Body Knowing
3:47 PM, Wednesday afternoon, the sky is milky white. Shawn Colvin is on the CD player. October is still warm…
I have a small collection of puzzle boxes; that is, boxes (usually made of wood) that have a “trick” to opening them. The biggest box in my collection requires seven steps to unlock it. The smallest box needs only one maneuver to open it (but that movement is a difficult one). I like them a lot. I enjoy puzzles in general — especially mechanical puzzles. There is something that is both involving and (to me at least) soothing in working something out with your hands. I remember when Rubik’s Cubes were a big fad. Kids would master the many steps to aligning all the colored faces of the cube — and then see how fast they could repeat the process.
I think that there is a difference in learning something with your mind and learning it with your body. Understanding the steps to solving a mechanical puzzle is not the same as actually opening the box with your hands.
When I was studying martial arts, it was fairly easy to understand the various movements and positions. However, actually being able to smoothly perform those techniques was a different process. When I would physically master a block or strike I would get the same “ah-hah!” feeling I get when solving a mechanical puzzle. I would know the movement with my body, as well as understanding it with my mind.
This doesn’t just apply to physical skills like martial arts, dancing, or juggling — I think it applies to everything. When you fully understand a mathematical formula, foreign language, or investment strategy you know it, somehow, inside. You feel it.
Understanding occurs in the mind. Knowing occurs in the body.
At least that’s how it feels to me.
— JWR, 1997
EDITOR’S NOTE: The date on this entry (and on all of the “I Have Nothing To Say” entries) has been arbitrarily assigned to preserve the sequence that they were originally posted in. All were written in 1997 but, at that point, I was only identifying my journal’s entries by the time at which they were written.