Posted by Iago Camboa on August 31, 2002, at 11:33:27
In reply to Re: Mercola and Quackwatchers » sjb, posted by BarbaraCat on August 21, 2002, at 17:00:01
Dear Barbara,
I take your message below to 'respond to' because you sometimes surprise and astonish me with your writings (in a definitely positive sense, which communicates me serenity and peacefulness). I also learn about life from you and feel very happy to have your appreciated and most valuable friendship... Wish it can last and endure with the passing of time - at least as long as there is a computer and Net and PB...
I found so very 'interesting' your statement that "In order to be a shaman, it was required that the initiate was 'touched by madness' as well as possessing other more beneficial gifts." It is very true, though sometimes the actual words were 'touched by the god (which the Ancient Greeks called Dionysus and sometimes Bacchus)' instead of 'touched by madness' but with the same sense... But what is important to me it is neither the words nor the 'grammar', but the knowledge I have that we both have felt it in the past and will feel it again...
BTW, the movie you so vividly recommended me, 'A Beautiful Mind' (do you remember?) will be available since next Sep 12 in a Video Club near where I live and I will have the opportunity to see it about then at home (it passed in the cinemas here about one year ago): it interests me very much both for the very interesting theme and for the (celebrated) main role interpretation. I will not fail to tell you my impressions about when I see it.I've spent 10 days in a very beautiful village surrounded with mountains all around and through which streams one of the 'last' unpolluted rivers in Europe, by name 'Paiva' (rare even in this country, which is today full of polluted rivers as elsewhere in Europe). That village happens to have been my mother's and her 6 brothers & sisters' birthplace and though no one from my aunts & uncles (my mother included) continued to live there when adults they all kept visiting there during vacations (with their wives or husbands, as appropriate, and their children) - this I call the 1st generation - of which only 3 survive (92, 85, and 84 y.o. - one uncle and two aunts, one of these the widow of one of the 7 'original' siblings).
Their children: we were 12 cousins, 8 males and 4 females, all very close and all married and with children (2 of the males now dead), the eldest being now 59 and the youngest being 42 , I am at the middle - this I call the 2nd generation. Next there is an even more numerous 3rd generation (27, between 35 and 4 y.o.) and a 4th generation (between 14 and 1 y.o.) and still growing. We gathered once some 6-7 years ago in a 'gigantic barbecue' in the 'garden' of my grandparents' venerable house - contiguous with the older house of my grandparents' grandparents - and were 56 at the time (wives and husbands (as appropriate) and children included) with about 15 absent; at least 6 died since but many more were born or have married meanwhile so the estimates are about 75-80 the total now.For a traditionalist like myself it is always very exciting to spend a few days with several members of the family (we were 27 (a few have left and others have arrived while I was there) these few days there and many many friends): they were 10 so 'full' days that I simply cannot explain out of context. I met all the members of the older generation, several of my cousins and wives/husbands and several members of the 3rd and 4th generations. My daughter's boyfriend met all family members present and I think he liked what he saw and was integrated in the family (so to speak) with easiness. Of couse we are all very 'independent' and everybody marries whom they choose without any need of approval from anybody! But it is nice when an 'invisible approval' is in the air... Every member of the 3rd generation with enough age has now their own car so 'the youth' went every night to town and lived their 1/2 independent lives as they liked.
I've always felt keen respect for the older generation (my parents and aunts/uncles) and find it normal that 'the youth' continues to feel and show respect for their 'older generation' (of which I'm only one of the members), even when some of them are young doctors, engineers, economists, etc. It is life... Not all are 'traditionalists' like myself but many (and perhaps most) are and many of the 3rd generation are too. About the 4th generation it is yet too early to tell... It is very true that human existence is short, but life persists and endures...I'm sorry to have been long and certainly boring. But I had the need to share a little of my family ties with you. There are only two individuals in my family (only my mother's side) who have longtime depression: myself and the youngest of the 12 cousins I spoke about (as a curiosity he is the 'most beautiful' of the 8-male-cousins 'gang' (so say most of the ladies): he has 3 kids and is married for the 2nd time; about myself it is not appropriate to speak). Sorry, I'm lying: one of my cousins' wife had the worst depression in all the family and unfortunately committed suicide at the 4th or 5th trial some 4 years ago: she left two grown-up children: the girl is now a physician (24 y.o) and the boy an engineer (26 y.o.), both single. That my cousin remains a widower(!)
Please respond back and speak a lot about yourself and how you are doing. I have a keen interest to learn all what's going on with you, even if I haven't spoken about you this time.All the very best,
Iago
> That's a great question. No, my life is not wonderful, I still get anxious and depressed and blow up. But considering that last year at this time I was in bed extremely ill and had been so for 2 weeks out of every 3-4 months for years, it makes me realize how far I've come. The major diff is that I'm not working full time anymore because I developed a very severe case of fibromyalgia. It's not just the fact that my work stress is dimimished because I've been unemployed before as well and unemployment has it's own major stresses. This time around I've bitten the bullet and commited to my health - because I was literally dying. Because I'm not working I have more time to devote to getting healthy. I get alot more exercise, eat a very healthy diet, take a bunch of nutrients, meditate, drink around a gallon of water a day, etc (in fact I practically live like a yogini except for the fact that I still love my drinky-poos and the occassional toke!). This lifestyle management definitely takes time, money and consistency and sometimes when I'm going through a rough spell I wonder if it's worth it. But I only have to look back 12 months ago to see the vast improvement, huge, immense. I'd love to be more happy, but that may take longer. Besides, I can't easily see how one can be low-level sick and be very happy, unless they've found another compensating factor like following a life passion (e.g., Stephen Hawking).
>
poster:Iago Camboa
thread:111261
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020829/msgs/118346.html