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The Self/The Body

The human sense of self is proprioceptive and sensual like that of other animals; we have an understanding of our own bodily movements and configuration as well as how we physically interact with our environment. But the human sense of self also has a unique face, a name, and positions and status within social organizations that define the human environment. This sense of self is structured by symbols, language, measured time and relations with others. We might feel free, divine, or otherwise superior to nature, but the body reminds us painfully of our limits; our daily creatureliness in hungering and defecating and our eventual deaths. In the words of Ernest Becker, a human being "is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever" (1973, p26).

This dual reality of our existence as a physical body and a symbolic self can involve a great deal of inconsistency and irrationality. In life we wish to maintain a healthy body. Usually we want to live a long, vital life without accident, injury or illness. We look after ourselves physically just as we look after our sense of self; the latter is characterized by our self-esteem, social image and posthumous reputation. This posthumous impact is where the inconsistency in our thinking occurs. When we die, we wish our selves to continue to have a positive influence. We might wish to leave some sort of legacy to posterity; whether this is art-work, well-raised children, a discovery, or whatever. We probably want our good name to be preserved, a value expressed by the living who will fight to ensure a dead person≠s memory is not besmirched, or that their last will and wishes are enforced or carried out. We respect the dead and we want to be respected when dead. In a sense, we want to ensure that our self is still preserved, still palpable.

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