To attend to your body is a natural thing; you must eat, sleep, and otherwise do what is necessary to live. It is no wonder that most of our consciousness revolves around our bodies and focusing on what it wants.
In our minds we constantly tune in to hear what our body is saying. We can feel what we need. We can also see what we need.
The problem is with the seeing and interpreting how that relates to what our body needs. Because often we mix up needs with wants. And wants are a dangerous thing.
We think we need that awesome coat or those sweet boots (for example) because naturally we need to clothe ourselves and so where is the harm in getting those things so that our bodies are cared for?
How often do we stop to think if something is a need or a want? And if we do stop to think of it, how often do we rationalize any ‘want’ away until it is a ‘need’? Our minds are so easy to manipulate and we easily manipulate our minds.
We do spend 100% of our lives inside our own heads and thinking about things such as these. And I’d estimate that the majority of our time is spent thinking about all these ‘needs’ that arise from moment to moment and then thinking about if, when, how we will address them.
The problem is we are very terrible at addressing them. We stay superficial. We stay in the moment of ‘need’ rather than diving deeper. We focus so much on our physical selves because that, after all, is how we will keep our body’s alive.
But what about our spiritual selves? Do we dive deep? Do we spend any time focusing on our souls and what it needs? Do we nourish it? Do we stop and think about what it is that we need to do or not do in order to protect our spirit and to keep our spirit alive?
The problem is we spend so much attention on our body’s desires we forget to pay attention to our soul.
Shouldn’t the majority of our time, thoughts, attention, and lives revolve around our souls instead of our bodies? After all, the soul is what will keep on living after our bodies stop.
To attend to our souls should be a natural thing. You should strive to do what is necessary to live eternally. But instead of a consciousness attentive to the eternal we focus on the here-and-now.
We engage with our conscious instead of our conscience.
It is easy to engage with what our body says we need. It is harder to engage with what our conscience needs and what it tells us it needs. We may ignore our consciences so much and neglect our souls so thoroughly that we think we are living well. We may think we are focused on what we need to be focused on. But if we aren’t ever focusing on what nourishes our souls; if we sacrifice our souls for the sake of our body; then we are failing. Miserably, regrettably, eternally failing.
Remember that your body is dust and to dust it shall return. At some point your body will fail despite all those efforts you make to attend to it. Realize that your soul is eternal and it will last eternally, whether or not you attend to it.
Your soul’s eternalness should consume more time and attention in your conscious self. You should do all that you can to nourish it with goodness. Your efforts will not prolong its ‘life’, but it will determine how it ‘lives’.
When you wind up at eternity – face to face with the eternal – you should want and have a soul that is ready to live with God in that eternity. Or at a minimum have a soul that is ready to face purification so that you can enter into eternal life when you are fully purified.
The better you do in your natural life at attending to your soul the better you will be prepared for that purification and eternity.
Your body’s life will end, but not your soul’s. Once your body’s life ends will you have a soul that achieves eternal life or eternal death? Strive for eternal life. In all that you think and do have a consciousness that recognizes the body’s needs but focuses on its soul.
2.28.23
…the other night in bed i had some good thought about the body vs soul which im not encapsulating well or succinctly enough (or even at all…)… frankly none of these words are any good and you should just think about st. augustine and “my heart is restless until it rests in you” [“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.] i’d say hearts = body + soul and the balance of the two. If you rest your heart in God your mind, body, and soul will follow.
Give God Your Yes 