This chapter actually pertains to training a little bit. Bear with me while I try to tie it all in...

"...we have been taught to neglect, despise, and violate our bodies, and to put all faith in our brains."

The "me," the body, knows the present. It knows it is hungry or tired. But the "I," the mind "...looks at...memory, and by studying it is able to make predictions. These predictions are, relatively, so accurate and reliable...that the future assumes a high degree of reality- so high that the present loses it's value."

This is where I have failed in past relationships. I worried about the future and I worried about my happiness. So much so, that I sabotaged the present. So instead of going with my heart, I went with my brain. Which now I understand, will NEVER BE HAPPY as long as it is in charge.

"Generally speaking, the civilized man does not know what he wants. He works for success, fame, a happy marriage, fun, to help other people...But these are not real wants because they are not actual things. They are the by-products...shadows which have no existence apart from some substance. Money is the perfect symbol of all such desires...the most blatant example of confusing measurements with reality."

As I mentioned in the last chapter write up, or two, I did everything I was 'supposed' to do to be happy. And now that I'm here, I'm not happy- I feel empty in some regards. I have a great family, great friends, a house, a place to train...what more could you need? But I've gotten here by fulfilling others' expectations rather than my own.

Watts sums up how I feel about my current situation with...

"...the working inhabitants of a modern city are people who live inside a machine to be batted around by its wheels. They spend their days in activities which largely boil down to counting and measuring, living in a world of rationalized abstraction which has little relation to or harmony with the great biological rhythms and processes."

Changing gears, Watts mentions how today we are slaves to the clock. They are convenient, but not necessary. I'm sure everyone has experienced something to this effect- you're tired at 2pm at work and all you can think about is napping. Then you get home that night and you're usually in bed by 10 but 11 rolls around and you're wide awake. We have stopped listening to our bodies and rely solely on our mind and the instruments we have created. It might not be something we can change, because most jobs aren't going to be OK with you napping or showing up later to work as you please. But it is something to be aware of.

There are some takeaways for training. Perhaps you don't need to squat every Monday. Maybe you need to squat every ten days. A "week" is an arbitrary unit of measure. It is not the least bit optimal in relation to planning a training program. Maybe not something you're willing to change today, but something to think about for the future.

Yeah, the piece of paper you wrote up 12 weeks ago said you're supposed to squat 500x3 today, but maybe you had a bad week of recovery and 475 is where you need to be for that day. Or maybe you've been cruising through training and 525x3 is the number, or even 500x5. You catch my drift...