I was going to write a long and fairly impassioned (for someone with the general demeanour of a dead fish) monologue about transcending the physical and mundane and finding a new level of discourse, existence, whatever, before I realised that I would be farting against thunder. And maybe I will come back to the topic when I am feeling better and less angry, but for now, I'm going to exert some self-consciousness and talk about fitness instead.
For today, we will discuss something I read in, of all places, Men's Health: the perfect human body. Quite surprisingly for a popular magazine, the edition I held made the bold and counter-cultural claim that the young child completely at ease with his/her body has the perfect physicality. I will get to their explanation in a little bit, via a somewhat circuitous route, so bear with me, please?
Our bodies serve a variety of functions. For the moment at least I take the position of the detached observer, but we'll get into that later (or hopefully, not at all). Sometimes, and I think this is hilarious, we forget that our bodies are physical and not mental constructs. Our bodies are designed to do, and not to be. And this is from someone who goes to a gym for the sole purpose of crafting a body that is better looking, not better functioning. Thank you, I am aware of the irony.
Nevertheless, our bodies exist for us to do. Because of our strange position as largely civilised creatures, doing has become almost optional. Aside from walking, many of us use our bodies in extremely minimal ways. We tend not to carry things heavier than books, plates or clothes; instead, our arms and hands are most likely to be engaged in typing, writing, or other pursuits that are to physicality what golf is to sport. We don't even walk long distances, most of us. Public transport, or private vehicles, take away the responsibility of carrying our bodies from place to place. Engines and wheels help us in ferrying products around, letting even the terminally unfit 'carry' huge burdens of groceries, furniture, or whatever. We approach a curious position where our well-fed, pampered bodies cannot perform the basic tasks that were once necessary for our survival.
Anyway, the point is that the body is supposed to be used. And going to the gym does not count, at all. That is manufacturing, not exercise. Which brings me back to the child, running, playing, swimming, dancing. For the child, her body performs the tasks it needs to. Thought or impulse becomes action, smoothly and organically. Watch children at play, and you'll see how proficient they are with their bodies. They can bend and twist, dance, run effortlessly, swim, stretch, jump, climb. Their bodies express their desires and feelings.
So, I suppose, the lesson is this: use your body. Dance like no-one's watching, swim for the pleasure as well as the exercise, juggle and toss balls and jump and climb and crawl. Make your movement natural, balanced, and without thought.
Blah blah preach preach lecture lecture-
