Why is there a seperation between the body and the mind such that we are incapable of controlling all bodily functions manually (such as digestion)?
In: Biology
Our ‘mind’ is basically just the complex problem solving part of our body, so it only does things related to that. ‘We’ are capable of controlling all bodily functions manually in the sense that we are our bodies, and our bodies control them. It isn’t our conciousness’ job to control them, so it doesn’t.
Kinda like saying why can’t we walk with our eyes? Not their job.
Imagine if we could control everything at once. Imagine all that effort would take our entire focus and attention. Have you considered that when you focus on breathing, it is harder to breathe naturally. Imagine that with heart beats, organ control, gland control, and brian functioning. Mercifully, we don’t control everything. Also, there is a phenomenon where your body will tune out sound or feelings. Such as you can’t feel the chair you are sitting in after awhile. Your brain knows you don’t need this information. You brain is good at only bringing attention the most important conscious functions.
“Physically, you are a group of over sixty trillion living cells that do what they do by themselves. Every second, there are trillions of things happening inside our bodies that keep us from dropping dead, and we have no control over it. Blood is being pumped. Cells are being created. Hormones are distributed. A trillion things out of our control have to happen just for us to digest food, and we are not even aware that it is happening right now.” from *The Present* a book about the truth of life.
There are some things that are controllable with practise, that most people don’t do. Waggling your ears, flaring your nostrils, raising one eyebrow. Holding your breath for 22 minutes. Of the three types of muscle we only have direct control over the skeletal muscles, not the cardiac or smooth muscles of our internal organs. Even so, there is a route via the solar plexus, which is linked to both brain and organs, and which can be somewhat influenced by the imagination.
Consider this: we are also incapable of controlling all mental functions. Traditional meditation practices consider ‘you’ as an independent observer apart from both the body and mind. Those same practices also assert that greater control over both is possible with practice and effort.
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