Integration characterizes the state of health and well-working, while
dys-appearance, the thematized appearance of an impaired part or
system of the body, is equivalent to dis-integration in the function of the
body as whole. Hegel’s definition of the disease-state turns on such an
idea of integration:
... the system or organ establishes itself in isolation, and by persisting in
its particular activity in opposition to the activity of the whole, ob-
structs the activity, as well as the process by which it pervades all the
moments of the whole.^62
In considering integration as a determinant of health, it seems at first a
simple matter that integration is a mark of health, and disintegration a
mark of illness. But Leder’s analysis reveals that both illness and health
involve a certain kind of disintegration that takes the form of alienation
from one’s own body:
Both exhibit an element of alienation from the body. In the case of
health, the body is alien by virtue of its disappearance, as attention is
primarily directed toward the world. With the onset of illness this gives
way to dys-appearance. The body is no longer alien-as-forgotten, but
precisely as-remembered, a sharp and searing presence threatening the
self. One is a mode of silence, the other a manner of speech, yet they are
complementary and correlative phenomena.^63Leder’s insight is useful to understanding yet another of the ambiguities
inherent in the experience of human health and illness: health can permit
a degree of integration with our projects (whether in the world or in the
spiritual domain) that diminishes the integration of body with conscious-
ness. For instance, classical Yoga cultivates health as a condition for med-
itative practice aimed at dis-integrationof bonds keeping the conscious-
ness connected with body and senses.
Awareness and Mental Clarity
Awareness in the context of health has a number of applications. A
healthy organism has capacities for sensory awareness, while illness or
injury can interfere with the organism’s ability to register information in
its environment. An extreme example is loss of consciousness due to in-
jury or illness, and gradual loss of awareness is one of the signs of im-
pending death. The BÓrhad ̄araÓnyaka UpaniÓsaddescribes the soul at death
as becoming “non-knowing of forms.” “He is becoming one,” they say,
“he does not see... (smell, etc.)” [BÓrhad. Up. 4:4.1–2]. The Chandogya ̄
66 religious therapeutics