determine the clinical, social and economic futures of medicine in the United States. 

The vast majority of the current set of physicians are not willing to innovate.

Instead, the vast majority of  physicians feel compelled to stay within “standards of medical practice” and do not question, or analyze whether such “standards of practice” make “scientific sense” or not. 

They do not experiment or have a willingness to innovate or to explore challenges to currently accepted “medical truths.” 

They are not curiously engaged humans who want to help patients by pushing medicine further.

They are discouraged from making, recording and acting on their own clinical observations which could or would lead to the establishment of new and better medical care, and new standards of care.

Being curious and then designing and caring out experiments to test ideas is one of the most satisfying uses of a mind. 

Most physicians give up their ability to engage their minds in the pleasurable and satisfying activity of doing research when they begin to practice medicine – because to them the practice of medicine is like playing a broken-slot-machine which always pays – and they “think” they will get great pleasure out of making a lot of money and that is why their focus is on making as much money as possible as quickly as possible.

In that regard, almost all medical doctors practicing medicine in the United States today tried to go into whatever medical specialty would make them the most money in the shortest period of time and are obsessed with making the most money they can make from the practice of medicine.

Another one of my MDs friends further explained to me why there is such a pronounced lack of creativity and innovation in the medical profession as follows:

• “Most MDs are one trick ponies.” 
• This friend (a highly acclaimed MD – who does not practice one trick pony medicine) further explained to me – “If you only know how to use a hammer, everything is a nail.”

Energizing the Minds of Physicians

Research projects energize students, engage them in serious science, and generate the kinds of questions that lead to new discoveries. 

A focus on medical research in the training of medical students and in medical practice would give medical students and physicians a richer, fuller appreciation of how their clinical practice fits into the larger world of scientific knowledge and which would enrich and refine their decision-making capabilities.

Adding a research requirement to their education and to maintaining their license to practice medicine would dramatically enhance medical care – help patients by pushing medicine further.

In my opinion, everyone would benefit.

Is It True that Physicians Are “Poor” Businessmen/Have No Business Sense?

Many successful business people have told me that MDs have no “business sense.”

Have you wondered why it is the general feeling among many successful business people that MDs have no business sense ?

Here are some questions I have asked myself in order to gain insight into that issue:

• QUERY:
• (1) How many physicians practicing medicine have thought about what practicing medicine has done to the functional capacity of that “muscle” in their head called their brain as a result of lack of mentally stressful mind-strength building exercise in their daily lives?
• (2) How many care?
• By the way: “Scientific” experiments demonstrate that use of the brain builds neural networks that enable the brain to process information faster and more efficiently.  In other words, using your brain makes you smarter, increases brain function.
• The old saying “use it or lose it” applies to brain function.

GIANTS IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

There are giants in the medical profession who are human wonders.

Also, the conventional make-up of the scientific and educational background, personality, values and world-view of a growing number of people in the medical profession is changing.

I am meeting a physician this afternoon at the check in area of jetBlue at Logan Airport in Boston before I fly back to LAX, Los Angeles International Airport.

This physician has an open mind, but that description seriously understates the reality, which is that he is totally curious and eager to learn and asks question after question.

This morning my daughter and son-in-law took my ten year old grandson to be examined by a retina specialist and a trauma eye surgeon for a follow-up examination.

The first thing the retina specialist and eye surgeon said when he saw my grandson was: “I know how to make toys.  Would you like to see me make toys?”

The surgeon then proceeded to make an origami hopping frog and a flying helicopter.  He precisely folded pieces of paper and precisely tore pieces of paper with his own fingers.

When he was done those pieces of paper had been transformed into a hopping frog and a flying helicopter.

This is a true story – someone with that dexterity and people skill actually practices medicine as an eye surgeon in Boston.

He is an expert in the retina of the eye.

The rest of the members of the clinical medical team have extraordinary expertise and are just as kind and as extremely accomplished and competent physicians as the toy making eye surgeon who made toys for my grandson just before examining his retina early this morning.

Males Being Rebuffed by Stunning Women

One young woman friend of mine [a beautiful and smart woman] rejected her parents desire that she marry a doctor because she thinks the single MDs pursuing her (young Ferrari driving money making obsessed male physicians) are too lacking in substance, she thinks they are shallow self-destructive individuals and if she dated any of them or married anyone of them she would be doomed to living a tasteless meaningless life. 

This young lady doesn’t want to have the emotional burden such physicians put on the women who prostitute themselves to gain that type of physician’s tasteless attention.

She considers their lack of “substance” to be a “sick” situation which will lead those shallow people to “self-destruction” and being in a constant state of extreme unhappiness. 

She is concerned about their mental health.

It is her opinion that those Ferrari driving young MDs did not go into medicine to help people but instead went into medicine because they are insecure and feel worthless as human beings: they will always be striving to compensate for their feelings of worthlessness and insecurity through fantasies of “greatness” which they have striven to realize by becoming a physician.

It is her opinion that her Ferrari driving young MD suitors

•  Believe they will prove their worth to their parents by being an MD.  They psychologically are not well formed or mature adults.  To the contrary, they will have a never compelling need to obtain their parents’ approval, the approval of the rest of their family and of their community and her approval by being a money making machine.

• The feeling of lack of worth has been so consuming in their lives that nothing short of overwhelming financial success will make them feel acceptable.

 

It is her opinion that those young men are unhappy and will always be unhappy.

 

For all the reasons listed above, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with any of those young suitors.

Other, dynamically accomplished women (who coincidentally are smart and stunningly beautiful) I have talked to are totally turned off by the phoniness they are being subjected to in the business and social world they inhabit. 

They feel they are “prized” by successful men as status symbols and are not adored or appreciated prized or cherished for being the warm caring persons who they are or for the good companionship and loyalty they have to offer —

• One beautiful smart successful woman explained her mindset:  She is revolted at being cast in the role being a dynamic businessman’s Gucci purse. 
• She is revolted at being a prestige high status decoration. 
• Another beautiful smart successful woman explained to me that the pressure of being phony – while accompanying her successful husband at ‘society events:  While at parties and social events the amount of phony interest she must display and being forced to be entertaining she is is too emotionally exhausting. 
• She would rather stay home and watch TV than go to another party in the star studded world she lives in.  The routine of being a member of high society is maddening.  Doing the same thing day after day, year after year, is maddening to her.  She cannot imagine anything more boring than living her present high society life. 
• The routines people in her social circle have taken up are tasteless. 
• She is a rugged individualist, who is physically fit and intellectually cultured, who can’t stand the “over-civilized life” she is forced to live. 
• The boorishness and meaninglessness of her existence tests the very limits of her endurance. 
• She is resolved to escape her present life.

 

• These women know who they are and who they want to be in a very fundamental way.
• They have self knowledge.
• They are dedicated to protecting their dignity in their money-driven every day world where their souls and status as a person are constantly under attack.
• They realize how precarious the balance is between creation and annihilation and destruction in the life they lead and in the business world they and the men in their lives inhabit.
• In that world everyone always is seeking investors and to make more money.
• In such a world everyone feels they must “look” successful.  They must spend a lot of money on clothing and cars and houses and jewelry, etc. etc. etc.
• However, the “thinking” women described above – who are moving towards becoming the persons they want to be, and have understood who they are and the psychodynamic forces at play in the world work – don’t want to be emotionally and financially dependent on a man or to be his “eye candy.”
• They are not hostile or bitter or resentful.
• Nor do they have destructive feelings.
• They know what they want.
• They want to be loved and to love; they want to receive bliss and to give bliss.
• They want to give and receive care and nurturance.
• They are not fickle.
• Their sexuality and emotions are inextricably intermingled.
• Their bodies wear the smile of accomplishment; they emote a subjective sense of freedom.

SOCIAL STATUS AND NUMBING OF A PHYSICIAN’S BRAIN 

The practice of medicine [which is viewed by brilliant people as a “game” of association] attracts “smart people” but overall does not attract or hold the attention of people with the most “brilliant” minds.

I recently flew from Los Angeles International Airport to Logan Airport in Boston.  

The person sitting next to me on my flight from LAX to BOS told me that 4 out of his 6 closest friends/classmates – fellow students at Cal Tech – “wanted” to be MDs during their freshman year at Cal Tech.

He also mentioned that after taking pre-med courses for a year or two, half of them decided they didn’t want to be MDs. 

He implied that his fellow Cal Tech undergraduate student closest friends saw the handwriting on the wall:  “Brain Death”  would happen to their brains if they continued to prepare for the practice of medicine and “heaven forbid” if they actually became practicing physicians they would lose their acute highly developed ability to think.

He concluded and his friends concluded that practicing medicine would be an act of self-destruction.

He expressed his understanding to me that he and his friends at Cal Tech have hyperactive dynamic thinking alert minds that are always on the go and which need to be fueled by and are energized by having constant new challenges and experiences.

That Being Said: He concluded that being a MD would be too boring an existence ant that being an MD would cause his hyper-active highly functional brain to atrophy.

He mentioned that the smartest people in the world attend Cal Tech —

• Cal Tech students have the highest SAT scores —
• Additionally, it is a small elite school.  There are only 1,000 undergraduates, 1,000 graduate students and a faculty of 1,000.

• This leads to lots of interaction between students with one another and with faculty which is prized by everyone.

• The faculty wants to teach the most brilliant students.

• The most brilliant students want to be taught by the most brilliant faculty and to interact with other brilliant students.

THE BABY BUST AND ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET OF THE SO-CALLED “SMARTEST, BEST AND BRIGHTEST”

Recently, while visiting my eldest daughter Terra, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, I read the Winter 2014 issue of WHARTON Magazine.

“Wharton” is a prestigious business school in the United States.

One article described a study which compares Wharton graduates who graduated in 1992 (the class of 1992) with the class of 2012 in terms of the number of graduates who plan to have children.

The study found that the number of Wharton graduates planning to have children has dropped nearly by half over the past 20 years.

These averages are equal for men and women.  They are both dropping out of parenthood.

This change in plans is not unique to young business professionals.  It’s part of a larger trend: a nationwide baby bust.

Across the United States, births have dropped precipitously.  In 1992, the average US woman gave birth to 2.05 children over the course of her life.  By 2011, it had dropped to 1.89, well below the replacement rate of 2.10.

Another article in the Winter 2014 issue of WHARTON Magazine reports that:

• The amount of interest in entrepreneurship at Wharton is just crazy.

• Historically the school has been associated with careers in finance and consultancy.

• For the first time, more Wharton students are interested in starting companies than in buying them.

• A growing number of Wharton graduates are willing to trade wing tips, three-star Manhattan restaurants and Tribeca lofts for sneakers, take-out pizza and sleeping under their desks as they race to get a product out the door.

• In fact more members of the Wharton graduating class of 2013 started a company than joined a hedge fund.

Our civilization has reached a tripping point.

Many people want to exercise freedom by (a) expressing who they are, (b) by experiencing who they can be, and (c) by living their life to the fullest.

They have concluded that the most important thing in their lives is to be comfortable in their own skins.

GSS