I am a body


I am a body - Everybody is a bodyBody and Spirit are tied together. How would you express the concept of your spirit and body being linked together? Do you say “I have a body” or do you say “I am a body”?

Some cosmological perspectives of the relationship of the spirit to the body claim that the spirit is placed inside the body and therefore “owns” the body. This gives rise to the idea that the spirit and body are at odds with one another, with the spirit striving to subdue the body.

Sometimes our language expresses concepts in a way that distorts our view of reality. In this life our spirits are undeniably linked to our bodies, and influence who we are in totality, how we perceive life and how we interpret events that occur.

In other areas of life we fully understand this concept and express the interconnectedness of our body and spirit. A black man does not say he has a black body, but says “I am a black man”.  A woman does not say she has a “female body” but says “I am a woman”. Each of these statements clearly expresses the concept that a person’s spiritual and intellectual identity is tied directly to the unique features of their body.

Such unique features of a body also influence how a person reacts to and perceives the world around them.

  • A blind person understands and interprets that world differently that one who sees.
  • A short person interacts with people differently than a tall person.
  • A black man understands police profiling differently than a white man.
  • A woman experiences children and childbirth differently than a man.
  • An athletic body leads to different experiences in life than an uncoordinated body.
  • A brilliant mind will leave to different experiences than one who struggles with even the basic concepts.
  • A person who is considered attractive will receive more attention than one who is considered unattractive.

The list goes on and on, but one thing remains the same. A person’s perception of the world, interpretation of events is inextricably linked to their body in many ways that the spirit cannot control, only interpret. These interpretations, and the interactions with other people often colors our personality and views on the world.

We do not have any control about the body we have in this life. Our body is determined by the genetics we inherit. Sometimes it is influenced by how our mother treated her body during pregnancy. The great tragedy is a child whose body was damaged during pregnancy due to the ingestion on drugs or alcohol by a mother during pregnancy.  Likewise, some children inherit a quick ticket to athletic fame as the children of gifted athletes, or to academic success from parents who pass on high their high intelligence.

Too many people think they have full control over what they do in this life, and some of this comes from the idea that we own our body, rather than understanding that our body is us, and that it greatly influences how we are perceived by others, and how we perceive the world.

I am a body, and that body is as much a part of who I am as my intellect and spirit.


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