Where you invest your love, there you invest your life..."
I could probably write an entire novel on embodiment, and in fact thousands of scholars already have. But as we were driving back home after a wonderful weekend with Tim's parents, the song "Awake My Soul" by Mumford and Sons came on, and I found myself reflecting on these two lines throughout the rest of the ride. This is the only body I will ever have. Yes, I know that our bodies are constantly changing (both in shape and size and cellular composition) but this space, this structure of skin and muscle and bone, is the only structure in which I will live and move and breathe throughout my entire life. It is my only constant companion, every moment of every day, and will exist even after my soul has left it, to fade back into the earth.
When I think about my body with that perspective... It helps me to realize how imperative it is for me to treat this body of mine with great care and love. As I saw on one of those motivational posters at the gym this weekend: "If you don't take care of your body, where will you live?" This body is my home.
Irish poet and philosopher John O'Donohue says it best:
The body is a sacrament. The old, traditional definition of sacrament captures this beautifully. A sacrament is a visible sign of invisible grace. In that definition there is a fine acknowledgment of how the unseen world comes to expression in the visible world. This desire for expression lies deep at the heart of the invisible world. All our inner life and intimacy of soul longs to find an outer mirror. It longs for a form in which it can be seen, felt, and touched. The body is the mirror where the secret world of the soul comes to expression. The body is the sacred threshold; and it deserves to be respected, minded, and understood in its spiritual nature.
The body is your only home in the universe. It is your house of belonging here in the world. It is a very sacred temple. To spend time in silence before the mystery of your body brings you toward wisdom and holiness.
The soul is not simply within the body, hidden somewhere within its recesses. The truth is rather the converse. Your body is in the soul, and the soul suffuses you completely. Therefore, all around you there is a secret and beautiful soul-light. This recognition suggests a new art of prayer: Close your eyes and relax into your body. Imagine a light all around you, the light of your soul. Then with your breath, draw that light into your body and bring it with your breath through every area of your body. This is a lovely way to pray, because you are bringing the soul-light, the shadowed shelter that surrounds you, right into the physical earth and clay of your presence.
I have tended to treat my body very unkindly. I have pushed it too hard, scrutinized it, berated it, and wounded it in my efforts to shape it into something it's just not. I have forced myself to pull all-nighters, have pushed through times of terrible stress without rest, have at times fed it too much of the wrong things and too little of the right and at times not fed it much at all. I have taken for granted these hands and feet, this extraordinary brain, these near-sighted but every wandering eyes, these lungs that fuel my body with precious air, this heart that never rests... And I imagine that most of you understand. It is so easy to forget about our bodies, the backgrounds of our lives, until those times when they grow weak or fail us.
I'm not bringing this up to make any of us feel bad, but more to draw attention to the exquisite, resilient bodies that have led us to this breath. They have fought off our infections and healed our wounds, and they are deserving of compassion and care.
So here's my blessing for you, on this first of our Sacred Sundays series: An Irish "Blessing for the Senses" to guide you through this St. Patrick's Day week ahead.
May your body be blessed.
May you realize that your body is a faithful and beautiful
friend of your soul.
And may you be peaceful and joyful and recognize that your
senses are sacred thresholds.
May you realize that holiness is mindful, gazing, feeling,
hearing, and touching.
May your senses gather you and bring you home.
May your senses always enable you to celebrate the universe
and the mystery and possibilities in your presence here.
May the Eros of the Earth bless you.
--John O'Donohue, Anam Cara (p.77)
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