I saw a video today that illustrates the importance of the body and how it works with the mind. A person was told to say a lie and resist physical pressure, then say something true. When they lied they were physically weaker than when they said something true. The lie itself made the person have to be aware of what they were saying so they were less aware of what they were doing physically. The person making the point said that the body lives in reality and reality doesn’t lie. The body essentially is the truth we really know. 

The mind though can disconnect with reality when it wants to so isn’t always based in reality. This perfectly illustrates the importance of physical practices (like Qigong) that can bring the mind into reality. If the body and mind connect the lies you tell yourself or the lies that are presented to you, the disconnections so to speak lose power over you because you are whole. You are living fully in reality. So the physical condition and physical cultivation will lead to a better state of mind.

There is a power in truth, or reality. It is not a set of symbols but reality as it exists. People for example struggle with reality and I totally get it. You can create your own reality and I was always one to avoid reality but you can’t avoid your own body. So essentially your body is your real connection to reality. In Taoism the practice is about your body primarily because as you open your body and the energy can flow in your body you can actually engage with reality and the reality that is you.

The real problem exists though of people wanting to avoid reality, they want distractions, augmentations, they want stories, plot lines, success, failure and any number of things outside of their body. Things they don’t control or orchestrate that will sustain their lack of control in a way that won’t hurt them. You can be nullified by things outside of yourself. Sometimes with acts like graffiti for example people create a world peculiar to themselves or a group that creates a break from reality.

Yet in my experience illegal graffiti is so powerful that your body is pushed to extremes to avoid capture or detection that you become so physically fit that nobody can stop you. When I stopped illegal graffiti I went from being athletically fit to pretty average in a few years. Yet what is sustainable and how can you stay healthy and connected to your body? You can’t spend your life jumping fences and running from the police. What connects you to your reality? The body. That is your truth. If you want to control your mind, the body if worked on properly will make that happen.

It isn’t simply about how you look, because everyone knows bodies change. Someone can look great but be totally miserable. It is flexibility over strength, if you can’t bend or move, maybe flow is a better word you will break. Ideally you are not detectable, nobody suspects you, you don’t stand out in a crowd. Your power is always hidden, even better if you are ridiculed and not taken seriously. That way you can live in peace and life isn’t a battle or full of struggle. You are at peace within your body and mind, the unwanted will always look for the obvious targets.