Unsolicited Words of Wisdom
Plus, the cult of cold plunging, a melancholy feel-good show, and the colorful appeal of Cotopaxi.
Descartes famously said, “I think therefore I am.” And to some extent, he was right. Our perception of reality is entirely shaped by our mind. Compared to animals, we are blessed with these incredible brains of ours. The downside is that we tend to forget we are mammals, that our minds are just one part of our body, and our body ultimately rules.
We live in a world that endorses the mind over the body. From the social construct of meal times to the arbitrary hours of the work day to optimization culture, we’re constantly told to control the body with the mind—when it eats, when it sleeps, what it should feel. Obviously we need some of this to be a functioning society, but taken too far, we risk completely severing the mind from the body. Silence the body long enough and eventually it will scream for attention.