Wednesday, December 03, 2003

"It was the most natural thing in the world, the body. It was there, carrying out its functions, even if you didn't give it a single thought. It was a harmonious conjunction of mobile and rigid elements, of fluid and solid, mucus and enamel; it seemed to be a cleverly, even skilfully designed composite of parts which, viewed separately, might appear ridiculous or in certain instances even repulsive. But the sum total, the body as a structured, complex contraption, deserved both respect and admiration; in fact you could even imagine that it was permanently in need of such respect and admiration. It had no counterpart, it was completely unique in the whole world. As a species, it had relatives, of course, but as an individual, as a particular body, it was totally alone, left to its fate and exposed to outside forces. So it made its most profound and crucial bonds and connections inwards into itself, combinations and lines of communication that the body's lord and master would as a general rule only perceive in the form of confused behavior patterns or, at worst, disturbing manifestations of illness."

--Torgny Lindgren, Sweetness

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