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I think we learn the lessons that our parents tried to learn, sometimes. My dad's side of the family is pretty cerebral, and my dad used to tell me that his dad told him not to overwork the mind at the expense of the body - not to put yourself out of balance so that the world of thought overwhelms the world of action.
I've certainly found it true that a lot of times I think I'm depressed when what I really am is in need of a good stretch, a 3 mile jog, and some weightlifting.
But I think it goes deeper than that - I have this whole theory about the animal and the human in all of us. That philosophers who have tried to figure out how we can overcome our "material" or "animal" nature are barking up the wrong tree. That the aspects of Buddhism (and of Hinduism) that try to help us be less attached to the comforts of the material world are wrong. As far as I'm concerned, happiness lies in a balance of thought and action, of material and spiritual, of animal and human.
Because we are animals. We have all the needs of animals: for safety, security, a sense of place in our social structure, sex, childrearing, food, companionship, contact. And we are humans, we have these other special needs of humans: for thought, expression, art, work, dialogue. And satisfying only one set of needs doesn't lead to happiness. If I lay in bed all day reading and writing and drawing, I get physically restless. If I work out a lot but don't have a chance to talk with people about ideas, I feel disconnected. I read that the "graceful life" philosophies of the Greeks were all about trying to create a harmonious life, and that sounds right to me. Whenever I hear someone putting down their body as only a vessel or a shell, that bothers me. We are as much our bodies as we are our minds. I think the more we can make ourselves live in our bodies, the more we inhabit the present - the body is the realm of the present, where the mind has the past and the future (especially the future) under its sway.
I think that's part of what makes martial arts so wonderful - they appeal to the body and the mind, the animal and the human, all at once. Deeply cool. Dancing, too, and other ecstatic practices.
Anyway, it seems to me that so many of the people I know and care for who get deeply unhappy are unhappy because they haven't nurtured their animal/body needs - they need to care for themselves physically and in terms of the group/herd/pack, and that will help to ease the mental tensions they're under. But that could just be my take.
I've certainly found it true that a lot of times I think I'm depressed when what I really am is in need of a good stretch, a 3 mile jog, and some weightlifting.
But I think it goes deeper than that - I have this whole theory about the animal and the human in all of us. That philosophers who have tried to figure out how we can overcome our "material" or "animal" nature are barking up the wrong tree. That the aspects of Buddhism (and of Hinduism) that try to help us be less attached to the comforts of the material world are wrong. As far as I'm concerned, happiness lies in a balance of thought and action, of material and spiritual, of animal and human.
Because we are animals. We have all the needs of animals: for safety, security, a sense of place in our social structure, sex, childrearing, food, companionship, contact. And we are humans, we have these other special needs of humans: for thought, expression, art, work, dialogue. And satisfying only one set of needs doesn't lead to happiness. If I lay in bed all day reading and writing and drawing, I get physically restless. If I work out a lot but don't have a chance to talk with people about ideas, I feel disconnected. I read that the "graceful life" philosophies of the Greeks were all about trying to create a harmonious life, and that sounds right to me. Whenever I hear someone putting down their body as only a vessel or a shell, that bothers me. We are as much our bodies as we are our minds. I think the more we can make ourselves live in our bodies, the more we inhabit the present - the body is the realm of the present, where the mind has the past and the future (especially the future) under its sway.
I think that's part of what makes martial arts so wonderful - they appeal to the body and the mind, the animal and the human, all at once. Deeply cool. Dancing, too, and other ecstatic practices.
Anyway, it seems to me that so many of the people I know and care for who get deeply unhappy are unhappy because they haven't nurtured their animal/body needs - they need to care for themselves physically and in terms of the group/herd/pack, and that will help to ease the mental tensions they're under. But that could just be my take.
