There are many hidden factors and under currents involved in the cycles of depression, isolation and weight gain. Learning about those factors can help you lose weight and get healthy. The above picture is of an ancient Greek classroom. The teacher is the person standing……………but the person standing changed all the time and that means the teacher changed all the time. Each student is permitted to stand and state their own personal opinion. When a student stands, the person who was standing prior sits. The teacher becomes the student and the student becomes the teacher. Everyone has a right to express themselves and add to the whole. A child is as much a teacher as an adult.

In any classroom you’re not only taught what to think but how to think and also how to see the world. In this ancient Greek classroom the students were taught that, 1) repeating exactly what anyone else said is not learning 2) your opinion is as valuable as anyone elses 3) your opinion and personal experience adds to the overall knowledge of the society 4) that everyone can get along even if their opinions are different  5) there can be two opinions on the same subject and both can be right ….given what perspective you take and 6) by constantly practicing independent thought you’re conditioned to exercise your personal power, while learning to consider others as well. This builds unity, while maintaining freedom, even when people have different opinions.

70% of North Americans are overweight or obese and from my research on the subject, much of this starts with the structure of learning we’re exposed to as children. Our structure of learning in North America (and some other areas of the world) breeds isolation, separation and individualism and therefore is highly correlated to loneliness and depression. Research documented in the book “The Bond“ demonstrates that nothing activates genes for disease and weight gain more than feeling isolated or separated from others. Diets don’t address the bond we have with others but we can use the extra energy from a diet to start building our bonds back. We need to look at the world with cooperative intentions and not the attitude to “win at any cost“. (intense competition) Children who are taught to win “no matter what” (to consider “me” first) turn into adults who bomb other countries for profit or cause the stock market collapse of 2008 etc.

In our North American school system we’re taught that, 1) repeating exactly what someone else says translates into praise on all levels 2) marks are handed out to separate you from your fellow students – you’re graded against your fellow students to start the competitive juices flowing 3) your opinion matters little regarding the society or class as a whole 4) your opinion, if different than what’s being taught, has to receive low marks by definition 5) by relying on someone else for direction you have your personal power stolen from you and you’re invisibly conditioned to rely on third parties constantly without any knowledge of what has occurred. This breeds a highly competitive atmosphere that stifles personal expression and allows very little bonding with fellow students. It breeds a “me first” mentality and a survival of the fittest mentality, which is actually a topic taught to our students inside the system.

What’s going on right now isn’t working. (financially, health wise, satisfaction wise etc) We’re taught so much to focus on the individual needs of ourselves and to separate ourselves from what’s  happening with others that we look past the problems when it benefits us directly. It doesn’t seem to matter if a doctor knows that vaccines aren’t safe or that our school system may breed dis-empowerment, the doctor and the teacher are apt to defend their territory because it benefits them personally rather than try to fix what’s obviously not working. This means we keep our incomes but go home empty, lonely and isolated instead of feeling part of the whole or bonded with our world. This isolation leads to depression, dissatisfaction, weight gain, disease etc because we don’t feel a meaningful bond with our fellow humans. If everyone keeps saying there’s nothing wrong, out of self interest, then everything continues as is.

It’s time to practice standing up and saying, “this doesn’t benefit the entire society so we need to change it……..even if it comes at a detriment to myself“.  If we can just practice that, we can start getting things moving in the right direction.