My husband wants me to read with him a book that he knows I would have never chosen on my own. It is anything but the language common to a Catholic or Christian ear so you have to listen to it with an open mind and without influence from your Catholic or Christian ideologies.
That said, I find the thinking put forth in the book easy to swallow despite that some people may accuse me of being a hardened Catholic today. But they would be surprised to know that in my early 20’s I had walked away from Catholicism and the idea of religion altogether. Let me explain briefly: after leaving my abusive homelife behind I felt as though religion had duped me-that religion was simply a crutch-and it had been my crutch to navigating the pain and suffering I had undergone to deal subconsciously with the abuse I had grown up with.
Unlike some people, however, I did not resent religion or Catholicism because it had been my solace and had absolutely helped me get through some pretty tough times including depression and a suicide attempt (a different story for another time). Instead I was grateful towards it and felt as though religion was rather a rudimentary step to my enlightenment as a human being and that now I had discovered this I could move on to greater and higher things of my own consciousness. Religion hadn’t been a barrier, I thought, it had been a stepping stone towards “consciousness”.
Which brings me back to the book that my husband wants me to read when I came across a quote that says, “Consciousness is not in the body, the body is in consciousness”. At first I thought, how profound, and to a certain degree it is because to be free of attachments is free indeed. But the quote didn’t sit right with me. I kept thinking why not? When you analyze this quote as is, you can see that the first part is incorrect, that’s why. Consciousness is every bit in the body as it can be!
We must be very vigilant to avoid confusion when it comes to ideals dealing with separating the body from “consciousness” which is sometimes used interchangeably with “spirit”. Scripture teaches us that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and that one day our bodies will be reunited with our spirits at a second resurrection (which is why it is considered sacrilegious to spread someone’s ashes). That’s how not only sacred but one the body is with the spirit or our consciousness that it will be reunited in the next life. This would be my Catholic response but now I will try to attempt to explain myself with non-biblical understanding.
Human sexuality which is deeply rooted in our physical bodies is an integral part of the human person. This is why sexual abuse is the most grave thing you can inflict on someone. Abuse that is sexual in nature causes a domino effect on practically every possible connection thereafter with others including oneself—trust issues, identity issues, fidelity issues, communication issues, EVERYTHING. Human sexuality is the very mechanism to operating how a person functions in the world. (A side note: this also explains why fallen angels use the body to harm people and most often by attacking their sexuality because they know just how intrinsic it is to the interior life of a person, the interior life being their consciousness). Sexuality is the thing that guides our consciousness and vice versa.
To summarize: we are one with the body as we are one with the spirit. The two are one with each other.
Ephesians 4:4-6
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.