Terry Lloyd's Blog, page 58

Religion

On researching information for one of my characters in my story Archaeopteryx.
It was necessary to contrast different religions, but it was not until I came across the four diamonds in Buddhism that I realised, the core of most religions whether monotheistic or not, have the same fundamental principles.

If the followers of respective faiths truly carried out their declared beliefs the should be harmony and peace throughout the world.

If you have not decided on a religion I suggest you keep the sayings of Confucius in mind.

Forget injuries, never forget kindness.

When anger rises, think of the consequences.

Know yourself.

After some tragic public news of a suspected suicide of a well known actor it occurred to me.
Given the circumstances how well do we all know our selves and how would we cope under unbearable pressure. I recall a famous expert on bringing up children whose own son committed suicide. Of course may be from remorse he stated all his books on child care to be rubbish.

I think there is nothing wrong in pursing wealth and fame if you do not loose sight of the really important things in life. Such as human relations and your own integrity.

Just one final point in a famous psychological experiment. A group of students were split in half and asked to take on the role of prisoners and guards. After a short time the girl friend of the chief doctor conducting the experiment was so horrified at the beastly conduct of the guards she pleaded with the doctor to stop the experiment. Several of the students suffered physical
and mental damage.

It is so easy to be swept away with what is going on nd not take the time to look at what we are doing and the consequences.

Medicine.

Sometimes in life I become so involved with every day events, I loose the ability to really see the obvious. I have been fortunate to recover from a cardiac incident, which I am very grateful to the skilled doctor who carried out the procedure. On leaving hospital I have been prescribed
half a dozen medicines most of them have side effects.

I am puzzled on looking on the internet there are so many natural alternatives with good benefits for long term health.

Every person must make their own choice but that is influenced by the information available.

Doctors on the whole do not say you can have an aspirin or you can have a choice of garlic, cocoa, or green tea which will act in a similar way to thin the blood and reduce blood clotting.

It is amazing how many every day foods can have such a positive effect on your health.

Look after yourself.

One of the most important factors of enjoying life is health. This fact was brought home to me on suffering a cardiac incident. I was fortunate that a short keyhole procedure could alleviate the
most life threatening condition but I was amazed when told the other arteries were in less than perfect condition.

It happened that I was reading a book entitled Nothing. One of the chapters covered a unique pill called exercise. This reminded me of a TV program that showed the blood of people just after eating and the blood samples where thick and cloudy. Then after a walk another blood sample from the same people showed the blood to be clear and healthy looking. So it would appear exercise helps the body to assimilate and distribute the food that we eat.

Studies have shown people who take about one hundred and fifty minutes of mild exercise a week have a forty per cent less chance of heart disease.

True perspective.

On research into possible scenarios for future stories I came across two amusing anecdotes.

The was a famous and expert swordsman who had become tired of killing his foes.
He was being challenged and pursued by a persistent young man who would not accept his decline to fight him. The expert Swordsman relented and said tomorrow come and we will arrange a place for battle. In the morning the young man was eager to commence the fight but the expert Swordsman said follow me and stepped into a rowing boat and they rowed out to the middle of the lake, to a small island. The young man jumped on to the island and drew his sword. He swung the blade and twisted and turned it in a dramatic display of skill. It took a few moments
before he noticed the expert Swordsman rowing the boat away from the island leaving the fuming young man stranded but alive.

The second anecdote concerns a man who had no skill as a swordsman but for honour had been forced into a fight. He went for advice to the expert Swordsman. “Prepare yourself to die. Raise your sword with both hands and wait for the one time your adversary steps within striking distance and bring your sword down.” The opponent fiend attacks but saw the resolute way the sword stayed motionless waiting for the final time to strike. He realised he could not win without losing his own life so he agreed a draw and honour was satisfied.

On reflection.

In a famous science fiction story the main character fell asleep for a hundred years and had problems coming to terms with the result. In a way we all will experience the passing of time.

For me it was a normal day. It had never occurred to me how I felt and thought as a teenager only to see a reflection that brought home the stark reality.
How could it be I saw a man's face
several generations older than my own fathers. In my mind I felt no different than those early days full of youthful vigour.

Where did the saying “your only as old as you feel,” come from?
People seem to delight in pointing out my passing years may be not realising the psychological damage their careless remarks have.


But on reflection would I like to return to to my teenage years? The answer is a definite no because I believe life should be lived fully no mater what your age.

Take a moment to reflect.

Life is something we do not always appreciate or have a knowledge of how it will take us and what this may mean. Not long before I wrote this I had an experience which made me question a lot of my choices, and as I looked at what I had achieved in life I realised that every second counts and you do not know how long you have to be that person you are.

Life is about choices and we have a part in being the person we feel we should show to those we love and to act in a way which helps those around us. I did not think about what my life meant to those around me until I was left at that second to face life and what it would mean if that last breath did not come.

People are what make us and it is those times that we have as a collective with those we love which enable us to point to those times in our heart.

We live with our aims and our family around us but do we give those second to think about what those aims and those people mean.

Being able to have time to write has let me look at what things mean in terms of how they matter. I have been able through writing the ability of knowing myself and how I think.

My life is something that I do appreciate but in recent days I have been able to learn that life is so much what you make it to be.

Do live as you feel and know you should and I live life to the full knowing how much love is shared between myself and those around me

Life and it's meaning.

I have long had a feeling that there is more to life than what we realise. There are so many levels of thought about what life means and more to the point what the time line has meant for the shaping of us as human beings. I have used this as a basis for posing the question of what life could be if only one element no longer acted in line with our time process and certain people were sent back in time over hundreds of thousands of years. Would we act as we do and would we be able to come out of the evolution period in the same way.

It can be the conclusion of many and does reasonably have a place to put forward the thought people are only as capable as the time they live in.

We are tied by our technologies, our thought on scientific understanding and how we feel about our counter parts.

I tried through one thought to transfer a situation and put a condition on people which would make or put a full stop to our line as human beings. In each person there is the ability to be that point for change and to be that one person who could through their action make or end humanity as we are today.

It is a point to consider if put in a position that you are not adapted to and if you are placed one morning in a different situation to how you were would you be able to be that one person who takes control of the few left. Would you be able to meet what is needed to make your life count. If the basis of humanity rested with you and you had to live in a life with no idea the same as it was and you were only one of the few could you live that life. Who would you be..

Fear.

An important theme in science fiction writing is fear. In my own personal life the ability to swim had eluded all my hard work to attain that goal. The mental block is the fear of drowning and
having a vivid imagination reinforced that fear.

My first encounter with water was very short and unpleasant. My father in his early days was athletic although small but wiry and with a flexible physique. He had taught all the local children how to swim with his own technique. He would sit the child on his shoulders and jump straight into the local canal. He was an excellent swimmer and was at hand to ensure the safety of the child who had a stark choice sink or swim. Many years later after I was borne My father had a chronic medical condition that inhibited his normal style of teaching how to swim. My father had lived in the North of England before moving down South and on the fateful day chose the river Thames as the closest the was to a canal. I was in awe of my dad and what ever he said was it. The day was lovely and sunny. People were picnicking as my dad commanded . “Jump in the water lad.”

Nobody had checked to see the depth of the Thames and in fact the water was so murky I could not see the bottom. Lucky for me my feet hit the soft slimy ooze which covered my ankles. The last thing in my mind was swimming all I wanted was to get out quickly. I started complaining “It's horrible in hear, can I get out?” My father replied “Come on Son make an effort.” With no other choice. I pitched forward under the surface swallowing the foul liquid as it went up my nose I started thrashing my arms and legs. I regained my position upright but much deeper in the ooze and now the level of water was frighteningly high. I think my Mother had become a little alarmed at seeing her offspring spitting out mouthfuls of Thames water and said. “ Would you like to learn to swim in the local swimming pool?” Dad was not happy, but I certainly was to get back on to dry land.

Over the next few years my school had arranged regular trips to the swimming baths. The was a small group of non swimmers and when it cam to practising to swim I fared no worse than any of them. We would face the side of the swimming bath with arms outstretched grasp the side then horizontal with the level of the water kick our legs furiously. At one of the sessions I bumped into a girl that lived not far from me and secretly I had a school boy attraction for her and I was so overjoyed at her generous offer to help me with my quest to swim. She persuaded me to lie on my back and she slid her arms under my body for support. everything was going fine for one second and then I was submerged faster than a submarine water rushed up my nose in my mouth and ears I panicked with the feeling of drowning. My young trusted Venus thought it would be funny to push me under the water. Despite her pleas to return I felt humiliated and knew I could never trust her. At the start of the winter break my father asked. “Can you swim Lad?”
The truth was I always felt I had the ability to swim and was so close but that fear kept getting in the way. “No dad but I am sure I am very close.” My Father instructed “This weekend you will take the bus to the swimming pool and learn.”


As I walked from the bus stop to the entrance of the swimming pool my breath turned into frost in the biting cold wind. The swimming pool was deserted except for the ticket lady wrapped in a thick coat and a coloured scar covering her hair. “Is this your first time hear?” She enquired.
“Yes I was hoping there would be somebody that could help me to swim, but there is no body else hear.” I paid for my ticket then thought. “Can you swim?”
“No dear I am sorry.”

I Lowered my self into the freezing water and did my usual churning of the water and looked with despair at the empty swimming pool and thought what bad luck.
.
Over forty years later my wife and I visited a local private hotel that had a heated swimming pool open to the public. I had talked to my wife about my regret that I could not swim.

Sitting on a chair at the side of the pool my wife talked to me. “Lay your head back as if you laying flat on your back on a bed.” I took a gulp of air and kept my my mouth and nose closed
and let myself fall back. “Straighten your body and legs so you are horizontal and relax.”
To my surprise I did not sink. “Breath normally and gently move your arms by your sides.”
It was a miracle in less than five minutes my fear of water had been controlled.

Homo sapiens.

When I started to write my story I found many examples of time travel.

I began to think what would make my story stand out and at the same time humans display a complete belief in their superiority. Could it be by chance one simple event could have resulted in a world with no humans at all.

When I did some research the appears to have been competing different lines of early bipedal apes. The fact that modern day man has survived is the result of evolution.

But could it be with some help from the present to ensure homo sapiens would be victorious.