I'm exhausted and confused and I blame René Descartes
Cartesian Dualism & Intellectualism really screwed us over.
Have you ever been hit with the most unexpected exhaustion?
You just wake up and there it is; immense and heavy, sitting squarely on your chest like some unannounced guest who’s made themselves very at home.
Well, last weekend, I was the recipient of that obnoxious fatigue.
And instead of springing into the arms of the day, writing down and ticking off tasks in an attempt to maintain some manufactured momentum in an otherwise lethargic season, I stayed in bed. Not out of desire, but rather, because my body felt like the human equivalent of a dead battery. Leaden and impassive.
For fellow type-A’s, this disposition is already unpleasant but it’s made so much worse when it arrives without reason. Lockdown day 62, it wasn’t as if the week had exactly been packed with the usual work commutes, social engagements or gym classes. If anything I should have had more energy than ever.
Yet, it’s times like this I’m oh so humbly reminded that the body keeps a score separate from the mind.
Moving along the days and weeks (and months), we may feel pretty okay.
We power through work and go for walks, call our friends and eat well enough. When conflicts or complications inevitably arise, we know how to deal with the distressing emotions: think it through, write it down, talk it out, or drown it out with busyness.
And these things (except possibly the last one) are good means of processing. They just aren’t always enough.
Because, anxiety, stress, fear, anger may be sensed in the mind but that isn’t the only place they are stored. Our physical body also keeps a score.
The issue is, the corporeal consequences of our mental experiences don’t always show up immediately.
We’ll stress about a work project or fight with a friend, dread an event or rage at a family member but it can be days or weeks till it finally shows up in the form of catatonic exhaustion or stuffy head cold, upset stomach or missed period. Eventually, it hits and we wonder why on earth our body is failing us now when everything is ‘fine’. Like a bruise that blooms late, we quickly move on from the moment of injury before our body can catch up.
If you’re looking for someone to blame for this flawed ideology, René Descartes is a good person to start with.
Working during the 17th century, the philosopher was famous for defending ‘Cartesian Dualism’, a thought system that saw mind and matter as irrevocably linked but distinctly separated.
From this, many variations of thought developed, such as Epiphenomenalism, which believed that bodily events could affect us mentally, but the reverse was not true. An idea that fundamentally misunderstands the way our mental states can prompt neurological activity (a simple example being the physical impacts of stress).
The result was decapitation; people’s mental/emotional experiences severed from their physical bodies.
As with most philosophies, Cartesian Dualism experienced fierce critique. The most notable was Karl Marx, who said consciousness was inextricably generated and shaped by one’s material environment, which included the body. To Marx, the mental self wasn’t just related to the physical body but created and shaped by it.
Modern philosophy, sociology, neuroscience and psychology have also supported Marx’s position and, anecdotally, we’ve probably all felt the way our bodies interact with our minds and vice versa.
Yet, despite the criticism, ‘mind over matter’ dualism was never fully uprooted. Instead, it held fast underground and flourished in our intellectual, post-enlightenment society where logic and science are idolised and the body’s wisdom is rarely acknowledged.
When you’re raised on a certain worldview, it’s easy for it to feel inherently true. To feel like the body really is independent of the mind, that our ‘feelings’ shouldn’t create actual feelings
But, it’s important to remember that the distinct disconnection between mind and body is just one way of looking at reality, and not even a particularly old or universal one.
Simply look to indigenous cultures, or historical religions and much of what looks ‘counter cultural’ or ‘new age’ is actually ancient wisdom that has refused to submit to a new ideology.
From Judaism to Buddhism, the American Cherokee to Maori, these people groups see the physical body not just as a fleshy vehicle for the mind, but a synergetic bridge between the physical to the mental/spiritual.
It’s a good worldview to familiarise yourself with because, in a lot of ways, it’s accurate.
Sure, we can live according to the dualistic ideology, behave like our mind is separate to matter and force our bodies to just keep up. And it will work, to a point.
But eventually, it will dig its heels in and pull us back toward the stubborn limits of our humanity.
Unfortunately, most of us wait until that point (when the red flags are waving and we can’t get out of bed from exhaustion) before we stop and rest.
Or even just acknowledge how the incomprehensible overwhelmingness of “right now” may affect our bodies in ways we don’t understand.
One has to wonder whether the West’s fascination with spiritual or Eastern practices like yoga, Buddhism, meditation or alternative medicine is simply a sign we’re dissatisfied with dualism.
That we want to learn how to listen to our bodies and radically trust their response – even when it doesn’t make sense.
To give ourselves grace (even when we don’t feel like we’ve ‘earned’ it), because we know our body keeps a score.
And take the bloody nap.
So, that, is what I have been thinking.
If you fancied the yarn, the coolest thing you can do is send it along to a friend so they can get them delivered straight to their inbox (how good is technology…sometimes).
In the meantime, stay sane, drink lots of water and tell your mates you love them.
Sarah.