Training Your Body And Mind

Plato stated in the book Five Dialogues, that he thought of life and our bodies as a coat for our soul. Meaning our bodies will eventually become worn and useless, but our souls may last a long time longer.

If this is the case, then the habits we develop here in our short lives could subsequently have an effect on our soul, just like a rock against a coat is going to affect the wearer of such a coat.

Plato goes on to say that everything in life we experience takes our consciousness and staples it to our bodies. He says our sensations are like nails binding our souls to our bodies.

To him, enlightenment is the ability to give up your body and focus on matters of the soul, which is undeniably a very virtuous goal. So his philosophy, in essence, teaches people to abstain from misuse of their bodies.

This would include things like promiscuity and any substance that may cause detriment to the mind or body. So basically anything that exalts the body's sensations over that of spiritual sensations is considered to be indulgence, and should be avoided.

Though his idea of a soul is very primitive; to him it is something mystical, something that cannot be fully conceived. It wasn't until Siqmund Frued came and explained the different levels of consciousness.

He proposed that there were three different levels and that they are entirely separate and each motivates different actions and thoughts. He described the first and most primal to be called the id.

The id is what controls physical desires like hunger and sleep. Then there is the ego; the ego is motivated by things like lust and desire.

Lastly is the superego; this is the collection of knowledge and wisdom we learn throughout our lifetime. I would submit that this is the explanation of the soul that Plato couldn't quite understand.

Mixing the two, you would see that this would be the most virtuous philosophy around. But it is still incomplete, because just knowledge and wisdom doesn't feed the id, and we cannot completely deny ourselves our egos.

So we incorporate Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism. This is basically a philosophy that teaches personal responsibility and self-esteem.

Ayn teaches that man should live for a purpose. Hold your super ego above all else in your life, and use it to accomplish your goals.

It doesn't matter what your goals are as long as you do not inhibit the rights of another or sell yourself short in any way. So take life and live for your soul, super ego, and your purpose.

This lifestyle will hypothetically be the most rewarding lifestyle possibly attainable. Good luck.

Destry Masterson is a fitness expert who writes many articles and recommends http://www.freemotioncoupons.com/treadmills/treadmill-770-interactive-treadmill-review-and-coupon/. Contact Info: Destry Masterson - MyOnlineArticleWriting@gmail.com - Twitter: @DestryMasterson