I am not my body. That is clear. So, sometimes I feel weird when I look at an image of myself in a photo or the mirror. It feels like I am supposed to identify with this outward appearance. That’s how most of us humans operate, right? But that is not at all how I identify in my inner world. As I go through each moment in my day, in my consciousness, I don’t even think about my outer appearance — I am a thinking being that is creating and imagining existence as it unfolds.
I am a spiritual being in human form, but the human form part of me isn’t usually on my mind.
Now, there is something to be said about the word “body”. For me, there are two bodies: the outer, purely physical body that I inhabit as my apparatus for life, and the inner body that is pure feeling and sensations. We tend to think these are the same thing most of the time. But they aren’t the same. My outer body is just an appearance — an illusion. It is fleeting. It grows old and dies. It presents a facade for others to see with their outer senses. But the inner body is something entirely different.
The Body and Your Senses
The inner body is where the consciousness lives. When I hear someone using the terms “embodiment” or “grounding yourself in your body” I think of it as connecting with the inner body, not with the physical mass of matter that is four limbs, a torso, and a head. So, what is the inner body?
Your whole world only exists to you through your five senses, which send you information to process by interacting with the so-called outer world. But without any of your senses, you don’t even know if there is an outer world at all — you only have inner sensations to go on.
If you lose your sense of hearing, you will not identify yourself or the world with anything audible. If you lose your ability to see, you will create your whole world around the other four senses without attaching yourself to appearances. If you lose your senses of touch, taste, and smell, you will have a different perception of existence and reality than someone who has them. So, if you remove all five senses, what is left?
All that exists if you remove the input from the senses is consciousness. You know yourself through the feedback you get from the world via the senses. But what if you saw yourself as just a soul — a thinking, conscious creature that is exploring itself within?
The Inner Body Is Consciousness
You can also know yourself purely through interactions with your inner world. This is the concept of meditation.
I meditate regularly, and I teach meditation. It’s a huge part of my life. It seems that the more I meditate, the more I dissociate my identity from my physical existence. My body is no longer the object of my focus. I am a consciousness that is able to create my whole reality simply by changing the way I perceive the information coming through the senses.
This happens spontaneously with regular meditation. I never intended it, but it is an inevitable result of the practice of looking within.
Out-of-Body Experiences
I have out-of-body experiences sometimes when I finally see that this person I have created — this Emily — is not the real thing. I am something above and beyond this. I am a mind.
Then, I can view what’s happening in my life with new eyes. I see that this is a role I am playing, and it can feel very weird to see this body for the first time for what it is: a puppet. A character. A human suit. The plot is unfolding and I am a player in it. Somehow I ended up in this human body, which doesn’t feel normal. How did I even get here?
We’re all playing a role here in this current plot, and your outward appearance may be an illusion but it represents an important character.
When this play is over, I will still be a consciousness. The senses may change and the body may fall away. They were illusory anyway. This role I am playing is temporary. What is lasting is what’s important, and that is the soul experience that is carried from existence to existence.
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