A systems view of biological health

Section 4: Application and Practical exercises

16 : Being vs Doing

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The issue of Doing vs Being is one of the central na usually destructive forces in our forceful culture.

Given that the body-mind, the soma, is intelligent, it is intelligent to make best use of that intelligence. Instead, there is a cultural attitude to the body of forcefulness, that includes attempting to make the body feel how we want it (or would like it) to feel, and to override everything else. I always feel uncomfortable at the phrase "Mind over Matter" because almost inevitably it is based on this forceful (colonial) way of thinking of and using the body.

In the distant past, the intelligence of slaves was sometimes highly valued, whereas at other times and situations all that was required was that the slave obey and stay out from under the feet. This attitude continues today in treatment of devices such as washing machines and kettles - the modern-day equivalent of slaves. We expect them to behave, to need minimal (or no) attention until they break down, and then to be "fixable" or disposable and replace-able. Since we are surrounded by machine-slaves, the attitude of treating things like this - this slave/colonial attitude - is easily transferred akso to the body. And is one of the main reasons that psychlogical, physical and spiritual problems arise, and do not get better - or (more usually) get progressively worse.

One way that this plays out is the deliberate (attempted) manipulation of mental and sensory states. In fact, some employers, well-meaning acquaintances and personal development cults have become adept at gaslighting, saying that we ought to be able to pull our socks up and get our shit together, man-up, and stop being such a snowflake. Unfortunately there is a certain truth in what they say, but not one that is easily accessible in the way that is implied. The method I teach here is based on a non-coercive and compassionate cultivation of the skill and ability to shift attention according to an intelligent and congruent choice, allowing the body to then intelligently respond to that choice of attentive engagement. Which is completely different from deliberately "making it better".

More to the point (for the purposes of this chapter) are the deliberate manipulation of internal states - "moving energy". There are of course many useful techniques for "moving energy" (or something to that effect, whatever words are used to describe it) that come from every spiritual tradition - be that the meditations of Teresa of Avila, Kundalini Yoga, Qigong, Tibetan Buddhist meditations, Shamanic practices, etc etc. All of these in their original form and context are of great value. However, when translated into a forceful cultural attitude, they are no longer the thing they started out as. Additionally all these spiritual frameworks exist(ed) in highly functional supportive communities and belief systems - that are not reflected in the reality of daily life of 99.9% of westerners. So the internal milieu being worked with for most westerners is full of sludge and rotting garbage, wayward sourceror's apprentice broomsticks, abandoned babies and children, shell-shocked ancestors, and ex-vietnam veterans hiding out in the jungle of the soma that do not necessarily sit well or easily with techniques devised for people beginning at a very diferent (and more peaceful and wholesome) starting point.

So converting whole-heartedly to an attitude whereby the body is genuiinely treated as a valued companion and friend whose needs and intelligence are respected - is not a trivial shift, given the cultural backdrop and influence we are marinated in every waking minute.

So - I am not arguing against deliberate changing of state, but am arguing that this should - at the very least - be moderated by most of the effort being put into learning how to be non-forceful, and non-manipulative. As a direct analogy, there are many breathing techniques in which the breath is structured in certain ways or certain rhythms. But all of them are based on a pre-existing well-practiced ability / skill to allow the body - to allow and observe the breath - to breathe itself. If you have ever attempted to work with the breath for any extended time, you will know that there are a series of stages in which more layers of control are discovered and eventually let go of, and at the end there is an almost infintesimally subtle interplay between the mind and the breath in which they both have equal say - a delicate, nuanced and freely-moving conversation between equals rather than a master and slave (or rider and runaway horse). Also see notes on Viktor frankl et al