Word, Cycle, and Schedules

To my brother, Jack McAleer

Three weeks ago you challenged me to put my brainpower to put into writing a day plan. Something with effective action. Something that I could and would follow.

Schedule and use of my time has been a cyclical and ‘evergreen’ topic of thought, effort, and discussion over my entire life.

However, in your own journey to be educated, your efforts to upright in your own life, and through our -often-heated- discussions I have found myself thinking differently on the topic than any of the years previous.

The Word:

Thumos (θυμός) is the word that brought together many of the topics over the last few months into a clean package. Literally meaning ‘chest’ or ‘breath’ it was utilized as a core underpinning concept to early philosophy.

The Hellenistic era Greeks though of their own soul not as a singular being or entity. Dividing their soul into three ‘parts’ or ‘urges’ - Logos (λογιστικόν), Thumos (θυμός) and Eros (ἐπιθυμητικόν). For me, the quickest way to understand is a kind of word association:

• Logos, Thumos, Eros

• Logic, Will, Desire

• Thought, Passion, Appetite

• God, Man, Animal

• Reason, Spirit, Desire

• Head, Chest, Stomach/Groin.

To balance the parts of your soul was the highest achievement of a truly free man. Thinking too much was to be trapped in the world of forms. To be commanded by lust or appetite was to live no differently than a beast. To be capital F - ‘Free Man’ required reined in balance of all the urges of your spirit.

What caught my attention was the idea that these ‘mental’ concepts were, for the Greeks, actually expressed by the balance of the actual parts of your body. Plato was teaching not some stuffy, bookish philosophy of the thinking frail but a kind of ‘martial art’ for a warrior/scholar. The balancing of mind and body. Any long look at art of the era you can FEEL the focus the Greeks have on the proportions of the body. These three concepts are the WHY behind Classical and Hellenistic art body obsessions.

The balanced body is where that spirit springs forth and the only worthy vessel of that spirit.

In Plato’s time, he focused much of his attention on developing Men’s Logos\Reason. In deep self-reflection after our discussion I realized that I am not a headless body requiring a little though to rein in my wild passions. Not dutiful and loyal set of horses that need a charioteer to show them the road. Reflection revealed a chestless homunculus - all head, stomach, and dick!

Most of my “plans” and actions are loaded heavily with complicated mind-numbing chains of logic, or basil animal like behavior.

So little does my ‘breath’ or fire in my belly check his two brothers. Rarely does my passion spike when the other two are talking. So rather than bore you with complicated sets of Logic instead I am beginning to raise the energy of my life.

I want to detail you a schedule that is infused with clear objective. To develop my breath. I want to save whatever will is left and strengthen this neglected part of my soul. Not construct yet another a beautiful Fabergé egg of ‘processes’ or brute a few days of guilt and adrenalin driven mania.

The Cycle:

I first encountered the idea of a ‘Mother Recipe’ trying to make use of some particularly good strawberries, deep into my fourth or fifth YouTube recipe video for poundcake.

Before Industrial standardization - human life was not measured in minutes, pounds, and inches. More often than not it was measured in parts, days, or handfuls. So… how do you recreate an ‘authentic’ 16th century poundcake? One Part Butter, One Part Flour, One Part Sugar. For early ‘Mother Recipies’ questions like “What kind of flour?” or “How much of each ingredients?” is met with a resounding “Who cares”

Get roughly right and through your own intuitions, make it better next time.

It sounds ridiculous but much of the great art, thought, and culture I enjoy was made by people not measuring. Cathedrals were being built without calculus. Beautiful streets. Intricate fabrics. Achieved through repeated action and relentless pace of trial an error. Smart people analyzing and copying masterworks and maybe MAYBE at the height of mastery adding a little spin. This is a concept told over and over by many brains better than mine.

In the ‘Mother Recipe’ rabbit hole I found something different, Schedule. Unlike stacking stones until they stand, baking bread requires timed and specific action.

Let a dough over rise? Bad bread. Let a dough rest too little? Bad Bread. Forget to start a pot? No dinner. In my greatest and most commanding vice (food) I find peeking out of history a really interesting look at a long-term planning cycle.

The baking and cooking women and men of the preindustrial world used a off cut of meat from one meal as the base of a sauce form the next. The day was scheduled not in hours but by the time between kneading dough. There is an organic chemist like delight of each part of a meal running into another. Often preparations were setting aside meals months in advance!

No clock, no cups, often illiterate. Producing better food than I am capable of. Speak nothing of the great chiefs of a noble house or a legendary eatery. To achieve that requires a vision of the future and a command of the present sorely lacking from my spirit.

The Goal:

“The unexamined life is not worth living” - Socrates

When I really examine my life -with a few notable exceptions- I am at best apathetic and unfortunately often revolted.

My shelf next to my bed? My Wardrobe? My Food? The placement of my things?

Not though out.

My Body? The state of my Education? The state of my Soul? My delight in life?

Abysmal.

Every part of my daily life screams out for my attention, my care, and my time. Every book decoration, and hair on my head demands that I order it.

Through the ‘way’ or steps necessary to order my life is not unclear or difficult. I do not really WANT to take the reigns. I have the horsepower, and the thought to accomplish plenty. I lack the ability rather to generate a WHY.

So, I will utilize the Logos and Eros that cripples my life’s energy to with the singular goal to awaken greater energy, passion, breath. Thumos.

The Plan:

I -like a trainable dog- am food motivated.

To quote my favorite line of the letter you have me read “I am convinced that a light supper, a good night's sleep, and a fine morning, have sometimes made a hero of the same man, who, by an indigestion, a restless night, and rainy morning, would have proved a coward.”― Lord Chesterfield

Hero and Coward are a distinct experience for me. I use my food to dull my senses and get over a rough awkward patch where some greater will power would have been of better use. I do the same thinking. It’s often do dull the uneasy feeling resting on my chest that I drown by twisting my thoughts into a comfortable and unsolvable knot.

So here is the high level idea. Subject to refinement.

1. Puppy Training - I eat well when I accomplish a task I want, no exception. As stupid as it sounds, this is unfortunately the depths I need to climb out of. Even as simple as a few pushups or saying something I meant to. I need to begin to reward steps forward, rather than escaping into food and other vices.

2. Breakfast Supremacy - ‘Better Bryan’ is most present and in control with a large breakfast, nearly non-existent lunch, and a hearty dinner after a nice lift. Fresh bread, eggs, meat, and cheese are wonderful cyclical needs for an optimal Bryan morning that require planning, prep, and commitment early in the day. You will have already tried some of the mini-loaves of fresh bread from my new plan, but my night and morning will be defined in the labor of love for a morning feast. Giving me the consistent and reliable start and end.

3. Like a Greek statue - No surprises here. Balance head, chest, and stomach. This will be achieved through my consistent efforts in the gym and the reduction of the obvious stomach. Balance the vessel and fix the mobility issues -hamstring, hip, and shoulder- that sitting around all day and the horizon of 30 has cursed me with. I will be a perfect slave to the weights and the physical therapist. AKA, no dinner until the body tasks are complete.

4. Writing and Will - This letter is an early prototype of what I want for my life. I wish to be articulate and to be able to generate content that can be consumed. The ebb and flow of my creativity will set the pace, but I will generate ‘content’ every day until I can articulate better some real goal.

I am against the strict establishment of blocked time as I have plenty of organic cycles that demand not my timely adherence but ANY adherence at all.

I’ll continue to refine and I will discuss with you soon.

-Bryan McAleer