Meditation, Mind, and Matter

     All of this talk about torture has reminded me of the common phrase, "mind over matter," and I simply wonder if it is even possible to do such a thing. People usually say this quote when someone is attempting to endure great amounts of pain. It is a way to stress that it is only physical pain, and one can overcome it if they have enough concentration. Evidently, some people claim to be able to do this, and say that they can get past torture or extreme pain by getting into some sort of trance-like state. In my anthropology class this week, one girl gave a presentation about the Native American sundance. In the sundance, men from the community get pierced through the chest by bits of bone, and this bone is tied to wire. The wire is then slung over some sort of structure, and on the other side men pull so much that it lifts the man in the air, hanging by his chest. They would leave the man in the air until the force became so great that his muscle would rip out of his chest and he would fall to the ground. The men who did this thought they were taking pain away from their tribe by doing it, and therefore did it willingly. These Native American men and Westerners who now practice body suspension claim that they go into a trace during the whole ceremony and do not even feel pain. This is pretty unbelievable that someone would not feel the immediate pain of their chest muscle being yanked out. But, perhaps it is not so unbelievable for those who support the whole "mind over matter" notion.
     We are after all, souls that inhabit a physical body. By being able to block out the physical world and explore our minds, we can escape the world around us. Consequently, we do this at night while we are sleeping, for we live out our dreams in our heads. The sundance also reminded me of the yoga class I took last semester. At the end of every class, we would meditate for ten to fifteen minutes. During this time, if I was not too engulfed in my stressful thoughts, I was able to truly meditate. It really is an odd feeling to describe, for I would lay there with no thoughts in my head, and simply exist. Once I broke out of the meditation it was odd, for I could feel myself coming back into my body, which at first felt like a foreign object. This relates to the fact that while trying to create a conscious robot, scientists have been able to figure out everything except for how to give it a soul. It is one huge mystery that no one has been able to solve. So, while many reject notions of the supernatural and gods, perhaps they can exist if we are somehow this living, nonreplicable force inside of a physical shell. Have you ever been able to meditate? If so, how do you think it works? How are we able to disconnect our mental body from our physical body?