If Descartes Were a Masochist

True story. I staggered into a bar one Sunday at lunch to meet a friend. I was staggering not because I was already drunk, but because I was sore from a 22-mile run I'd done the day before through mountainous terrain.

"You look great," he observed as I stiffly winced my way up onto the bar stool. "Want to go to the museum later?"

"Can't. I'm going for another long run this afternoon."

"Why?" he asked, not unreasonably.

I responded much less jokingly than this statement should be delivered: "To punish my legs for hurting me."

He thought about this and drank some more beer.

Finally he offered, "You should study the mind-body problem."

"Why?

"Because you have it."