You can try your hardest to be healthy these days, we can find ourselves lost in a world of contradictory organic, freeze dried chlorine free eye-brow focused excerciseology. In fact if we do a quick google on the health benefits of milk (Cow's Milk) then lets see what comes up........(GOOGLING NOW)

Okay so on the first page of a routine googling we see WebMD discussing the pros and cons, a group called save our bones promising to tell us the truth about milk and the final entry at the bottom the first page is an expose of 12 frightening facts about milk.

What we observe is a broad spectrum of opinions ranging from milk will kill you faster than gun-toting cigarettes with tendencies towards sectarian extremism to if you drink nothing but milk you can probably live to be three hundred years old.

One of the most prevalent logical fallacies in nutrition advice is the appeal to ancient knowledge. That is to say that because some fact or idea is perceived to have come from an ancient society in antiquity then it must be true.

Probably the most modern example of this is the Paleo diet. I would qualify that by saying that I personally think the Paleo diet concepts of high protein, lots of greens are a good thing but not because that is how our ancestors used to eat.

The Paleo diet is predicated upon the idea that our ancestors (which ancestors nobody is particularly specific about) did not eat refined grains or dairy and thus had a healthier existence. There is no doubt some truth to this but it is absurd to assume based on this one simple predication that we in the 21st century should change our diets as there are many other factors we should consider.

The Paleo diet is a prime example of the appeal to ancient knowledge. The assumption that vague, unverifiable knowledge is somehow to be placed above other ways of ascertaining the truth.

I wonder if the desire to appeal to ancient knowledge comes from an aesthetic place in our minds. When I look at the idea of faith and a longing for a connection with something bigger than myself I feel (as I am sure many of you do) drawn to the ancient, the old, the long standing.

I would like to give you two possibly irrelevant and unconnected examples. The first is the perceived rise of Orthodox Christianity in America. That is to say an increasing number of believers in America are choosing to find their faith in the form of churches which have their roots in the autocephalus Orthodox churches of Russia, Greece, Armenia. This is of course a very different flavor of Christianity to the most culturally "American" of churches which would be the baptist megachurch. Labeling these churches as "American" is problematic if we go beyond the superficial but I believe it aids in conveying my point. The traditional Megachurch is a large scale complex which involves a pastor speaking through a microphone to a large group of devotees there might be big music with heavy production values. This is entirely different to the way an Orthodox service is conducted.

As an article from the Dallas Morning news tells us; Converts to Orthodoxy are drawn by its unchanging nature, aesthetic beauty and spiritual mystery. Christian Orthodoxy is something which provides to a link to a time in the past which contains a quality of something different yet essential. An orthodox service contains a connection with something a little bit unknown and a bit mysterious because many of the liturgies and aspects of worship contain other languages and ancient structures of prayer which sound quite unusual to the modern (western) ear.

The second poorly researched example is the increasing number of converts to Islam in my home city of Glasgow.

For the uninitiated that is Glasgow Prime (The first and best Glasgow).

For young people particularly young white people in their late teens and early twenties, the rise of Islam isn't due to a desire to join ISIS which is the reason portrayed by the consistently inept, fallacious and mediocre media machine.

It is a desire to look for something which is perceptibly deeper in it's conviction and sense of purpose that the traditional mainstream for young people which -certainly where I come from- will to a certain extent revolve around the consumption of alcohol and perhaps drugs. Now I would not seek to deliver a blanket generalisation and say that all drugs are bad and that all alcohol is bad. That is a gross oversimplification and does not do justice the the scope and depth of research needed to give an accurate rendering of the potential risk benefit framework individual drugs can potentially carry with them. That being said however if drugs and alcohol are the focus of your life -and in my beloved old city,it is for so many young people- then there is something missing. There is a profound existential crises affecting our young people.

For an increasing number of young people that thing is depth and purpose and sincerity of community. Many of us live in huge mega cities but are isolated from those around us. It is possible to be alone and as connected living in a hermit shack in the Siberian hinterland as it is in a 50 story apartment block.

Often technology intercedes to create a a false digitally sculpted community where people's egos are extended and the need for constant competition is given power over our lives. I believe that the answer is being ourselves away from our virtual world, in the aftermath of taking an honest and meaningful look at what we are and develop a sincere desire to meet our true selves and the true selves of those around us.

The adored communities of old, the ancient communities around which vintage philosophies and religions were created started with just a few sincere male and or female dudes sitting connecting with some inner truths and spreading it around. They found they got on and liked what they did and started to change things. This isn't to say these ancient institutions are perfect......far far from it, nothing is perfect and ancient religion has a lot of problems with it but it is that spirit of sincere truth building in communion,this is the beautiful thing at their core and I wonder if that is what we long for.

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Thanks for reading, you are amazing.