Shane / Ph.D. / LMT Body Psychology 101

An Introduction to the Somatopsychic Perspective
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-0983-9861-3
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 96 Seiten

A summary of the essential aspects of embodied consciousness. Topics covered include: neurophilosophy; psychological aspects of body form, and boundary; body image through the lifespan; physical attractiveness; emotions; personality; body image disturbances; treatment methods; aging; death.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shane, Paul

Ph.D.,

LMT,

Leseproben

CHAPTER TWO The Somatopsychic Perspective Crossing the Cartesian Divide When we think of psychology we always think of the mind and how it works, but that is only one-half of the story because every mind always comes with a brain which is inside of a body. We moderns today tend to think of ourselves strictly in terms of our minds and that the body takes second place. We are cerebral creatures. This is because of a group of thinkers in the 1600s were working to create what we know today as science. One of these men was Rene Descartes who believed that the mind was everything and that the body was just a machine. This belief has caused all kinds of problems for humans because the body is not a machine although it does behave in some machine-like ways. Descartes separated the body from the mind (soul) identifying them as two different things. This left us with a big gap between the two. He did this by saying, “I think, therefore, I am” which means that thinking is the most important thing in the world. Philosophers call this the Cartesian Divide and it’s a real problem. The Divide separates us from ourselves; it makes our bodies something different from who we are; it belittles the body in favor of the brain; it alienates us from others, animals, and the material world. The problem is Descartes’ belief that the mind and body are two totally different things and of the two the mind is vastly superior. This is because, according to Descartes, the mind is divine in nature while the body is related to the world as a kind of animal-machine. Descartes’ Body-Machine Descartes’ position is deeply conflicted and confused about the body and mind. He acknowledges that all knowledge originates in bodily sensations, but any such knowledge is to be distrusted. Since the mind is unrelated to the body, he argues that the body operates as an animal-machine. Animals, it was believed, were devoid of souls. There were merely fleshly robots that could neither think nor feel. Because the mind is superior to the body which is made of inert matter then anything in the world should be dominated by the mind. These ideas form the basis for our own beliefs about physical reality, science, and our place in the world. This disconnection of the soul from the body ultimately made subjective experience worthless in scientific discourse; a problem which troubled scientific psychology through much of the twentieth century and up to today. The machine concept views the body as a living mechanism whose animation depends on the efficient operations of its parts. This is the body of modern science and medicine and in our own daily experience as well. The body has many automatic functions and reflexes. Many of them operate in cycles outside of our awareness: heartbeat, breathing, digestion, heat regulation, sexual desire, blood pressure levels, sleep patterns, chemical levels, biorhythms, and the like. We often address our body’s daily problems and needs as we might adjust a machine. We provide it fuel, keep it clean, protect it, alter its performance by exercise, repair it when it malfunctions, and so on. The body’s operations run largely on an unconscious and automatic basis and we only become aware of them if there is a problem. The body-machine view is especially evident in the sciences as their source of knowledge and understanding of the body is based on knowledge gleaned from dead ones; a Cartesian corpse, if you will. The Cartesian corpse is an organic machine devoid of a soul. Descartes’ system raises the mind above the body to such an extent that all psychology taught in high schools, universities, and medical schools is fixated on the brain. Cultural religious beliefs also rest on the Cartesian Divide with the body viewed as carnal, untrustworthy, and evil. The Cartesian Divide separates us from ourselves; it makes our bodies something different from who we are; it belittles the body in favor of the brain; it alienates us from others, animals, and the material world. The ancient idea that consciousness resides in the heart is quite insightful. It says much about our loss of the body-soul in favor of a brain-centric point of view. Cartesian thinking has stripped us of our body-mindfulness. We need to stop thinking about the body as a being just a robotic slave and bridge the Cartesian Divide to unify our experience, our thinking, and our perspective of ourselves, our world, and all the things in it. The way to begin is by thinking in terms of the bodymind. The Hard Problem The gap is widened further by a philosophical question that has plagued human thought for centuries. This is the mind-body problem which Descartes answered so erroneously by making the body a solid substance and the mind a spiritual substance. Today it is known as The Hard Problem meaning that science will find it quite difficult, if not impossible, to determine the nature of consciousness by investigating the brain and its neural activities. We are currently able to tell where in the brain consciousness occurs and even watch it fulfill its various functions in real time, but many argue we will never be able to say exactly what it is. To illustrate this point, think of biting into an apple and tasting it. Neuroscience at this time can tell us what brain structures are active to grasp the apple, raise it to our mouths, bite into it, chew, and taste, but it cannot tell us where in the brain the actual experience of the taste of the apple occurs. Nor will it ever be able to tell us the nature of the thing that willed our bodies to pick up the apple. To try and get at the nature of body consciousness leads us directly into the problem of consciousness itself. What is it? Where does it come from? How is it related to the brain? Does it go on after death or stop when the body dies. These are different facets of The Hard Problem and for thousands of years thinkers have been offered various answers, but none of them have been proven as of yet because The Hard Problem really is hard. First, to be aware or conscious is always to be aware of something—such as smelling a flower or tasting bread—including being aware that you are aware. This is called self-reflection and it opens quite a can of worms. To be able to reflect on the self reflecting upon itself is based on the natural ability to shift our awareness back and forth between what we are aware of to something else. The ability to self-reflect, regardless of where it does come from, is a function of the figure-ground principle and is illustrated by this graphic. Do you see a dog in the picture? If so, make the dog fade into the background. The truth is, there may or may not be a dog, who knows for sure? The point is that you can make the dog appear and disappear depending on how you focus your attention. Where consciousness comes from is one part of The Hard Problem. A second part is its relationship to the body. This is the mind-body problem which Descartes failed so miserably to solve. Let’s try our hands at answering these puzzles. There are four ways of answering the Hard Problem (actually a few more than that, but four will suffice here). First, you can be like Descartes and say that body is matter and mind is spirit; two entirely different substances altogether. This was the road Descartes took and it is leads to Idealism meaning that the mind or soul is like a mental idea and it would be safe to say that most people in the world have taken it especially if they believe in life after death or reincarnation. Another road to take is that of Materialism. Materialists say that the only thing that exists is solid matter and there are no other states. People who believe in materialism are usually scientists, medical people, and those who do not believe in a greater Being. This comes to us from Democritus, another ancient Greek philosopher. The basic idea here is that all physical reality is composed of atoms and these atoms come together to make things and fall apart when those things cease to function. A third way tries to mix both positions into one saying that when matter reaches a certain degree of complexity then consciousness emerges out of it like when a flower grows from a seed, and its flower head opens and out comes a pretty smell. This is called Emergentism. Each position has its strengths and weaknesses. Idealism says consciousness is a substance different from matter which is okay, but since it is not solid it can’t be measured which means you really can’t say much about it and anything you do say about it may or may not be true. There is no way of telling. Materialists say consciousness is a by-product of brain cell functioning and they have got some very good evidence for this. Science now knows a great deal about how the brain works. We know which part of the brain lights up when you eat a peanut butter sandwich, but—and this is a big BUT—brain activity tells us nothing about what the sandwich tastes like, smells like, or how it makes us feel. Likewise, to say we now know in the brain how the arm is raised tells us nothing about who made the decision to raise it. Emergentism is good because it tries to walk a middle road, but it too does not tell us much about consciousness. And so, The Hard Problem remains waiting for a solution which may or may not ever arrive, but this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think about...