I am reading a book called The Invention of Wings -- the partly historical story of Sarah Grimke, a Southern woman who dared to find her voice as an abolitionist. Against her wishes, Sarah owns a slave named Handful, and their complex relationship forms the basis for the book.
As Sarah is struggling to gain the courage to leave her social and familial position, travel north, and discover more about life without slaves, Handful aptly says to her, "My body is a slave, but my mind is not. Seems like for you it's the other way around."
It's important to understand where we are enslaved and where the freedom can be found. Now, in conventional human society, some people can be considered "free" in body through ease of movement, acceptability, and other conventional measures, while other people do not enjoy such freedoms of body.
But from a spiritual perspective, the body is never quite free. It is part of nature, following its own laws, and will one day cease to support life. It is a magnificent process, a vehicle for practice, and a tool for exploring the world and encountering other beings... but it is not the place to find the deepest freedom. That can only happen through the mind, or heart.
The mind has the potential to keep developing, gaining insight, and opening to the mystery right up to the moment of death. It can go beyond itself in ways that the body cannot.
It is important to notice in our behavior and practice if we are acting from the perspective of freeing the mind, rather than the body.
As Sarah is struggling to gain the courage to leave her social and familial position, travel north, and discover more about life without slaves, Handful aptly says to her, "My body is a slave, but my mind is not. Seems like for you it's the other way around."
It's important to understand where we are enslaved and where the freedom can be found. Now, in conventional human society, some people can be considered "free" in body through ease of movement, acceptability, and other conventional measures, while other people do not enjoy such freedoms of body.
But from a spiritual perspective, the body is never quite free. It is part of nature, following its own laws, and will one day cease to support life. It is a magnificent process, a vehicle for practice, and a tool for exploring the world and encountering other beings... but it is not the place to find the deepest freedom. That can only happen through the mind, or heart.
The mind has the potential to keep developing, gaining insight, and opening to the mystery right up to the moment of death. It can go beyond itself in ways that the body cannot.
It is important to notice in our behavior and practice if we are acting from the perspective of freeing the mind, rather than the body.
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