Who Am I Anyway?

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TODAY’S READING:
373.3-374.1

Have you ever considered what your body is? What are the delineating factors that make up your body? Are you flesh and bone? Are you the individual cells that make up the aspects of your being? Are you the subatomic particles that have converged to create your cells? How about the energetic forms that are all below the level of the subatomic? Where does your body begin and end? Does it begin and end?

All these questions boil down to one: What makes you, you?

I would suggest that we worry less about our identity as form, and look more deeply at our identity as Spirit, or Energy, or whatever you want to call it. This is a more meaningful approach, because if, as we teach, the body is the natural expression of the Spirit, then any change to the body must first be made in Spirit. When we are aligned with Spirit, then the natural flow of the body’s highest expression must follow.

Yet, so many of us are obsessed with our bodies (me included). We are taught to be obsessive about our bodies. It’s everywhere in our culture (at least the culture in which I am immersed). The particular culture where there is a lot of emphasis on body is the gay male culture (where I am definitely immersed). Marketing and advertising to men like me is a constant barrage of six-pack abs and well developed pecs. The message is constant, “if you don’t look like this you have no value.” So many, many men in the gay community work very hard to manipulate their bodies to match these images. For most of us it is impossible.

How do we then address the form of our bodies? We must approach from the inside out, as opposed to the alternative. I can easily say that I have extra weight that I would like to release (and I do), but an obsessive focus on the extra weight can really bring me down. So what should I focus on? How about honoring the body as the temple housing my individualized consciousness that it is, loving it and in that love ensuring that it is nourished properly. What flows in form from that is perfection.

Nourishment means eating whole foods (not processed) and staying active in the world (not sedentary). With this activity, I must be willing to look in the mirror everyday and love what I see (even if it doesn’t seem lovable). This is the beginning of change in form… because the form follows the consciousness.

Let this be a new practice… look deeply at yourself in the mirror each day and say out loud, “I love you!” I am going to go do that right now!