Week 1 Discussion Issues

Do we really understand or biological selves?

         From an allopathic, western medical perspective, it seems that we understand some of the aspects of our biological selves pretty well. We seem to know quite a bit about the way our body works in a mechanical way, our anatomy and physiology, most of the functions of the different organs, and other ways in which our bodies live and sustain themselves in the world. At the same time, however, there are a number of experiences and events that baffle the Western understanding of our being, especially functions connected to our mental, emotional, and spiritual selves. While other approaches of understanding such phenomena are denigrated by the scientific community as religious or spiritual explanations that are not based on hard facts and evidence, the western paradigm does not really offer a language in which to talk about the non-physical parts that make up who we are. It seems to me that to truly understand how all the aspects of our being communicate and work with each other we need to be more integrative in our approach of understanding the body and self, taking information from many different places and using a more holistic stance. Personally, I don’t think it is possible to completely understand everything about ourselves because we are the subject of our own study. I think that mystery, however, is a pretty amazing part of being alive.