The Mind-Body Problem

The mind wants to live forever, or to learn a very good reason why not. The mind wants the world to return its love, or its awareness; the mind wants to know all the world, and all eternity, even God. The mind’s sidekick, however, will settle for two eggs over easy. The dear, stupid body is as easily satisfied as a spaniel. And, incredibly, the simple spaniel can lure the brawling mind to its dish. It is everlastingly funny that the proud, metaphysically ambitious, clamoring mind will hush if you give it an egg. Annie Dillard, author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Muddled mind… confused, scrambled,
Brain humming sawtoothed symphonies while
User manual grants no guidance.

Let me out! shrieks the creature
As it bangs it’s misshapen head
Upon my indispensable frontal lobes.
Let me out that I may know
God’s mind and what he was thinking
When he made the red-lipped batfish
With it’s frog-like legs, crimson lips,
And anal fins,
A brute so bizarre I fail to fathom
Its very existence.

Creature, I warn you.
Keep this shit up and I shall
Subject you to yet
A third reading of
Atlas Shrugged.

No! Not that!

Creature,
I need nourishment.
Your pitiful howling will have to wait.
My body requires sustenance;
Two eggs over easy should do.
A little toast,
Some raspberry jam,
Black coffee to wash it down.
And then, perhaps, some tobacco,
My favorite chair, a book…
Surely this will tempt you.

You sir,
Now speak my language.
May we have a bit of chocolate
With our coffee?
And, perhaps, some dipping bread?
As for a book,
May I suggest Dante’s Divine Comedy
So that I may rise from the gates of Hell
In my pursuit of the empyrean,
That celestial sphere where
those divine and immortal beings dwell.

Creature,
Dante lies untold meters
Above my poor head.
Rather,
Let us take our pleasure in
Naked Came the Stranger,
A best seller chock full of
Every imaginable sex scene
The human mind can envision.
What say you?

Bravo, master, bravo, I say!

And so,
Mind and body
Align as one,
Causing God
To turn over and
Go back to sleep.

Epilogue…
The mind may dream of immortality,
But finds its peace in simple reality.