Another Choice

Discovering the body

With the new birth within, our relation with the body has doubly changed: on one hand we have realized that this body is not all we are, that is, that our consciousness does not depend on the existence of this particular body nor on that physical identity which is presently ours and, on the other hand, we have discovered respect and reverence for this body which is our temple, our haven and our means of expression.

Of this body one is no longer the ego – neither the owner or enjoyer, nor the slave or victim: one learns to know it and discern its vulnerabilities as its potentials.

It is our friend and our refuge and it is a constant wonder: even if this body here is incomplete or handicapped, its capacity for adaptation and its resilience teach us humility.

***

This body, our entryway to the material world, our observation post, our mobile home, our resting place and our insulator, our armor, our language and our emissary, our work of art too – if we take the trouble – and our faithful companion: this body, we go on discovering ceaselessly. This body, this organism given us for the journey and the crossing, formidably rich and complex and capable and sensitive, this body is constantly and without let or respite at the service of our advance and self-discovery. Thus our passage in Matter is a dual adventure: that of the infinite materiality of consciousness through the body as intermediary and, thanks to this body, that of the free, infinite sovereignty of the veritable person.

***

Aligning with the inner axis, one can physically grasp, that is to say that our physical consciousness can grasp, although it is to do with a fourth dimension, where the reality of the body is situated.

235