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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Are We Evolving Toward or Away from Wellness?

Sunday November 12, 2000

In yesterday's Report, I reviewed a bit of history, with speculations on evolution and early wellness lifestyles. Today, I'd like to ask if you think we're still evolving, perhaps toward a wellness consciousness, or are we humans as far along as we're likely to get, mired somewhere in middle level mediocrity, for the most part? Sometimes I find our species a bit disappointing and wish there were a higher level for which I could try to qualify -- it's embarrassing to be related to some people, sometimes!

Personally, I do think we are still evolving in positive directions but it's a rather slow process by cosmic standards. It may take too long to do you much good -- you must rely on PERSONAL evolution. Let's put things in perspective for a moment. (Actually, things should ALWAYS be put in perspective.)

Human life is a short-term experiment of sorts -- we have only been here a few million years, as contrasted to almost 3.5 billion years for other life forms we consider primitive. This good earth has been around for 4.6 billion years, so we are not exactly permanently dominant.

To put things in REAL perspective, consider an analogy devised nearly a century ago by Mark Twain. In his day, the Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest building. Twain noted the age of the universe (as accepted at that time) versus the brief period of human existence, then (tongue-in-cheek) observed that the planet must have been created for our benefit. Twain wrote, "If the Eiffel Tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that the skin was what the Tower was built for. I reckon they would. I dunno."

Stephen Jay Gould updates Twain's analogy (Wonderful Life) by noting that human existence occupies but "the last geological millimicrosecond of this history -- the last inch of the cosmic mile..."and urges us to "accept the implications and learn to seek the meaning of human life...with joy in the challenge if our temperament be optimistic."

Therefore, don't hold your breath waiting for the entire species to evolve -- shape your own destiny to the best that you can and make a good life. A wellness lifestyle surely won't slow you down.

However, if you can take a moment to comment on this idea or anything related to wellness, or ask a question without slowing down TOO much, well, I'd enjoy hearing from you. Stay well and remember—look on the bright side.

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