Guts and Glory :: A Woeful Story of Three Pilgrims Journeying the Warrior's Way

WTF, the mind and the guts are the same?
YUP. There is the largest amount of nervous system tissue in the the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). The second largest amount of nervous system tissue is located in the GI Tract, which; coincidentally, has the second largest amount of the excitatory neurotransmitter, Seratonin).

Can It be Bad that the Mind and the Guts are so Connected?
Absolutely. There is always a possibility that everything good in the world can turn into an affliction. In the process of disentangling the mind <~> gut connection, it has become clear to me that reflected in certain specific manifestations of digestive system malady (and only in the ones that are inextricably connected to the mind) there are some similarities in the health and dis/ease stories that are told.

What Diseases Exist at the Intersection of the Guts and the Mind?
What comes to mind first when I arrive at the intersection of the guts and the mind are Irritable Bowel Diseases (IBD's). This class of disease traces its origin to the nervous system.

What Kind of Things Happen in GUT-MIND :: the story begins...
Now that we've given this intersection a place, let's imagine that the travelers along this route are three, and they are sharing the story of their connection, to each other and to their place. Through observations gleaned from talking, from watching, from seeing, from observing we come to understand the many parallels in their social stories. These parallels are so obvious that even a stupid mind can't ignore it.

 They tell about the influence of trust, love and empathy in the following social situations:

• Friendship Creation (and betrayals)
• Self-identity Formation (altered by peer group acceptance) 
• Betrayal

They speak of faith and its role in the creation of themselves, their lands, their choices, their vocations....

When wronged, these 3 individuals get frustrated rather than angry, complacent rather than activating their fighting spirit. And then the fight happens in their fucking GI Tract. Rather than self-protect with the mind, there is a manifestation of auto-immunity in the gut. Rather than express rage in the mind, inflammation appears in the gut.

Alternatively on a different tangent, those 3 individuals would be incredible warriors, yet they don't have a fight to fight. The world we live in simply doesn't provide the necessity -OR- the opportunity, and they haven't yet been initiated into the knowing of the warrior's way.

Can It be Good that the Mind and the Guts are so Connected?
Yup. Well, ultimately, that mind controls eRRYthing. eRRYday. I maintain a hopeful caveat for active development of intelligent training, through an understanding of self-created identity and social stigma and a self-inflicted pattern reformations. Now I just need to find experts in these areas to help me explain it.

Don't let your guts fight the battles that your mind should fight.