Proverbial, Episode 54: Death And Wellness
“Wellness is not health, but special health. Wellness is a state of being completely free from aches, pains, irritations, stress, anxiety, inflammation, fear, distress, or disquiet. Wellness is not only a condition of bodily perfection, but spiritual perfection, as well, high energy, perfect mental acuity, peace, sexual fulfillment, empowerment, control, contentment. Wellness is a divine state. Wellness is a state of being which can realistically only be achieved beyond death, which is to say: The search for wellness in this life is the search for a deathlike state. Wellness is death.”
-from Proverbial, Episode 54: Wellness and Death
“Dying societies accumulate laws like dying men accumulate remedies,” claimed Nicolás Gómez Dávila. The wellness industry, a 52 billion dollar a year business which deals in everything from diet cults and inspirational literature to workout gear, is an accumulation of remedies which appeals to the modern fixation on death.
The latest episode of Proverbial examines Dávila’s aphorism and a sane Christian escape from the labyrinth of wellness.
Joshua Gibbs
Joshua Gibbs is the director of The Classical Teaching Institute at The Ambrose School. He is the author of Something They Will Not Forget and Love What Lasts. He is the creator of Proverbial and the host of In the Trenches, a podcast for teachers. In addition to lecturing and consulting, he also teaches classic literature through GibbsClassical.com.
