Science of the Spirit
Our culture leads people to believe that hair style is a matter of personal preference, that hair style is a matter of fashion and/or convenience, and that how people wear their hair is simply a cosmetic issue. Back in the Vietnam war however, an entirely different picture emerged, one that has been carefully covered up and hidden from public view.
In the early nineties, Sally [name changed to protect privacy] was married to a licensed psychologist who worked at a VA Medical hospital. He worked with combat veterans with PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. Most of them had served in Vietnam.
Sally said, "I remember clearly an evening when my husband came back to our apartment on Doctor's Circle carrying a thick official looking folder in his hands. Inside were hundreds of pages of certain studies commissioned by the government. He was in shock from the contents. What he read in those documents completely changed his life. From that moment on my conservative middle of the road husband grew his hair and beard and never cut them again. What is more, the VA Medical center let him do it, and other very conservative men in the staff followed his example.
As I read the documents, I learned why. It seems that during the Vietnam War special forces in the war department had sent undercover experts to comb American Indian Reservations looking for talented scouts, for tough young men trained to move stealthily through rough terrain. They were especially looking for men with outstanding, almost supernatural, tracking abilities. Before being approached, these carefully selected men were extensively documented as experts in tracking and survival.
With the usual enticements, the well proven smooth phrases used to enroll new recruits, some of these Indian trackers were then enlisted. Once enlisted, an amazing thing happened. Whatever talents and skills they had possessed on the reservation seemed to mysteriously disappear, as recruit after recruit failed to perform as expected in the field.
Serious causalities and failures of performance led the government to contract expensive testing of these recruits, and this is what was found.
When questioned about their failure to perform as expected, the older recruits replied consistently that when they received their required military haircuts, they could no longer 'sense' the enemy, they could no longer access a 'sixth sense', their 'intuition' no longer was reliable, they couldn't 'read' subtle signs as well or access subtle extrasensory information.
So the testing institute recruited more Indian trackers, let them keep their long hair, and tested them in multiple areas. Then they would pair two men together who had received the same scores on all the tests. They would let one man in the pair keep his hair long, and gave the other man a military haircut. Then the two men retook the tests.
Time after time the man with long hair kept making high scores. Time after time, the man with the short hair failed the tests in which he had previously scored high scores.
Here is a Typical Test:
The recruit is sleeping out in the woods. An armed 'enemy' approaches the sleeping man. The long haired man is awakened out of his sleep by a strong sense of danger and gets away long before the enemy is close, long before any sounds from the approaching enemy are audible.
In another version of this test the long haired man senses an approach and somehow intuits that the enemy will perform a physical attack. He follows his 'sixth sense' and stays still, pretending to be sleeping, but quickly grabs the attacker and 'kills' him as the attacker reaches down to strangle him.
This same man, after having passed these and other tests, then received a military haircut and consistently failed these tests, and many other tests that he had previously passed.
So the document recommended that all Indian trackers be exempt from military haircuts. In fact, it required that trackers keep their hair long."
Comment:
The mammalian body has evolved over millions of years. Survival skills of human and animal at times seem almost supernatural. Science is constantly coming up with more discoveries about the amazing abilities of man and animal to survive. Each part of the body has highly sensitive work to perform for the survival and well being of the body as a whole.The body has a reason for every part of itself.
Hair is an extension of the nervous system, it can be correctly seen as exteriorized nerves, a type of highly evolved 'feelers' or 'antennae' that transmit vast amounts of important information to the brain stem, the limbic system, and the neocortex.
Not only does hair in people, including facial hair in men, provide an information highway reaching the brain, hair also emits energy, the electromagnetic energy emitted by the brain into the outer environment. This has been seen in Kirlian photography when a person is photographed with long hair and then rephotographed after the hair is cut.
When hair is cut, receiving and sending transmissions to and from the environment are greatly hampered. This results in numbing-out .
Cutting of hair is a contributing factor to unawareness of environmental distress in local ecosystems. It is also a contributing factor to insensitivity in relationships of all kinds. It contributes to sexual frustration.
Conclusion:
In searching for solutions for the distress in our world, it may be time for us to consider that many of our most basic assumptions about reality are in error. It may be that a major part of the solution is looking at us in the face each morning when we see ourselves in the mirror.
The story of Sampson and Delilah in the Bible has a lot of encoded truth to tell us. When Delilah cut Sampson's hair, the once undefeatable Sampson was defeated.
Reported by C. Young
Comment: SOTT can't confirm this story or the research it suggests took place, however, we have wondered on many occasions, what is the use of hair and why so many legends refer to hair as being a source of strength, from Samson, to Nazarenes, to the Long Haired Franks.
Reader Comments
I have to wonder about the recent popularity of men shaving their heads and what effect that may have if there is any truth to this theory.
Gurdjieff mentions in Beelzebubs tales that shaving the beard and cutting hair were "odd" and less than desireable customs.
Some types are 'hairy' and others are not? Whereas the top hair is basic, but comes in types of straight to frizzy. Perhaps a physical connection when the psychic wasn't available alone? Soul has to use what is available? Interesting if you add in all the cultural patterns of youth, from indoctrination into the military mindset to the 'student poets' or radical youths.. .though they can be shorthairs if their 'high priests' of society are all longhairs. Nature swinging back and forth it seems.
Isn't hair considered 'dead' cells after moving past the scalp? Is that then a ground wire affect? It is a curious bit of news.
Most American Indians believe cutting their hair is akin to cutting their spirit. I'm surprised that was not mentioned in this article.
I remember reading something similar in an esoteric book many years ago, which was most certainly not based on science.
The author, as I remember, posited that this was the reason why all the best scientists always looked as though they had stuck their fingers into an electric socket. (Einstein springs to mind here!) The author also stated that hair acted as a 'receiver' to cosmic forces.
This seemed to be too much of a joke to me, until I started reading the Cassiopaean website, especially what Laura wrote about religion.
Maybe this was the reason that the god of Muslim, Jews and Christians (St.Paul) insisted that women should cover their hair? I've always believed that women were more intuitive, and more in touch with Earthly and Cosmic vibes anyway.
Is this why the military (of any country these days) insist on the shaved head look?
Very interesting. Much food for thought here. Such as a study on the fashion of haircuts through the ages and how it impacted on the enlightenment or otherwise of that particular society?
For instance, in these days of short haircuts for men and covered hair for women, how many wars are we involved in at the moment?
This is the only other information I have run into on this subject. I believe it mentions the old Sampson and Delilah story. I was very taken by the data, as it made some small sense to me. Further, it gives an interesting reason why more women may feel "psychic" or "intuitive" than men (if they do).
had long hair as a youth, have been cutting it to <5 mm for 17 years. not for looks, but because it is soooo much more convenient. i don't own a hairdryer, comb or shampoo. i never have to check "how my hair looks".
but i have had a beard ever since i started the short hair era. :-)
the missing sentence is: ....to less than 5 mm for 17 years. it is soooo much more convenient. no combs, dryers, shampoos. never having to check your hair.
"..beings of the female sex of both these communities thus deliberately deprived themselves of that part of their presence which is adapted for certain exchanges of cosmic substances,
Great Nature did not fail to react and began to produce corresponding results, which will assuredly take such forms as [..]
cutting the hair of female beings became widespread, a proportionate increase was observed everywhere[..]in what they call 'women's diseases,' that is, various sorts of inflammation of the sexual organs, such as 'vaginitis,' 'uteritis,' 'ovaritis,' as well as 'fibrous tumors' and 'cancer. '"
Question: Why do male Chasidic Jews have the long side curls in their hair?
Answer: The Torah says, "You shall not round off the peyos of your head" (Leviticus 19:27). The word peyos refers to sideburns -- i.e. the hair in front of the ears that extends to underneath the cheekbone which is level with the nose (Talmud - Makkot 20a). The Talmud explains that this law only applies to men, not to women.
Maimonides explains that the prohibition of “rounding” prohibits the removal of sideburns, by razor, tweezers or any other means. Though it is permitted to trim the sideburns, even very close to the skin, using scissors.
Even though sideburns are enough to satisfy the Torah requirement of peyos, many Jews grow their peyos long as a way of emphasizing the commandment (Peyos sounds like pious, right?!), or simply of Jewish identification. Some will curl their peyos, while others tuck them behind their ear.
[Link]
"Cutting of hair is a contributing factor to unawareness of environmental distress in local ecosystems. It is also a contributing factor to insensitivity in relationships of all kinds. It contributes to sexual frustration. "
Hmmm. . .perhaps this explains the success of Fabio.
Mine's down to the middle of my back, and getting even longer again. But I'm just an old hippy. For me, it's Mostly because of low the maintenance. When I'm in a hurry to get going. all I need to do is wash it, comb it out, and pull it back into a pony tail.
But when you see someone from the east who has worn a turban all his adult life, you should know that the har underneath is probably longer than most women's. I have a friend from India whose hair reaches the floor when he lets it down.
And if you research why wearing a turbane caught on, and became an ancient custom, you'll find that back in the days when wars were fought hand to hand with swords, and battle axes, having extremely long hair that's tightly twisted about one's head in alternating layers of hair, and linen, made an extremely effective, battle helmet, that was almost impenetrable to most of the weapons of the day
Any warroir who was accustomed to close fighting with a turban protecting his head as part of his battle gear would feel naked in battle. without it. And without long hair to twist into it, it would be nothing more than a silly hat made of rags.
I feel naked in life without mine. I got my first haircut in 25 years 3 years ago. I'll never do it again.
Haven't had a haircut, other than to trim a few frayed ends, since before 2000.
Always have a beard.
It just feels right.
“Poilu” origin per WWI’s “La Feu”
I am currently reading the WWI combat memoir/book entitled, “Under Fire, The Story of a Squad,“ (1916) [ in French, “Le Feu“ ] By Henri Barbusse (1874-1935) as translated by Fitzwater Wray. In the book’s first reference to “poilu”, which is the genericized name for the French Soldier -much as “G.I.” means an American Army Soldier - the translator's first footnote states:
[note 1:] (Poilu:) The popular and international name for a French soldier. Its literal meaning is 'hairy, shaggy," but the word has conveyed for over a century the idea of the virility of a Samson, whose strength lay in his locks.--Tr.
Very often, old conclusions have far more value than modern Western society gives them.
R.C.
Surely if this was true then baldness would have been evolved out of existence? The genes of anyone who experienced baldness would have been 'defeated' by others who had the advantages that hair allegedly gave them.
It's just as likely this phenomenon has something to do with the culture of the native Americans and how foreign having a short military haircut would be to them.
In the RA material I remember reading where they told Don that your hair is like a antena !!!
If this is true, I wonder of the alleged enhanced psychical properties are related to the electrostatic properties of hair. Hair is not a, ac/dc electrical conductor, but it is highly reactive to static fields. I cannot, at this moment, find any other corroborating material, other than a related article about the Sikhs. I'm gonna keep my eyes open, though.
Perhaps the tradition of short hair in the military is to blunt sensitivity.
However, this sounds like the start of an Urban Legend.
Why has it taken 40 years to come to light? If it was only semi-scientific and classified, it
might have been buried. If you lived in the 70's you know this would have been too good
to keep under wraps.
Maybe a Freedom of Information Act search will turn up something. Otherwise, I will
smile and put it in my Urban Legend mental file.
Good question--why has this hair info been kept under wraps (pun intended) for so long?
I came of age in the late 60's, and instantly was attracted to guys with long hair. I remember feeling proud that my boyfriend was the first guy at my small town college to grow out his hair. I remember the excitement around long hair as a form of rebellion that both men and women felt about growing out one's hair. We were all sensing something was powerful about it. It was also the time of contact with 'Indian gurus' with long hair.
What I remember, is that as guys began to grow their hair, they became more sensitive, intuitive (more like women) and able to see through the establishment's lies. But it was also all about, ya know, 'Peace and Love.'
There's that wonderful song by Crosby, Stills and Nash, "Almost Cut My Hair." Maybe that is the tune mentioned above--I haven't listened to it yet.
I can remember reading somewhere that as far a women go-- long, fine and wavy hair means having high sensitivity and psychic abilities.
I agree it woud be a great question for the C's.
I went bald at 20, and immediately started shaving my head. Grew out a beard right away though and I've had it ever since ... and I'm hairy as a wildebeast everywhere else ... still though, I'm wondering if maybe i should grow my hair out ... although long hair with a bald spot is a hard look to make work
This is definitely something that should be put to the C's, and in the meantime subjected to further research. It makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways.
Here's another, followup question for the C's: what about hairless animals? Like lizards, or dolphins. Is there an equivalent or just a lack?
Just went to iTunes and down loaded Almost Cut My Hair Today !!! Thanks I liked that song back in the seventies !
I'm a mind body and spirit teacher and would like to add that the human hair is also where we store surplus energy or chi for our body. When you reach great states of peace/enlightenment the body starts to secrete what toaist masters call the golden elixir. This is literally the fountain of youth in spirituality. You can read more about it on my website.
[Link]
Q: I have an idea relating to the ancient gods and heroes...
they all had these massive amounts of hair, and it seemed
that cutting off the hair caused them to lose their strength in
some way. Was this totally symbolic, or was it actually
believed that they had to grow their hair?
A: Symbolic.
Q: What was the hair symbolic of?
A: Virility.
The reason you don't see Native Americans with facial hair is because they don't have any. They are genetically born with the inability to grow facial hair. My uncle was Native American and he never had to shave. I am part NA and my facial hair won't grow hardly at all.
The Dali Lama shaves his head, as do many other pretty "connected" spiritual people. I agree with some of this but there are other ways of being connected in the physical/metaphysical world that aren't just through hair.
I think this article is probably talking about the average person, not someone like the Dali Lama.
Good point, though. I hadn't thought about this.
If you take someone skilled in tracking in a desert and/or plains environment, drop them in the middle of a tropical jungle, obviously they're not going to be able to track very well. It has nothing to do with hair. It the complete lack of experience and knowledge of the new environment.
I was taught by blackfoot indians that in the summer wearing the least amount of colthes allowed you to detect amnimals in the forest, i found this to be true for a white guy or gal as as well , wearing a loincloth proved to be enlightening , you knew wher animals were before they saw you, the hairs on your body pick up their vibrations as they move thru the forest .also they dont see your clothes ,which are washed in tide with phosphors in it
I grew my hair quite long when I was young. But I eventually cut it short, mainly because I play Hacky Sack (seriously, mind you) and long hair is very difficult to deal with for such a crazy movement-oriented sport, but also because I started developing classic Male Pattern Baldness. Because of dandruff, I let it my hair grow in the winter, but buzz it short every spring and keep it buzzed in the summer. No beard, but I NEVER shave my moustache; only did it once in my life, when I was like 15 and didn't really need to do it. From reading the comments, it sounds like a lot of guys have one thing or another, hair, beard, stache, etc., that they almost religiously protect.
However, I honestly don't really feel any different in terms of any kind of cosmic sensitivity or whatever when my hair is longer, vs. when it is buzzed. I feel the same cosmic sensitivity regardless of my hair length. OTOH, I would be absolutely crestfallen if I lost my stache! I actually do consider it an integral part of my being.
One thing I don't think anyone has brought up yet is the issue of leg shaving. Many western women shave their legs, and I wonder if this has some kind of impact beyond just conformance to expected 'beauty' standards. When I first got married, it took me a few months to convince my wife to stop shaving her legs; that I didn't like it and preferred the natural hair growth. Once it grew back out to it's natural point of stasis, we were both happy with the results.
Being a serious Hacky Sack player - I'm talking tournament level - there's a subset of guys who kick that shave their legs. I never really understood it; they claim they mostly just liked the 'clean' look. I was always firmly in the camp of "a thousand tiny air / motion sensors" that gave me an advantage in terms of proprioception and the like. But it's obviously not required, because guys that shave their legs have won world championships.
Beyond any spiritual or cosmic connection regarding hair, I'm mostly just dismayed that there's so much, or really any, social expectations or conformance regarding what people do with their hair. I think people should be free to do what they want with it, and I think a lot of guys would grow it out longer if it were more socially acceptable. I applaud some of my male friends and co-workers who keep long hair.
Before I go, I just gotta share one of my old favorite songs that deals with hair: [Link](Hairstyles and attitudes, by Timbuk 3)
This is a terrible article; it offers no empirical founding, has no citations to peer-reviewed material confirming the material and claims, and uses anecdotal evidence combined with misuse of false correlation (magical thinking) to further unsubstantiated claims. I am quite disappointed.
I am a Pagan as well as a person born under the 13th astrological Sign known as Ophiuchus as well as I am part Native American, and I am also a Real Psychic and I can safely say that this article is accurate. I Generally feel more at ease having LONG hair, it feels natural to have it almost longer than shoulder length, however, my work place and the People I deal with on a Daily basis Disapprove of Men having Long Hair because it is NOT appropriate nor is it Stylish at all ((their WORDS not mine)). I have always tried to keep it long even since I was young ((age 6)), and recently at the age of 30, about to be 31 on the 10th of Dec, I had gotten myself a haircut, but my roommate talked me into getting it really short, and I can say that my natural Psychic abilities have faltered since getting it shortened as much as it did. My current cut is as short as a Military crew cut and as much as it is slightly comfortable for the Job I do for National Grid in MA, I still rather have my Long hair back, I have never felt so NAKED and so at a Loss with out it. For those whom practice in the art of Mysticism or in the art of Paganism/Clairvoyancy, and want to be able to feel MORE and be more alert to what is around, I recommend BEING who YOU want to be and NOT listen to Society as a whole. In my honest opinion and Accurate Observation, this planet is ruled by those whom use fear and stupidity to keep others on a leash so they can feel superior. It is time to BE ourselves and to allow Nature to be back on top of the Paranormal Food Chain. Humans are capable of being more if they were to IGNORE Social followings and to be their own independent selves. Just cause others have no self originality, it does not mean you have to be like them. If you want to have long hair or to be proud of being Pagan or even just being WEIRD, then Be so. Christianity is FINISHED Ruling this world, it is time to take this planet back and be who we are MEANT to be, an EVOLVED Race. As for me, I intend to grow my hair back out to where I previously had it so that I can continue to do what I do best and that is be an EVOLVED Being. If you want to have long hair and feel one with nature than do it.
Delilah did not cut Samson's hair directly. Several days(Judges 16) of Delilah nagging at Samson, he told her in Judges 16:17, "There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man." 18. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. 19. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself, And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. 21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him ith fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. 22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. 23 Then the lords of the philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their (false) god: for they said, Our god (false) hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. 25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars, 26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. 28 And Samson called unto the Lord(True), and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. 31 Then his brethren and all his house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his fathr. And he judged Israel twenty years." The Gazan are still up to their old tricks. The GOD of the land of Israel IS REAL. Do not worship another.
Trim hair only during the light of the moon or full. The hair 'juice' spirit, bleeds when it is cut. Do not cut it during any waxing or full moon of October! In any other month, when the hair is trimmed during the light of the moon(full or waxing), the light actually touches the 'spirit' blood of the hair and causes the hair to grow faster. Native American; Seneca and Mamanatowic(Powahtan) counsel ancestors. If your hair is long and you want to keep it trimmed only three or four times a year during the waxing or full moon. Since 1997, the last time my hair was to the bottom of my shoulder blades, I have trimmed off a total of about one foot of hair per year. So, what is that? I have grown and trimmed fourteen feet of hair since then. Now it is back to my waist again after cutting it during the full moon of November. Long live Long Hairs!
1. There are several religious sects that forbid cutting hair for one or both sexes, however Amish people, Mormon women, Orthodox Jews, or Rastafarians are not particularly renown for their uncanny tracking abilities or skills at avoiding predators.
2. As Richard mentioned, no sources cited. Here, in this century, apparently the writer does not realize that it's possible to search out and find information about just about every government financed research project ever done. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Pony up.
3. Anecdotal evidence is very poor evidence. And "I heard of a woman who says 20 years ago her husband read some stuff" is not even a particularly good anecdote.
4. Anything that using "Kirlian photography" as evidence of anything but moisture or heat is talking about made up bullshit. [Link] This argument is right up there with "I asked my Ouija board if it was true, and it said Yes!"
5. There is a particularly offensive behavior common to new age gurus, wherein they take on real or imagined clothing, appearance or behaviors of certain Native Americans, and then believe this behavior entitles them to speak as an expert on all Native Americans. See Cultural Appropriation. White people recommending other white people grown their hair long in order to have "crazy cool intuition skills like the native americans do" smacks of this offensive behavior. It also is probably really offensive to those trackers that have trained long and hard on that particular skill in order for it to be explained as "their hair makes them magic".
There is also a particularly offensive white person behavior wherein white people imagine that all Native Americans look alike and have the same behaviors, beliefs, or skillsets. The truth is quite different.
From The History of Hair: "Native American Indians were divided in their hairstyles – those on the East Coast sporting entirely shaved heads save for a ridge of hair along the crown, whilst Plains Indians, both men and women, wore the recognized long braids adorned with feathers. Further South the Incas sported black headbands over relatively, short often bobbed hair, whilst Aztec women plaited their hair entwined with strips of coloured cloth then wound around the head. The Mayan nobility, although having shaved heads, donned high, ornate headdresses."
6. Here are some pictures of some actual, real, highly skilled Native American trackers called Shadow Wolves, that work tracking aliens and drug smugglers along the US/Mexico border. [Link]A google images search of "shadow wolves native american" comes up with many images of these highly respected and talented people. Note their hair length.
7. The whole "Hair is an extension of the nervous system" and "Cutting of hair is a contributing factor to unawareness of environmental distress in local ecosystems. It is also a contributing factor to insensitivity in relationships of all kinds. It contributes to sexual frustration. " thing is just too stupid to even bother with.
8. If hair were the biggest factor in the ability to avoid attackers, one would think that it would be almost impossible to catch, for instance, a sea otter, which at 1 million hairs per inch, is considered the "hairiest animal on the planet". And yet, it was hunted almost to extinction.
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Critical thinking can set you free. Learn how to use it.
Anyway, as for this article, ok let's say they're right (supination of disbelief activated) What about the weight of hair. One reason I like to keep my hair short is it's so thick that once it grows past my shoulders it's so heavy I get headaches. Wearing a ponytail would nearly give me a migraine. How is luging around all that extra weight supposed to make me a better tracker? Or better at anything? It didn't help with ballet. To wear it in a bun when it was long (it was to my waist at one point) just threw off my balance, and made it more difficult to hold up my head.
Another thing I find funny is the glorifying of native Americans. I grew up on the Rez (ok, not quite the Rez, but the saying went "If you want to live in a city, move to Pheonix, if you want a small town, live in Flagstaff, and if you want to live on the Rez move to Page!) This lady told me a story (and I heard this sort of thing growing up all the time!) how sheering a sheep was a life changing experience for her. This lead me to a long and hilarious conversation with my sister-in-law, who is Navajo, on what they think about outsiders being over awed by the mundane tasks of life. They think it's pretty darn funny! I mean come on, it's not like the Navajo were the first to sheer a sheep, have traditions (many of which stared in the last 40 years I might add) or to have a culture slightly different from someone else's.
My grand point? Maybe what people are searching for and think they've found in some far off or different culture isn't the answer they're looking for. Maybe it's closer to home. Or maybe we're all just over thinking everything.
Nah! You're right, we need more thinking! Critical thinking!
Information provided courtesy of the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Brief Summary
Hair root cells actively divide in a hair follicle, and they sensitively reflect physical conditions. The hair shaft has an advantage in that it records the metabolic conditions of the environment where the subject is. The purpose of this experiment is to examine the effect of long duration space flight on gene expression and trace element metabolism in human body by analysing human hair.
Alrighty. . . Hair is actually dead-- Quick experiment for proof: Grab a piece of ur hair, and pull on the end that is disconnected from ur scalp, the one on the other side of ur fingers away from ur scalp. You should feel that you aren't feeling the pull-- Now, yes, the longer your hair, the more you'll sense, but only because your scalp is doing the sensing, and your hair is connected to your scalp. For example, if you cut the whiskers of a cat, their sensing has just be diminished or weakened, because the hair is not as far out as to send signals to their sensing membranes in their face. Simple as that. It is not the dead hair, it is the live scalp that's doing the sensing.
My Mom recently had a valve replacement in her heart via an artery. The only anestesia used was a local where they inserted the tubes because we do not feel any pain/sensation in the artery itself.
I'm pretty sure her arteries are not dead.
I don't know whether this story is true or not but this particular argument is not valid.
In fact, I would offer an argument that it is not.
My hair is about 6'4" unbraided and wet. For a while it was closer to 7' and I had to loop the end of the braid back up going in the opposite direction of gravity. The hair that was pointed upward, against gravity, very quickly became unhealthy. People exclaim and wax poetic over how healthy my hair is all the time--the hair that hangs down in a braid without curving back up is healthy. The hair that, for a short period of time, was directed back up my back quicklly became unhealthy - drier, split ends, and basically I just cut it off because it was like thorns at the end of silk strands.
If the hair is dead I don't know why which direction it points would matter.
Megm said everything I thought but could not eloquently put forth; this person is much, much more deserving of praise than the writer of this article. For the love of all you hold dear, listen to this person and put some actual common sense and thought into what you believe instead of just babbling the unsubstantiated, inane nonsense so common to people who follow these inherently racist new age trends.
Megm's point five is particularly bothersome behavior to me, and I would like to take this moment to point out that in 1993 an international gathering of US and Canadian Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations, about 500 representatives from 40 different tribes and bands of the Lakota, unanimously passed a "Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality." Google it. Odds are high that you'll see your own lifestyle in direct contrast with it.
For those of you who make the counter-claim that you "have Amerindian blood," well so do a large amount of people living in North and South America; you are not special, you do not have magical powers, you do not have an "Indian name," and you do not follow some non-existent "single native religion." Stop it. All that you are doing is watering down a wide assortment of cultures into something you can purchase at a flea market, powwow, or retail store.
Amen!
There is nothing inherently 'Indian' about being Native American, at all. I find it incredibly disrespectful to their people that so many people throughout society, including some Native Americans, still use the antiquated term. It's embarrassing.
Native American Indians...are the indigenous people of North America.
DUH.
I hadn’t thought of it until I read this article, but it was around the time I started growing my hair very long that I started to have lucid dreams and astrally project. At a certain point when I got older, the dreams seemed to diminish and almost cease at one point, and I’m pretty sure it was around the time I started keeping my hair shorter. Now, I do occasionally project into my dreams, but it is not consistent unless I employ dream incubation techniques or take melatonin before bed.
Of note about my hair these days, I keep it very short like a Marine’s flat top. Once it starts to overgrow itself, the strange thing is that it will still stand straight up without using any product. All I have to do is wet it with a little water and it stands up for most of the day.
The story rings false.
First, the story says the "war department".The Department of the Army was established in 1947 and Department of War [or War Department] went away. In 1949 all the departments fell under the Department of Defense.
Second, the story relates the VA doctor was "allowed" to grow his hair. The VA is not a military establishment, the employees are not under military discipline, and certainly in the 1990's they did not have a dress code requiring military haircuts. Beside, since the point of the article or story is that the "studies" showed Indians lost combat abilities when their hair was cut, how does it help a non-Indian, non-tracker doctor in a VA hospital in the 1990's? Did he grow enhanced abilities to track his PTSD patients around the admittly vast VA hospital complexes? Nonsense.
Third, someone please point out the skill identifier for "tracker" in the U.S. Army circa 1960 to now. Answer: What? No such thing. Although Special Forces are, and have been, used as "commandos" that is not what their mission was during Viet Nam, or for most of their history. They were, and are, teams that are for training local troops to act as an unconvential fighting force, either counter-insurgency or insurgency, read Afganistan or Libya. In fact, based on my actual study of real Special Forces training manuals when I was in the US Army, Libya was a classic or text book case of what Special Forces "do", including the plans to disarm the rebels after sucess. Not one of the manuals I studied had a word on "tracking". Special Forces on occasion do not follow normal military grooming rules or uniform regulations because of the special mission to "blend in" and work directly with indigenous populations. Not because they "track" better.
Some Native Americans or Indians could have had superior field skills due to living much closer to nature than the typical white American of the time, simply due to living on rural reservations, poverty and the need to hunt for food. As others have mentioned, skills could very well have been passed down from father to son as well. Farm boys that go hunting have many of the same skills, then and now.
I do not believe such studies as were related in the story took place. I was in the Army during Viet Nam, I knew many who served in combat there, also Native Americans. I never heard of any exemption from hair cutting standards, the only person I ever saw with a beard was a white guy from Michigan, he had 3 months left in service, he had been a ranger in Viet Nam, in his barracks room there was a poster of him with his holding his CAR-15 and his foot propped up on a pyrimid of chopped off heads. The chain of command was afraid to ask him to shave.
Bottom line, the underlying story is a fantasy by someone with no real world experience with the US Army, recruiting, the VA medical system, etc.
I have no idea if having a hair cut helps or hurts tracking. I do know that hair is a nice padding on the head if you have to wear a helmet 24/7.
In Vietnam I am sure there were plenty of country boys who grew up hunting and tracking that would have had no problem applying those skills to recon,patrols, and search and destroy missions. The pointman would need to read the path to make sure they weren't walking into a enemy squad or a trap. That's just simple logic.
In my experience in 15 years of military service, ten of those rotating to the Middle East, the tracking techniques tought to me by my Grandfather and the Army have proved invaluable. My family was not impoverished and didn't need to hunt to survive, but the men pass down that knowledge to each generation to keep it alive. Just like a lot of other soldiers.
I can say the military has done some pretty odd research, so this isn't too far ou there. I do enjoy my hair and beard. If it truly had made me a better soldier I think though, the military would have made us all grow it long ago.
Thank you for shining the light on this article. You beat me to the punch and wrote EXACTLY what I would've written! This article is absurd in every sense and doesn't even have good anecdotal quality! What trash!
There are several reasons why men are required to wear their hair short when they are in military service. The tradition extends back to Roman times and earlier but Roman records are the most complete from an historical basis. Keeping the hair short was a form of discipline. Not only was it seen as a kind of proof that the soldier was keeping his "equipment" in good order it also showed the commanders that the army was following orders and obeying the chain of command. This is still how it is used today. Another reason for the short hair was to keep the helmet tightly fastened onto the head. Long hair would allow the helmet to slide around and expose the soldier to injury. Probably the most important reason for cutting hair was for reasons of cleanliness. Long hair is hard to maintain and harbors oil, dirt and parasitic insects. Romans loved their baths and spent hours scraping the hair off of their entire bodies. Today, even with our soaps, depilatories and insecticides as well as deodorants and perfumes it is easier and efficient to shave off the hair to stay clean and clean smelling. Culturally we interpret a man's hair as a reflection of the inner self; short hair and a shaved face equates to being clean and disciplined while long hair and a beard indicates slovenliness, poor hygiene and even effeminate inclinations.
Strangely enough it was a common enough sport in many societies to cut the hair off of another man to rob him of his virility and his pride. Natives here, those that wore their hair long, used it as a mark of power because no enemy had ever been able to take it from them and the length showed how long they had been victorious in battle. Chinese men and other men in asian societies used to wear their hair long as a sign of wealth and learning as well as a sign of their masculinity. All of this culture of shaving and haircutting came into vogue through the mandatory service forced on Americans by the Federal government in the two world wars so the hair cutting is a sign of our enslavement to the State. Prior to the twentieth century men who served in the army did not have to shave or cut their hair though long hair was discouraged as it gave the enemy something to grab hold of in close combat. Look at some Mathew Brady photographs of Civil War soldiers and you will see plenty of variety.
It puts a whole new light on the Samson story, don't you think? I'm the most connected and hyper-aware when my hair is super long (and therefore more sensitive). I tend to see people a little more transparently. The few times in my 41 years of life I cut it short (twice maybe?) are clearly marked in my mind and I always quickly regretted it. The worst was when I was a little girl. When my parents split up, my dad ended up keeping me. Me and my long hair reminded him of my mom. So, he chopped it off. I was 8. I still am traumatized by this. I hated it. I read this article a few days ago, but reading it again now made me realize all this, just thinking about my hair and how for every memory, I always tie in how long my hair was to the story. I always say, oh but I was 40 pounds heavier then and my hair was short. Or, that was when I had my hair down to 'here'. It also explains why I love when my hair is stroked, it really soothes me. This article also saddens me. Native Americans seemed to have everything stripped from them, their basic human rights. I'm so glad we are entering this higher awareness phase, and they are coming back to the forefront. It's thanks to them, we know what we need to go back to. Their love of land, each other, the whole environment they have carried are a beacon to our path. What a beautiful sight it will be, to see all those powerfully in tune men, standing proudly with their long hair. "Flow it. Show it. Long as God can grow it my Hair."
This is something I see a lot of in this article's varied responses: Positive Racism.
All Native Americans were spiritual and peaceful brothers who loved the land. All Jews are great with money and investing. All Asians are wonderful at math and playing a musical instrument. Black men can run really fast and all excel in sports. All Spaniards dance naturally well. Italians are fantastic cooks. Positive stereotyping and positive racism are oversimplifications of people groups that, instead of being negative or degrading in an overt nature, describe a people in only generalized positives.
They're still quite harmful in the long run. That’s because all stereotypes, positive or negative, are limiting and leave little to no room for individuality; they also completely ignore different cultures that exist in the same relative space: In the example above, I noted the commonly-held belief that "Asians are good at math." In doing that I have completely ignored both individuality and the fact that "Asian" can be any one of the (sometimes very) disparate cultures on the entire continent, from Siberia to China to India to Jordan. When I said "Asian," though, odds are you instantly thought Chinese. To those of you out there who read it and instantly thought "that's racist" instead, I have to ask: Where is that belief and understanding when it comes to the Americas?
You do the same thing when you say "All Native Americans are [x]." They weren't. They were people; they fought, they killed, they tortured, they made poor decisions, they chopped down forests, they wiped out or subjugated neighbors, they took resources, and in more than a few cases they practiced ritual human sacrifice. They also loved, had families, and did all of those other things every person ever born does. Because they're human. It's likely true that somewhere there was a nation or band that very loosely fits the (very profitable) stereotype of the noble savage (an abhorrent concept really) just as there are ones in Asia that fit the generally thought-of (mostly Chinese) stereotype of "Asian," but stop lumping every culture in the Americas in with them.
And no, hair is not magical. The article is very poorly written, and I strong advise that you scroll up through the comments to find the ones made by MegM, LebBeast, and the other voices of critical thinking.
Do the stereotpyes need to stand up to detailed analysis, not nessissarily, as long as they hold the truths applicable to the discussion. It Is a generally observable fact that very few, if any, native north american cultures wore their hair short, even the Mohegan, which are brought up in a further post, had the unshaven parts of the head grown out to natural length.
First of all, invalidating someone else's claims by dissecting their arguments in a rational way without providing substantial information yourself does not really help us get closer to the truth. This so called "critical thinking" is very easy to do and doesn't require any knowledge yourself.
It's good to see people coming with substantial knowledge so it becomes more of a dialogue rather than an argument.
Nowhere did this article suggest that hair length was the only discriminatory factor in natives' tracking abilities. I think it is not implausible to assume that hair length had spiritual as well as practical importance for Native Americans. Everything was symbolic to them and everything was meaningful. All of their symbolism and practices cannot have been solely based on fantasy; it must have had practical implications or it would not have evolved or stayed with them. Remember that religion was not a form of authority with them as it is with many other "younger" cultures. Older cultures did not practice religious or cultural evangelism or proselytising - I'm talking about original tribal peoples.
Noting that you've never heard of this research before, either within the military or without it, does not prove anything either. I guess we'll have to remain in doubt about the veracity of the claims of this article, but nevertheless, it is interesting to consider that hair (length) may have some functional relevance other than "it just feels better to have short/long hair". Because the question is: why does it feel better?
On the other hand, non-indians like me use expressions like "hair rising" etc. I have met several people that report reactions of the hair on their arms when confronted with something that is "the thruth" to them. Is must be possible to conduct research that will give more clarity.
Indeed interesting!
I am full blooded Oneida and have very little facial hair which looks scraggly when I let it grow but I doo wear a pony tail about halfway down my back.
It had been my understanding that While most native american bloodlines Can grow facial hair, the practice was largely disdained by most cultures of the native american nations.
I can kind of understand this as, in a hunting culture that had not invented eye-glasses yet, nobody wants to be the hairiest thing in the forest.....
just a thought.
I was both interested, and put off by the article at hand. While its Observations are keen, if not distorted, it is otherwise crap. so with out further ado I am inspired to present the Known facts about hair, and a few other senses possessed of the human being (and most other natural born entities)
The Hair is photosensitive/reactive, absorbing sunlight and creating with in the body certain bio-chemicals.
The Hair is temperature and humidity reactive, reacting to changes in temperature of less than .5degrees and less than 1% humidity
The Hair is pressure sensitive and movement sensitive, reacting to changes in air movement that the human perception cannot Consciously detect and changes in atmospheric pressure to the same degree. The same applies to the Hairs, incidental, reactivity to Vibrations (IE. sound waves, radio waves, etc.) in the environment.
The only thing that makes this "Magical" or supernatural in any way is on how Conscious the entity in question is to the input its Hair receives.
on a similar note, the sense of Smell and Taste, receive and record with in the memory, information down to a molecular level about the environment of the entity, While one may Consciously taste "Sweet/Dry" the Subconscious entity receives information about Amino-Protein/Cholesterol/Vitamin content, carbon/oxygen/nitrogen analysis, Etc. for examples...This information again, is only as supernatural as the Conscious Recall/Application of the information allows it to be.
If one were Consciously aware of ALL the information that the Ears and Eyes receive, that the waking mind auto-filiters by 'immediate priority" (but stores in memory, anyways), One may never sleep again.
The sad truth is that information shortage of these observations are not a conspiracy of any kind, Mankind simply has no Capital use for the information, therefore, it is largely avoided as Trivial, in science.
This is the biggest crock that I have read in quite some time. I can say from direct experience that Indians are either offended or laugh their asses off at these stereotypical "anglo" myths. I have known some to even seek amusement in messing with the "white man's" head—leading them on to believe that they (Indians) possess some type of unique, inherent spiritual consciousness.
I can recall several of my friends and I joking (as we frequently did) about tourists that would frequent our town. One of my friends described an incident where several European tourists at his fast-food job asked where they could go to see some Indians. When he promptly told them that they were looking at one, he was then asked why he was wearing his uniform, to which he replied, "because I work here." They were actually surprised and disappointed they would not be seeing people experiencing visions while running around some amusement park like reservation in a loin cloths. In reality Indians, like anyone else, are just people, and would prefer to be recognized and respected as such.
BTW, I should add that I am also a Vet and long time VA employee.
The whole article was written in an air of conspiracy, as though the government as been keeping discoveries of the human hair a secret. what I meant in my closing remark is that there is no conspiracy, there is no research, man kind relies on Funded Research to prove or disprove such things, and the scientific community at large, particularly that part of it funded by our government, doesn't care for such trivial pursuits, there's no capital return on it, nor any fear to be inspired from it. The reason it is not more commonly addressed is because we live in cities now; like most basic instincts, our Information Prioritization System (the brains buffering and filtering system) simply has other things to process. it is no longer essential that we can smell caribou or moose or wolves from 1100 yards away in the dark.....or feel the minuscule changes in atmospheric pressure twenty five minutes before the storm clouds form. Those who live in the country, or hunt a lot, are probably a lot more in tune with these things, Indian or not. I have known (non native) hunters in the Dakota's that could not only track a mouse over asphalt but could track an Indian tracking a mouse over asphalt, and remain hidden from both. I have known native north americans that could track men through the swamps of Georgia like a beagle, but couldn't find a doughnut shop in down town Chicago if it had a line of cops leading to it. I myself have had mid-back length hair, literally, my entire life, I couldn't track a rabbit to the other side of a snowdrift, but I can tell you exactly how many people are in a closed room and what they are doing before I open the door. You couldn't expect to drop a Plains Indian into a rain forest and have him track a native rain forest dweller...if you drop a native of Washington state into the dessert; you better send him with a lunch and a canteen; or hes just as dead as his white friends. Its all about what you have spent your time in tune with. There is every indication that Hair style is a cause and effect preference, some people may cut their hair short, not for vanity sake, but for peace of mind, billions of people go out of their way to stunt their senses on a daily basis even on top of what they never learned to pay attention to in the first place. Especially in america, land of the obsessed and home of the stressed.
Being a newcomer to this website I have nothing else to compare this page to yet but my first impression is that, whatever the truth about the purpose of hair, it is fascinating to see the enormous amount of effort expended in many of the comments, all of which I have read, suggesting that this topic may have hit an unconscious ;nerve' in people on both sides of the credibility divide... Thanks for the entertainment - I think I'm going to like it here :-)
This was an interesting read, but as others have pointed out, there's no documentation of any sort, merely an urban legend about a VA doc who found a secret file.
Due to extreme thinness of hair, I started shaving my head in 2006. I fight in karate and Muay Thai, and my reflexes and alertness are much better now than when I had hair. (Because these things come through concentration and practice.) Also, through a certain type of awareness meditation, one can train the mind to sense danger and to read peoples' intent (good, hostile or neutral). I learned this without the benefit of hair.
Also, note the many successful UFC/MMA fighters with shaved heads.
Also, Buddhist monks in Thailand (and probably in other Buddhist traditions as well) shave their heads. So do many Hindu monks (e.g. The Ramakrishna Mission). The Thai monks I've met seem very aware and intuitive.
Also, as someone else already posted, hair is dead matter, akin to finger nails. Certain energies (e.g static electricity) can make the hair stand. But that doesn't make it alive.
Rather than being titled, "The Truth About Hair...", this article should be called something like, "An interesting Idea About Hair..."
With regard to that particular conflict, (what gets called) The Viet Cong had uncanny abilities to track and outwit their enemies. Their hair wasn't particularly long. The men certainly had no facial hair, but on the other end of the equation: they probably weren't wearing rubber-soled shoes.
Bewdower said:
"I remember reading something similar in an esoteric book many years ago, which was most certainly not based on science.
The author, as I remember, posited that this was the reason why all the best scientists always looked as though they had stuck their fingers into an electric socket. (Einstein springs to mind here!) The author also stated that hair acted as a 'receiver' to cosmic forces."
After the orgone....
[Link]
Caesar - from a Roman cognomen which possibly meant "hairy", from Latin caesaries "hair".
Just thought I'd throw that in.
I have briefly studied electron microscope photography and medical illustration of hair in the past. I'm no doctor or physiologist, but as far as I could tell, the nerves and blood vessels in hair end in a sort of scooped out cavern in the bulging papilla at the very base of the hair follicle, where the vessels enter it. The papilla of the hair follicle is at the base of the dermis--which is beneath the outermost layer of skin, the epidermis, but not as deep as the subcutaneous layer of tissue and fat. The hair has muscle that attaches it to the outermost layer of the dermis (just below the epidermis). Also, the nerves and blood vessels in the skin end here--the outermost layers of skin, the epidermis, obviously do not have nerves and blood vessels. The hair shaft itself is composed of proteins if I recall correctly. See links below for anatomical illustrations.
So...my point is.....things like sound waves, temperature, etc...they move the hairs which move the muscles and nerves that are buried deeper in the skin. The hairs themselves don't sense. I think the points this article makes are true in a generic sense, but hairs are not "exteriorized nerves" as the article says. Yes, hair does transmit information to the brain, by virtue of stimulating underlying muscles and nerves, or perhaps carrying electromagnetic current (i.e. rubbing a balloon on your head). I think the article really exaggerates the extent of this, or at least gives no indication of how this actually works. It jumps to the conclusion "Cutting of hair is a contributing factor to unawareness of environmental distress in local ecosystems. It is also a contributing factor to insensitivity in relationships of all kinds. It contributes to sexual frustration" without explaining how any of this works.
This article to me seems to be written by someone who really wants to believe that facts are being buried, without understanding the science of the matter enough to know what is and is not accurate. The sixth sense story sounds like a bit of a stretch to me. I do believe that yes, you can sense sound waves, vibrations, magnetism, etc. through your hairs. However, considering everything that your hearing, smell, sight, etc. picks up, it's difficult for me to believe that hair alone will make or break whether you live or die in a situation like someone sneaking up to attack you.
If the article is referring to head hairs as a literal link to the brain...I don't think the nerves in the scalp actually penetrate through the skull directly to the brain...I didn't look it up so maybe I'm wrong.
Diagrams and electron microscope photo of hair and skin anatomy:
[Link][Link][Link]
The comments on this article are entertaining and enlightening. The fact remains that whenever we are confronted with extreme fear the hair on body and the neck rises. This happens with other animals also. What is the purpose of this "hair standing" episode? In nature almost all the episodes has a meaning and I feel that hair acts as transmitter of "stress waves". What is the nature, frequency etc. of these waves remains a mystery.
The military has a hair exempt for religion i.e. the Sikhs who don't cut their hair. But I'm not sure what tribe(s) of Native Americans are we talking about. Hair in some tribes is a indication of prowess and what some call machismo. For others it's a religious right.
Let's look at the assumption about ability. Sampson in the bible speaks of long hair and strength. To some that is the truth to others it's just a story. How about the saying, "It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck." You have to remember that hair is dead and the only part that has living cells is the follicle and yet it is susceptible to static electrical charges. Perhaps that could be used as a form of detection. But the truth is the information is mostly anecdotal and true scientific research has yet been done and has still not been confirmed. Smell, sound and touch (vibration) are indicators that would disqualify research though special senses because of hair length in the ability to detect intruders. Those senses where not mentioned in the article. Or it could be that the guys just wanted to wear their hair long so they skewed the test.
(from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_name_controversy)
When he landed in the Antilles, Columbus referred to the resident peoples he encountered there as "Indians" in the mistaken belief that he had reached the Indian Ocean.
Although Columbus' mistake was soon recognized, the name stuck; for centuries the native people of the Americas were collectively called "Indians."
Quote from letter by Christopher Columbus send to the Spanish royal court:
"en 33 días pasé de las islas de Canaria a las Indias", ("In 33 days I passed from the Canary Islands to the Indies").
His first reference to the inhabitants comes in the second paragraph:
"A la primera que yo hallé puse nombre San Salvador . . . los Indios la llaman Guanahaní", ("To the first [island] which I found I gave the name San Salvador . . . the Indians call it Guanahaní").
Also: [Link]
-
Indigenous is derived from Latin and not from "Indian":
in·dig·e·nous (n-dj-ns)
adj.
1. Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment. See Synonyms at native.
2. Intrinsic; innate.
Latin: Indigenus m (feminine indigena, neuter indigenum)
I do not believe a single word of this riduculous claim. First of all, men and women of all ages have worn their hair long and short since the beginning of time. It is a matter of preference.Samson had his hair cut and HIS EYES GOUGED OUT! A blind man does not have either the opportunity or the ability to plan and carry out feats like a sighted person. There are heros throughout the ages with short hair and men throughout the ages with long hair who were nerds and weaklings.Wake up people. Hair carrys more bacteria than anything. Hair stinks unless cared for properly. Hair is not some kind of antenna or nerve ending. It is DEAD cells, without any feeling at all. Geez. It just never ceases to amaze me how stupid people can be. I have accomplished a lot in my life, and reached an old age. I have short hair and I am a woman and I know better than to believe this junk science. Guys, please shave and cut your hair. Much more appealing and sanitary.
I find what you have said interesting however I do believe there is a sixth sense (if you will) when someone like a soldier is in a dangerous place and his/her life may be on the line. [Link] Whether this article has any truth to it or not it does make for an interesting story.
Maybe I will stop trimming my beard and let my hair grow.