The Body is Our Anchor to the World

I just thought of this wonderful aphorism by Franz Kafka:

"Es wäre denkbar, daß Alexander der Große trotz der kriegerischen Erfolge seiner Jugend, trotz des ausgezeichneten Heeres, das er ausgebildet hatte, trotz der auf Veränderung der Welt gerichteten Kräfte, die er in sich fühlte, am Hellespont stehen geblieben und ihn nie überschritten hätte, und zwar nicht aus Furcht, nicht aus Unentschlossenheit, nicht aus Willensschwäche, sondern aus Erdenschwere."

Translation:

"It is conceivable that Alexander the Great, despite the military successes of his youth, despite the outstanding army he had trained, and despite the forces he felt within himself that were bent on changing the world, might have stopped at the Hellespont and never crossed it—not out of fear, not out of indecision, not out of weakness of will, but out of a sense of being weighed down by earthly concerns."

The German word "Erdenschwere" is usually used poetically, in a sense of "man's bondage to the earth", or even "gravity". It can be "the material world" in the sense of "a glass of wine relieves you of earthly concerns". For a moment releases your mind into euphoria.

Despite your "will" or inner resolve or motivation, your body is still your anchor to the world. Although obvious, if I were born into a woman's body, or the body of an invalid, my experiences and ideas would be very different.

The Will to Power is supplemented by embodiment and physics. Despite the desire to do great things and resolve, your body could prevent you from disturbing natural order.

Your fate and trajectory to do great things in the narrative of your life, are tempered by the act of dwelling within the material world.

We are forced to act through our bodies, and make our way within constraints.