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The Body
The human body is an aggregate of human and bacterial cells. In higher life forms, there are different types of tissues and these combine to form organs which perform specialized functions. Cellular drives can be manifested by the autonomous actions of organs or organ systems. Internal temperature regulation is an example of an autonomous bodily function. Instinctive responses can also be released by social stimuli. The "rooting" response of infants is one example. The brain is more developed in humans than in any other form of life. This permits a greater freedom from instinctive responses than is the case with other animals. In the individual, the survival instinct preserves the body and the sex drive promotes reproduction. Perceived threats to survival give rise to heightened arousal and the "fight or flight" response. These responses are felt as either rage or fear. The attraction, infatuation, and love sexual partners feel toward each other gives meaning to reproductive activities and ensures care for offspring. Infatuation and love between sex partners is linked to the release of drug like substances, similar to amphetamine and opiates, in the brain. Human thinking originates from the template of the tactile-kinesic (feeling-moving) body. The mind is not seperate from the body. Human bodies experience invariants of their hominid existence (suckling, eating, breathing, walking, speak etc. etc.) Humans are aware of being able to suckle, eat, breathe, walk, speak etc. etc. This awareness is the understanding that "I can.." suckle, eat, etc. From the template of bodily "I cans" concepts are formed. E.g. from eating is the awareness of grinding/mashing food down. With it, the awareness of softness (lips, tongue, some food) and hardness (teeth, some food). The hard teeth have their own properties (feel how different your incisors are to your molars) - edges, bluntness, irregularity, etc. In eating we are also aware of transforming hard food into soft mush. From hard, edged teeth, analogies can be drawn to other experienced senses of hardness/edge - like with rocks (the hominid learns to make tools from rocks) or utensils (the infant learns that forks and knives do a similar job to teeth). Such bodily experiences are invariant - all paradigmatic humans experience them, they are universal. From these bodily archetypes, conceptual thought arises. For more about the human body and evolution, see Roots.
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