Mar 27 2008
The problem of the body
Today I want to talk a little bit about the nature of your physical body and through this, I want to encourage you to stop identifying with your body as if it was your identity and start seeing it for what it really is. You see, as many spiritually inclined writers have pointed out over the millennia, your physical body is not your identity. Your physical body is not who you are. You are not a collection of cells and neurons and fluids haphazardly put together in a freakish accident of nature.
You are much more than this.
You are immortal consciousness and your body is merely a physical vehicle for your immortal consciousness. Your body is like the car that you get into in the morning to go to work. It is a fine machine, to be sure, and it is finely crafted and highly capable, but it is a machine nonetheless. Just like the car you get into to drive to work, that body of your’s (which you also “get into” in the mornings when you wake up) normally cannot do anything or go anywhere without the presence of your higher consciousness. (Sharp, 2007).
It’s true
You’re body is a mere vehicle for higher consciousness and although it is finely tuned and highly capable, it is nothing more than a vehicle. You don’t end when it ends and you can replace it when and where you want.
Now the problem I want to talk about today is the fact that most of us tend to identify with our bodies. That is, we see ourselves as our vehicle. We think that we are our physical body. We associate our thinking with our brain and believe our mind provides our identity. We believe, in short, that we are the flesh.
I know this is bringing no earth shattering revelation to you. However, it is quite hard to describe this in a dramatic enough way because even when we read the words “I identify with my body”, we often don’t understand their full impact. We don’t see past the words. We don’t place our self in the perspective of Spirit. We simply read the words and, because we are already identified with the body, unconsciously and uncritically connect with the statement. Yes, I am my body. I am a nationality, a gender, a color, an age, in a category of existence and that’s who I am. Period.
It’s much like if you were a fish trying to imagine what it would be like on dry land. For the fish, there’s no reference point and no recent experience and so the phrase, “you should try dry land”, or any other descriptive phrase designed to bring the fish in touch with the other reality, is totally meaningless. It has no experiential impact.
So, what’s the big deal? What’s the problem with identifying heart and soul with your body? Well, the problem is simply this. As long as you identity with your body, you identity with a profound set of limitations that have been imposed on you by the social and cultural conditioning that you go through. It is not that difficult to get your head around this. Basically, all this means is that we assume the characteristics of our physical vehicle. If our body is black, we assume the characteristics of blackness as defined by our culture. If our body is female, we assume the characteristics of femaleness as defined by our culture. If our body is old, we assume the characteristics of oldness as defined by our culture. This is an extremely limiting exercise. When we identity with our body and the definitions of it, we put ourselves in narrowly defined boxes that severely limit possibility.
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There’s nothing to fear and the only thing you have to lose are your limitations and chains.
Till next time,
Dr. Michael Sharp
Absolutely Amazing! In my heart I know that I am so much more than my body, however, I find myself falling back within my bodies limitations. How can one free themselves? Does freeing oneself make one disconnected to physical reality? How can one live in this physical world and at the same time soar and accomplish the impossible?
What I am questioning is I want that freedom, and I want limitless possibilities, but I don’t want to separate myself from my children who are intricately involved in the physical world right now.
Have no fear. Separation from the physical body, physical experiences, and the ones you love is NOT the point! The point is just to remove identification with the physical body as anything more than a vehicle for your soul/consciousness. Once you’ve done that, the idea is to become more present in the physical world, honoring it and taking care of it as the temple it is. You come into the body for a reason, because you want to experience creation in a body. You should rejoice and embrace that, not as a limited body of flesh and bones but as Immortal Spirit incarnated in a physical vehicle joyfully participating in the creation of this world.
This is my Joyful (formerly The Fool) tarot card.