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Gods of the Copybook Headings

by Rudyard Kipling

This poem was first published in the Sunday Pictorial of London on 26 October 1919; then later published in Harper’s Magazine January 1920.

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,

I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.

Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn

That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:

But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,

So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,

Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,

But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come

That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,

They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;

They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;

So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.

They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.

But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.” 

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life

(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)

Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.” 

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,

By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;

But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”  

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew

And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true

That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man

There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.

That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,

And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,

The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

————–

It was true in 1920 and it is true today.

PeriScope: Weight Loss, Gut Health & Pond Scum…In The New Year

Good morning from Arizona.  I’ve had a few people ask about how gut health relates to a ketogenic diet.  This is a great question and one that I think can be answered best by taking a closer look at my natural koi pond and learning a little about pond scum.

So, sit back and look at the similaries between your gut and how nature balances a pond system: Katch.me

Or you can watch the video below:

The four tenets of health that we touch on above that are essential to understand before you can understand gut health:

  1. The body is a unit and works as such with all parts enhancing the whole
  2. The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health-maintenance
  3. Structure & function are reciprocally interrelated
  4. Rational treatment of the body must be based upon understanding the principles above and assisting or augmenting those principles

Keys to gut health and pond balancing that we touch on:

  1. Remove the toxins from entering the system like:
    • Antibiotic overuse
    • Caffeine
    • Artificial Fat
    • Artificial Sweeteners
  2. Repair the system and it’s ability to balance the system
    • Takes time
    • Provide structure for the bacteria to which it can bind
    • Provide essential vitamins and minerals like KetoEnhance & Omega-3 fatty acids
    • Periodic Fasting
  3. Restore the bacteria or flora of the system
    • Prebiotics (fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, Japanese natto, etc.)
    • Probiotics like Dietary KetoBalance (can be purchased in the office)
  4. Replace the salts and pH balance where necessary
    • Replace electrolytes
    • Limit things that shift the pH balance

Hope this gives you a starting point for your New Year!!

The Simple Effects of Ponderizing . . . The First Step in a Principle Based Ketogenic Lifestyle

I have found, over time, that happiness in life seems to be the greatest when I strive for balance in the three basic aspects of life: Mind, Body & Spirit.  Yes, I am a physician, and I spend the majority of my day applying advise and treatment plans that have been demonstrated to be effective through the tried and true scientific method.  However, I know from personal experience, and from working closely with patients for over 15 years, that science alone, does not bring fullness and happiness to life.  Truth and learning can be found through study and also by faith. Finding balance and peace physically is important, but finding that balance emotionally and spiritually are often essential.  Being able to follow a Ketogenic Lifestyle effectively over the long term (longer than 6 months) actually requires understanding of some basic principles.  This is the first in a series of articles regarding The Principle Based Ketogenic Lifestyle.

Ponder LifeI treat patients with obesity, one of the most difficult diseases to address in the medical office.  I find that just applying diet alone doesn’t always solve the problem.  If the patient’s life is out of balance emotionally or spiritually, the stress this causes often halts effective weight loss and metabolic healing.  You may disagree with me on political or religious issues, but healing is not about politics nor is it about religious doctrine – it is about understanding where we are, the path forward, and our potential to get there.  The mind, body and spirit are deeply interconnected.  Often, until we recognize and treat those connections, true healing cannot occur.

The first step in treating any illness, including weight, is recognition of the problem. The Medical Community has recognized Obesity as a disease, but obesity is also a symptom of underlying physical metabolic dysfunction that may be tied to the mind and spirit.  Daily journaling is the tool that lets one see if the dysfunction is tied to mind or spirit.  I ask my patients to keep a daily food journal.  This is very important in looking at the patterns of macro-nutrient intake.   But the more powerful effect of journaling allows one to see how food is tied to emotion – mentally and spiritually.

Simply writing down what you eat each day, when you eat it, and how you felt after you at it is actually quite profound.  The patterns that emerge are usually seen and identified by the patient long before I ever see them.  In fact, patient’s often bring those patterns up before ever showing me their food journals.

I’ve found, in keeping a food journal myself, that combining my journaling with other other daily goals, uplifting thoughts and reminders was even more helpful and powerful.  This can be done on paper, a notebook, a planner or even on the computer.  (I have a few patients who are accountants or engineers – they bring in complex spread sheets).  What is important is daily consistency.  It takes about 3-4 weeks of journaling to begin to see patterns.

I have taken the advise of one of the leaders of my church to “ponderize” a scripture, meaningful poetic verse or truth filled quote each week as part of the journaling process.  He defined “ponderizing” as the act of pondering and memorizing a scripture or a favorite uplifting poem or verse each week.  This is done by writing the verse on a written card or note in a place that you will see it frequently each day during the week.  When you see it, read it and ponder it.  Just the process of frequently reading it will lead to memorization each week.  I have found that reading and pondering a verse 3-4 times a day for a week, lends itself to easy memorization.  Each time you read the verse, think about it and ponder it for a moment, then go on with your day.  This will give you a brief opportunity to elevate your thoughts each day, and will give you a place your mind can go and think when you don’t have to think. It gives your subconscious mind the ability to solve complex patterns at a higher level.

Said David O. McKay, “Tell me what you think about when you don’t have to think, and I’ll tell you what you are.”  “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he . . . ” (Proverbs 23:7).

PonderingFor some reason, with all the cares of the day, work, family and the challenges of life, I have fallen out of this habit for some time.  When this leader mentioned this process in his comments, I was reminded of the peace and balance I used to feel each week when doing this simple activity.  I have recommitted myself to restart this activity and I invite you to do the same.  This time to ponder opens your mind and allows you access the deeper worries and fears holding you from what you what to accomplish.  It takes great courage to make permanent lifestyle and dietary changes.  When someone can’t clearly see what lies ahead, it fills them with fear, doubt or both.  But journaling, even in its simplest form, gives a person the ability to resist and then master the patterns that have kept them from change.  As Mark Twain said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”

Courage is tested when we purse difficult goals, fight against disease with unknown outcomes, or work to regain health.  The testing can be painful.  Journaling, and ponderizing in the process, gives courage to take small steps, one day at a time.   Admitting to, journaling when we fail or make mistakes, fear of failure or feeling unsure actually increases our courage.  Being given a week to ponderize an uplifting scripture or verse enhances that courage .  Journaling successes and failures empowers us individually.  The psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote:

“There appears to be a conscience in mankind which severely punishes the man who does not somehow and at some time, at whatever cost to his pride, cease to defend and assert himself, and instead confess himself fallible and human.  Until he can do this, an impenetrable wall shuts him out from the living experience of felling himself a man among men.  Here we find a key to the great significance of true unstereotyped confession – a significance known in all the initiation and mystery cults of the ancient world, as is shown by a saying from the Greek mysteries: ‘Give up what thou hast, and thou will receive.'”

Journaling and ponderizing allows one a form of confession and renewal. It gives one courage that you have survived today’s challenges and seen the pattern of fallibility in them.  It is actually energizing.  And, the path to healing begins to become clear.

Journaling also is a great way to outline side effects from carbohydrate withdrawl that will last for 2-4 weeks (That’s for another blog post, however).

Feel free to ask me about the verse that I am ponderizing each week. I will happily tell you which verse I am pondering and memorizing; but, I will in tern, ask you which verse you are ponderizing.

This week, the verse I am ponderizing comes from the Bible – Genesis 35:2-3:

“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.”

Did you begin your food journal?  And, what verse are you going to ponderize this week?