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My irrelevant reflections
Jun. 20th, 2004 02:21 pmFrom a post on an email list I'm on: "I firmly believe that the body is a complete slave and reflection of the mind."
As my thoughts on this are irrelevant to the purpose of that list, I've decided to collect them here instead of burdening the list with them.
If the body is only a reflection of the mind, do we cause our own diseases? So everyone who is sick is actually mentally ill and is causing themselves to be sick? And all they have to do is "think themselves healthy"? And if they can't, they are defective or incompetent or lazy or...
I don't believe that the body is a slave to the mind. If anything, it is the other way around, as without attending to the basic needs of the body (food, sleep, water), the mind becomes disabled. Anyone who's tried to work while hungry or sleep deprived can testify to the powerful pull of the body, that the average mind, at least, cannot just think itself out of.
I think this belief returns to the assumption that the mind is superior to the body. Plato wrote that the mind needs to rule the passions and the body, thus becoming a major voice in putting the mental above the physical.
Christianity and many other religions have put forward the belief that the body is merely the holder for the spirit, and is relevant only in overcoming its "evil" or distracting desires and needs. Thus, fasting, deprivation, etc, as spiritual disciplines.
Modern diets talk about self-restraint and mental discipline to overcome excess consumption. It is the imposition of an image of the "right" body onto the actual body, using the mind as a medium to transform one into the other. It is about "tricking" the body into accepting low-fat, chemical-laden alternatives to real foods, setting the mind and body up as enemies, one to overcome the other.
On the other hand (maybe), commercials seem to be advocating giving in to the needs and desires of the body for ice cream, fast food, sex, etc. But the risk of taking sides with the modern marketing industry is decreased when you realize that those are manufactured desires, created by appealing to our needs for popularity, belonging... mental and social needs, not physical ones.
Our bodies are crucial. We are mentally and spiritually shaped by our bodies just as much as our minds shape our bodies. If we believe that our bodies are irrelevant, for whatever reason, then the things that feed our bodies (real food, clean air, clean water, natural sleep) also become irrelevant.
And we end up trying to replace nutritious meals with artificially created vitamins, sound sleep with pills that mean we don't have to sleep, etc. We try to ignore the fact that we are animals and become only minds and spirits. And we hurt our minds and spirits to do it.
I don't know where I am going with this exactly. /rant.
As my thoughts on this are irrelevant to the purpose of that list, I've decided to collect them here instead of burdening the list with them.
If the body is only a reflection of the mind, do we cause our own diseases? So everyone who is sick is actually mentally ill and is causing themselves to be sick? And all they have to do is "think themselves healthy"? And if they can't, they are defective or incompetent or lazy or...
I don't believe that the body is a slave to the mind. If anything, it is the other way around, as without attending to the basic needs of the body (food, sleep, water), the mind becomes disabled. Anyone who's tried to work while hungry or sleep deprived can testify to the powerful pull of the body, that the average mind, at least, cannot just think itself out of.
I think this belief returns to the assumption that the mind is superior to the body. Plato wrote that the mind needs to rule the passions and the body, thus becoming a major voice in putting the mental above the physical.
Christianity and many other religions have put forward the belief that the body is merely the holder for the spirit, and is relevant only in overcoming its "evil" or distracting desires and needs. Thus, fasting, deprivation, etc, as spiritual disciplines.
Modern diets talk about self-restraint and mental discipline to overcome excess consumption. It is the imposition of an image of the "right" body onto the actual body, using the mind as a medium to transform one into the other. It is about "tricking" the body into accepting low-fat, chemical-laden alternatives to real foods, setting the mind and body up as enemies, one to overcome the other.
On the other hand (maybe), commercials seem to be advocating giving in to the needs and desires of the body for ice cream, fast food, sex, etc. But the risk of taking sides with the modern marketing industry is decreased when you realize that those are manufactured desires, created by appealing to our needs for popularity, belonging... mental and social needs, not physical ones.
Our bodies are crucial. We are mentally and spiritually shaped by our bodies just as much as our minds shape our bodies. If we believe that our bodies are irrelevant, for whatever reason, then the things that feed our bodies (real food, clean air, clean water, natural sleep) also become irrelevant.
And we end up trying to replace nutritious meals with artificially created vitamins, sound sleep with pills that mean we don't have to sleep, etc. We try to ignore the fact that we are animals and become only minds and spirits. And we hurt our minds and spirits to do it.
I don't know where I am going with this exactly. /rant.
