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Musings

The Wisdom of the Body

Volume · Walter B. Cannon · 6 passages

  1. Above all there might be apprehension that social stabilization would too greatly interfere with the free action of individuals. As repeatedly emphasized, however, steady states in a society as a whole and steady states in its members are closely linked.

    The Wisdom of the Body
  2. Just as social stabilization would foster the stability, both physical and mental, of the members of the social organism, so likewise it would foster their higher freedom, giving them serenity and leisure, which are the primary conditions for wholesome recreation ,for the discovery of a satisfactory and invigorating social milieu, and for the discipline and enjoyment of individual aptitudes.

    The Wisdom of the Body
  3. They recognize that the social organism, like the bodily organism, cannot be vigorous and efficient unless its elements are assured the essential minimal conditions for healthful life and activity.

    The Wisdom of the Body
  4. The organism suggests that stability is of prime importance. It is more important than economy.

    The Wisdom of the Body
  5. The single-cell organism, living in a flowing stream, is dependent immediately on its surroundings; it has no means of controlling the environment and must submit wholly to what the environment imposes on it. Only when cells grow in masses do they acquire the possibility of developing an internal organization, capable of separating them from the disturbances due to shifts of external circumstances.

    The Wisdom of the Body
  6. When cells grow in masses they still remain living units. Like the isolated single cell each cell in a complex organism has its own life processes.

    The Wisdom of the Body
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