What is the Body?
Our special theme says, “The body is a fence the Son of God imagines he has built, to separate parts of his Self from other parts. It is within this fence he thinks he lives, to die as it decays and crumbles. For within this fence he thinks that he is safe from love. … The body will not stay. Yet this he sees as double safety. For the Son of God’s impermanence is ‘proof’ his fences work, and do the task his mind assigns to them.”
Death is not a thought that most humans cherish. Most people believe they would prefer not to die. Yet, our special theme says the opposite. It says that we see death as “double safety.” Is that true?
Let’s test it. Which of these ideas do you find most comforting?
- Your body will die, but your personality-mind will continue in a spiritual afterlife where you will rejoin with your loved ones who have passed over.
- Your body-personality will die, but you will be reincarnated as another body-personality.
- Your body-personality-mind will die, but life continues beyond your body-personality-mind in all living humans, animals, insects, sea life, plants, etcetera.
Most people will pick #1 or #2 as most comforting. To most people, #3 seems like ‘I no longer exist’ even though life continues as other things.
Look carefully at what our special theme says. It says:
“The body is a fence the Son of God imagines he has built, to separate parts of his Self from other parts. … The body will not stay. Yet this he sees as double safety. For the Son of God’s impermanence is ‘proof’ his fences work, and do the task his mind assigns to them.”
If we believe that we can cease to exist while other things live, we believe we are separate from those other things. The ‘fence’ seems to work.
Contemplate this today. Do you believe that your body-personality-mind must survive death in some way in order for you to survive? Or, can the body-personality-mind die while you continue as the life that permeates all living things?
If this contemplation scares you, remember that ego is terrified of no sense of individuality. Let the fear be as it is. Don’t try to change it. Simply remember that this fear comes from ego, and continue the contemplation.
Let me perceive no differences today.
Today’s lesson asks, “Why should I perceive a thousand forms in what remains as one? Why should I give this one a thousand names, when only one suffices?”
One name that could suffice for the whole is life-awareness.
A human is life-awareness. A cat is life-awareness. A lizard is life-awareness. A beetle is life-awareness. A fish is life-awareness. A tree is life-awareness. You are life-awareness.
It is one life-awareness. Life-awareness is one.
Contemplate this today.
Here is a summary of today’s contemplations:
- Do you believe that your body-personality-mind must survive death in some way in order for you to survive? Or, can the body-personality-mind die while you continue as the life that permeates all living things?
- Contemplate life-awareness as what you are, one life-awareness, life-awareness as one.
If you have 30 minutes for a meditation today, I recommend this meditation again:
If you have time and would enjoy a second meditation today, I recommend this meditation as your second meditation. It is 40 minutes long:
