What’s Mind Got to Do with It?
I got an email that made me realize I wanted to say something about body and mind. This Weekly Tips reader writes:
“Before I practiced Focusing, my mind would have never thought such a thing would be possible (change in the body). When I was told my body contains wisdom within, I was still doubtful. The fact that it is impossible for the mind to fully understand felt senses without Focusing proves that the chances of the mind to even realize their presence is slim.”
My reader is speaking as if her mind is other than her body. So I want to ask: What do we mean by “the mind”? This is an ancient philosophical question that I am nowhere near qualified to address at that level! But I can speak as a practicing Focuser and longtime Focusing teacher.
I have not been able to discover any experience of “mind” that is separate from what I mean by “body.”
Over and over again, when people tell me “I am in my head,” or “My mind is saying this,” or “I am having thoughts now,” and I then respond “Something in you _______,” it turns out that what was called “head” or “mind” or “thoughts” is actually something that also has feelings and can give a felt sense.
Take my reader’s statement: “When I was told my body contains wisdom within, I was still doubtful.” I might say, “Ah, you’re remembering something in you was doubtful. You might check if that’s still there right now.”
If she said “Yes, I’m still doubtful,” I could say, “You might take some time to sense how that quality of ‘doubtful’ is sitting in you right now.”
Maybe she would say, “It’s this little frown, right between my eyes. Like something in me has to watch and make sure it’s all real.”
And I might respond, “Maybe you could acknowledge something in you there, that feels it has to watch and make sure it’s all real.”
“Yes,” she says, and senses more… Clearly there is more! And isn’t that body?
What people call “thoughts” are not something separate from body, but an expression or instance within body.
Body Includes Mind
When I read Gendlin, it is clear to me that he doesn’t intend the word “body” to be opposed to a concept of mind. Here’s the most obvious quote I’ve found, from A Process Model, page 34
“What I now do, feel, and think comes out of my body. This may sound odd, but where else does it come from? The mind? To separate mind and body deprives ‘body’ of certain vitally important characteristics of living tissue. I am not referring just to the famous mind/body problem on the abstract level. The problem involves a way of thinking, a type of concept, which removes implying (and as we will soon see also meaning and symbolic functions) from body. For us it is vital not to miss the fact that living bodies imply their next bits of life process.”
Sure, that might be a bit hard to understand! The concepts are new, and are being used in a new way. But that doesn’t mean we have to separate out an entity and say that your “mind” doesn’t understand. No, it’s plain and simple you who doesn’t understand yet, but you can, you will.
“Living bodies imply their next bits of life process.”
I think what Gendlin is saying there is that life as a process does not stop, it cannot be interrupted, and it includes everything. All that we are implies our next step. The word “body” is a name for the whole thing.
We can experience this in practice by continually having our fresh here-and-now experience of whatever is here, and letting go of the labels we have for it. Even a label like “thought” or “mind” can be suspect. Notice how it feels, how it sits in you, what it’s like. Let yourself be surprised. Focusing is wonderfully surprising, fresh, in this moment.
In this moment, anything we assumed or believed can be open for a fresh creative step. Wow!
