The mismatch between body and mind is well established in the literature on human nature. The present study aims to reconsider the problem from a philosophical and holistic perspective using the concept of “crisis” and focusing on body’s imperatives. The goal is to define a model that has practical applications for improving different human systems and promote wellbeing.

The body-mind crisis belongs to human nature as Homo criticus , subject of the crisis, and as Homo criticum , object of the crisis, in a hermeneutical, epistemological, and practical circularity. We elaborate a Crisis Model, an ideal model that unfolds and integrates together the circular relations in and between self (body and mind), life-system (environment and world), and purpose (survival and thrival). The main symptom, also a potential cause, of a disempowering crisis is the altered alignment in purpose between survival and thrival. We describe these altered configurations of the Crisis Model and elaborate a set of body’s imperatives, inspired by Kant and Jonas. These body’s imperatives are correlated with a true survival of the human species that must be cooperative .

The Crisis Model provides a practical framework for humans to design different systems, educational, public health, and others, that promote independently stable individuals within strong communities. Basing interventions on this Crisis Model can restore the balance of human nature, especially by focusing on the choice of our life purpose.