This article was first published in "Power of How" by Daniel McGowan
The Body Beautiful
I begin this part with a quote from the book, “THE ETERNAL WORLD PICTURE” by MARTINUS, the renowned Danish philosopher: page 108 in section 4
“All creation, that is all that is at all accessible to common sense perception, that is, all that we see as moving and motionless, all that we call matter or substance, solid, liquid, gaseous and radiating, all that we call mountains and valleys, all that we call town and country, all that we call human beings, animals and plants, all that we call writing and speech etc., all that constitutes a kind or form of movement, either it apparently is movement or stagnation. Likewise, the substances of which the living beings’ organisms are built-up are combinations of different kinds of movements. In reality only the ‘I’ and this movement exist. The many created things are only varied combinations of movements. It is only in the living beings’ sensory fields that the movements by virtue of the perspective principle are perceived or experienced as created things, made of substance or matter. This construction or adjustment of movement of what is called creation, since besides creation only the creator exists, and this creator is the ‘I’, then we see that all creation, all movements and all adjustments of movements can exist only with an ‘I’ as its originator. And a single living being’s ‘I’ together with all other living beings’ ‘I’s thus form the ‘I’ of the Godhead. They are each a fellow-creator in the structure of movement or creation of the universe. Consequently, no movement whatsoever, can come into existence by itself, but must, as indicated, originate from an ‘I’.”
There exists a relationship that the individual needs to recover in his lifetime. It is his conscious connection to the body and the thinking intellect. This is achieved by learning to get in touch with the kinesthetic sense – a sense unknown to the vast majority of humankind – which will enable him to change for the better his misuse of the body caused by misuse of his thinking. It would be of great all-round benefit to learn the value of co-ordinated use of the body by cultivating the knowledge of its proper function and movement as a mechanism – not just specific parts of it – but as a unified whole.
Note also, that the word “recover” above is in bold italics, because he does not find new knowledge, but ancient knowledge that he has forgotten. The proof of this is easily seen if he tries to recapture, in mind and body, the easy, alert and beautifully co-ordinated “physical” movement he made as a very young child – up to around 3 years old. In striving to remember, he finds he cannot. The reasons are that his body has become badly misused: and his kinesthetic memory has completely disappeared, buried beneath the ever-growing pile of his subconscious, negative, habitual “psycho-physical” mechanisms. He also finds that he is now the slave of these habits. He who seeks to recover this relationship is indeed on the quest of a vast store of real wisdom.
The body is truly wondrous; a veritable micro-universe; consciousness made manifest. It is the form that the individual mind – the ‘I’ – takes to function in the “material” world. Like the world the body is a thought-construct. This co-creative process of building the body is a tremendous feat of imagination and endeavour, and has taken a length of time and a number of incarnations that would stagger the imagination. The newly conceived entity, the baby, goes through this whole evolutionary process each time he or she reincarnates. This is done at an incredible speed. The baby – in conjunction with the World-Mind – has to think every part into existence.
The reason he can move the body so easily when he wants to, is because of this intimacy – this deepest intimacy – between the World-Mind and the individual mind, as well as the staggering repetition involved to produce this ease of movement. There is not a mental mind that moves a physical body; they are one and the same mind-stuff.
The body is the instrument, the medium, by which the ego, the ‘I’, experiences the world around it. It is the form that the ego takes to function in the “material” world. Its welfare is each person’s responsibility. It must be cared for with great love, respect and reverence. The conscious co-ordinated use of the body in the everyday acts of life is not only an art to be learned, but a way of re-educating the body that many people know nothing about. The cultivation of this art will not only allow the body to move gracefully and powerfully, but will ensure that these movements are in harmony with the correct laws of body mechanics that will not harm it. If he is to make all-round progress in his psycho-physical-emotional-spiritual aspirations, then endeavouring to achieve the mastery of the body’s structures and movements would not only be a very desirable virtue, but also an indispensable discipline to adopt.
In general, the modern mind suffers from mind-wandering and the modern body from misuse. He habitually denies the spine, for example, its proper function by slumping and leaning on the backs of chairs, instead of allowing the spine to be erect, thus allowing it to act as a dynamic support for the whole torso. If any kind of mechanism is never allowed to perform its proper function it cannot become fit for its function. Another example of misuse of the spine is shown in performing toe-touches repeatedly with rapid vigour, the legs held straight, and a prominent curving of the lumbar spine back and forth. This is a gross misuse that will eventually damage the intervertebral discs, and will also distort the knees.
The modern mind also suffers from ignorance of properly co-ordinated and holistic body-mechanics. It knows even less about the evolutionary significance of learning to think the body back to its optimal performance in use and functioning. All his unco-ordinated habits of use of the mind-body complex are caused by wrong thinking about how the body works.
If, therefore, in his spiritual aspirations, he is attempting to eliminate the bad habits of the mind, and elevate the feelings of the heart, but neglects to consider the misused state of the body, then his concept of the human being is based on a lopsided, incomplete view.
If the body is ignored, life must still be lived in it by all people. The same spiritual attitude he applies to his heart and mind must be applied to his body, and especially to how he uses it. The body is needed by all of us – even spiritual seekers – to gain experience of life. Why relegate it to some inferior level while we attempt to deal with “higher” spiritual matters. The spiritual quest cannot be dissociated from constructive conscious control of the body that would re-create the individual into a way of being that is highly co-ordinated, graceful and dynamic. A balance can be struck between attending to the how of moving the body and spiritual aspirations.
The body consists of countless numbers of cells that look to the ‘I’ for kindly, loving attention. Knowledge of the laws that govern how it moves, govern its use and functioning, are crucial to any kind of spiritual development. Most people are ignorant of these laws, and as they move through life they unwittingly injure and distort it and cause themselves unnecessary suffering. Misuse of the body – caused by misuse of his thinking – causes the vital life-force that flows through it to be greatly diminished, greatly weakened.
At the “psycho-physical” level the ego came first, and if it was going to live a life as a manifested being, it would have had to create something that would be its means of participating in the “physical” world. There would be no point in being the primal ego-thought if he did not have something by which he could move around. Just as consciousness would be useless if there was nothing to be conscious of, so also would the ‘I’ be useless if it had no means of moving around. And so the ‘I’ created the whole body, but not as a separate structure: over an immense period of time it became the body. This process would have been the foremost task of his existence and would have been paramount in our evolutionary development. Because of this colossal preoccupation with the “physical” realm, he would have had little or no chance of becoming aware of anything outside this realm; be it spiritual, astral, subtle, Godly, mental or whatever. It was only after he learned to think abstractly that he could consider “higher” states.
The study of conscious, co-ordinated, dynamic, graceful, poised and balanced use of the body can be done in conjunction with spiritual studies, because the former awakens the kundalini and eventually allows it to flow freely through the spine and the rest of the body. There is no substitute for the moment-to-moment discipline of consciously and constructively controlling the body in every act of daily living, which is essential if spiritual progress is to be fully rounded out.
When the ‘I’ was born it did not sit down immediately and contemplate its navel, because it didn’t have one. It would have to create one as part of the body, and then, through abstract thinking, become able to consider and develop things like philosophy, religion, art, ingenious invention etc. The length of time that has passed since the advent of abstract academic thinking is infinitesimal in comparison to the aeons spent in building the body. The modern intellect’s knowledge is minute when compared to the vast store contained in the subconscious mind. Ironically, however, the explosion of abstract, academic thinking in the modern era is pushing us further and further away from proper consideration of the body and its needs. If we represent the age of planet Earth on a scale of twenty-four hours, then humankind appeared on it – as the scientists curiously put it – at two minutes to midnight. Consideration of spirituality and other abstract things would have started at two seconds to midnight and these ruminations would have had to be carried out while living in the body. This indicates that the body – not just the heart and mind – is the basis of our spiritual hopes and pursuits. Constructive conscious control of the body is not only a personal need, but also a spiritual duty.
This article was first published in The Power of How by Daniel McGowan. You can download the PDF of this book for free here: FREE DOWNLOAD