The Root Cause

1. We discussed problem solving in my cognitive psychology class. Getting at the root cause was one technique or formula or something. I admit, I don't pay attention in class. No qualifiers for that statement, I just don't do it. Anyhow, I remember root cause being written on the chalk board. And now I will explain the root cause to our countries problems (analogously, and in a make-believe way). As I sat at our kitchen table this evening eating bacon and cheddar flavored cheese from a can, with crackers, a beam of light shown down and inspired me. The cause to all of our problems is processed cheese in a pressurized can that doesn't need refrigeration. There are three issues here: 1. processed cheese 2. pressurized can 2. plus 1, meaning 3. (I typed 2 instead of 3 and just ran with it) doesn't need refrigeration.
   1. Processed Cheese. This is a problem because it represents how far from natural we have gotten. Our lives are full of counterfeit attempts at reality. Just turn on MTV or any of the network channels during prime-time. Reality is Facebook and television? For some of us it is, maybe not all of the time, but more than we might realize. There were once ideas that some characteristics, virtues and rules/laws were natural. There were rights that were free by virtue of being a human. People didn't need to pay for water or for air. Folks were free to pursue their interests and industry. For the most part we still can, but I think it is sometimes helpful to look at the direction rather than the location. Are we on an upward, downward or neutral slope? The point is that everything is processed, or forced, or legislated. Processed cheese is an amalgamation of other types of cheese, created specifically for its "manipulatable" qualities. It is an interesting connection for us "paranoid" types to make about life these days. With an over-encroaching government (in my opinion) it seems that we are becoming processed cheese. Look it up. Head over to Wikipedia and read about processed cheese and its advantages. See if you can draw some similarities between the stuff and whats going on in the U.S. these days. What reality are you living in? There was once a great deal of importance put on "natural" and "unalienable" and "basic," and now there seems to be a swing of the pendulum over to "processed" and "dependent" and "bureaucracy."
   2. Pressurized Can. There is a warning on the side of the cheese can which says to be careful because the contents are under pressure. Along with our being processed, we are lazy. Does it get lazier than cheese from a can with a slight press on the nozzle of the can? A sharp cheddar IV drip is the only way I could think of making it easier. Maybe that's the next breakthrough in junk food. There once was a time when people had to work to eat. They had to. If they didn't work then they didn't eat. There are still many people who embrace that principle, but there are some who would rather whine, protest and elect corrupt people into government office for their food than to work for it. Getting something for nothing, especially the "essentials" is not good for people. I'm not anti-gift giving, quite the opposite, I love giving things to people, but continuously receiving something for nothing creates dependency. Look at all of the Hollywood stars gone bad. Something for nothing leads to entitlement which leads to dependency. If I don't have to work for it I begin to lift myself up and think that I am deserving of the handout. Then I expect it and if I don't get it I become a little stinker. Eventually my ability to get what I need on my own atrophies. At which point I become dependent on the giver. I wrote up some of these thoughts in more detail back in May, http://ajaxswhimsicalrevolution.blogspot.com/2010/05/long-paragraph-regarding-my-thoughts-on.html. A can of pressurized cheese isn't evil. I am using it as a means to an end in describing how I think that tendency towards "something for nothing," as well as laziness, is one of our major problems in the world today.
   3. Doesn't Need Refrigeration. This is where the analogy gets deeper. Or sounds more like I'm contradicting myself. In point one I suggested that we have strayed from natural, which is bad. I am now going to say that natural, when left alone, becomes corrupted. Cheese, left without refrigeration becomes corrupted; not that it participates in shady deals with people who have criminal tendencies, but rather it spoils so that you don't want to eat it. I just said natural is the state we want, but now I'm saying that natural isn't self-sustaining. Stick with me. Cheese needs to be refrigerated, but cheese in a can doesn't. The cheese in the can has been manipulated so far from its natural state (ignore that cheese is milk manipulated from its natural state. We aren't adding that into this analogy) that it no longer is in danger of going bad without refrigeration. Perhaps it isn't even cheese any more. That's what I'm trying to get at, without the need for refrigeration you no longer have cheese. How is this representative of a problem we see in the world today? Without God people are no longer people, not in their truest form. I believe we need God to survive well. Many people survive, but do they survive well? Again, a very subjective matter to discuss. I'll keep it simple (if that is still possible): real cheese without refrigeration will spoil; real people without God will spoil.
   The forces that processed the cheese, put it under pressure and made it not need refrigeration are like the forces that are processing us, making us not want to work and leading us away from God. I'm not saying that Kraft foods is out to destroy us, at least, I can't confirm that they are or are not. I am saying that while I was eating cheese from a can, bacon flavored cheese at that, I realized that there are some similarities between cheese and people. And maybe that means something.
   This account is farce, but with underlying ideas to think about, as disjointed as they may be. I am living a personal revolution. There are two primary uses of the word revolution: an orbit around a fixed point and a process of changing power or control structure (paraphrased from the American Heritage Dictionary and Wikipedia, respectively). I would say that my personal revolution is attempting to fit both definitions. I am trying to change my personal power struggle with myself as well as correct my orbit around a fixed point. Perhaps I can use the example of cheese in a can to help me accomplish my revolution.