The Genie and the Mind - Part V

The young man held up the two glass statues after dusting them off with the old piece of cloth in which they were wrapped. “I have carried these with me everywhere I have gone. I look at them every morning wondering what is concealed behind the coloring on the glass surface.” The statues were about a foot long each and weighed a pound.

When the wise old man was handing over the statues, he told the young man, “I want you to discover what is inside these statutes without breaking them. These two statues are actually keys to a lock. That lock can only be opened if you have them both.”

The young man’s curiosity was aroused and he asked, “Where is the door that has the lock?”

The Genie and the Mind - Part IV

On hearing that the young man had a clue about where the treasure was, the Genie’s master expressed a huge sigh of relief. The young man, the Genie and his master sat down next to the container to plot their next move.

The young man said, “There were several things that the wise old man told me. As I remember them, some of what he said back then makes sense now in the context of the treasure and other things are very much a riddle. In fact, most of what he spoke was misunderstood by people who came across him. Since he had a reputation of being a kind old soul who did not expect anything from anyone, he was left alone without being ridiculed. I once asked him why he did not speak in a manner that would be easily understood by everyone.”

The wise man replied, “The knowledge of the truth that I have acquired is freely available to anyone who seeks it. The price I paid for this knowledge of the truth that pervades everything is complete detachment and deep introspection.”

The young man asked, “What path did you follow?”

The Genie and the Mind - Part III

Continued from previous post...

As the children settled in their chairs facing the old man and the visitor, the two Genies belonging to the old man and the visitor were busy counting up to a hundred and back to one in an adjacent room. Although the both of the Genies were in the same room, each one ignored the other and continued on tirelessly.

The old man said “Children, you are about to witness something very exciting, the likes of which you may never see again. Your grandfather and I share a wonderful secret.” The old man then called out and waved his hand in the direction of his Genie, hidden from view by a wall separating the two rooms. When his Genie did not respond, the old man then commanded his Genie in a louder voice, giving the children an impression that something magical was about to transpire. As if on cue, the visitor then shouted out for his own Genie. Hearing an order to stop counting, the two Genies slowly made their way into the other room. 

The Genie and the Mind - Part II

The Genie and the Mind - Part II: continued from previous post.

"It is a long story, do you really want to hear the details?" the visitor exclaimed. The old man offered him a comfortable chair in the den and the children were asked to play outside while the two men talked. The room was dark, the darkness punctuated by a table lamp that lit up a desk that was covered with assorted books and papers. The wall behind them had a large bookshelf adorned with ancient looking books, some of which had etched gold lettering that was hard to discern in the dark. The visitor asked the old man what he had done for a living and if he read a lot. The old man said that his life was generally made easy by all the things that the Genie brought him. His professional life as a  salesman was overshadowed by an easy and rich material life the Genie had brought him. Now, what little spare time the Genie left him with was spent looking back at his life and pondering the 'what ifs'.

The Genie and the Mind

A young boy and his parents moved into a house that they bought from an old couple who had lived there for many years. The little boy was very curious and right away set out to explore the house. He stumbled upon a hidden spiral stairwell that appeared to have been unused for a long time. The boy climbed the narrow steps that led to a small attic. Once his eyes got accustomed to the darkness in the musty attic, he came upon a pile of old and dusty toys. As the boy combed through the collection of metallic objects that may have entertained children a couple of generations back, there was a loud clatter caused by an ornate lamp that rolled off one of the creaky wooden rafters. The boy was enchanted by the glitter of the metal and the ornate stone inlay work. The lamp seemed to emanate an other worldly glow beckoning him to pick it up. As he picked up the lamp, everything around him blurred as if the attic was suddenly covered in smoke. 

The Aspirin Controversy

Based on a talk at Dr. Purser’s wellness group, Bradenton, FL

Aspirin, a widely used and easily available drug is as ubiquitous as Jell-O, both products got their present name around the same time in the year 1897. Ever since its formulation, aspirin has courted its share of controversy. Aspirin contains salicylate, which is derived from the Willow plant. Hippocrates, regarded as the father of Western Medicine first described the pain killing properties of Willow bark. These observations were also made by other civilizations down the ages until they were scientifically proven with modern day methods. The active pain killing ingredient in the Willow plant was isolated in 1826, which was then modified over the course of the next several decades. In 1897, Felix Hoffmann, a German chemist working for Bayer formulated aspirin in its present form. It almost did not make it to the market. A competing drug, heroin, was about to be launched by Bayer as a cough remedy. Luckily, someone important at Bayer was convinced of its healing properties having tried it on himself. Aspirin then made it to the market as a pain reliever. Several decades later, scientists discovered that the chemical innovations that led to the formulation of aspirin from salicylic acid were instrumental in aspirin’s role in preventing strokes and heart attacks. 

Know your VEINS

Talk given at Heart to Heart: A Women’s Health Forum on February 4, 2012, Lakewood Ranch FL.

February is Heart Month. You will likely hear a lot about cardiovascular diseases with a special emphasis on risk factors such as smoking, high cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, and diabetes. One or more of these risk factors may contribute to blood vessel blockage that can have catastrophic consequences such as heart attacks and strokes. However, this is only part of the story.