“Only spirit is real,’ said the spiritual teacher.
‘The world is unreal, and the body is unreal.
After all, they’re made of the same materials.
When we die, we will be free of both.”
As he spoke, the teacher pointed as his own body,
smiling with disdain, like a hunter at a captured animal.
“Take care of your body, by all means,” he continued.,
“the same way you'd look after a horse or car.
But don’t indulge your body’s desires.
Don’t be deceived by the beauty of forms.
Nothing illusory can be beautiful.”
I pondered the teacher’s words over the next few days.
One morning I ran through the park
and felt one with the trees and the sky.
I cycled to work on a stormy day
and felt ecstatic in the wind and rain.
One evening I swam in a lake
and felt a million years old, as if I’d never lived on land.
One night I made love to my wife
and felt our souls merge in the darkness.
How can the body be unreal
when it gives me so ecstasy?
How can the body be separate to spirit
when it brings me so much oneness?
I sense sprit pervading my body
just as it pervades my consciousness
I sense spirit moving through my limbs and muscles
just as it moves through my formless inner space.
And I felt sorry for the teacher
who lived in conflict with his body
when he could have lived in oneness.
All best wishes and blessings, Steve
