I think the three things exercise was designed for people who routinely say "I hate my body"/"I hate the way I look".
I sincerely hope so, but that's not the impression I got from reading all the comments on mrissa's post. Or alternatively, hate is the normal, default attitude towards one's body.
I'm a very intellectual person in the sense that a lot of my identity is caught up in mostly intellectual activities. Yet it's through this thinking activity that I become more an more convinced that consciousness is primarily determined by embodiment, that is, that how we mentally interact with the world is intrinsically related to the body that we have (i.e. human, and not a pig or an ant).
This is the kind of thing I was waving at, except for me, it required the actual physical experience of regular exercise for myself to be able to make all those intellectual connections, and thoughts about embodiment.
I read a short called something like "why I don't have a head", which makes the same point Margaret Atwood is making, I think. I'm very aware of this myself and in some ways it feels like a problem that I am so very much stuck behind my eyes, and I guess part of what I'm doing is trying to move that I around my body at least sometimes.
Lastly, about people perceiving your habits as a condemnation of their own, there are many body and food puritans out there, and sometimes they do, consciously or otherwise, make moral judgments about what people eat and etc. Mostly, though,I think that many of us have idealized notions of what we should be doing, and when we meet someone who actually does something which we constantly put off, it can be discomforting.
Well, I meet people all the time who are managing things that my idealized notion of myself would have me doing. There just doesn't seem enough time to fit all those ideal activities in, so I'm not going to judge other people for not making the same choices I do. That's not to say there aren't other people who do make judgements like that, of course.
Thanks for your very thoughtful and thought-provoking comments.
I felt that the comments at mrissa's were a combination of people saying "it's hard to think of 3 good things" and of people saying, "well, I kinda like a lot about my body, really".
It's convenient to speak of something called a mind, it's that bit of the self that thinks and observes. My somewhat considered philosophical position on this is that in order to consider the the way we experience ourselves as being comprised of mind and body, or of having mental and physical faculties, we need to use that part of ourselves which we label 'mind', and so we tend to privilege that faculty in the process. But just because we can make the distinction, and it can be very useful to do so, it doesn't mean that my mind is more 'me' than my body. I do often feel that 'I' am occupying some space behind my eyes, or between my ears, but my eyes are also part of my body, and remembering that helps to give a new perspective.
I agree that using your body in new ways can shift hat focus. I did a lot of yoga and the occasional dance lesson in my early 20s, and that helped me appreciate my physicality and the way I occupied space and moved in it. I also had whiplash a couple fo times, and have residual back problems, and pain can be a very convincing means of realising that I am physical and embodied. Although for some people poor health means they see their body as a burden, as something that exists only to interrupt their intellectual pursuits.
Again, I've babbled at length. You've rekindled a long term interest of mine. I added you to reflexionen, which is where I occasionally post rough philosophical musings, I haven't been using it much this year, but some of the earlier entries are concerned with how we experience ourselves as thinking, so may be of some interest.
Very interesting babbling, thanks. And your ideas seem fairly close to mine; it's reassuring that I'm not just randomly making up stuff :-). I'll keep an eye on reflexionen for sure.
I sincerely hope so, but that's not the impression I got from reading all the comments on mrissa's post. Or alternatively, hate is the normal, default attitude towards one's body.
I'm a very intellectual person in the sense that a lot of my identity is caught up in mostly intellectual activities. Yet it's through this thinking activity that I become more an more convinced that consciousness is primarily determined by embodiment, that is, that how we mentally interact with the world is intrinsically related to the body that we have (i.e. human, and not a pig or an ant).
This is the kind of thing I was waving at, except for me, it required the actual physical experience of regular exercise for myself to be able to make all those intellectual connections, and thoughts about embodiment.
I read a short called something like "why I don't have a head", which makes the same point Margaret Atwood is making, I think. I'm very aware of this myself and in some ways it feels like a problem that I am so very much stuck behind my eyes, and I guess part of what I'm doing is trying to move that I around my body at least sometimes.
Lastly, about people perceiving your habits as a condemnation of their own, there are many body and food puritans out there, and sometimes they do, consciously or otherwise, make moral judgments about what people eat and etc. Mostly, though,I think that many of us have idealized notions of what we should be doing, and when we meet someone who actually does something which we constantly put off, it can be discomforting.
Well, I meet people all the time who are managing things that my idealized notion of myself would have me doing. There just doesn't seem enough time to fit all those ideal activities in, so I'm not going to judge other people for not making the same choices I do. That's not to say there aren't other people who do make judgements like that, of course.
Thanks for your very thoughtful and thought-provoking comments.
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It's convenient to speak of something called a mind, it's that bit of the self that thinks and observes. My somewhat considered philosophical position on this is that in order to consider the the way we experience ourselves as being comprised of mind and body, or of having mental and physical faculties, we need to use that part of ourselves which we label 'mind', and so we tend to privilege that faculty in the process. But just because we can make the distinction, and it can be very useful to do so, it doesn't mean that my mind is more 'me' than my body. I do often feel that 'I' am occupying some space behind my eyes, or between my ears, but my eyes are also part of my body, and remembering that helps to give a new perspective.
I agree that using your body in new ways can shift hat focus. I did a lot of yoga and the occasional dance lesson in my early 20s, and that helped me appreciate my physicality and the way I occupied space and moved in it. I also had whiplash a couple fo times, and have residual back problems, and pain can be a very convincing means of realising that I am physical and embodied. Although for some people poor health means they see their body as a burden, as something that exists only to interrupt their intellectual pursuits.
Again, I've babbled at length. You've rekindled a long term interest of mine. I added you to reflexionen, which is where I occasionally post rough philosophical musings, I haven't been using it much this year, but some of the earlier entries are concerned with how we experience ourselves as thinking, so may be of some interest.
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