The body will only remain healthy if the mind has been kept healthy.

Newsdesk (04/09/2022 3:15 PM, Gaudium Press) “Mens sana in corpore sano” (a sound mind in a sound body) is a well-known expression which almost everyone has heard or read somewhere.  Although it has become famous on its own, the phrase is part of a poem, the Satire No. X, written by the Roman poet Decimus Junius Juvenal, who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries. The full verse reads: “One should pray for a sound mind in a sound body” .

Although it is often used as a slogan for gyms, bodybuilding and fitness, it goes much deeper than a simple exaltation of the body, something that has become “feverish” in recent times. When seen in this context of an apologia for the physical, the impression is that a well cared for body and the practice of exercises are the guarantee of a healthy and balanced mind, which is not necessarily true.

When the obsession with the body increases, even if one gains strong muscles and well-defined contours, the mind is no longer healthy, because any kind of obsession testifies to fragility and emotional, or mental, lack of control. To fall in love with your own body to the point of putting physical conditioning and nutrition that is focused only on gaining strength and muscle mass as priorities does not mean having a healthy mind, but the contrary.

Virtue lies in balance

It is obvious that taking care of your body is, before anything else, a duty. By the way, a sacred duty —  since the body is the temple of the Spirit, it should be the object of all the necessary care for the maintenance of health and balance. Neglecting the body, the food, the rest and the necessary activities to keep it healthy, may be considered a sin, since our bodies are divine gifts.

But what is the use of spending money, pushing yourself beyond your limits exercising, “pulling iron”, working out, controlling your diet and even taking anabolic steroids in order to define your physical form and achieve the “shape” of your dreams (a term used in the world of gyms, meaning a defined body) and neglecting your soul, the “mens sana”?

We must not, in any way, neglect the physical part, running the risk of becoming apathetic, unmotivated, soft. Our body needs to be healthy and active, always “prepared for battle”, after all, as the beautiful Catholic song says: “The earth is a wide field of battle” and we are all involved in a constant and fierce war. But when all our effort, our concentration and our free time is focused on gaining muscle mass, we are focusing only on appearance. And, for this to become an addiction, a dependency, is a dangerous misstep.

Juvenal ends his poem by saying, “I will reveal what you can give yourself; surely, the only way to a peaceful life is through virtue.” And, we dare to add: by the virtue of balance. I could use an old adage and say, “Not so much to Heaven, not so much to Earth,” but, I won’t, because our focus is on Heaven, so the sound mind must always come first, in order that the whole edifice is sound.

Achievement of a Lifetime

This is a reality we understand better as we get older. After we pass 40, we begin to feel a slight decline in our vitality. At 50, the body no longer responds as it did ten years earlier, and at 60, we begin to feel weaker, some aches and pains start to visit us more often, and our reflexes are no longer as agile. This is normal in life.

Reaching this stage with health, flexibility, blood pressure, sugar level and cholesterol and triglyceride rates under control should be everyone’s ideal of life, but, it is at this stage that, more especially, we should follow Juvenal’s advice: pray that the mind is sound, in a sound body.

Something that is notable, although a difficult paradox to understand, is that if we cultivate the values of the spirit in the splendid years of youth and early maturity, later, when our body begins its inevitable decline, we will have a corresponding ascent of the soul, a disposition that comes from a clear conscience, from duty done, from virtues cultivated. As I have written here before, I do not believe that old age brings wisdom. It is easier for it to bring diabetes, glaucoma, cataract, high blood pressure and clogged arteries, because wisdom is the achievement of a lifetime, it is not a magic attribute that old age brings.

Just as the pathologies mentioned – among many others – do not develop from one hour to another just because one has grown old, but are consequences of a lifestyle, the same happens with wisdom, an edifice built brick by brick, wall by wall. And it is very common that, with this edifice built, we are no longer troubled by the afflictions that consist of the great challenges of old age nor are we tempted by the great seductions of life, and we feel, inside, with the spirit and vigour of a 30 year old.

Aging well in body and rejuvenating in soul

And so that we do not become ridiculous old men with inappropriate behaviour, we need a good mirror, of a reasonable size, in which we can look at ourselves every day and see that, yes, our body ages, our hair, when it still exists, whitens and our eyes, which, although they see new horizons, no longer shine as they used to and can hardly see without a good pair of glasses.

In this way, to age well in body corresponds to a rejuvenation in soul and the gaining of the necessary strength to discard the body when the appropriate time comes, and take off in the great and definitive flight without regretting or wishing to remain captive in the vain utopia of the passing life.

It may seem that I am an old man writing especially for the old, but, in truth, I write, above all, for the young, who, God-willing, will grow old tomorrow and, with preparation, will age well. Therefore, still following the words of the poet Juvenal, let us ask God for “a brave soul that lacks the fear of death”, but one that is not stupid enough to think that death will not come to meet it or that it will be able to dodge it with the titanium muscles of its body, the conquest of much sweat and sore limbs, because everything passes, and passes very quickly and the body will only remain healthy if the mind has remained healthy.

By Afonso Pessoa