“We are not “inside our skins, but we are living-in the world, and living-with others.” This line brings to mind some other ideas I have heard about the body, soul—existence and what it really means. To think that a human is not only made up of ‘one’s body’ but also the life or even objects that surround the body. I remember hearing that if an infant is not held within the first few weeks of birth that the infant will die–even if the infant is cared for, food, etc.… But that if the infant goes without physical touch, the infant will eventually decease. That example proves that we are not made of our body alone—that our surroundings literally make up ‘self’, but not ‘self’ in an individual entity. Also, how could the mind even operate if there was not some form of conflict? Exterior surroundings are the only way one receives conflict. Even if our thoughts have conflict, those thoughts are brought on my external situations. Even as I write, my mind sees into this imaginary place where I hear or see our classmates agreeing or disagreeing with the thoughts I’m expressing—the notions of those thoughts are creating me as I type my response.
