Matter

But there’s a darker, more menacing side to the preoccupation with fitness, and this is the widespread suspicion that if you can’t control your own body, you’re not fit, in any sense, to control anyone else, and in their work lives that is a large part of what typical gym-goers do.

But over the years, my path began to turn in some surprising ways. As I looked deeper into the human experience, I came to realize that health is far bigger than I had supposed. Far more than a matter of diet and exercise, it’s about continuity with larger life processes of tribe, nature, and culture.

The modern struggle: Lone individuals summoning inhuman willpower, fasting, meditating, and exercising… Up against armies of scientists and statisticians weaponizing abundant food, screens, and medicine into junk food, clickbait news, infinite porn, endless games, and addictive drugs.

In effect, humans have dragged a body with a long hominid history into an overfed, malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived, competitive, inequitable, and socially-isolating environment with dire consequences. Sebastian Junger Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging