As far as our health & medicine are concerned we live in a very chemical world. If we are ill there must be a pill. If there is not a pill then our ill must be caused in some mysterious way by that thing called psychiatry or psychology
True there are some very physical treatments - surgery for example (& isnt it odd that the opposite of surgeon is physician; what could be more physical than the cutting & slicing involved in surgery?). We do have physiotherapists, chiropodists, dentists, occupational therapists, … but nursing as basic physical care is devalued. On the wilder shores we have reflexology, & mystical masseurs, as opposed to the suspect masseuses who deliver mere physical relief
Motion, energy, heat - e=mc² - are considered only in very restricted ways. We put energy into our bodies in chemical form as food; we then burn it off by going to the gym. But we live in very heat controlled environments, going from warm house to car to office. We are even warned about the danger of heart attack if we move too suddenly from cosy to frigid. If we live in a hot climate we cool the environment to a comfortable 60 or 70. Our bodies dont shiver any more, little of the energy input is used to provide heat. We dont even want to get rid of heat by perspiration, except during an hour or so of exercise. Away from the gym or sports field we use chemicals to control our sweat
We worry about the school run; children ought to walk to school, school ought to be within walking distance. But should children walk to school if its freezing cold, through blizzard or through drenching rain? How many children have clothes suitable for all these occasions? How many schools have cloakrooms equipped for drying off, or for storing boots & warm overcoats? If its OK to drive children to school in these adverse weather conditions, thus shortening the journey time & postponing the time at which you have to leave home, how are households supposed to cope with variable timetables? Check the weather forecast the night before & set the alarm accordingly? Life depends so much on routine, but there can be no morning routine where the timetable depends on the weather to dictate how long it takes to dress or to travel to school
In Sartor Resartus Carlyle dwells on the utility of clothes, how they protect us from the elements, keep us warm & dry. Nowadays those of us who use public transport, who dress appropriately for that walk to the station or bus stop, are only too self conscious when we get to town, go round the shops, dressed in boots & overcoats. Even the store detectives are suspicious of those who walk around seeming only too well dressed for concealing what we might have shoplifted. Car travellers are dressed at most in light jackets, suitable attire for dashing from car park to shopping centre.
Clothes have become primarily a way of expressing our personality, not for protecting us from the environment
Romantically, we bemoan the loss of the High Street & the corner shop, but who wants to struggle from shop to shop, in & out of the rain & the warm, coping with umbrella, shopping basket, doors which open only towards you, when the alternative is a nice warm mall, on the level, with no doors or traffic to struggle with
We worry about obesity; statistics show that, on average at least, we are actually eating less. So if we are gaining weight it must be because we exercise less. No doubt this is true, but has any research been done into the reduction in obesity which might be achieved if we turned our thermostats down a few notches?
Physically we walk upright on two very small parts of our body - our feet. What a pounding they take, & yet how little we consider them. I myself have had the experience of thinking that something was going seriously wrong with my body - symptoms of dizziness, backache, all sorts of aches & pains. Two referrals to highly qualified consultants, general worry & concern, no obviously diagnosable neurological condition. But because it became difficult for me to cut my toenails, I decided to indulge in a pedicure. Bingo - falling arches & metatarsal something diagnosed, cured by simple plastic inserts in my shoes. It seems mad to say my life was transformed, but it was
