The Modern Mind-Body Problem

“By the time they are fifty, everyone will have the face they deserve.”

Absurdus is a free Tuesday newsletter about life’s absurdities. If you like what you see, consider supporting it financially. For €7/mo (or a reduced, annual price), you’ll gain access to the audiobook version of my short stories, as well as exclusive articles and member-only short stories. I am active in the comment section, so if you have any questions, don’t be shy to ask them there! Thank you for your support! 

---

Unfortunately, my dog Coco is sick. And as it goes with hypochondriacs such as myself, it is hard to think about anything else but her. Hence, here is a short article, perhaps not edited thoroughly enough. Nonetheless, I hope you find it at least mildly interesting/enjoyable.

The mind-body problem goes back to pre-Aristotelian philosophy and unfortunately is too great a topic to address in a single post. However, there is something to say about the inattention modern-day psychologists show towards the possible connection between the mind and our bodies, and how the dissection of the two have led so many on a path of self-negligence.

“. . .so intimate is the intermingling of bodily and psychic traits” wrote Carl Jung “that not only can we draw far-reaching inferences as to the constitution of the psyche from the constitution of the body, but we can also infer from psychic peculiarities the corresponding bodily characteristics.” - Carl Jung, Psychological Types

The word character can be traced back to the Greek charassein, meaning “to sharpen, cut in furrows, or engrave.” Throughout our lives, our character is sharpened, cut into and altered. The life we experience as a child influences the development of the “self” we portray today. The thoughts and feelings we experienced then are the direct precursors to the thoughts and feelings we have at this moment. These emotional patterns, however, aren’t brought forth in the mind alone. Our thoughts lead to actions, and are expressed in the structure of our body. If one is self-assured, they naturally stand straight. If one is self-doubting, they tend to droop their shoulders forward and curve their backs. And, of course, if one tries to hide their true character, this is put forth through the body too, often in the form of rigidity, like a lego figurine, and an overcompensation in naturalness.

The healthy body, which reflects a well-developed character, can be seen, as 20th century psychotherapist Alexander Lowen theorized, through bodily grace. The movements of a graceful person are inherently attractive because they’re the “golden mean between spontaneity and control”. The more alive a person seems to be, the more spontaneous their movements become. There seems to be a perfect harmony between mind and body. Like a flame which swiftly dances from one position to another, as if a coordinated dance.

How does one garner a fluid-like state? How can one obtain such synchrony? As with most things, we can find guidance in Nietzsche. One statement in Thus Spoke Zarathustra sticks out in particular:  “You say ‘I’ and are proud of this word. But greater than this—and which you do not want to believe in—is your body and its great intelligence: this does not say ‘I’ but performs ‘I’.”

As I wrote in last week’s article, Nietzsche suffered from one illness to another from a very young age. However, despite his pains he took to walking, and found himself on very many “hermit’s walks”, some lasting eight to ten hours. He turned to walking to shift away from the pitiful person he had become, a cripple almost, to the philosopher he is remembered as today. “There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy” he wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Not even a hundred years back it was a compliment to be regarded as “earthly”. Nowadays the quality of having our feet firmly placed on the ground has lost its meaning. Especially today, with the rise of technology, we are exponentially becoming the least grounded century in the history of the world. Most of our day is spent behind a screen, the light of which shadows our bodily needs. Time spent looking at another’s cultivated life leaves one confused and tired. In contrast, the real world forces us to feel the earth beneath our feet, shaping and molding our character, in the Ancient Greek sense of the word.

Contentment with ourselves is crucial, and such contentment can only come to rise through satisfaction with our body. Shame in one’s body can ultimately wound us mentally, and hinder us in all aspects of daily life. Though it is easier said than done, the first step to healing our warped view of our physical selves is an abandonment of cultural ideals. Instead of measuring our body’s worth in superficial terms, how it looks through the eyes of another, we ought to do as Nietzsche suggested: attain a certain degree of what he termed “bodily power”. Only through this sense of power can we create a symbiotic whole out of our mind and body.

To cultivate a sense of bodily power we should engage in activities which “earth” us. Examples taken from my personal life, though I am far from being “earthed” myself, involve painting and sculpting, and simply spending more time outside. Overtime our bodies will no longer act as a slavish vessel, bossed about by the brain, but instead be the gateway to life’s daily experiences.