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“I feel, therefore I am.”
Feminist playwright Eve Ensler often chanted these words to herself when she was going through treatment for cancer. She shares the spirit behind the sentiment in a Becoming Wise episode:
“I’m in my body, therefore I can feel my existence. I feel the breath. I feel the living, breathing fiber that is humanness. This notion of objectivity — as if that were ever possible, as if the brain could somehow separate you from your subjective self — has created a level of dissociation on the planet. You can get yourself into a mindset which keeps you from opening your heart.”
The relationship between mind and body has perplexed philosophers and theologians for centuries, and while we will (likely!) not be able to come to any resolutions on the matter in this newsletter, I do appreciate how people like Ensler and neurosurgeon James Doty move away from thinking of the mind as divorced from the body and instead toward exploring their deep interdependence. As Doty explains in this week’s On Being, seeking connection is a mental act that has profound physiological benefits:
“I give a talk about the difference between what I call ‘transformation,’ which oftentimes we get with just a mindfulness practice of attention and focus — but you cannot have ‘transcendence,’ which is this sense of meaning in your life, unless you take this journey outward. This is a journey of connection to others because when you connect with others, and you have an open heart, and you embrace the other as you, your physiology works at its best.”
Listening to these two interviews, I was reminded of how dismissive our culture and our economic system can be about the idea of the body as an end in itself, life-giving and meaningful in its very existence. Both conversations help reframe how we think not just about other people and their roles in our lives, but also how we ourselves show up in this wide and tangled world. What we call this open-heartedness, I’ll leave for another day — though I am holding close Jean Vanier’s thoughts on human touch:
“It’s the realization of how to create a culture which is no longer a culture just of competition, but a culture of welcoming, where tenderness, where touch is important, and it's neither sexualized nor aggressive. It has become human.”
Consider this your friendly reminder to connect with yourself and those around you! Or me — you can always write to newsletter@onbeing.org with your thoughts and feedback.
Yours,
Kristin Lin
Editor, On Being Studios
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