Twilight, you already know we have kindred spirits among our secret personalities. I'll elevate one of my more unexpected secrets to a real entry, but here I wanted to whisper a little about your mind-body split. It occurred to me, as soon as I read your lament that disciplines vary in the extent to which they expect such a split. Some disciplines even fault their members for having one.
And, of course, in disciplines that want a split, it's never really possible, so there must always be some discomfort associated with lugging the unwanted body around. Stupid body! Always getting into trouble. That's funny. I don't really believe that stuff, Twilight. I can't write at a desk, I pace when I'm onto something. My heart races when I read something good. I get mad that the ideas on the page won’t feed through the physical input mechanisms fast enough to suit me. Other days I’ll get mad at the ideas and slam a physical object onto my desk. I had a friend in grad school who had a different set of mind-body connections--things like needing to eat while reading. The whole idea of separating the mind from the body just seems wrong to me, even for science. But maybe that's just because of my history in one of those more physical disciplines--and my stubbornness.
So the next time something really inspirational happens in my intellectual work, I will think of you (Wild Blue) and dance!
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Posted by Mahogany to academicsecret at 8/22/2006 02:48:41 PM
