Intellectual Obesity

I recently ran across this concept in another blog. The meaning is simply that with time, money and other pressures piling up, we choose the path of least resistance when it comes to our fun time. The quickest way to get our 'fix' is with video games, silly movies and shallow sitcoms. Instead of meaningful movies, books or activities, we deal with this like we do food. Busy people may know that driving through a burger place isn't healthy, and that it is far better to create a good meal yourself. But time is limited, so here is another happy meal for Junior! Fast Food entertainment is also quick and easy. Fun as Family Guy may be, there is nothing thought provoking there, and nothing to be gained aside from some chuckles and time spent.

It may be difficult to sit and read, for example, Russian literature, but you have to create the desire first. To create the pressure to motivate you, you need to have outlined goals. For instance, I once had a goal of reading all the Harvard Classics books in our Library. I started out with Plato and worked my way onward. If I had not set this goal, this 'pressure', I would not have read it. I would have immersed myself in light fiction or magazines. I had to have the desire to do so, and realize that there was a purpose.

I have often thought that we entertain ourselves out of habit, not because we need it or have earned it. Most people don't know any other way to live. They have not considered any form of self improvement because it is a foreign concept. And our education system fosters this as well. The belief is that if you aren't educated by a trained professional, that is a teacher, then don't bother. If you must drop out of school and enter the workplace, you will be taught all you need to know for that job. I assume our goals after that are to be good consumers and spenders.

I also like to play games and read fiction. I enjoy movies that aren't intellectually stimulating. But I also desire self-improvement. So I opt for working in more meat into my 'down time.' There are so many things I want to experience before I die, and re-runs of sitcoms are not on the menu, at least not constantly. To be intellectually healthy, we need challenge. You need to know that you are just enjoying a shallow experience for a bit, then get on with making yourself a better person.

In the concept of Warriorship, leisure time is a small interval. It may be spent with the family. Who hasn't had a show that you watched with family or friends? It may be your way of recharging emotionally. But the Warrior takes his life seriously...just not him self. That is, I want to be accountable for my actions and know that most of my time was well spent, and that when I found myself lacking, I improved. I can't see that happening watching re-runs of Three's Company on Netflicks helping me achieve this goal.

I would make our shallow, fast-food quickies more of a guilty pleasure or a reward after completing a goal or project and not the norm. That is the nature of yin and yang as well- after a very busy time, a time of inactivity. It is just, striving to be Warriors, we structure even our down time. We desire to be quality people, and not experience a disposable, drive-through life.