sorry for answering so late but those questions are very imortant to me .

 > 1.  Our bodies can be born with flaws, obviously.  There are such
 > things as cleft palate, missing limbs, etc.  So I'm wondering...
 > Can some bodies be born with a flawed wisdom?  Can a body's
 > wisdom strive -- given all the proper food, lifestyle, thoughts,
 > etc. -- to maintain a condition that is not what we would
 > consider healthy or that is not pleasant for the owner of that
 > body?

You touch something very important here. What  is health in our mind  ? A
static state of being ?
does an individu exist ?
We are more the product of circonstances , we are born with whatever is
needed to fit expected circonstances : physical features ( like a nose to
breath  in air or gills to breathe in  water.)
 emotional  caracteristics (  feelings to makes us move to adjust to new
circonstances )
spiritual direction ( to stay in tune with the bigger picture beyond
immediat circonstances )
when the circonstances are changed abruptly we end up most likelly with"
flawed wisdom".
what can be perceived as a flaw might be infact a blessing to flex our
wisdom to new circonstances .
those of us who are "affected " by a " chronic debilating disease" will have
the possibility to have  the experience of seeing retropectively the
"decision "to become sick as a mean for getting some needs met .
 >
 > 2.  Is the wisdom of the body most concerned with what's best for
 > us as individuals or for the species as a whole?
 Or the planet
 > as a whole?  The universe?

fondamentally there is no separation between the individu the species the
planet or the universe .THe real wisdom is the wisdom of the individu
emanating from the wisdon of the species emanating from the wisdom of the
planet etc...the interest of one is the interest of the rest
human by the knowledge of good and evil  by its discriminating mind makes an
artificial separation between individus species planet etc...
the web is made of one thread.
you can't separate one part of a spider web without affecting the wholeness
health of a web .

the wisdom is concerned with the universe ,the planet , the species ,the
individu . because the individu is the species . if some drive need the
species to go on , it need the individu to thrive  it need the planet to be
able to sustain it . Every level is interdependant



In other words, would the wisdom of
 > the body, in some situations, (again, given proper food,
 > lifestyle, thoughts, etc.) still choose illness and death?  What
 > is the "self" in "self-healing"?

is it possible to be healthy in a sick world ?
the whole world suffer when even one individu suffer . the piece of a puzzle
suffer from not being in its place .
at the same time any rebalancing act from an individu that bring this
individu relief is healing the whole .
i am not talking about pain as a sign that something need to be changed but
of the suffering that comes from the separation ,of the dis  placement , of
the dis ease .

Bruno Comby in its book "maximise immunity " give  exemples of many peoples
affected by aids who did better eating instinctivelly but somehow choose for
obscure reasons to go back to their old ways even when it meant death for
them .
I can see that in me , continuing to choose sickness.

jean-claude