A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.~ Danish Proverb ~
Before getting our nice 2008 Chevy Aveo, we had a series of lemons! These vehicles were always breaking down, so I spent far too much time at auto repair shops. It was easy to tell the good ones from the bad ones; re the latter, they could never easily locate the specific tool that was needed to fix the problem!
Our bodies and minds are the tools we use to live. If the tools are too long neglected, rust can creep in, the handles can fall off (which is okay ONLY if we're talking about love handles) or things can get lost.
Since we never know when our time will be up, if we want the chance to lead a long and fruitful life, it's just commonsense that we should keep our tools in precision shape. The well-oiled wheel moves effortlessly; the rusted wheel struggles to move and squeaks.
Our bodies and minds are the tools we use to live. If the tools are too long neglected, rust can creep in, the handles can fall off (which is okay ONLY if we're talking about love handles) or things can get lost.
Since we never know when our time will be up, if we want the chance to lead a long and fruitful life, it's just commonsense that we should keep our tools in precision shape. The well-oiled wheel moves effortlessly; the rusted wheel struggles to move and squeaks.
oh man though this is so hard to do, especially when so many other things demand your attention.
ReplyDeleteLAst night I read an article having to do with qigong (because we have an active and enthusiastic little group going in my office) which was talking about the value and purpose of these physical practices in Taoism (that physical balance is required to eventually attain spritual enlightenment.) The author made the observation that this is somewhat contrary to Hindu and Buddhist practices where the body is regarded as a sort of impediment to spiritual enlightenment. I'm not on a spiritual soapbox here, I just thought in light of your commentary, this was interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that Taoists, on the one hand, sometimes look at life as a dream, and have no fear of death...but yet Taoists tend to value taking good care of their bodies and health. Any explanations for this?
ReplyDeleteThe idea is that you can only get to the point of spiritual enlightenment (returning to the primeval source, primoridal yang qi) by having longevity, promoted through health. You can't do serious sitting meditation without being physically fit (which isn't exactly ripped abs.) If you die without having converted all the jing to qi to shen, you just die.
ReplyDeleteI think RT would regard this as this religious Taoism.
On the other hand, who doesn't want to live a long, healthy life, mentally and physically? We may be dreaming, but a dream with aches and pains is no fun.
AT,
ReplyDeleteThe Baroness provided an excellent answer. I have nothing to add.