The Mind & Body

I will start my exploration of the world and existence we share with the most familiar components of life, our minds and our bodies. Through the sciences of anatomy, biology, and chemistry, we have come to understand a great deal about how our bodies physically function. We understand that is our nerves that allow us to touch, taste, smell, hear, and see all by relaying messages to the brain. We understand that hormones within our bodies create natural urges to produce offspring. We understand that it is respiration, and the chemical reactions from digestion that fuels or bodies, and allows us to function physically. However, this is all just a level of complacency with the physical understanding of ourselves. Yes, we understand that the brain manages all of our senses and bodily functions, but what do we understand about our mind? Are our thoughts just electrical signals created by our brains, and there is no separation between the mind and the body? Or from what I understand, through the exploration of my thoughts, is there a separation between the body and the mind which can not be measured by science? Furthermore, is there more to discover about the human body alone?
I believe even the body has an infinite amount of aspects to be understood about it. To explore this I will begin at a basic understanding of all human bodies, the heart. If the heart stops beating, blood stops pumping and so without blood flow we die. We know we die if the heart stops, why do we die because of blood flow? We die because the blood carries oxygen and fuel to the body’s cells, and without it the cells cease to function and we die. Then why do we die if cells stop functioning? We die because the cells conduct all the functions of the body, from making up the muscle tissue of the heart which pumps nutrients to other cells, to carrying nutrients to other cells in the blood that is pumped. So it would seem that cells are the basis for all function of the body? This appears so, but what causes the cells to function? If the cells are not fueled then they die, but what does the fuel do for the cells? The nutrient fuel provides energy to the mitochondria, which powers all function for the cell. Well then how do the mitochondria generate power for the cell? The mitochondria do so by creating chemical reactions that produce energy. I will stop the exploration here, because this starts to approach concepts about the body we don’t understand. However, the way in which we were able to understand this much about the body is by continuing to explore what causes each level of our body’s system to do what it does. There is however much more to be understood about the human body. If we did understand everything about the human body, we could in theory satisfy all of the bodies needs, and compensate for all of the body’s natural short comings and thus make ourselves capable of immortality. Not immortality in a manner in which we can not be killed, but in a way in which our bodies do not deteriorate and bodily function can be maintained indefinitely. This would be knowing how the body works, because every component would be understood. This is one of the benefits of continually seeking an understanding of any topic. When something is completely known its perfect state can be realized. For the body the perfect state is immortality.
The mind however is much less understood. It is believed that the brain is the center of all consciousness, and that if the brain is altered our consciousness can be altered as well. This however I do not agree with completely. For one, if the mind is damaged in, for example, the speech center of the brain, words can still appear in a persons head, they can still think in complete sentences and know what should come out of their mouth when attempting to speak, but because that part of the brain is damaged it just will appear as if they can not communicate. However if given a keyboard, or any other manner to no verbally communicate, the individual will still be able to share complete thoughts. The reason for this is that what I understand the brain to be, is merely an intermediary between the mind and body. The brain translates our thoughts into messages which the body can understand and carry out, but the brain does not generate these thoughts. When a person has a degenerative mental disease, their body is decaying, the brain is physically breaking down, however there isn’t really a way to measure the capacity for thought, because the brain is the one thing that translates intangible thought into a physical electrical impulse. The brain works between the mind and the body much like an antenna, if some one is trying to send a message by relaying it through the antenna the message will go through as long as the antenna is there to conduct the signal. However if the antenna is gone, the message still exists, it is still expressed, however it is not sent. The brain if damaged does not result in the destruction of conscious thought, merely a disruption of the signal being transmitted. Even with chemical imbalances such as depression, where a person’s very emotions seem to be stemming from mental problems, the mind or consciousness still exists as it normally does, but the brain, frustrated by the inability to completely work to translate the mind to thoughts agitates the individual. When the imbalance is corrected the person is not content because of the substance or procedure used, but because the brain is working at full capacity once again. The mind’s fundamental purpose is to gain as much understanding through experience, observation, and shared information, which can ultimately better us as a whole being. Some aspects in life are painful to gain understanding of; such as the death of a loved one brings the understanding that we will never physically see them again. However even these negative things can be beneficial because they give us an understanding of what may cause our lives to end, or how to face the end of life. All things in life contribute to our understanding, however sometimes individuals will avoid the negative lessons, and focus only on things that are pleasurable. It is true that pleasurable experiences are just as beneficial; they raise our spirits and give us an increased thirst for life. However it becomes negative when we repeat actions we find pleasurable even though we have gained that level of understanding already. Those who party in excess for example, to understand what happens at a party, and how people interact to have fun is a beneficial lesson, and a good thing to understand, however to abandon the search for understanding because we believe we have found what makes us happy is negative, it limits our minds, and the repetition of excess that comes with parties harms our bodies as well. The mind seeks to understand all things, but by only focusing on lessons already learned the mind becomes useless. So what is the ultimate purpose of the mind? The body’s purpose was immortality, so that the mind could attain an understanding of everything in this world without being limited to just a single lifetime. Then what is the purpose of the mind gaining all this understanding? The purpose, I believe, is so that we may die. This is because if the body keeps us alive long enough to actually understand all that there is to be understood, there still remains one last lesson. That lesson of course is what happens when we die. By finally learning this, the mind becomes understanding of everything and attains true knowledge in this world. So then what good does knowing everything, when we die? This makes life complete and an individual completely perfect, the body has served its ultimate purpose, and the mind has attained all possible understanding thus serving its ultimate purpose in this world.
If immortality is the ultimate purpose of the body, and knowing all that is possible to be known in life is the mind’s purpose than what of love? Our bodies give us yearnings for physical love, and our minds seek out companionship on an intellectual and emotional level, than is this not a purpose in life as well? Yes, love is another purpose, the understanding of love is just one of the countless lessons we seek to learn in life. You see by saying the ultimate purpose of the body is to be able to maintain life indefinitely is not actually limiting the purpose at all. Likewise saying the ultimate purpose of the mind is to gain all possible understanding. If the body can exist indefinitely and healthily it allows us to do other things like helping others, working to improve the state of the world, and to make our own individual mark on existence, however we are meant to do so, and by the mind gaining all possible understanding, it allows us to do all the things we desire to do, or are meant to do in the best possible manner. Love, or the quest for love, is a tool for spurring us on. The body craves the sensation of a lover’s touch, while the mind craves the intellectual connection which allows us to share our deepest and most personal thoughts and ideas. Sexual attraction and desire is not a bad, or evil message, it is the body conversing with the mind its need for satisfaction. Likewise the lonely feelings that may drain our energy, or lower our spirits, stem from the mind desiring the body to find a companion to share existence with. One of the reasons why I understand sex to feel bad or inappropriate at times is because one party, either the mind, or the body, is not satisfied. There is a heavy sensation of guilt when sex happens only for immediate physical pleasure, and not to also satisfy the need for a mental connection. This sort of sensation is much more common than the inverse, when there is a mental connection, but the body is not satisfied. However this does occur when two people completely abstain from physical intimacy in a relationship. The body then sends messages to the mind resulting in a feeling of frustration. Our instincts, as I understand them, are good things, they lead us toward the things we truly need, however the messages they give us can be cryptic, and we often get the messages confused or omit components of that message. When the body seems to crave sex it is not for sex in general, but for the love that satisfies both body and mind. By finding love in someone who can satisfy both aspects of an individual, those needs are met, the mind becomes free to explore further, and gain more understanding of the world. Having a person to be in love with, I understand to be necessary to continually satisfy the mind and body.
If the body is merely a vessel for the mind though, is it necessary to maintain physical fitness? After all, if the mind is not truly connected to the body, than why divert focus away from the acquisition of understanding to maintain the body, since indefinite life is impossible, and the mind is the one thing that has potential to exist forever? It is true that the mind does have potential to continue forever, and at the moment physical immortality is not attainable, but we still are not certain if the mind does continue after death or not. Then logically it is acceptable to assume that the mind may also cease to exist upon death. Then all the time we have to gain all the understanding we can is limited to the duration of life our bodies provide us with. Therefore it is for our best as individuals to maintain good health to prolong life for as much time as we can. Furthermore, being in good physical condition allows us to understand more than if we were in an unhealthy state. A person who has allowed their body to expand due to inactivity is not able to walk as far as a fit person. And by walking and being active we can explore, we can see nature in all her splendor, we can experience the rush of athletic competition, we can better learn the physical limitations or gifts that are a part of who we are. It is however harmful, I believe, to develop the body at the expense of the mind. Every individual functions best when the body and mind work efficiently together in balance, depleting one to improve the other is detrimental to us as a whole.