A Buddhist view of protecting yourself from covid infection and climate extinction

First, the "lower world", the mundane physical covid part. In previous discussion (appended in part below), some of us converged on a two-level picture of the BASICS of how covid spreads. At one level, it spreads like a simple flu or cough infection from nose to nose, mainly by particles in the air. At another level, it goes from nose to lungs and blood, where it causes unique damage. The vaccinations address the second level, but even for those of who have been vaccinated the first level affects our lives, and what we need to do. Ironically, Fauci has at times said things we should notice, trying to point us gently towards a sensible balanced approach. Yes, he has often struggled under powerful politicians -- mainly Trump and Biden, whom he had to take very seriously. And he had to work with FDA, which certainly IS under terrible pressure to honor its primary "stakeholders," mainly big pharma. (I have seen how the current stakeholder system works across many agencies and nations!!) But the JAMA youtube channel tries to get deeper. I remember Fauci's paper (in Science?), posted there, which stressed the MIDDLE WAY -- doing low-cost reasonable things to prevent covid, not wasting energy by rewriting our lives but not ignoring reality either. (Unfortunately, that paper only paid lip service to most of those reasonable things except for masks, and more can be said even about which masks when and how.) So -- to keep YOUR nose clear inside, what can you do? Plamen cited a nasal spray which protects our nose. If you MUST go out to places where the particles may be dense in the air, it is worth the effort. His advice about what spray to buy sounds important. But for me, an even simpler change of habits is very powerful. Simple things can have big effects. (And you can do both if you need to.) Over time, I have learn a graded ladder of TYPES of hot shower. It helps to take such showers regularly anyway, but after coming back from crowded events with covid potential it is especially important. One simple first step is just to heat the water in the pipes leading to your shower. I should do that anyway, to save time and money and hot water, except when I am taking a shower after my wife who already heated the pipes. The easy simple way to heat the pipes is to put salt into a plastic glass, shut the bathroom door, and turn on hot water in the sink. When the water is as hot as I can stand, then put a small amount into the glass, swirl and gargle. Use it like a mouthwash, trying to fill the nasal cavities and throat as much and as long as you can with moderate effort, feel the vapors. Steam and hot water are good ways to kill all kinds of viruses, including covid. Next step, KEEP gargling, as you enter the shower. (That usually means clearing the area a bit -- putting MY towel over the shower door wall, and putting a shirt or towel from the laundry hamper on the floor for when I will come out.) THEN I turn on the hot water in the shower cubicle, and eventually spit out the salt water to the floor, where it drains away to the shower exit pipe. After that, it depends on what LEVEL of shower I choose this time, but in any case, filling the air with steam helps me breathe in hot steam, which is also a crucial benefit for covid or virus risks. The shower is also a perfect place for advanced qi gong or physical therapy exercises, which also benefit from various types of deep breathing with maximum awareness, which we need to cultivate more and more when we age. ========================= So where is the Buddhism here, aside from deep breathing? There are many TYPES of Buddhism worth knowing about and using. (See www.werbos.com/religions.htm for links to photos depicting a few important kinds of Buddhism.) One strand of Buddhism helps people organize their memories and experience into the system of "seven worlds." That is most famous in Japan, but Chogyam Trungpa also has a book on meditation which I studied last year after I read his book Born in TIbet last year. That, and Jung's Red Book, was a great book to read when we were all struggling to survive the first year of covid. In MY life, I tend to simplify it from seven worlds to the three I see every day -- the "lower world" (like the huge forest behind my house), the "middle world" (like our kitchen and like office buildings I often see in Virginia), and the "upper world" (like higher meditation and astral travel, for me our bedroom). SOME Japanese view life as a struggle to rise from the lowest worlds to the highest ones. BUT THIS IS An INCORRECT WAY TO VIEW OUR SITUATION. (See the noosphere species model, also linked to at werbos.com/religions.htm, and in more recent and complete discussions at http://www.werbos.com/mind_brain_soul.htm.) Each of us is a symbiosis of "body" and "soul", where our "soul" is a part of our local noosphere, no matter how high we rise. Yes, the noosphere has higher and lower parts, but nature calls us to INTEGRATE, to connect with other parts both above and below us, and to contribute as much as we can to the whole. Yes, it also calls us to be more effective, more conscious in a way, but only as it flows into the natural mission of contributing to the whole. I think of the climate extinction crisis as a beautiful example of CONNECTING the three worlds as best we can. It requires paying great attention, great awareness to the lowest world of life (and noetic mind) on earth, the level of archaea, the tiny microbes which, among other things, produce H2S. That level of life is what killed off most of the higher life of earth, in most of the great mass extinctions. (Please forgive me, but I am even bcc'ing Peter Ward, lead author of the book by Ward and Kirschvink, the best single volume history ever of life on earth. Chapter 12 discusses the biggest mass extinctions.) But of course, effective climate policy also requires lots of attention to the mundane discussions in those office buildings, often by internet. And in my view, it calls for us to go out to places in deep nature, like my back yard or many of the places in those slides at werbos.com/religions.htm, and connect with them in deep meditation. My wife has even chosen a background for her giant TV, a picture of Sirakawago in Japan, where I will forever remember feeling deep links with old trees, wisps of fog, mountains and sun above, and human settlements, all connected together. Is that the lower world or the upper world? Neither. It is CONNECTED. --- Yeshua might add that life does not end at the borders of our solar system. Indeed. IF we are firmly grounded, sane and connected with life and spirit and science and math WITHIN our solar system, we are THEN ready to peer out and see more clearly into what lies beyond. But without grounding, it can become nothing but a form of insanity at times. We see such insanities every day lately, so MANY forms of them!!! caveat: my apologies to astronomy classes for kids. OK, this is just one side of the issue. How to balance THAT? Well, I remember how long distance interferometry, INTEGRATING outputs from telescopes all over the earth, is what gives us the deepest penetration of many variables beyond our solar system. INTEGRATION lets us noosphere units work together to see further past our noosphere. Let me just close there. On Sun, Oct 24, 2021 at 2:26 PM Paul Werbos wrote: Since covid has been discussed seriously on both lists (Google wanted me to replace "lists" with "liars" !!!), I forward the link you sent, which is much more clear and focused than some of the other discussions have been: On Sun, Oct 24, 2021 at 1:35 PM Plamen wrote: https://aaronsiri.substack.com/p/study-destroys-justification-for?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source= ======================= They are arguing that vaccination often protects the person vaccinated, but is NOT so good for protecting other people. This fits with something I read elsewhere, which claimed that spread is mainly due to virus up in the nose, while actual covid is more a matter of it getting to lungs or blood. The lungs or blood story I know fairly well, because I paid more attention when Italy was first hit by massive disease overloading their hospitals. I will never forget how a leader of hospital efforts said: "Unless they have low SpO2 or low lung capacity, send them home to rest and recover, not to hospital. But send them home with an oximeter (for SpO2 in blood) and a simple good spirometer to measure lung capacity (mine cost $10!), and a number to call if the numbers go out of bounds. " So, yes, it mainly STARTS in the nose, and it doesn't surprise me if the vaccination is more for blood and lungs. We ALL need to use masks to protect other people, when that is an issue. (Crowding, or places of low wind or humidity<20%). And to protect ourselves, which can be less of a problem if we are vaccinated, but that depends on details like how long ago it was and what type, etc. If fewer people get infected, fewer people will pass it on, in any case. All for now. Best of luck, Paul P.S. Since it mainly starts in the nose, I still follow the core ritual I followed at the height of covid in this area, when returning home. Always wash hands AND face, and breathe deeply to try to help with nasal cavities. And use a strong mouthwash, gargling to get it inside. That has other benefits besides covid prevention anyway. What of taking a full hot shower and changing clothes? I do that less now when returning home, but after a crowded or stressful environment it might still be a good idea, in some areas.