Experiences Beyond the Body Through the Body
Writing about the body is difficult; this is actually quite interesting. After all, we need our hands to write. The mind finds ways to translate itself onto paper or screen through the hands. Words are limited, and yet we offer or read a narrative by squeezing meaning into definitions. We understand only what these words touch upon in our memory, grasp as much as we can, and move on.
In all actions and inactions we perform on this earth, the body must be involved.
Even in our stillest moments, the quality of that stillness is determined by the state of the body. The comfort of our neck’s position is essential for good sleep or proper rest. The speed and scattered nature of the mind can also depend on certain bodily conditions. Since the brain began being referred to as the "organ that produces the mind," I’ve thought more often: Is the mind only the domain of the brain, or does the entire body create the mind?
We also think within the limits of the body. To be more precise: we think within the limits of embodiment. A thinking system independent of the body’s existence cannot be imagined. Thought can grasp the physical, rationalize it, but it cannot fully comprehend the metaphysical realm beyond the visible. Some things cannot be found through thinking. In fact, most of what we know about life cannot be understood through thought alone.
Since Descartes famously said, “I think, therefore I am,” we’ve further confined existence to thought. Yet, we humans, with our small brains in this vast universe, are not particularly adept at grasping life. The brain cannot comprehend infinity. To understand infinity, we need to feel our entire being, to create a sense of wholeness.
Of course, thought is fast—very fast. It moves quicker than the processes of the body, faster than digestion, and faster than the time it takes for a story or piece of information to be absorbed and recorded in the body. The mind is even considered to travel faster than the speed of light. However, like an untrained electrical current, the mind can hurt us, tire us, wander to unproductive places, or get stuck in certain patterns, which means it may not even be truly “thinking.” It just *thinks* it’s thinking…
It’s running on empty.
At this point, I want to clarify that I don’t consider the body the ultimate truth. We can’t conclude from what I’ve said that we should only live through the body, neglecting the mind. Nor can we accept the mind as the ultimate truth, nor the body. Both are temporary and represent only small fragments of existence. I keep returning to the body because we’ve forgotten its role.
We are all searching for meaning and knowledge about life within this vastness. We seek to find this truth, this essence of existence, this oneness or wholeness—whatever we choose to call it. And to feel this, even for just a few seconds, we engage in various experiences. These might include drugs, intense adrenaline, sexuality, alcohol, or meditation, therapy, art… all in pursuit of sensing that moment of wholeness. To settle into that peace. And then we think about it, as if thinking could allow us to touch it.
In reality, all of our earthly actions are carried out in search of something beyond the visible. It could be a divine feeling or a repressed emotion. But we are living for a secret that hides beyond what we see. To reach this secret—or at least to come close to its feeling—we can embark on journeys within our bodies to taste that sense of wholeness.
The body is as infinite as the universe, constantly dividing within itself. We still haven’t fully grasped the nervous system, fascial connections, or many other bodily systems in their entirety. The body, like the expanding universe on a macro scale, expands within itself on a micro scale. Through dance, by touching all those micro places, those details within us… we also touch the universe.