THE BODY’S ROLE IN SPIRITUAL FORMATION - The body lies at the center of the spiritual life. It is potential energy, and to access that energy is the constant human goal and problem. If there is gasoline in my tank, I can liberate the energy in it and make it do the work of moving my car.
Therefore, my body is the primary place of my dominion and my responsibility. As I proceed in life, first I take dominion over my body itself (eye movement, voice, motion of limbs, and so on).
But very quickly I attempt dominion over others, who may have organized their desires contrary to my own. So I experience destructive emotions, especially fear, anger, envy, jealousy, and resentment (example: Cain). These may, in time, develop into settled attitudes of hostility, contempt, or indifference.
Such attitudes make me ready to harm others, and these attitudes quickly settle into my body. There they become more or less overt tendencies to act without thinking in ways that harm others or myself. If left unchecked, they will rule the rest of my life and will constantly inject poison into my social world and personal relations.
Most of what is called character (good or bad) in normal human life consists in what our bodies are or are not “at the ready” to do in specific situations. These “readinesses” govern our responses and are seen by observant people who then determine how to react to us.
For usual human beings in usual circumstances, their body runs their life. Contrary to the words of Jesus, life is, for them, not more than food, nor the body more than clothing (see Matthew 6:25). Their time and energy is almost wholly devoted to how their body looks, smells, and feels, and to how it can be used to meet ego needs such as admiration, sexual gratification, and power over others. That is a perversion of the role of the body in life as God intended it, and it results in “death,” in alienation from God and the loss of all we have invested our lives in (see Galatians 6:8).
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