I have to admit, the first time I saw my brother treat a floor plank with Odie’s Oil (at that time he hadn’t named it), I didn’t know what to make of it.  I was so used to urethane plastic coatings and varnish that I had a hard time getting my head around a finished piece of wood that looked and felt entirely natural and “unfinished”.  How could this be?  It mustn’t be actually finished.  Does this stuff actually do anything?  How can this possibly hold up and protect the wood? I know James too well, he’s going to chastise me for admitting that those were my initial reactions, but those were the doubtful thoughts that ran through my mind. 

More than 20 years later, I couldn’t imagine ever treating a wood surface with plastic coatings, whether a hybrid oil/wax poly or a true poly or varnish.  Now I know, Odie’s Oil does it all - any sheen level, any look, any color, perfect tactile experience, and lasts forever! 

 Why are people so resistant to new paradigms?  Why do they fear change?  Why do they trust the existing paradigms, the status quo, the commercial selection that is presented in the stores and supply houses?  When I ask myself those questions, I am reminded about the food offerings we’ve been presented, the junk we pump into our stomachs daily, for years and decades.  I am reminded of the medical-pharmaceutical industrial complex and the toxic remedies they’ve been shoving down our throats and under our skin.  Most people just go with the current, they don’t take the time to stop and question the popular paradigms.  We take things for granted, thinking “they wouldn’t offer us that if it wasn’t the best approach”.  Same with politics, I used to think the government meant well, they just sometimes make mistakes like everyone else.  But now that I am in my late 60’s I’ve woken up to the fact that these assumptions are simply not true.  Corporations and governments, business people and politicians are motivated by profits and control.  Corporations want to control what you consume, politicians want to control what you believe and what you consume since most of them are tied in with corporate interests that fund their campaigns and hence their careers.  So what does this have to do with Odie’s Oil Universal Finish & Polish and the 14 or so iterations of my brother James’s finishing paradigm? 

 Once we discovered that pumping foods laced with seed oil, using hydrogenated margarines, and eating empty calories was killing us - did we suddenly stop our poor eating habits?  For most of us, the answer is a resounding - NO!!   And we all know, guilty or not, that it is very unfortunate.  Yet, not only do old habits and patterns of behavior die hard, but they are deeply entrained within us, in our neuro-pathways, in psychological complexes that are well established over the course of our lifetime.  Whether it’s out of nostalgia and  conscious or unconscious memories of comfort, of home, dear old dad’s way of doing things and working along side of him, or mom’s tasty recipes - we find that it represents our comfort zone.  What makes it even more difficult to change, and diet is a big one, is that we are surrounded, bombarded by foods designed to delight our tastebuds as well as make us addicted to them on the biochemical level.  So, when we look to shift paradigms, we have to be aware that we are immersed in temptation, the temptation of the marketplace, the direction of the herd, as well as the temptation of our own psyches.  Without this awareness, we don’t even stand the slightest chance of change and we will never be free of self-destructive behaviors.                                            

So the first step in transformation, whether it is health related, dietary, economic welfare related, political, or the choosing of methods and materials to get a project done is awareness of the facts of the status quo.   The ability to embrace new paradigms in such matters is awareness of the actual facts, awareness of our own less than ideal choices and patterns of behavior and knowledge of the better alternatives.  You wouldn’t change your diet for an improved health and lifestyle outcome without knowing what new food choices to make and why.  At least I hope not!  Well then, why would it be any different with surface coatings and treatments?  The vast majority, in the 97% range are laced with toxic chemicals and designed for planned obsolescence.  So, don’t be fooled by the latest brand of the same old paradigm with a new twist, that’s there just to make you feel like you are progressing, to keep your cash flowing in their direction.  It’s no more forward movement on your part then going from hydrogenated soybean oil margarine to hydrogenated canola oil.  It’s killing you slowly and it’s just another manner of profiteering at your expense.

If you want to eat healthy you need to learn what healthy food really is and what it is not.  Then you have to make the right choices and stick with it.  Likewise, if you want to improve your finishing and polishing work, then you need to learn what the shortcomings are of the current methods and materials you are using and what the negative and positive aspects of the other choices are. Modernity has pushed a toxic form of relativism to the extreme, and this leads many people into the trap of thinking that there are no real truths, just my truth and your truth, that kind of thing.  Well, toxic foods are toxic foods, they do things to the body that aren’t good, whereas healthy foods (if you can figure out what they are) don’t do bad things to the body.  Likewise, a finishing paradigm that is made to fail over time and which contains toxic ingredients is not a healthy or smart finishing paradigm.  It only helps the purveyors of poison and not you, not the environment, or anyone else.

So why do we here at Odie’s Oil (Odysseus Cornwall’s Outstanding Oils & Waxes) write and talk about these things over and over again?  Why are we accused of attacking the competition?  Because without the light of awareness and without knowledge, you can’t and won’t change from the existing toxic, corporate profiteering, planned obsolescent paradigm.  I’ll spare you the features and benefits pitch about our products in this blog post.  I’ll even spare you the litany of reasons why you need to switch to our finishing paradigm immediately, and believe me you do - just as much as an alcoholic needs to stop drinking.  That information and proof of the results can be found all over our website, on our instagram and other social media pages, and the now 200 million or so square feet of wood and other surfaces that have been successfully treated with our products.  So, do yourself a favor, step into the ultimate finishing paradigm, completely safe, completely non-toxic, and designed to actually improve the integrity of surfaces as well as last a lifetime.  Look around, learn, and take the first step in breaking old habits.  Who knows, maybe this can be the initial catalyst for awareness and truly positive changes in other aspects of your life.