SEPARATION

 

It was chilly yesterday! It didn't get out of the 60s. That is rare for the middle of July. It is supposed to be pleasant today with highs in the 70s F. Then the heat is going to return; it is forecast to be 90 tomorrow.

I am late getting started. I went to Mora this Morning and since I returned, I have been doing this and that, and not settling down to do my blog.

I can't say I don't have things to blog about, I have been thinking about things all week. I am experiencing a little resistance. Oh well, this is one of those things that I have been thinking about.

All my life, I have wondered why so many of the philosophies, and especially spiritual traditions, taught us to ignore, subjugate or rise above the body; with emphasis on the bodies pleasures. There are a few exceptions.

Christianity denied sex, except for procreation, and that denial still stands in the minds of many Christians. For several centuries of the church's history, the denial of the body extended to all of Nature. Nature was considered evil and although medicines were obtained from Nature, often the procurers of such remedies had to be careful of their reputations, unless they be charged with witchcraft. The denial and separation from Nature is still a powerful force in today's modern world, although most are not aware of the origin.

In the Eastern traditions, the denial took the form of rising above the body, as if one could not be part of body and spirit both at the same time. It is understandable to recognize one would have difficulty knowing, our spiritual reality, if we were focused only on our bodies. However, learning to focus on something other than our bodies does not require denial of them.

Perhaps, it is thought that the ego is an attachment of the body. One could argue that, as the ego was originated to protect our fragile bodies after the original separation. However, the ego has developed into a force that tries to keep us isolated [protected] no matter what our minds are doing. The ego loves to evaluate and judge. It has no trouble extending itself, to what we may think of as spiritual realms, and there is nothing worse than having ego in our spiritual learning. That lends them null and void and predicts a troubled individual. Pride, in spiritual growth; what a contradiction!

Sure, we are spirits that temporarily reside in bodies; and sure, we may rise out of our bodies during meditation. We need reminders, that we are spirits inhabiting bodies, and not bodies that happen to have spirits. But, where in this equation is the idea, that we should reject or deny our bodies.

We cannot be preoccupied with body pleasures, at the same time, we are aware of our totality. Preoccupation with physical pleasure is just that; it is temporary and doesn't deny spirit anymore than preoccupation with spirit should deny the body.

All the the things we think of as evil or negative come from separation. Separation from each other and separation from ourselves; our minds are separated from our bodies and our spirits.

Go through the lists of negatives in your mind anger, jealousy, lust, greed, all fears, etc. Can you think of one that does not come from separation?

If we could see our Oneness, could we hurt each other? Could we allow and ignore suffering of the other? Would there be an other?

If we knew the Oneness of our mind, body and spirit, would we allow our mind to hurt our body? We do now, don't we? And we allow our mind to deny our spirit.

Learning to be separate from our bodies, blinds us, to how separate we are from Nature. AND that is a very, very serious problem. Most of our problems in science, agriculture and medicine, come from our blindness, to what is natural. Our first task upon The Awakening, is to re-connect with Nature.

I have much to say about this, perhaps I will revisit it on Monday. I have things to do. I haven't even washed my dishes yet and it is 1:22 PM.

Happy Friday. Celebrate and let us love all of ourselves!

Love and Peace, Gregg