Part 34
If nothing else, these last few weeks have been a time for reflection. That has allowed me to put attention on things that would probably never have occurred to me during the “normal” rush of daily working life pre-corona.
So…I got to thinking about the relationship between the mind, body and spirit. Maybe some of you don’t relate to the spirit. Or even consider that there is such a thing and would consider me delusional for thinking so! But to those who don’t, to those who think there’s something more, I dedicate this particular blog entry.
Consider that the spirit and the body are two very different elements of existence but what links them together is the mind. If we were to take the analogy of a car, the spirit would be the driver, the body would be the auto body, chassis and interior, and the mind would be the electrical system and computer that links the process of operating the car to the driver.
Clearly all three functions must be in workable order for the car to successfully complete a journey. If the car has a flat tire and keeps rolling, neither the electrical system nor the computer can save it from ruining the tire and damaging the rims. On the other hand, if the electrical/computer system isn’t working, the driver can’t force the car to move at all. And if the driver isn’t operating the way he should (drunk, ill, fainted, whatever) the car might move, but not for long before there’s an accident which renders all three parts of the equation totally useless.
In the same way that a car needs to be in good condition in order to move from A to B, so the body should be relatively healthy in order to carry out the commands of the mind, motivated by the spirit. Whether you consider that the mind or the spirit alone controls the body, the point I’m making here is that we need harmony.
For example, many people tend to ignore the sensible needs of the body and fail to keep it running well. In many instances, people abuse their bodies to the point where they break down. It’s staggering to see how many people today have chronic body problems or disabilities and just try to soldier on. Sadly, they deteriorate unless they change things and make a solid effort to improve.
If I trace my 83 years in this body, I realize that I’ve always felt that the better shape my body is in, the more mentally alert I am. I can use the body to perform the functions I require for life in the world around me.
As a small boy in prep or junior school, I probably didn’t think too much about it. I remember running in a race at the age of five or six, being in front of the other kids, then seeing my parents in the crowd and becoming so intent on waving to them that I ended the race in last place.
A year or so later, my uncle who was on leave from the army in World War II, decided to teach me how to box. It was only a couple of lessons, but it served me in good stead as I grew up. At the age of seven or eight, I was invited to enter the school boxing championships and, with newfound confidence after my uncle’s coaching, I entered, easily winning my first couple of fights and then losing, I was told by a small margin, in the final to a boy with his mother’s hair clip in his hair to stop it from falling in front of his eyes. I made a decision then never to lose a fight again and never did, but outside of the boxing ring I had a rule that I would never strike the first blow and would only retaliate if attacked.
I was not particularly muscular but was blessed with great speed and fast reaction time. In fact, boxing was the only sport that I consistently entered and won until my last two years at high school when, from nowhere, I suddenly developed a real talent for playing rugby, as well as becoming above average with field hockey and athletics. I was also reasonably adept with tennis, squash, fencing, badminton and pretty lousy with football (soccer) and cricket.
I learned two things from sport. The first was to be competitive with everything I did and still do, for that matter. The second was that the more physically fit I became, the clearer was my thinking. Many people who pursue the arts as a career seem to think that sport is a stupid activity. I, myself, was mocked by my fellow rugby players when I took out my notebook in order to write a quick poem while waiting to play a match.
My point is simply this: We use our minds and bodies all the time to get done what we want to do. Doesn’t it make sense then for one to have a quick-witted mind and a body in the best condition?
So, if we stretch the analogy into the world of computing, wouldn’t it make sense to have a similar three-part equation? Imagine you (and all your creativity) commanding your software (an ExoBrain that understands you) to accomplish the things that YOU want a computer to do…and then (wonder of wonders) having it happen.
An ExoTech Ltd shareholder, Chris is currently authoring two of the four books to be published the day ExoBrain launches and has helped to create ExoBrain’s introductory video to the Confidential Technical Briefing. Chris has spent his working life in the film and television industry, starting with BBC Television in London, then ATV in Birmingham becoming, at the time, the youngest Studio Manager in Britain.
Later, in South Africa, he wrote and directed film and TV commercials, having four South African entries at the Cannes Advertising Festival. After a number of years of writing and directing or producing documentaries (eight international awards) and corporate videos, he concentrated on writing feature film screenplays (five screened) and television series (seven screened). He has a novel, ”Pursuit of Treachery,” with a literary agent and is currently obtaining finance for an action adventure feature film he has written and is co-producing. He is a published poet and has given many readings.