Consciousness and the Body

The fundamental surrender in Eros is the surrender of consciousness to the body. It is consciousness beginning to understand how the objectification of the body and how the resultant neglect, obsession with, and domination of the body have shaped an entire way of perceiving the world.

Our consciousness can make reparations with the body starting with an honest inquiry into the body on its terms as to what it wants. We cultivate an understanding of and a carrying out of its requests, despite the fact that it often will be speaking from an entirely different worldview. The desires of the body rarely match the lopsided dogmas developed by consciousness in isolation. However, a consciousness developed in connection with and surrendered to the body opens worlds.

The desire of the body is connection with consciousness. It wants to be known, but it has limitations that consciousness does not have. For the body to open and receive and inform, consciousness must learn to play it. The body will only open when it is met by consciousness. A body opened beyond the point where we can remain conscious is injurious and unhealthy. The body may continue to respond to the demands of consciousness, but it will not be able to reveal its secrets. Intuition, creativity, the richness of the present moment, these cannot be accessed through pressure.

Consciousness strokes the body through attention. The body communicates back through sensation and feeling. They co-create one another, and acuity, power and liberation are a reflection of the level of communication between the two. Our life is what lies between, and it is in this feedback loop that we have control over the quality of our lives. Consciousness in the body occurs as presence. The desire of the body received and welcomed by consciousness occurs as power.

We experience this power and presence operating in communion as a pervasive sense of unconditional love.