The Mind and the Body

The end of the last blog got me thinking about how little the body is considered within Western culture. Part of this most likely stems from Cartesian dualism, beginning with Decartes and continuing through the present day.

Dualism is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “the condition of being double,” with “the view that the world consists of or is explicable as two fundamental entities.” In other words, dualism operates on the assumption that everything has a polar opposite. Every whole has two opposing parts. Masculine, feminine; rational, emotional: the idea of complimentary (and polarized) opposites is pervasive Western society and culture. 

In the dance world, the concept of dualism has resulted the metaphor that the body is a tool or instrument subject to the mind where the body is inferior to the mind. The mind dictates, the body does. Mind over matter. People in Western society often “push” (with their mind) through tiredness, sickness, and emotional distress, ignoring that these are all signals from the body of what it might need. If ignored for long enough, the body will eventually rebel by breaking down.

When injury or sickness does occur, an attitude of indifference to the mental and emotional ramifications the bodily injury might have on the mind are ignored. Your ankle may be sprained, but you’re fine. A bodily injury (depending on the severity) should not affect your mind—your rationality, the “essence” of your being.  In other words, “you” are not your body, “you” are your mind.

The dualism of body and mind can even result in a sense of accomplishment when we are able to “overcome” the body using the mind. For example, as a dancer I would push myself to dance when my body clearly needed rest. I remember I insisted on going to class one day when I was sick. I danced through the entire class and returned home to find that my temperature was 102 and that I had strep throat. Even once I realized I was sick, I did not admonish myself, instead I congratulated myself on my dedication. I was proud of myself for “pushing” through.

What would society be like if we were able to overcome this polarized duality? What would it mean for how we deal with physical pain?

Perhaps, there could be more acceptance of physical pain being connected to the mind and emotional duress connected to the physical. Perhaps it will become more common to treat a person as a whole rather than as separate parts.

It seems like quite a long road, however. This way of being is completely integrated into our society and culture so that  we don’t even notice it or think twice about it. Dualism is ingrained in our speech, our thought, our movement, our value system. It will take a lot of conscious effort and intent to change, and, of course, a lot of time.