Mind And Body

Mind and Body

[inspired by a talk by Sean Stephenson on The Prison Of Your Mind at TEDxIronwoodStatePrison – if troubled in body, mind or both, I urge you to seek this out on Youtube]

The motivational speaker canons onto the stage
A body withered by Osteogenesis Imperfecta
(That’s Brittle Bone Disease to laypeople)
A very literal fragility
A lifetime of fractures
Reducing the man to a mere yard in stature
Yet a towering force
“I was born” he proclaims “to rid this world of insecurity.”

“We’re just bodies, aren’t we?” asks my companion
(a tall, attractive and gifted fellow)
“Or do you believe in the mind as a separate entity?”
I want to argue the case for the soul
But, sensing cynicism, cannot find the words
Life, he says, has left him broken and burnt out
Physical and psychical decline inextricably linked

“You know what the worst drug that ever hit the human race is? Pity!
The moment you feel sorry for another person,
Or the moment you feel sorry for yourself
you’re hosed!”

Lacking words, I offer a hug
Hoping somehow that through physical contact
I can gain access to his innermost thoughts
Inevitably we both remain, locked within ourselves
Perhaps he’s right
Our consciousness is merely a by-product of body-centred impulses.

“When we feel that we’re not enough ...
We do stupid stuff!”

Such as ... chasing illusive dreams?
Fearing that this moment is all we have
Or allowing guilt to close our minds
To other possibilities?
Once our bodies fail
Will all our over-thinking have been in vain?

“I am not disabled!” cries the man in the wheelchair
“The only prison is the mind”