How Two Greek Gods Can Completely Change the Way You Look At Your Health

“The human body is a deeply flawed object. Without caloric restriction and an hour a day of physical exercise, it will quickly accumulate fat and lose muscle mass. It is highly susceptible to injury and illness, and will likely require operations and medication in order to fix these maladies as they occur. In order to help prevent this, you must seek out supplements and enriched foods, plus spend long hours in the gym.”

“The human body is as close to a perfect piece of machinery as you’ll ever find. Over generations upon generations, it has helped us to survive and reproduce successfully. It does a remarkable job at curing diseases and healing injuries all by itself. It is an elaborate homeostatic system that resists changes to body composition, which is largely determined by hormonal factors. The best kind of food you can eat is the type you have evolved to eat, and the best kind of exercise you can do is that which you have evolved to do.”

A Physician and a Hippie? Or a Couple of Greek Gods?

The first paragraph is the sort of thing that Asclepius would say, the second, something that Hygeia would.

What? Who are these two people and what’s with the goofy names?

Actually, they aren’t people at all, but two ancient Greek gods of physical health. While Asclepius specialized in working against nature when injury, illness, and even death seemed inevitable, Hygeia worked with the laws of nature to ensure optimal health in the first place.

But you wouldn’t be mistaken to think that the first paragraph came from a physician or anyone else with strong faith in the mainstream paradigm of health, fitness, and wellness, while the second came from a hippie or someone who advocates natural or preventive medicine.

Myths and Archetypes

I’m putting my geekiness out in the open here, but I am a HUGE fan of the Greek myths. (The Iliad is still one of my favorite books.) But instead of believing that things such as Asclepian vs Hygeian medicine are good for entertainment only, I think they can be used to understand some important issues regarding physical health.

One of my favorite authors is Joseph Campbell, who spent his life studying the myths of all world cultures. He came to one startling conclusion: all these myths seemed to be different versions of the ones found in different cultures, even when they developed during times when these groups had no way to communicate with one another! This suggested that Jung’s idea of the collective unconscious was indeed real, and that myths are spontaneous manifestations of our unconscious drives.

Here’s a video on how the creators of The Matrix were able to take Campbell’s teachings to connect with millions of people and become filthy, stinking rich in the process:

The Physician-Centered Culture

Okay, that’s some heavy ivory-tower stuff, but how do we learn from these archetypes and apply them to our lives?

Our society is heavily biased towards the Asclepius mentality while only the “weirdos” seem to embrace the Hygeian. We seem to place doctors in an exalted position and assume that the way to true health lies in following every suggestion they make.

I want to be clear in one thing: I have nothing but the utmost respect for the medical profession. Without physicians, our lifespans would still probably average around 30 – 40 years. Doctors have drastically eliminated most of the preagricultural causes of death, such as infant mortality, poisoning, and physical trauma.

That being said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and when it comes to the Neolithic diseases of civilization, physicians are much more adept at curing them once they already happen rather than preventing them in the first place.

Enter the “Hippies”

Look, I understand there’s a lot of weird stuff out there when it comes to alternative medicine. (Crystals? Really?) But it’s important to realize that we are the successful survivors of eons of brute force at the unyielding hands of evolution. As such, it is far more accurate to think of the human body as an *ahem* Lean, Mean, Virile Machine rather than a Fat, Sick, Broken Piece of Damaged Goods.

Beyond the weird “woo woo” stuff you’ll find some smart people who are interested in using the body’s natural defenses to stave off illness and injury, which it is quite adept at doing. Most cultures are much healthier than Americans, even when they have no access to medical professionals. They seem to intuitively live in a way that is more harmonious with nature’s laws than we do.

Applying the Lessons of Asclepius and Hygeia

And so, fellow Spartans (to keep the Greek theme going), I believe that it is best to follow a Hygeian outlook towards health, fitness, and wellness, while remaining receptive to the Asclepian philosophy in times of emergency.

In other words: take 100% responsibility for your health. Make it your goal to continually become more attractive, boost your status, have more energy, and live longer. Try to prevent illness and injury in every way, but should things get rough, know that the medical profession can work miracles that would have been unfathomable even 100 years ago.

Tagged as: archetypes, asclepius and hygeia, mythology