We start with this aspect of ourselves we call “the body.” From the usual viewpoint, the body is this fleshy, bony “thing” that we awaken to each morning. We wash it and brush its teeth, we walk, drag or drive it around through the day to the various places we need to go, we give it adequate exercise, we shovel healthy food and liquids into it, we let it relieve itself of accumulated wastes. We might allow it various forms of pleasure ranging from nature walks to ecstatic dancing to massages and other delights, depending on one’s fancies. Finally, we lay it down to rest at night in sleep.
For doctors, the body is coldly viewed as merely a biochemical machine, needing to be fixed when it breaks down usually by pumping drugs into it or invading it with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation—such interventions often quite helpful, even life-saving, but also far too often an inappropriate way of dealing with the roots of the problems. From a mercenary point of view, the body is just a skin bag of water comprising two-thirds of the body, plus carbon, calcium and other materials, with an overall cash value of about $8.
