Let's Do More to Give Citizens Improved Decision-Making Capacity - It's the Right Thing to do and Might Diminish the Success Rates of TV Evangelists

 Paul and Janice Crouch are no oiler or more grotesque and absurd than run-of-the-mill Elmer Gantry's, such as Richard (son of Oral) Roberts, Jerry Falwell (deceased), Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Ted Haggert, Jimmy Swaggart, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson and the rest of that ilk. But, the Crouch's are in the news this week thanks to revelations about their astonishing self-indulgence. While details of such are on my mind, they can serve as poster preachers for a few ideas I have on education reforms and tax modifications.

The Crouches and other TV preachers spend a lot of time convincing their audiences that the fastest way to get rich is to give away their money - to them. It seems that God desperately needs money and they, the Crouches, know how God wants it spent by the Crouches - on his behalf. The Crouches, apparently, know a great deal about hell and can describe what its like in detail. They are good at profiling those likely to end up in hell - basically, everyone who supports the homosexual socialist liberal agenda or uses the internet to read blasphemies on politics, sex and religion at TPJ. The Crouches tell their viewers that, to boost chances for answered prayers and miracles, "send love offerings." Operators always seem to be standing by.

Before getting to the Crouches, I should mention something else about the media preacher business.  God must really love those called to this ministry, for all TV preachers appear to be as prosperous as Mitt Romney. On rare occasions when a media preacher business comes to grief, it's not because donors got wise but because preachers got caught. They got caught doing what they condemned - doing things without clothes on with homosexuals (some of whom might also have been socialist liberals). Alas, most of the time TV preachers don't get caught, in good part because the vile acts that they commit every time they go on the air are perfectly acceptable and legal, namely, selling snake oil (nonsense about miracles, eternal life, answered prayers and the like). It ought to be a crime - against the laws of common sense, but such laws have not been invented yet. Worse, what they do to finance their lavish lifestyles is socially acceptable and even honored, not just with earthly riches but with honors. Who will ever forget the appalling appearance of Rick Warren at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. To paraphrase Andre Breton, Everything that is doddering, squint-eyed, vile, polluted and grotesque is summoned up for me in these two words: television evangelists!

But, let me get to the Crouches.

What accounts for the success of TV evangelists like the Crouches and the others who pull in mind-boggling sums from viewer donations and tax-free earnings? I have a theory. I think it is due, more than anything else, to the degree to which the nation neglects quality public education. Only a population poorly educated in the application of reason and consequent respect for science, a people innocent of rational, evidence-based decision-making, can explain the propensity of viewers to donate money to such characters.

What do the Crouches and the gaggle of televangelists offer in return for responding favorably and generously to pleas for donations that make up about 98 percent of their ministry programming? Basically, they offer improved odds of winning the eternal lottery - a ticket to a kingdom in the next life.

Assume for just a moment that there is no such kingdom, that there is no god and that the Crouches and other TV folks have no more capability of arranging miracles or having prayers answered than the woman in the moon, the old guy behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz or, for that matter, me. Wouldn't that shed a new light on all these characters preaching prosperity gospels?

But, as I mentioned before, this is about the Crouches. Ah, the Crouches - ya gotta love em. They were featured in news accounts all over the country because it seems the Crouch family is fighting over how to spend the loot gained from faithful audiences trying to help God do good. According to a feature story in the New York Times (See Erik Eckholm, Family Battle Offers Look Inside Lavish TV Ministry, New York Times, May 4, 2012), the Crouches have a lot of God's money on hand to fight over. Their TV enterprise consists of a multitude of stations with satellite signals that reach millions of worshipers all over the world.

Here are a few examples of their own prosperity, made possible by tax-exempt income (donations) all faithfully consistent with the gospel prosperity:

* In 2010, Mr. Crouch received $400,000 as president, Mrs. Crouch $365,000 as first vice president.

* They own his-and-her five to six million dollar mansions in New York City.

* They own a large ministry house near Orlando.

* They own a theme park in Orlando called the Holy Land Experience.

* They own another home in the Holy Land itself (i.e., in the theme park, not in the Middle East).

* They own high value properties in Texas and Tennessee (on the former Conway Twitty estate).

* They own corporate jets valued at $8 million and $49 million each.

* They enjoy dinners costing thousands of dollars.

* They provide lavish homes or "parsonages" for staff.

All of these facts came out because of dueling lawsuits within the Crouch family, though it's not clear if the battles are fueled by greed or from hearing different messages from God on how best to help the poor and downtrodden. Besides lavish spending, charges of embezzlement and varied financial crimes are being hurled about. A defender of the family business explained: the spending that some call opulent is necessary to convey the ministry’s position of accomplishment.

The Crouches have plenty of accomplishment booty to fight over. Their prosperity gospel brought in $93 million in 2010 alone, plus $64 million in additional income from selling airtime and $17 million from investment income. Apparently, it takes a lot of cash to do the Lord's work. Doing the Lord's work, however, seems to build quite an appetite. One of the lawsuits contain allegations that the Crouchs (and their son) each ran up meal expenses of at least $300,000 per year.

So, what kinds of reforms might be in order to rein in such seemingly dubious ways to spend charitable contributions?

Here are a few ideas I'd like to see discussed in the years to come, assuming this country does not become a theocracy wherein such conversations would be considered blasphemous and thus illegal:

   ▪     Fund a national crash program in public education that emphasizes critical thinking skills. Hopefully, this would render TV ministries less attractive to vulnerable, easily-exploited citizens by prosperity gospel preachers and other charlatans offering spiritual pie-in-the-sky with all the trimmings.

         ▪        Tax all church property and religious business enterprises.

   ▪     Develop enforcement capabilities to identify reasonable versus extravagant uses of charitable contributions and industrial- strength record keeping and public disclosure of all charities.

         ▪        Create a national secular board or agency with the power to identify, study and, if appropriate, prosecute mountebanks who run scams under the umbrella of religion.

What a sweet deal the Crouchs and other TV evangelists have at present. They do not and could not guarantee their product - believers can never prove they were Madoffed with promises of wildly improbable returns on investments. After all, those who experience less, not more prosperity for their donations can't seek refunds. And, when they die, they don't even discover that it was all balderdash. No heaven or hell, no gods or devils and no judgments. They'll never know it was all BS. They'll never know they were duped.

There ought to be a law - lots of laws or at least a more sensible tax structure to discourage donations to people like the Crouches and others mentioned.

But, I'll settle for massive reforms in the educational system at all levels to encourage more critical thinking because the rest is as unlikely as prosperity from supporting the Crouches.

Donald B. Ardell is the Well Infidel. He wrote High Level Wellness in 1976 (Rodale Press) and many other books since, including Die Healthy, 14 Days to Wellness and most recently, Aging Beyond Belief and REAL Wellness. Since 1984, Don has produced 685 editions of the Ardell Wellness Report. Don's website at SeekWellness.com/wellness is the largest repository of wellness essays. 

Don is one of ten Americans given the Healthy America Fitness Leaders Award in 1991 by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. In 2010, he was granted the Lifetime Achievement Prize by the German Wellness Association in Dusseldorf; in July 2011, he was honored with the Halbert L. Dunn Award by the National Wellness Institute.  

Don has won many national and four world championships in triathlon and duathlon, his most recent world titles coming in 2009 in the Gold Coast of Australia and 2010 in Budapest, Hungary.

A free subscription to Don's wellness report is available on request - write Don at awr.realwellness@gmail.com

'Speak No Ill of the Dead' Sounds OK But ... Chuck Colson, 1931-2012

Sam Harris, one of this country's leading secularists, has a new book describing free will as a myth. Here and in lectures and articles, Mr. Harris rejects the idea that we can change our character or the course of our lives, including lifestyle choices and so on. We are, Harris posits, hopelessly guided by forces other than volition, unaware and powerless to change much about ourselves. We are ruled by our biology, culture and experiences, among other forces beyond conscious control. 

Taking this reasoning into account, I shouldn't be too hard on Chuck Colson, or anyone else of whose deeds I am appalled. Given similar circumstances, I'd no doubt be more or less like them, except of course for the influence of random variables that also shape every life. We are all, in fact, shaped by contingencies (AKA blind fate/luck/chance, etc. as you wish) and the other above-noted factors.

In any event, Colson is gone (i.e., dead) and I'm resolved to be nice, more or less. Unfortunately, his work continues so a few less than super nice comments can't be helped. (Besides, I'm also a product of all those forces acting upon me - I'm going with the flow here.)

Perhaps you are too youthful or for other reasons not aware of the first career for which Mr. Colson is infamous. (I use this term in its generally accepted sense. Personally, I think Colson's true fame was as a political operator; his vile infamy for which he is heralded was his work as an evangelist for superstition amongst undereducated captive populations.)

There were two Charles Colsons known to the world. The first was the Republican hit man; the second the religious proselytizer. I never liked either one but I will always be fond of the first compared with the ghastly business done by the second.  

Best known for his honestly in saying, I would walk over my own grandmother to ensure the reelection of President Richard M. Nixon, Colson was a dirty tricks artist and highly effective political strategist. He got credit, said to be well deserved, for laying the groundwork of Nixon's 1972 landslide win over Democrat George McGovern.

I loved the Washington Post column by humorist Art Buchwald in which he imagined a prayer session between Mr. Colson and the grandmother:

Colson - Shall we kneel together?

Granny: Not me. I haven’t been able to kneel since you screamed at me, ‘Four more years’ and then put your Oldsmobile into drive.

My favorite assessment of Colson was expressed years ago by Americans for Separation of Church and State's Barry Lynn. Americans United brought lawsuits against Colson's Prison Fellowship - and won. It turns out that the Fellowship engaged in more dirty tricks than Nixn's reelection committees. Colluding with Right Wing evangelical political leaders and officials, Colson's new ministry pressured prisoners to convert to Christianity, in good part by arranging better conditions for those willing to come to Jesus, Lynn said: Colson never changed his methods, just his boss. Sadly, when he went from being Richard Nixon's hatchet man, he turned into a man who thought he was God's hatchet man. He literally turned his very formidable political skills once in the service of very far-right religious and political agendas.

Of all the Colsonian expressions that this character contributed to the world, my favorite would have to be this one: When you’ve got ’em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow. This worked for Colson in both careers, with slight variation. In the second, as recruiter for an imaginary friend, he added souls to hearts and minds.

This seems appropriate, given that no evidence exists for souls, either.

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Donald B. Ardell is the Well Infidel. He wrote High Level Wellness in 1976 (Rodale Press) and many other books since, including Die Healthy, 14 Days to Wellness and most recently, Aging Beyond Belief and REAL Wellness. Since 1984, Don has produced 685 editions of the Ardell Wellness Report. Don's website at SeekWellness.com/wellness is the largest repository of wellness essays. 

Don is one of ten Americans given the Healthy America Fitness Leaders Award in 1991 by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. In 2010, he was granted the Lifetime Achievement Prize by the German Wellness Association in Dusseldorf; in July 2011, he was honored with the Halbert L. Dunn Award by the National Wellness Institute.  

Don has won many national and four world championships in triathlon and duathlon, his most recent world titles coming in 2009 in the Gold Coast of Australia and 2010 in Budapest, Hungary.

A free subscription to Don's wellness report is available on request - write Don at awr.realwellness@gmail.com 

Proposed New Rule for Presidential Candidates: If You Think God's Telling You to Run, Keep It To Yourself

Why Evangelical Presidential Candidates Make Me Nervous

I’m offended by evangelical actions, but I’m not offended by their opinion. They believe in a sky god who’s going to suck them up into the sky with a vacuum cleaner. What’s there to get offended by? That’s funny! That’s hilarious! Have at it, Hoss, I’d love to see it. Cenk Uygur

I’m with Cenk. If the evangelicals kept their beliefs and actions to themselves, if they let the rest of us alone, what’s there to worry about?

Ah, wouldn’t that be lovely? Alas, it’s not happening. Christian activists have not kept their beliefs and actions to themselves, not since the Reagan years. They want political power. They want policies and laws that support their beliefs and actions. They want to legislate policies and laws that requre the rest of us to conform to their traditions, beliefs and actions. They can’t help themselves – evangelicals think they are called to proselytize. They are convinced that God needs them to spread the word.  They believe they can’t keep their beliefs to themselves – God wants them out there selling. To not do so is to risk missing out on the heavenly lottery and all that eternal exuberance winning it supposedly brings.

A new book details what politicians like Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry mean when they talk about their personal relationship with God. Entitled, When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God by T. M. Luhrmann (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012), the author describes evangelical Christian communities (known as renewalists) that comprise as much as 26% of the American population. These people believe that they have had a direct revelation from God of one kind or another. Both the Gallup and Pew polling organizations report that renewalists also claim to have heard a voice or had a vision on one or more occasions as a result of prayer. Rick Warren sold 30 million copies of his book, Purpose Driven Life describing how to become best friends with God.  It would appear that God or at least Rick Warren have been friended by 30 million or more evangelicals. Talk about social networking.

If this kind of thinking helps people deal with stress, avoid loneliness and otherwise get on with their lives, I say, bully for them. Or, have at it, Hoss.

But what, exactly, does a Christian renewalist get out of the friendship with God, besides eternal bliss in the next life? According to Mr. Luhrmann, having God as a pal offers a friend, imaginary or real, who can be asked for practical advice (e.g., when getting dressed, whether God prefers the black shirt or the blue one). In an Opinion piece about his book in the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Luhrmann wrote: They didn’t treat God as different from the stuff of the material world—tables, chairs, other people. They talked about God saying, telling, prodding, encouraging, as if he were right there at the dinner table. And sometimes they put out a place setting. (See When the Almighty Talks Back, WSJ, April 6, 2012, p.A11.)

To a secular infidel rationalist heretic freethinker like me, this is total batdoodoo. It seems incomprehensible that anyone capable of functioning outside of an institution without supervision could possibly take such beliefs seriously. Yet, as noted, at least a quarter of the population behaves accordingly, assuming Pew, Gallup and author Luhrmann are not having us on. The optimist in me recalls Aristotle for small comfort: There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man and hopes that the rest of the space in there is more or less rational. But then I remember what Leo Rosten had to say on the topic: Everyone, in some small sacred sanctuary of the self, is nuts. 

Once again, I want to emphasize that bizarre religious beliefs and inexplicable actions give no offense when practiced harmlessly. If such were the case, I would not protest or be alarmed. But, when politicians get godly, I get nervous.

And that’s precisely why I do very much worry about Republican presidential candidates who make explicit claims that their candidacy is based on a directive from an imaginary friend. No fewer than four contenders for the GOP (God’s Own Party) claimed that God told them to run for president. The four would be Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry. Good riddance, all. (No, I’m not making this up. For details on each candidates heavenly endorsement, see Dan Amira, Every Candidate Endorsed by God Has Now Lost to Mitt Romney, in the April New York Magazine.)

It should be obvious why a new rule (thanks Bill Maher) is needed here. Presidents have to make important decisions that affect us all, nearly every day. On some days, presidential decisions can affect the fate of the nation. Think of it – do we want a president under extreme pressure to react to say, North Korea or Iran’s immanent use of a nuclear weapon by consulting the National Security Council and dozens of other key advisers, or falling on his knees in prayer, asking God to tell him (via a little voice only he can hear) what to do? Holy crappola – Frankenstein seems warm and cuddly compared with the prospects of an evangelical president.

Like Ingersoll (The Gods, 1872), We are looking for the time when the useful shall be the honorable; and when reason, throned upon the world’s brain, shall be the King of Kings, and God of Gods.

To Which Institution Would You Entrust YOUR Freedom: The Catholic Church or a Secular Republic?

The "Opinion" section of the weekend Wall Street Journal devoted half a page to Archbishop Timothy Dolan's grievances against Obama Administration guidelines for the Affordable Health Care Act. James Taranto's intervew, "When the Archbishop Met the President," was rich in irony. The Archbishop, a high official of an institution with a history of burning alive those who disagreed with its mandates in this life and burning them again for eternity in a hellish afterlife, spoke as if his church were entitled to stand as a credible arbiter of liberty or morality. The appalling gall of such hypocrisy is mind boggling. Actually, it's more than that - it's gobsmackering.

The U.S. Conference of Bishops opposes the birth-control mandate in the health care guidelines because, well, basically because the Catholic Church does not like sex. The church will permit it in instances where sexual union (missionary positions only, with the man on top) may boost membership in their cult, but that's about it. The Catholic leadership labels opposition to their dogmatic rules as "morally toxic." Just the other day (April 5), Pope Benedict XVI assailed disobedience among priests, decrying the efforts of reform-minded Catholics who dare to ask for reforms that would allow the ordination of women and the abolition of celibacy. So much for free speech under Catholicism. In my view, the phrase "morally toxic" better applies to the nature of a superstition that restricts liberty, joy, exuberance and choice in favor of sin, fear, guilt and shame. The Catholic Church is unequalled today in its capacity for Orwellian doublespeak.

In the interview noted above, the Archbishop repeats a mantra of deceit with multiple references to the church as a defender of "the rights of conscience" and "moral imperatives," selflessly guarding against infringments on "religious liberty." Orwell would love it, no doubt.

Mr. Dolan implies that the president and other "ideologues ... favor an ever-more-powerful secular government." Well, as opposed to what - a weaker secular government relative to the forces of theocracy, such as the U.S. Conference of Bishops?

In 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy promised a gathering of ministers in Houston - and the nation, that "my Catholic faith will not inspire my decisions in the White House." What does Dolan think of that? "That's worrisome," he stated.

Well, at least he did not throw up. Rather, the archbishop and the writer of the WSJ article take comfort from the fact that "devout Catholic Rick Santorum is running on the promise that his faith will inform his decisions" and that the U.S. Supreme Court ... has had a Catholic majority since 2006."

I suspect more than a few readers of even the WSJ take little comfort in the candidacy of Mr. Santorum or the composition of the Catholic dominated Supreme Court.

Let freedom - and a more powerful secular government, ring. And prevail.

A Secular Democracy Imperiled by Creeping Talibanism

There was a great rally of infidels, atheists, freethinkers, agnostics and other non-faith guided Americans from throughout the country in Washington, D.C. on March 24th. The cheerful crowd was there to celebrate reason, a quality one organizer, Richard Dawkins, termed a crowning virtue.

Dawkins wrote an op-ed piece about the rally in the Washington Post two days before the event. It began with a rhetorical question, How have we come to the point where reason needs a rally to defend it? Well, anyone who has paid attention to the presidential primary campaign of the Republican Party knew that Dawkins was only too aware of what has brought Americans to such a point.

In my work, Reason is the R in REAL wellness. Unfortunately, reason is not an element addressed in worksite wellness educational programs. For that matter, reason is not addressed in health books, lectures or workshops, either. Instead, weight loss diets, exercise advice and stress management techniques are the focus of professionals seeking to encourage better habits for well-being. It may be time for quality of life advocates to broaden their health offerings. The fact is a near critical mass of voters do not seem to be making the connection between reason - a skill nourished by respect for science, evidence and logic, with health or wellness. That is why I rarely send the term wellness out in the world anymore unprotected by the attributive adjective acronym REAL.

But, consider this: Is there an alternative to reason? Alas, there is and it's not pretty. It can be seen in the  Republican Party's medieval approach to public policy and governance, a method Dawkins describes as a swamp of primitive superstition and supernatural gullibility.  (Source: Richard Dawkins, Who would rally against reason? Washington Post, March 21, 2012.)

Dawkins credits reason for making it possible for humans to know the age of earth and the universe (4.6 and 13.8 billion years, respectively), what we're made of (atoms), where we came from (evolved from other species), why all species are adapted to their environments (natural selection of their DNA), how to explain night and day (Earth spins on its axis) and why we have winter and summer (Earth is tilted) and so much else (see article referenced above) that liberated us from ancient fears of ghosts and devils, evil spirits...magic spells and witches’ curses. Yet, Republican politicians offer leaders such as Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum as substitutes for "educated intellectuals and élitists-politicians.

The Republicans want to restrict women's access to contraception, gut public education and shift the role of government to that of promoting big business and imposing religiously morality. They oppose universal health care, they want to eliminate Planned Parenthood and end regulations that inhibit profits. They succeed at persuading Tea Party enthusiasts and other more or less average Americans to vote against their economic self-interests because so many Americans are so reason-impaired gullible.

It's a sorry situation. We need Reason rallies in every state, every city and town in the country. We need REAL wellness in every school, workplace, home and yes, especially in every church. Of course, the latter would not exist if reason took hold.

In her weekly column in the Tampa Bay Times, Robyn Blumner summed up the case nicely for this and further reason rallies and promotions

I worry that we get the elected officials we deserve. By electing politicians who claim they can cut taxes and slash the deficit, as well as bring gas prices down to $2.50 per gallon, we get leaders without principles. Honesty is a dangerous trait in American politics. Jon Huntsman doomed his chances with the Republican primary voter by accepting the vast scientific evidence for evolution and climate change, and admitting it out loud. Our level of scientific illiteracy is  alarming, too.

All of this is freakishly concerning, and then Santorum comes along with his self-styled brand of American Talibanism that is actually gaining ground. And I think to myself, 'Now that's something to worry about.' (Robyn E. Blumner, "In fear of American Talibanism," The Tampa Bay Times, March 15, 2012.)

I have similar fears, which is why I believe the promotion of reason with REAL wellness is not only important for health and well-being but also for quality of life. The latter requires that we do all we can to discourage and reject the Republican-led drift toward creeping Talibanism that imperils our secular democracy.

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Donald B. Ardell is the Well Infidel. He wrote High Level Wellness in 1976 (Rodale Press) and many other books since, including Die Healthy, 14 Days to Wellness and most recently, Aging Beyond Belief and REAL Wellness. Since 1984, Don has produced 680 editions of the Ardell Wellness Report. Don's website at SeekWellness.com/wellness is the largest repository of wellness essays. 

Don is one of ten Americans given the Healthy America Fitness Leaders Award in 1991 by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. In 2010, he was granted the Lifetime Achievement Prize by the German Wellness Association in Dusseldorf; in July 2011, he was honored with the Halbert L. Dunn Award by the National Wellness Institute.  

Don has won many national and four world championships in triathlon and duathlon, his most recent world titles coming in 2009 in the Gold Coast of Australia and 2010 in Budapest, Hungary.

A free subscription to Don's wellness report is available on request - write Don at awr.realwellness@gmail.com 

SAVE THE WORLD - INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO COME OUT OF THEIR CLOSETS

I understand how a person could be indoctrinated as a child into believing a lot of crap about gods and demons and angels and talking snakes and Noah's ark and a worldwide flood and a virgin giving birth and the history of the earth and our Super Special place in it. Believe me, I understand it perfectly, because I was such a child. But why is it that by young adulthood (or even earlier) some of us effortlessly begin to take these stories less and less seriously, some are compelled to go beyond that and seek out satisfactory explanations for the glaring inconsistencies and baffling nonsense of religious doctrine, and yet others become ever more enamored with those absurd myths taught to them in childhood? And why do some people, in the face of mountains of compelling evidence from multiple scientific disciplines that directly contradicts these myths, dig in even deeper and spin ever more farcical rationalizations like 'Adam and Eve must have lived with dinosaurs and they were all happy vegetarians until Eve sinned and god had a big tantrum?'

Iris Vander Pluym, Let's not refer to conservatism as a mental illness because why, again? PerryStreetPalace, March 5, 2012

Why, indeed, do adults continue to believe things that were part of childhood indoctrinations that are, at least to some of us, confounding if not incomprehensible?  

I have no idea. I suspect a good answer would be quite complicated. The consensus seems to be to show respect for the beliefs of others, regardless of how glarin the inconsistencies or baffling the nonsense of doctrines and myths taught in childhood. I have, over the course of almost three-quarters of a century, come to the conclusion that this is not in the best interests of society or one's sense of free speech. Respect for others is one thing - and I embrace it fully; respect for beliefs sincerely understood but deemed to be hazardous in one way or another is quite another. I think it's one's patriotic duty to initiate a civil dialogue or at least to advise those attached to what appear to be illusions to consider a reality check. In short, I favor initiating discussions that might in time enable some to come out of closets of unreason into the light of the natural world. 

Promoting wellness while taking a detour around dysfunctional beliefs invites diminishing returns. 

I like the phrase diminishing returns. It's so useful. I often find myself deciding, after a period of time reading a book, visiting a website, even watching an overpriced movie, that it's time to move on - well before the end arrives. More energies invested in certain books, websites or movies-or other matters of diverse kinds, seem unlikely to facilitate much new knowledge, information or pleasure. Returns, in other words, will diminish.  

Wellness promoters - take note. A lot of people, that is, most of us, have been indoctrinated in negative ways as children - and many have not gotten over much of the malprogramming. The result is a population not just mired in superstitions but also stuck in a wide range of secular illusions, such as astrology, homeopathy, conspiracy theories, UFO visitations by pillaging Scientologists from planet Orgone in the Thetan Galaxy z12 and so on and on. Such adults generally do not, at first, welcome reasoned explanations at odds with their beliefs. They care little that their treasured world-views lack scientific support. At first, anything that's different from what one knows and is used to tends to be defended. Take the long view. 

The indoctrination that enables the spread of odd belief systems continues in the modern age. Legions of well educated-and undereducated adults, remain chained, mentally, to dysfunctional, absurdist beliefs and unhealthy attitudes-and I'm not referring only to the Republican presidential primaries. Lame expectations and assorted illusions are not limited to politics, or even to gods, demons, angels and talking snakes. Childhood propaganda, also known as cultural norms, transmit little recognized but deeply held beliefs about how and what to eat, whether to be active and how to respond to stress-all baseline issues that affect lifestyle practices and health status.

Americans would be well served if wellness enthusiasts broadened their agendas. I'd like to see wellness enthusiasts devote part of their mission to undermining systems that place undue faith in experts, in government and in childhood propaganda. Faith, after all, is believing without evidence, without knowledge or, as Mark Twain put it, in what you know ain't so. Arthur Schopenhauer observed, Faith and knowledge are related as the two scales of balance; when the one goes up, the other goes down. (Parerga and Paralipomena.) Schopenhauer compared the conditions for faith to the environment of glow worms, creatures that shine only when it's dark. He saw faith as reliant on a certain amount of ignorance ... the element in which alone they can exist. 

Let's promote an attitude of healthy skepticism as a default setting for everyone. Vast numbers of people believe utter nonsense. There's no way to dance around

this. People who think like Alice in Wonderland may believe otherwise: There's no use trying, one can't believe impossible things. Of course, we know that is not true, in the real world or in Wonderland. To quote the Queen, I dare-say you haven't had much practice. When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. 

My suggested partial remedy is to recommend REAL wellness as a foundation for a healthy lifestyle. Let the wellness concept be a starting point for initiating interesting discussions about psychological as well as physical well-being.  

REAL wellness is a sound basis for a healthy lifestyle, yes, but it is much more. It's a mindset focused on four key dimensions: 

1.       A reliance on reason (thinking critically and respecting evidence-based knowledge) instead of faith and superstition.  

2.       Living life with joy and exuberance rather than settling for simply coping with or trying to avoid illness.  

3.       A lifelong commitment to athleticism, that is, becoming and remaining very physically fit while eating wisely.  

4.       Always promoting liberty for oneself and others (e.g., safeguarding the separation of state and church).

These elements are vital to uncommonly high quality of life and therefore should be raised and artfully discussed, especially with strangers to such an orientation. 

In your own modest fashion, you can make a REAL wellness difference for someone, or several persons. The bold approach I recommend for professional wellness promoters or anyone seeking to have a positive affect on someone's life, is to speak/write and otherwise be honest, frank, truthful and explicit. Don't shy from politely observing that only a lunatic would believe such and such! Ha ha. I'm kidding. You have to be polite, likable, charming and suave, as I hope to be someday in advancing REAL wellness ideas amongst my relatives, friends, associates and anyone else whose attention I capture for a possible teachable moment. 

Americans have long been credited with having a willingness to deal with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies and competitive values. Yet, much of what Americans believe is based on propaganda that shaped our formative years. Some of these things are bright and beautiful, others not so much. As part of wellness, let's get ideas out of the closet for closer scrutiny. Everyone is free to believe what he/she wishes, but not all have had equal opportunity to ponder the case for reason, joy, personal freedoms and freethought. Let's scrutinize so-called revealed truths, some of which might be just a little suspicious. John F. Kennedy favored this approach. He often spoke of encouraging others to decide what is sound and what is bogus. He said, We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. Just so.  

Let's display our true colors, prove our mettle as change agents and guide as many as we can to assess if they might inadvertently dwell at times in closets that inhibit their richest possibilities for an examined life. 

Be well, look on the bright side and consider this, from Matt Frewer: Never knock on death's door, ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!

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Donald B. Ardell, Ph.D., is the Well Infidel. He wrote High Level Wellness in 1976 (Rodale Press) and a dozen more books since, including Die Healthy, 14 Days to Wellness and most recently, Aging Beyond Belief and REAL Wellness. 

High Level Wellness helped spark the wellness movement. Since 1984, Don has produced approximately 700 editions of the Ardell Wellness Report. The four major quality of life dimensions addressed in this weekly newsletter are reason, exuberance, athleticism and liberty. Don's website at SeekWellness is the largest repository of wellness essays in the world. 

Don is a long-term member of the board of trustees of the National Wellness Institute. He is one of ten Americans given the Healthy America Fitness Leaders Award in 1991 by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. In 2010, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Prize by the German Wellness Association in Dusseldorf; in July 2011, he was honored with the Halbert L. Dunn Award by the National Wellness Institute.

Don has won numerous national and four world championships in triathlon and duathlon, his most recent world titles coming in Australia and Hungary in 209 and 2010, respectively.