Mind Body Lips

I wrote this for ikon's "No-bodies and our souls" gathering (Nov 09), and thought I would stick it up.

We are animals. In perceived danger our bodies react with fast, shallow breathing, we shake, we become hyper aware of our surroundings as our ears prick up and our pupils dilate. Unfortunately we also lose capacity for higher level mental functioning – with our brains dedicated to interpreting our senses and getting us out of trouble, not much else gets attention. And it’s tiring, stressful, to remain in fear and trembling for any length of time.

Our animal bodies sometimes react like this even when our minds know we need not be afraid; the jitters of that job interview when we know we aren’t actually going to perish, and all you want is to be composed and coherent. Breathing well is one often described strategy for bringing us to calm. But why? Well, our mind takes control of our breathing, and in response our body informs our mind that all is well, that we aren’t in danger, and so finally we are able to think clearly. The mind and body are communicating. Our body can change our mind as well as the other way round.

Some people were asked to watch cartoons in the name of scientific research. “Watch these cartoons while holding a pen between your teeth”. Others watched the cartoons and held a pen between their lips. And the first group found the cartoons funnier. Because, unbeknownst to them, they were already smiling. Amazing. So you don’t just smile because you’re happy; you’re also happy because you smile. The body changes the mind. They call it ‘embodied persuasion’.

But what is the mind that my body can convince? The mind appears to us to be somehow fundamentally different than matter. It’s not stuff; it’s thoughts. How can there be any interaction between the two? What is the connection – and where is the connection – between thoughts and action? Our intuition suggests that the mental has real and distinct causal power – we think something and then do it. But this flies in the face of what’s called the Physical Causal Closure Thesis which insists that all physical events have physical causes. The mind’s interaction with the body has puzzled people for centuries. Is the nature of ‘the mental’ completely reducible to the physical? Is the mental illusory? Or is consciousness merely a byproduct of physiological processes, with no power to affect these processes? And where is the real ‘me’ in all of this?

The old idea of a person having an essential, immutable nucleus has been rejected by many modern philosophers who understand the ‘self’ to be an illusion. (Perhaps it’s too much like a soul for their liking). Several branches of empirical research instead point towards an inconstant, material nucleus – the ‘me’ is (and I’m quoting here) “an integrated representational system distributed over changing patterns of synaptic connections”. Seems reasonable, don’t you think? But the illusion of an unchanging self is incredibly powerful. We seem to ourselves to be much more than a synergy of physical forces.

Who am I? Where are my thoughts? How does my mind make my body move? How do I decide to walk, to smile, to dance, to kiss?

To kiss... The elevations of our upper lip form what is called the Cupid Bow. Our lips are very sensitive as anyone who has paper-cut their lip when licking an envelope will testify. Our upper and lower lips are served by distinct cranial nerve branches, and they are controlled by an elaborate system of muscles and supporting structures. They affect the uttered sounds of spoken language, and help facial gestures communicate plenty more in what is unsaid – it is clear to the world that you are happy when you smile (assuming you aren’t holding a pen between your teeth). When two people kiss, there is a “rich and complicated exchange of information involving chemical, tactile, and postural cues”. Men, apparently, like a bit more tongue, and for kissing to be that bit wetter – perhaps an effort to raise their partner’s libido in the passing of testosterone, or perhaps because men are known to have reduced chemosensory detection and so just need a bit more juice to get the flavour. Some think kissing evolved from a practice found in primate mothers who pre-chew food for their infants and pass it from mouth to mouth – subsequent pressing of lips may have provided a signal of comfort and love. Kissing to make up is deemed much more viable to men, though plenty of women agree that it can end an argument. When we kiss, cortisol levels drop and we relax. Most people tilt to the right. Sophisticated circumstances and countless forces and personal efforts may lead two people together, but vast swathes of people agree that the kiss, particularly the first kiss, can bring a rapid end to a budding relationship. Perhaps Cupid’s Bow just missed the target, but we place a lot of importance on how someone kisses. We are animals, but who are we when we look into each other’s eyes? Who is doing the kissing?