You: You're talking about health and you admit that you don't know what it is.

Me: No, that's not right. I said I cannot describe what it is. I, for myself, experience health, but I don't know how I can let you know how it feels.

You: Why should I know how you feel when you experience health? And, by the way, I for myself have no idea whether I feel health at all.

Me: What? You can't say when you feel healthy?

You: Of course, I can, but I'm not quite sure whether what I feel is what you mean.

Me: Well, it's not that important that you feel what I mean but that you feel health at all.

You: Why should it be important?

Me: If you don't feel health, well, what do you feel if you don't feel sick?

You: Wait a minute, now you've changed the subject. Now, you ask me what I feel when I don't feel sick. I mean, I can tell you that I may feel bored, for example. But that is certainly not what you had in mind, is it?

Me: Hm. I guess we're already arrived at the core of the problem.

You: What do you mean?

Me: Well, I think there is a difference between saying I feel healthy and I don't feel sick.

You: Of course, there is. Because if you say I feel healthy you qualify your current feelings in a positive way, while if you say I don't feel sick you simply exclude one dimension of your feelings and leave it open how you exactly feel at the moment.

Me: That's right.

You: Wait, I mean, I don't leave it open, I just say, I don't feel sick. Maybe I say so because I feel a whole lot of different feelings when I don't feel sick. Maybe it's not just health whatever that term refers to. Maybe I feel a bit tired and equally a bit relaxed because I just let go for a while. Feeling tired or feeling relaxed is not feeling healthy, is it?

Me: Well, I don't know. I mean, if you feel well while feeling tired, maybe it's also feeling healthy.

You: Oh, come on. That doesn't make much sense. Either I'm tired or I'm healthy.

Me: No. I think we're talking about two different qualities. If you're tired ...

You: I'm healthily tired.

Me: It depends upon why you're tired. Maybe your tired because of exhaustion, and then you might say it's a sort of tiredness related to stress which may be considered not to be healthy at all.

You: You're changing the subject again. Let's not talk about stress because then we talk about everything, you know. I mean, stress is everywhere and if you wish to do so you can relate each and everything to some sort of stress. No. Let's get back where we started from. I said I feel tired and relaxed and just let got for a while. And you say that I may feel healthy. The question is: why don't I say that I feel healthy?

Me: Because you feel tired. You know exactly what you feel and thus you name it that way.

You: Great. Now, whenever I know what I feel I name it accordingly.

Me: I guess that's what you're doing. If you feel happy you will say I feel happy.

You: What do I say if I don't know how I feel?

Me: You don't say anything because if you don't know how you feel you don't feel anything.

You: You mean, what I can't put a label on doesn't exist?

Me: Well, in a way, yes that's what I'm saying.

You: But that's stupid. Because there are many times when I don't know how I feel. I feel wishy-washy, so to say. There is no special feeling.

Me: What do you mean by "special" feeling?

You: Hm. I mean, I just feel that I'm here, I'm alive but there is nothing like feeling low or feeling high. It's just normal, you know?

Me: I don't understand. You mean, it's normal to feel nothing?

You: No. I was not saying that I don't feeling anything. I was saying that I don't feel special. The system's working, I have no problems, but I also have no special feelings about it.

Me: Is it possible to feel that way?

You: Oh come on, you won't tell me that you are always aware how you feel? That you can tell at every moment in time what kind of feelings you have?

Me: Well, I wouldn't say that I'm always aware how I feel but if you ask me how I feel I could tell you how I feel.

You: So, how do you feel at the moment?

Me: Well, hm, I feel excited about the subject we're talking.

You: Do you feel healthy?

Me: Hm, I guess that it is a part of being healthy if you're interested in subjects to discuss with other people.

You: You didn't answer my question. You were interpreting your first answer, gave it explanatory substance but didn't say whether you feel healthy at the moment.

Me: Well, if you insist, I must admit I don't feel that feeling of health at the moment.

You: Is there anything like a feeling of health at all?

Me: Some say so.

You: Who?

Me: It's discussed in technical papers and books.

You: Ah, it's discussed in books. Hm, by experts, uh?

Me: Not only experts.

You: But why do they wish to discuss something that you can hardly feel or, maybe, not feel at all?

Me: Because they believe that there is something like health.

You: No doubt about it because otherwise we would all be ill. So, there must be something that you may call health.

Me: Of course, there must be something which is different from illness.

You: Yes.

Me: But what is it?

You: All the rest which is not illness.

Me: You mean, health is the absence of illness?

You: Yes. If you don't feel ill you're healthy.

Me: But that doesn't make sense because there must be a huge variety of feelings which is certainly not just healthy feelings. I mean, if it doesn't rain, it doesn't mean that the sun is shining.

You: And if it isn't cold, it doesn't mean that it's warm, right?

Me: Yes.

You: And if it isn't blue, it doesn't mean it's red.

Me: True.

You: And if it isn't happy, it doesn't mean it's sad?

Me: Correct.

You: But why do you want to know what it is? I mean, if the people don't feel ill, it's fine, isn't it? It's not your business to take care of their well-being if well-being can be so many different things. I mean, you don't tell people which color their car should have; they can decide by themselves and be happy with their decision.

Me: True. It's not my business to determine the color of their car. But maybe, I want to take care that they can buy a car, you understand?

You: You mean, you want to take care that they have a chance to feel healthy?

Me: Yes.

You: But what does that mean? I mean, you can say you want to take care that they don't feel ill. Isn't that enough? Isn't there enough to do to just reach that goal?

Me: Well, maybe. But not feeling ill doesn't mean they will have a chance to feel healthy.

You: I don't understand you. What are you talking about now?

Me: I'm going back to where we started from.

You: I'm afraid that's what you're done.

Me: You don't want to follow?

You: I'm not sure. Why should I go back again when we've already found that it seems to be pretty difficult to talk about health in general and how it feels in particular.

Me: You see, I'm not satisfied just saying: it's difficult. Let's try a different path of argument. Perhaps we have a chance to get somewhat nearer to what I want to know.

You: But what is it that you want to know?

Me: What is health, of course.

You: The absence of illness, of course.

Me: Of course? I'm not sure. You can't define a term by it's opposite.

You: You can, at least partially. Love is not hate.

Me: That's not a definition, but a relation.

You: I see. You want to become real academic, philosophical, uh?

Me: What's wrong with that?

You: We may end up with something we can't feel at all anymore because it turns out to be a cognitive concept, a model, or something like a formular which may be nice to have to sort all kinds of things but doesn't say very much about the things themselves.

Me: Hm. You are afraid we lose contact to our feelings?

You: I'm sure we already have.

Me: Why?

You: Because you can't say what it feels to feel healthy - and now you turn your frustration into an terminological enterprise without defining your interests clearly.

Me: Do I have to define my interests because I want to know how it feels to feel healthy?

You: No, not in principle. But you and me say, we don't know how it feels to feel healthy, right?

Me: Correct.

You: But we know when we feel ill?

Me: We probably know, yes.

You: Then why should we wish to know the other way around when not feeling ill may consist of thousands and thousands of different feelings all of them may contribute to your health in one way or another?

Me: You mean, health is an abstract category without links to real feelings?

You: I don't understand what you mean by "abstract". Health is concrete, isn't it?

Me: Now, you say it's concrete which means you have an idea what it is.

You: Yes, it may be everything which is not associated with illness.

Me: I don't know whether that leads us to anything new.

You: Perhaps there is nothing new at all involved.

Me: Of course, there is.

You: Why?

Me: Hm, because, well ... I don't know. Let's not talk about this item. Let's get back to what I was mentioning: the "abstract" category.

You: O.K. Can you elaborate on that a bit more?

Me: You said that feeling healthy is not feeling ill, right?

You: Correct.

Me: Now, we end up with the formidable task to define what we feel when we don't feel ill.

You: No. Because that is nonsense. You cannot positively define all kinds of feelings which are not feelings of illness.

Me: Why?

You: Because life is going on, new feelings evolve all the time, everybody feels differently and there is no way to cover all the possibilities because the possibilities are an open quantity and quality.

Me: That would also be true with regard to illness, wouldn't it?

You: I don't think so. The number of illnesses is probably limited. At least, the feeling of illness is certainly just one feeling.

Me: I'm not sure. You probably feel differently ill with regard to different illnesses, won't you?

You: You mean, it's different to suffer from headaches than from lung cancer?

Me: That's what I mean.

You: Well, what you're referring to is not a different feeling but a different disease. I mean, irrespective of the disease, you feel ill, don't you?

Me: Yes, that's true. I would feel ill in both instances.

You: You see, and this is not true with regard to the feelings of not feeling ill. There are completely different feelings related to different, however sometimes even the same events, situations, or processes.

Me: You mean, you feel differently happy, for example?

You: Of course you do, don't you?

Me: Well, you may be right.

You: Come on, you know it by yourself. I mean, you feel differently happy whether you newly fell in love or whether you solved your computer problem.

Me: Yes, I do, but I still feel happy.

You: If you use the term happy for both instances, you probably use it in different ways. Maybe you will have to use two different words to correctly describe your feelings.

Me: What do you mean by "correctly"?

You: I mean that the person to whom you describe your experience can distinguish between your different feelings according to the experience you had.

Me: You mean, we have a language problem, when talking about feelings?

You: I don't know whether it is a language problem. It certainly is a problem of describing one's experience. You cannot describe experiences as you experience them.

Me: You mean, whatever one describes is not the experience but the perception, and thus, the interpretation of experience?

You: I don't understand these terms. What I said is, when I experience something it happens. When I decribe what happens, I cannot experience it. Therefore, whatever I describe, it has happened already. I always talk about something that lies in the past.

Me: That's what I meant with the terms perception and interpretation.

You: O.K., if you want to use them, do so.

Me: Well, when you're describing something that has already happened, it means that it is not the pure experience but the filtered one.

You: Filtered?

Me: Yes, you talk about something that happened to you and then you think about what it was and start to describe it in a way that you think it felt like. You have to be conscious of your feeling in one way or another to be able to describe them.

You: But the description is not a description but rather an interpretation?

Me: That's correct.

You: You mean, I never describe how it feels to be ill but how I think how it felt?

Me: Correct.

You: How do I know how to think that it felt?

Me: That's a difficult question to answer. Let's say for the moment, you know it because of your social and cultural environment in which you are living.

You: Wait a minute. I lived in several ones. When I was young I lived in the countryside, then we moved up north, then west, we also lived in the southern parts. Now, I'm living alone, without my parents, siblings, my family. I have different friends of different social and cultural backgrounds. How do I know which way I am thinking? Do I think in terms of the north? Or of my family? Or of my current place of living?

Me: Probably, it's a mixture of all of them. You feel what you feel because you felt all of your life. So, perhaps, the way you feel now is the result of your previous experience.

You: You mean, I don't feel happy as such but feel happy in a special way because I felt happy before in different ways?

Me: You can say so.

You: But that means, I just can't decide how it is to feel healthy because feeling healthy depends upon your life history and your current social and cultural environments, the friends you have, the people you live with, the work you do, etc.

Me: That sounds reasonable.

You: If it is reasonable, then we may have looked at feeling healthy in a rather unreasonable way.

Me: Why?

You: Because you wanted to define what it feels to feel healthy. As if it would be the same for every body. Note, I said every body and not just everybody. But now we found out that feelings are different to different people in different settings.

Me: Correct. Feeling healthy cannot be defined in abstract terms and not with regard to certain parameters by which we could measure, whether it is health.

You: You're always using these technical terms. We don't need them when we talk about feeling healthy because we're talking about real feelings, not "abstract categories". What does it mean that you said?

Me: I mean, feeling healthy is a personal affair.

You: No. You can't say this because it depends upon where you live, what kind of work you have, etc. I mean it's not personal at all.

Me: Well, the feeling is personal, isn't it? You feel your feelings and I feel mine.

You: Well, that's trivial. Of course, I can hardly feel your feelings.

Me: But if we think about feeling healthy, we pretend that we'd knew how it would feel. We pretend we'd knew the quality of the feeling.

You: I don't pretend to know.

Me: O.K., not you, but I did so because, as I said, if I want to take care of you feeling healthy then I assume that I knew the quality of that feeling. That I would know what to do to support you in gaining that feeling. That I'd knew some tricks which would make people feel healthy.

You: Everybody knows some tricks. If I feel low, I go out and have a drink with the guys. It makes me feel good. I mean what else can you do?

Me: You could jog.

You: In this polluted air? You must be kidding.

Me: You could do some aerobic in the gym.

You: I don't like that stuff. If I'm with the boys that's nice.

Me: But you may damage your liver.

You: Come on, I may be killed when crossing the street. Life is risky all the time. That's what life is all about: it's a goddamn parcours of all kinds of hazards. If you're lucky you may avoid as many of them as possible - until you're finally hit by the final one.

Me: You could be cautious, couldn't you?

You: Yes, I could and I am. For example, I don't talk too often with people like you about this issue. But let's not continue here, I don't like that kind of issue; it always ends with you preaching to me what I'm doing wrong. And whenver you say something about what I should do, it's all boring stuff. You only live once, I believe. So, you've gotta have some fun.

Me: O.K., let's go back. You're with your boys and you feel healthy, right?

You: No, I didn't say I feel healthy, I said I'd feel good.

Me: But we said that feeling good is something which may contribute to your health because it is not feeling ill?

You: Correct.

Me: Now, do you think having a couple of beers makes you feel healthy?

You: I don't know. It makes me feel good, that's for sure. And as I don't feel ill, I might as well be healthy.

Me: You said "be healthy", not "feel healthy".

You: Come on, I don't know what that feeling healthy is all about. I don't feel healthy, I feel anything else but healthy.

Me: You mean, you have no idea what is feels to feel healthy?

You: Yes, no ... I mean, I don't know. I never think about whether I feel healthy. I mean, it's not the way I feel. I don't think of that stuff. It's sad enough if you feel ill, why should I think about feeling healthy?

Me: You mean, feeling healthy has something to do with feeling ill?

You: Of course, it's the same turf, isn't it? It's medicine, doctors, preachers, nurses, all that kind of people a healthy person avoids to see.

Me: Do you say, health has no meaning for everyday life as long as you're not ill?

You: I don't understand your question.

Me: Let me put it in another way: Do you say that health is so difficult to feel because one relates it to illness and all the suffering associated to it?

You: I don't know. Perhaps that's right. I mean, when I wish someone health, I usually do it when this person suffers from some illness. What I am saying is basically, get well again, thereby meaning, get rid of that illness. I can hardly wish the person health as I don't know what it means to her or him. I mean, what you say is: get well, feel well again in a way that you felt well before. I don't say feel this and that way, feel this and that quality. Health refers to an overall state of body and mind, doesn't it? It means, for example, get well again, we want to have you back with the boys as soon as possible.

Me: Now, aren't we in troublesome terrain?

You: I can't see any trouble. I'm fine.

Me: But you just said that health is probably a general term with no clear relation to a specific feeling.

You: That has been clear for quite some time, hasn't it?

Me: I don't know. I thought we would find out some parameters for feeling healthy.

You: Oh no, not me, you wanted to find out these meters, not me.

Me: Admitted, but can't you help me to find them?

You: Why should I?

Me: Well, maybe you would find some new ideas, new ways, new strategies to feel healthy.

You: Are you kidding? There are no strategies to feel healthy because there is no such feeling at all. And what does that mean "new ways". You want to make me happy? Give me a better job, a nicer house, more money to spend. Buy me a new car or give me money to make a long holiday trip to the South.

Me: All material things.

You: We're living in a material world.

Me: But there's more to life than just these goods.

You: Your preaching?

Me: No, I'm arguing.

You: Sounds like preaching.

Me: O.K., let me put it this way: besides the material aspects of life, there are spiritual, cultural, social, psychological aspects, aren't there?

You: Of course.

Me: Good, then why do you want all these material goods to get happier.

You: Because I'm not a monk, I'm not a priest either, and I'm certainly not a health freak like you seem to be.

Me: I'm not a health freak. I'm just discussing what it means to feel healthy.

You: That's not true. You are discussing how to find ways and means to mix up other peoples' lives. That's what you want. You want to get involved in other peoples' lives. And I don't want that.

Me: I said, I want to take care that all people can feel healthy.

You: Well, that means that you mixing up other peoples' lives.

Me: No. I don't see it that way. Let's leave this item as it is. Perhaps we come back to it some time later.

You: O.K.

Me: You admitted there are more than material aspects to life.

You: Everybody would.

Me: If so, maybe feeling healthy has something to do with them.

You: Of course it has, because we're dealing with life here. So, feeling healthy - if there is something like that at all - would encapsulate all these aspects. What I was saying was that you need a bit of a fundament to feel happy. And the needs for that fundament depend partially upon what you experience and what you see with your friends; perhaps they depend also upon what is presented to you by TV, department stores, advertisements, etc. In the end, they are weighed against your purse. And then you quickly find out, what you can afford. So, in the end, you know whether you're happy or not.

Me: In the end you will know whether you will feel healthy or not?

You: If you insist on the term - yes, that's what it's gonna be.

Me: You mean, there will come the time when you get the feeling that you're healthy?

You: I don't know whether that will happen at a specific point in time. I think it happens all the time because sometimes you're happy and sometimes you're not. Sometimes you feel healthy and sometimes you don't.

Me: You mean, then you feel ill or sick?

You: No, I mean sometimes you just feel nothing special at all. It's just going on and on and nothing special is happening. If you feel ill, you're ill, that's for sure. You just be what you feel.

Me: You be what you feel?

You: Yes, if you wouldn't feel anything you'd be dead. Right? So if you feel something, you're exactly that what you feel.

Me: And if you feel healthy, you're healthy?

You: As I said, you can't feel healthy.

Me: But there are people who are healthy, so they must feel it, otherwise they couldn't be it, assumed that your theory is right.

You: I don't have a theory, I don't even know what that is. I only said, you are what you feel - I did not say you feel what you are which makes a difference to me. If you feel down, you are down; but you don't feel necessarily healthy when a doctor tells you you are healthy. But if you feel healthy just because you feel it, then you are healthy.

Me: That doesn't make sense at all.

You: Maybe for you, for me it's perfectly clear.

Me: Then, please, explain it to me.

You: I don't know what else I can see. I simply said that if you're feeling healthy you are because nobody can tell you what this goddamn health is all about other that you feel like. But if a doctor tells you you're healthy, he doesn't refer to your feelings but some measures he had taken and which tell him that you should be healthy, whether you feel it or not.

Me: But there are people who feel healthy who are very ill.

You: I don't believe it.

Me: But that's what they found out in studies.

You: Studies?

Me: Also doctors can tell you about it. There are patients who come to them and say they feel healthy - and then the doctor finds out they are seriously ill.

You: Ah, now I understand what you mean. You're talking about something else again without telling me that you've changed the subject.

Me: I didn't change it.

You: Of course you did. Now you talking about the behavior of people visiting the doctor. That's something completely different than when they tell me whether they feel healthy. Of course, they tell the doctor they feel healthy because they don't want anything to do with him. Who wants that at all? I mean, nobody likes doctors. They're always telling you you're in some way or other ill. So people say that everytime.

Me: That's not true. People go to the doctor to seek help.

You: I'm not sure. But anyway, what I wanted to say is, if you look at any body long enough you will find something. And you know why? Because it's a living organism. Life is never perfect. It always contains some aspects which seem to be linked to illness.

Me: You mean, there is no healthy life because life is never healthy alone?

You: You got it. That's what I mean.

Me: And that's the reason why we don't feel healthy?

You: No, I said we can't feel healthy because health has nothing to do with our feelings. It's a concept, not a feeling. It's something to put on top of our feelings, nothing we can directly feel.

Me: You mean, health is a concept as peace is a concept?

You: I haven't thought about this. Maybe it's true. Sounds like. Hm. Yes, you never feel peace, it's rather a condition of your being.

Me: Health is a condition of your being?

You: Yes, like illness which is the opposite condition.

Me: They are opposites?

You: Well, they are on both sides of the line, they are just there, and you just walk the line all your life, back and fourth; sometimes you come pretty close to the ends of the line, mostly you probably stay away from them and only parade within a certain section.

Me: You mean, we're only rarely healthy and rarely ill?

You: I don't know how often it will happen. It depends on the person, you know. It depends on her or his way of life, the living conditions and all that kind of things that make life happy or sad.

Me: Hm.

You: I mean, you always muddle through in one way or another, don't you?

Me: Hm.

You: You never know at the moment what it is all feeling like. You'll find out some time later; some time very shortly afterwards, some time only months or years later.

Me: Hm.

You: Some time you may find out when it's already too late.

Me: How do you feel then?

You: Probably desparate. Probably you say to yourself: Oh shit, I've done something wrong.

Me: And wouldn't you like to prevent such a situation?

You: Of course you would, but there is no way to avoid it. You're gonna be desperate anyway when you're number's called.

Me: But maybe you don't want your number to be called so early.

You: Do you know of an appropriate time for being called up?

Me: No.

You: Well.

Me: But I know of how I could prevent from being called up prematurely.

You: Oho. What's that? Prematurely? You pretend to know when it's mature.

Me: No, what I mean is, you can do something for yourself to avoid premature illness and/or death.

You: You can't.

Me: You can.

You: No, you certainly cannot. What you're saying is that you know when your well runs dry. And I don't believe it. You're not alone in this world. There's so many factors out of your control influencing your health that you can't do anything.

Me: You can refrain from smoking, can't you?

You: Yes, I can.

Me: Well, that contributes to your health and prevents premature death.

You: Oh come on, you can't be that naive. Have you heard of the nonsmokers also dying prematurely?

Me: Of course, people will die prematurely because of other reasons.

You: Which are they?

Me: Wrong nutrition.

You: O.K., everybody eats according to plan. What else?

Me: Ah, lack of exercise.

You: Everybody's exercising. What else?

Me: Many more.

You: I tell you what: they're dying because they're living. That's the way it is. What you want to achieve is fighting death. You can't fight it because you're on the losing end. Save your energy for something else, for example, enjoy life als long as it is enjoyable.

Me: You mean, let's party as long as we can?

You: No, I said enjoy life, which is something different. Look at what opportunities people have to enjoy life. If you feel they need more - which I certainly feel - try hard to support them in getting these opportunities.

Me: But that has nothing to do with health.

You: It has everything to do with life. And I guess, that's what health is related to.

Me: I'm not interested in this aspect. I'm interested in feeling healthy and what you can do about it.

You: I tell you what. If you're not interested in life, in the living conditions and ways of life of the people, you can't be interested in health, because health is felt while being alive and not while being dead or while being a subject of research. The people live and they may live in a way which you don't like because you feel it's supposed to be an unhealthy way of life. But what you feel is completely irrelevant to the people because that is the way of life they can lead - due to several reasons which you will find out if you talk with them. I said with and not to.

Me: You're preaching. Role changing?

You: I'm not preaching anything. I just told you to talk with the people. Then you'll find out how they feel when they feel healthy.

Me: But you said, you can't feel healthy at all.

You: Well, go and meet them. You'll find out by yourself.

Me: You mean, the people will tell me what they feel if they feel healthy?

You: I'm not sure. But what they will tell you is how they feel. And whatever they feel it will certainly have an effect on their health or it reflects their current state of health.

Me: Now you're talking about health as if you'd know what it is.

You: No, I cannot define it but I know there are many things contributing to health, even if they are not felt in terms of health. Because, health, as I said seems to be a concept rather than a feeling or let alone a way of life.

Me: What do you mean by "concept"?

You: Quality.

Me: Quality?

You: Yes, I mean it's something which gives life a quality, you know. Something like, it's a good life. What is a good life? People have their own ideas about that. And so I guess, they will have their own idea about what health means as far as their life is concerned.

Me: Quality of life?

You: Well, perhaps health is an important quality of life. Yes, one can say so. Because if you're ill, your quality of life is certainly not good.

Me: And when you feel healthy, your quality of life is good?

You: Not necessarily, because there are more factors which make up for the quality of life.

Me: But health would be one?

You: Certainly.

Me: But what is health?

You: Not feeling ill plus many more feelings that you like.

Me: You mean, health is multi-dimensional?

You: You and your fancy words. What do you mean by "multi-dimensional"?

Me: I mean health means different things: (a) absence from illness; (b) energy, power, strength to lead a good life; (c) maybe something like fitness, a sort of overall capacity which helps to lead a life which makes oneself content.

You: Well, I have no problems with (a). However, what do you mean with energy or power or strength. These terms seems to mean different things. Energy, for example, is a reservoir, I guess, like a battery which bears the potential of electricity supply. Power is quite different, doesn't it? Power refers to social relations, to politics, to political and economic resources. At least, that's what I feel. Well, and strength, isn't that fitness? So, perhaps you don't need (c) at all.

Me: Of course, the terms are not clearly defined ...

You: You're always in that definition business. I don't understand it. Why don't you try to find clear terms which don't need to be defined?

Me: Thanks for the lecture, but it's not as simple as you see it.

You: You mean, you cannot see it as simple as I do.

Me: Well, there is certainly a difference between me and you.

You: Imagine, it wouldn't be. No reasons to talk with each other.

Me: I didn't mean that. I feel that simplicity doesn't necessarily mean correctness. Not everything that sounds simple is good or correct or even that simple. In a complicated world simple things may be wrong. But let's get back.

You: To definitions?

Me: To our subject. O.K., I try it again. Health has many meanings, right?

You: Correct.

Me: I suppose to say: health has many dimensions and meanings.

You: You say, different people not only mean different things when they talk about health but there are also different ways of health?

Me: That's what I wanted to say. If we look at the different ways or the different dimensions, I find three different categories under which these dimensions can be summarized: (1) Health is a reservoir of energy, or strength; I mean, it refers to the human potential. (2) Health is simply the absence of illness and refers to all kinds of states which are not understood to be states of disease. (3) Health is a social issue linked to the living conditions of the people. In short, I say, health is (i) energetically defined, (ii) medically defined, and (iii) socially and culturally defined.

You: Lots of fancy words again: "energetically", "medically", "socially". I mean, it's clear that health is different and complex alike. Anyway, if you need these words, then take them. However, I don't like "defined" because it can be misunderstood as if you define health for yourself once and for all. It's changing in the course of life, isn't it?

Me: Agreed. What's your proposal instead?

You: Why not "understood"? Because that's what the people do. They understand that health may be this and that at different points of time. They know it. They have this experience even though they may not be able to explain it in fancy words. I mean, everybody knows that life is a sort of see-saw. Sometimes up, sometimes down, and only briefly a sort of balance.

Me: O.K. Any other comments?

You: Well.

Me: Good. Then let's try to find out how health feels.

You: Oh no, you're insisting on something which is impossible to achieve. We were already clear that it is impossible to find out how health feels.

Me: That's what we've said before we had the dimensions. But now, that we have these three dimensions we must find experience which match them.

You: Why?

Me: Well, people don't live in categories.

You: Of course not. They live their lives, quite often despite your funny categories.

Me: Sure.

You: Then, let them live. It's not your business how they feel. If there's any business in here for you, then take care of their opportunities to develop their potential. I mean, what else can you do without imposing your ideas on their lives?

Me: Do you say that I can't help people to feel healthy?

You: That's what I'm saying. You can't help people to feel happy either. I mean, you can make a joke and they may laugh and feel happy for a short period of time. But I guess, you shouldn't make a joke regarding health, should you?

Me: What?

You: You didn't get that?

Me: No.

You: Well.