You are a little soul carrying around a corpse. - Epictetus Idk why but I am just loving this quote so much right now.
This kind of intellectualist thinking makes me wonder. Physical activity is fundamental to our well-being; crudely speaking, physical exercise increases one's health. We're also aware that our mindset and self-persuasion can affect our physical state: placebo/nocebo effects, people surviving in the wilderness without food and water, people acheiving incredible feats of strength and agility under the pressure of danger to oneself or others. We're intellectual creatures, beyond doubt. We also strongly require a level of physical prowess to remain in good health. Then, we're able to persuade our bodies to go beyond its current limits, only to discover that we're capable of much than we're lead to believe. So. Mind over matter? Matter over mind? Mind and matter? or something else entirely?