I've recently been reflecting on what I am starting to perceive as an increasing schism in our society, and the above Latin tag ("a healthy mind in a healthy body") from the Roman poet Juvenal illuminates it well I feel.

Near where I work there is a gym (several in fact). Daily I see earnest men and women purposefuly enter it to do their rounds of the Nautilus machines, and then later emerge looking somewhat flushed after their exertions. The government and media daily exhort us to eat healthily, stop smoking, drink in moderation, and take exercise. I regularly see joggers, cyclists, rowers, roller-bladers, power-walkers, and so on. So, no-one could deny that the pursuit of a healthy body seems to be fully part of our current way of life for many people.

Yet, should Juvenal ask us where is our corresponding healthy mind, answer comes there none. Contemporary western society seems to have the view that the mind requires no maintenance, no exercise, no training, and can digest any rubbish whatsoever without ill effect. Yet surely, in the immortal phrase from the early days of computers, garbage in equals garbage out. Even if you eat organic food for the body, are you still ingesting junk food for the mind?

I am also coming to the view that there is a positive bias against true awareness. From the point of view of the authorities and the world of commerce, a populace focussed on consumerism and materialism suits them very well. And of course there always seems to be an external enemy to keep us in fear and needing protection: after the Cold War, then the "war on drugs", now the "war on terror". In every case "the other" is necessary to maximise power and control.

In reality, a thoughtful people is exactly what the authorities don't want: for example, a recent govenment proposal about "glorifying terrorism" envisaged a list of such incidents, e.g. to commemorate IRA terrorism in 1916 would be permitted, but to do the same for IRA terrorism in 1976 would be forbidden - literally a thought crime, straight out of George Orwell's 1984. And of course, we all know who would draw up this list. In the UK now, dissent, i.e. independent thinking, is being criminalised.

Anyway, to get back to my main point. I believe that much more suffering is caused by people being locked in "The Matrix" of ego-driven and competitive behaviours based on consumerism than is ever caused by being overweight, for example. We read statistics about people being less happy now than they were 50 years ago when rationing was in place. Our children are forced through a school system cramming them with facts and grading them like battery chickens, and so lose the joy and pure delight of childhood. Young adults face a lifetime in debt as slaves to a monstrous money machine, and get depressed.

Yet, the paradox is, achieving a healthy mind is in fact one of the simplest things. The option of waking up is available to us all at any time. Once we've done it, things can never be the same. But at present to make that step requires us either to stumble upon it, or be driven to it by extreme suffering. We need a more supportive context to help people to achieve a healthy mind, and the work done here is a positive step in the right direction. Much more needs to be done though.

So, how far have we really advanced in the 1900-odd years since Juvenal? And how healthy is your mind?