Lesson 72: Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.
Body image is a big topic in the world right now. Recently, singer Billie Eilish even took off her shirt during a performance to underscore exactly what today’s lesson seeks to teach us: every single one of us is more than our outward appearance.
It’s a powerful message and one the Course acknowledges is needed if we are to overcome our egoic fear and live into the Love that we have been created to be and communicate in the world. We have a terrible time with our bodies in this illusion. As this lesson says, we tend to either denigrate or glorify the body. I grew up in a tradition that denigrated the body and saw it as the seat of all evil – only redeemed by one man’s sacrifice on a cross.
Those new to the Course may see this lesson as more denigration of the body. It’s true that this lesson tells us that our “natural state” is to be without a body, but that is not to denigrate the body – but to put it in its right perspective. We are NOT these bodies. We have them because we believed the tiny, mad idea that we are somehow separate from God. Because we believe this, we manifested bodies that appear to make us separate and distinct from one another. The Holy, however, knows the truth about us, and has given us the Holy Spirit to communicate to us about who we really are – thoughts in the mind of God that need no bodily form.
The role of the body, then, in this physical world is one of communication. We are to use our bodies “rightly” by asking the Spirit to guide us throughout the day so that we can use our bodily presence to be God’s light and love in the world. That’s the only function our body needs, because if we can use our bodies to become the Light and Love of God in the world, then our bodies become a channel of beauty and peace in the world.
We must, of course, meet the daily demands of our bodies while we remain within them. We must take care of the bodily temple the Holy inhabits by eating right, exercising, getting enough rest and listening to our bodies to keep them healthy. This lesson is by no means a call to neglect our bodies while we tend our spirits. We will return to our natural state soon enough, but while we are here, our bodies are our vehicles to learn how to Love and become a channel for that Love.
Our task, Hafiz says, is to keep our heart open no matter how many times we want to close ourselves off from the world.
Look how the Creator in the form of a mother
or father can then love the created, a child,
even more than themselves.
Look at the salvation and purpose
a person can find in that devotion of caring.
A day is too great a force to bear
without the heart open.
Time will slay your body no matter what,
but with love the impetus of your final movements,
will make eloquent your demise.
Could God care for the created more than He
cares for Himself?
The soul, and I think any being, really wants
to love, more than to be loved.
Photo by John Jackson on Unsplash