Of One Accord

I've been studying the Mind/Body problem pretty extensively in a few classes lately, and it has been the focus of my thinking as a result. It is interesting to read studies on growth and development of the self in respect to this Mind/Body relationship because there are definite separate forces which drive the self to grow or not.

First of all I think that a human being is composed of many separate things:
1. Mental Faculties (the Mind)
2. Emotional Faculties (the Heart)
3. Physical Composition (the Body)
4. The Self or Essence (the Soul)

I believe primarily that the Soul is the most fundamental yet mysterious piece of every human being. It is the part of us that I think is virtually unknowable in this life.

The Soul's relationship to this world in my conception is that it is given utility of a Mind, Heart, and Body with which to interact and experience and cause change in this world. The Mind, Heart, and Body are only tools used for understanding in this conception.

What I mean by 'Of One Accord' is that these three tools have a tendency to break down if they are not maintained. All things in this world demonstrate this tendency, and if they are not properly cared for, will decompose until ultimately they can no longer serve their purpose. I believe that part of this maintenance is to have these three parts of the person 'aligned', or 'of one accord'.

The Body is our physical piece. It gives us the ability to engage physically with the world - to use our five senses and feel our way in space. It is a tool very equipped for establishing the happenings of the present; such as assessments like cold, hot, soft, hard, sweet, sour, light, dark, loud, quiet, etc.

The Heart is our emotional piece. It gives us the ability to assess the present apart from the physical happenings alone - fire in a fire-pit can inspire joy or contentment, whereas that same size fire in a kitchen can inspire fright. The Heart assesses the qualitative parts of a situation.

The Mind is our mental piece. It gives us the ability to operate outside the boundaries of time and space. The Mind equips human beings with planning and foresight, as well as creativity and conceptualization. Because it can operate outside of time and space, it allows critical thinking. For example: there was rain yesterday, and plants have grown today. Rain must be essential for plant growth. Of course there is much more to that process than those two simple steps, however it illustrates the concept adequately. Assessments can be made of the present from knowledge of the past.

These three pieces are very important for growth of the Soul. If they are not maintained properly and begin to deteriorate, then it becomes useless. An example of deterioration for the Body would be the development of lung cancer from smoking. The Body's desire for the present act of smoking over-rules the Heart's feelings of doubt as to its goodness, and the Mind's knowledge as to its health hazards. In a similar situation with a restored Body, the deteriorated Heart's feelings for the act of smoking in order to be accepted or look cool or be rebellious etc. over-rules the Body's assessment that it hurts the throat and lungs and is producing acid-reflux, as well as the Mind's knowledge of its health hazards. In the last scenario, with a deteriorated Mind, the Mind chooses smoking because of ignorance or naivete and over-rules the Body's assessment that it is painful and the Heart's feelings of doubt as to its goodness.

In any of these three scenarios, there is a lack of unity, resulting in discordance. So the Body is addicted to nicotine, the Heart does not want to stop, and the Mind does not see the need to stop. In order for the person to stop smoking, all three of the pieces must be aligned, 'of one accord'. Of course if one tool is strong enough, the Soul can use it in order to initiate and in time the other tools will follow (for a human being cannot live Mind without Body or Body with Heart, etc).

I believe that when all are aligned and of one accord, then, and only then, may growth take place.