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The
short answers are no and yes. Life is
not contained within the physical body; it is what animates the body.
As humans, most of us make the faulty assumption that we are
inseparable from our form. Thus,
we attach ourselves to our physical conditions and are scared to death to
"die." We talk about
our asthma, our cancer, our heart disease, our cellulite.
We erroneously believe that any threat to the body is a threat to
our survival. But aren’t we something much greater than our body and its
diseases? We’ve been told by
religion that we are made in the image and likeness of God.
Now, either God is a person who has cellulite and is going to die
someday, or who we really are has little to do with our bodies.
The Bible also says that God is all-present, all-powerful, and
all-knowing. If we’re made
in the image and likeness of God, doesn’t that mean that we’re
all-present, all-powerful and all-knowing, too?
Sure does---at least on the deepest or most "real" of
levels. Our bodies simply
reflect aspects of who we are at any given time, they are not who
we are. The whole discovery of
the mind-body connection to health is proof that the body is an effect and
not a cause. Why then is it so
hard to believe in eternal life? Because
it requires a heavy-duty determination to think for yourself---and that
can be tough because we’re exposed to fear, all the time.
Cut that cholesterol, fight against terrorism, get good grades,
don’t talk back, make sure those kids sit in their car seats, don’t go
out at night you might get raped. But
fear is a trap, a prison that prevents us from experiencing the majesty
and magnitude of who we really are. We
don’t die because we’re not bodies.
Let’s start living and see what happens.
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