The Body in Question

These days, I've been thinking that this is such a body-unfriendly era. It's like our bodies are one big inconvenience that needs to be grudgingly endured, forcefully lived in and maintained like some old house you inherited. If you are female, then there's the additional hassle of having to protect it from the..er... elements, let's just say.

I have observed that people who work  primarily with their bodies as opposed to their minds, are either demi-gods or dregs of society, as illustrated below:

• Those who do remarkably well with their bodies, like sports stars or item girls, are highly sought after, coveted as national treasures and rewarded handsomely. 
• Those who are unable to do the same things just as well better have a degree of some sort.
• Those who have neither, face the terrible tragedy of having nothing but their bodies to live off.

Most do not use their bodies for anything  but for the consumption of food, the expulsion of food and other acts behind closed doors, and  the unfortunate necessity of having to heave their physical persons to places so that their mental persons may be usefully occupied. 

Sometimes I ponder over that confusing Biblical story of Adam and Eve being cursed by God with the awareness of their own bodies. How tremendously interesting that this discovery led them to- wait for it- shame!  Why of all things that? A poor body- their own! Everybody has one, and all human bodies do pretty much the same thing, so why on earth, according to the great book that so defines the world around us, should our first reactions to our own body be shame? Have you ever seen young children react to their discovery of themselves that way? Nope- not until  they are told it's shameful to lift your frock up around the drawing room when uncles and aunties have come over for dinner. So I have come to the conclusion that this is all learned and then propped up by many, many lies (yes, perhaps a late discovery).

So evidently, this shame and fear have been hijacked by the powers that be (Not God-at least not anymore. I mean market forces). Perpetrate an unrealistic image of what the body is supposed to look like, so that the ordinary folk, with sunspots and belly rolls develop a deep hatred for their own forms, born out of the fear that that (with curves liquefied on Photoshop and hair woven with needle & glue) is what their bodies should look like.

 Why fix imperfections? Who cares about imperfections? I've never cared about the physical imperfections of my loved ones and nor them of mine. The idea that the body's greatest achievement is to produce envy or desire in the watcher, is consistently reinforced in our daily experience, but this is a recently popularized, false notion. Anybody who has been to college is at least vaguely aware of this. But still you see, out of glass windows of gyms in malls, people jogging away to nowhere. Don't get me wrong. Physical activity and personal grooming is important for everyone and we should be thinking about ways to be more healthy and well presented in our individual lives. But body sculpting to achieve size zero- isn't that an unnecessary goal for say, a business analyst or a home maker?

So what is the real nature of this shame? Perhaps it is the shame of not knowing what our bodies are all about; and this not knowing also produces fear. The body's a mystery that needs to be solved but it is also a savage beast that the mind cannot really tame. It often acts independently of the person who inhabits it  - it gets sick, it has all kinds of strange compulsions, it brings forth the greatest pleasure and the worst kind of pain, it produces new bodies, it grows old, it dies - all of this regardless of the plans, the goals and even  the most basic desires of it's owner. The body is feared because it can never be completely controlled. And we currently live in a society obsessed with control.

 The body's purpose is to produce (and perhaps reproduce) and sustain the consciousness within, for as long as it's physics & chemistry allows. Our relationship with the body should be to maintain it in condition to do this job for as long as possible, because, lets face it, we are all drunk on the excellent experience of being alive.



Note: The title is a reference to Sir John Miller's WONDERFUL (of the Beyond the Fringe fame) series on the body by Dr. John Miller, produced by the BBC in the late 70s. The whole series is on youtube here.