"Mens sana in corpore sano."

[nyuanshin]

People who live in their heads as much as I do are apt to forget this, but if there's one thing I've learned of late it's that what's good for the body is good for the mind, and vice-versa. There is a great deal one could say on this matter in the way of specifics, but right now I just need to remind myself of the principle.

Comments

[colinmarshall]

Perhaps coincidentally, I am also formulating a treatise even as we speak that has to do with in-world living versus in-head living. My bet is that it will be so mind-blowing that it will attract not just few comments, not just zero comments, but negative amounts of comments.

[csn]

Sir, that sounds like a challenge! Of commenting. I just rented Equinox Flower. Next to a life-size cut-out of KISS.

[csn]

Yeah, I need some sweet lovin' too.

the joke so lame he used it twice

[nyuanshin]

Dude, I'm flattered but I keep telling people I'm already overbooked.

Seriously though, I was thinking more in terms of cutting out the negative stuff -- for example, the way quashing fear or anger instead of experiencing them fully just smears them out all over your brain, leaving you chronically stressed, which is physically bad for you in so many ways. Or the way physical discomfort caused by doing stupid things to your body bleeds over into your psyche. Or right down to the biochemical level -- not only things like hormones, but that muscles and neurons have a lot in common.

But yeah: the significance of creature comforts is not to be denied. :)

Re: the joke so lame he used it twice

[csn]

hehe...

Yep. I'm feeling a greater awareness of the whole picture than I have at any other time. You start to see, even as you strive to correct minutia or moments of tension/off-balance, how out of whack most people are on even the most basic level. It's depressing, but also encouraging to me, because it reiterates the importance of people who have control over themselves in this era. In Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits (a book you should read), Bill Porter writes that two thousand years ago, when the population of China was 1/20th of its level in 1990 (time of publication), there were ten times as many Daoist masters.

[xshardsx]

You were right about the importance of waking early, even when there's nothing to do.

[csn]

I'm highly suspicious of that idea..the hours between 10 PM-2 Am can be awfully productive..

[xshardsx]

This is true. I've mostly been finding it to be helping with my winter depression, though. There's no guarantee once the sun is out for the better part of each day it will still make a difference.

[csn]

Ah yes, you live in one of those "northern climes." I hear it gets cold over there :P

[faustin]

Any specific reason for preferring 'mens sana' instead of 'anima sana'?

Oh, and I always appreciate vindication. I'm often wanting to explain to people that it was through my rationalist pursuits that I became convinced of the irrelevance of rationalism and the higher priority of fitness training. Because once you've committed to fitness training, you tend to inhabit a world populated by people who never were rationalists and cannot fathom your rationalist orientation or background.

CrossFit is a culture where rationalists clearly are at home and dominant developers of the system architecture.

[nyuanshin]

No specific reason, other than mens being less thickly burdened with connotation.

I haven't the will to commit to CrossFit at this point, but of all the fitness training methodologies I've looked at it does seem to have the most objective merit.

[faustin]

You're misreading me if you thought I was trying to advocate crossfit to you. Thanks for the Juvenal reference, I don't recall seeing it before. I find the possibly satirical intent to be fascinating.

[nyuanshin]

In truth, it's actually just a reference to Juvenal.

[sethisalive]

Yesssssss!