My father once told me a similar story, about what part of the body is in control.

I suppose, economically, I grew up on a bit of the downslope. My mother's grandfather was governor of Maryland some 120 years ago, founded the Baltimore business paper, The Daily Record. One ancestor, Louis McLane, was Jackson's Sec of Treasury, State and ambassador to England. Washington Irving was his secretary. His son founded Wells Fargo. He had the coaches. Wells and Fargo were the investors.

Though by the time my generation came along, the inherited money had run out and my father made his dealing dairy cattle, race horses and farmland.

As fifth of six kids, I tended to sit back and watch the politics, than fight losing fights.

The deeper issue goes to people being these linear, goal oriented creatures in this cyclical, circular, reciprocal, feedback generated reality, where we get caught up in these feedback loops, looking for the next hit of endorphins, whether it's the billionaire looking for the next company to buy, or the addict on the corner looking for the next hit.

Yin and yang would be a better paradigm, than God Almighty. The play between the individual and the group, nodes and networks, organisms and ecosystems, synchronization and harmonization.

It's like we have yet to really understand and internalize the implications of the earth being round, not flat. What goes round, comes round.

An essay, trying to peel some of the layers;

https://johnbrodixmerrymanjr.medium.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-western-mind-906dc73cffe2

Keep in mind that without the ups and downs, it would be a flatline. The price we pay to feel is that a lot of it is pain.

We evolved more as a function of dealing with the problems, than just enjoying the pleasures.

As I would tell my daughter, it's all educational.