“Listen to your body.” It’s a common refrain. We might hear this from a fitness instructor leading stretches, a friend encouraging us to eat an appealing-sounding meal, or a concerned coworker advising us to be sure we get enough rest.
At one point I wondered how to reconcile this message with what I had perceived as a need to disregard the body. In a well-intentioned but misguided effort to assert control over the body rather than allowing it to dictate conditions for my well-being, I had developed what was almost a disdain for my body. It was as if I just wanted it to disappear, and it was a drag to find it still there each day.
As I thought more about how to regard my body, I became increasingly aware that much of the media and society tend to swing to one of two extremes, either to deify or to demonize the body. But I concluded that neither of these approaches is helpful or healthy.
Another approach is the understanding of Christian Science. I’m deeply grateful to have grown up in a home where I learned about this spiritual perspective from a very young age. Ever since I can remember, I was taught not to identify myself as a physical body made up of material parts and not to feel helpless in the face of bodily discomfort or malfunction.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, shares a moment when a child evidenced the benefits of applying Christian metaphysics to one’s thought about the body: “A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my explanations, badly wounded her finger. She seemed not to notice it. On being questioned about it she answered ingenuously, ‘There is no sensation in matter.’ Bounding off with laughing eyes, she presently added, ‘Mamma, my finger is not a bit sore’ ” (p. 237).
On the same metaphysical basis, when I was a child and would complain of being hurt or uncomfortable, my mother would tenderly but firmly remind me that the body could not talk to me. These promptings never felt cold or unkind but rather strengthening and compassionate, and consistently led to freedom from problems.
My mother’s statements were drawn from years of studying the Bible and the teachings of Christian Science. One thing she had learned was that each of us, as the reflection of divine Spirit, is in reality entirely spiritual. As the prophet Isaiah says, addressing the creator: “Now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8, English Standard Version). The implication of this verse is expressed by a statement in Science and Health: “The clay cannot reply to the potter. The head, heart, lungs, and limbs do not inform us that they are dizzy, diseased, consumptive, or lame. If this information is conveyed, mortal mind conveys it” (p. 243).
“Mortal mind” is a term referring to thought based on the limiting perception that we are fragile material beings rather than God’s immortal, spiritual creation. When I have felt pain or symptoms of illness, my approach since childhood has been to mentally (or sometimes aloud) declare, “Be quiet! You can’t say anything to me!”
But I started to wonder, to whom was I speaking when I made these bold pronouncements? When we voice our God-given authority in this way, we are not talking to a physical body but addressing mortal mind, which is suggesting that we are vulnerable pieces of matter.
What we are doing when we respond spiritually to mortal mind’s messages about the body does not equate to ignoring the body’s needs. It is asserting our right to health and our rootedness in Spirit, God. Science and Health instructs us: “Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man” (p. 393).
The way we think about our bodies is an important aspect of our spiritual practice and our lives in general; idolizing the body isn’t constructive. In speaking of idols made of wood and worshiped in ancient times, the book of Jeremiah offers some helpful guidance on how to consider our bodies: “Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good” (10:5).
This might seem a strange statement to apply to the body, since it does appear to be capable of doing things over which we have no control, at times becoming weak or diseased or painful. But these problems do not originate in the body itself, which Mrs. Eddy says is “the objective state of mortal mind” (Science and Health, p. 374). They are manifestations of mortal mind’s belief in a physical body governed by material laws of health. When we endeavor to lift thought above what mortal mind is saying about the body, to discern our true identity as the spiritual expression of God, we find peace and dominion that bring healing.
Jesus brought out this idea in his Sermon on the Mount when he said, “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light” (Matthew 6:22, New Living Translation). In the Bible, the eye or vision is often used as a metaphor for thought. So rather than speaking literally of physical eyes, this verse points out the health-giving power of a Spirit-based view and how it supports our entire well-being.
Listening for God’s direction rather than focusing on the demands of physicality liberates us to care for our bodies simply and effectively.
The Sermon on the Mount also tells us that paying less attention to the body can free us from worry and allow us to focus on what is most essential in our lives (see Matthew 6:24–34). Science and Health echoes this teaching, advising that “the Christian Scientist takes the best care of his body when he leaves it most out of his thought, and, like the Apostle Paul, is ‘willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord’ ” (p. 383). It also says, “You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness” (p. 208).
At one point I was perplexed by these two statements, which at first sounded contradictory. How could I leave my body out of thought and also “delineate upon it thoughts of health”? As I pondered this question, I saw that leaving out of thought the limited mortal sense of body doesn’t mean we are neglecting it. On the contrary, listening for God’s direction rather than focusing on the demands of physicality liberates us to care for our bodies simply and effectively.
Today the world offers a seemingly endless list of suggestions for how to improve our bodies and make them perform and feel better. Options for diets, exercise, and nutritional supplements, along with ways thought to enhance beauty or abilities, abound. Amid the bombardment of recommendations from so many sources, how can we avoid giving excessive attention to the body while still taking proper care of it? We will find the best guidance when we seek direction from our creator, who cares for us in the deepest and most loving way.
God, Spirit, guides us in making choices, though the inspiration may come not so much in specific directives but as a desire to express Christly qualities, such as patience, love, discipline, moderation, strength, and harmony. And when we do feel directed to make adjustments in what we eat or in our daily routines, this guidance is based on listening to and heeding divine Love’s loving guidance, not fears that a certain food is harmful or that we are vulnerable to age-related ailments if we don’t exercise in a particular way.
Our bodies manifest what we hold in consciousness. Identifying ourselves as ideas of divine Mind and listening to guidance from Mind rather than complaints or commands from the body, we care for ourselves appropriately and leave behind any tendency to idolize, abuse, or disparage our bodies. This caring reflects divine Love’s care for us and frees us to turn our thought to the profound work of participating in the healing of humanity. In this way we honor the beautiful and powerful spiritual identity of each of us and of all creation.
Consciousness constructs a better body when faith in matter has been conquered. Correct material belief by spiritual understanding, and Spirit will form you anew.
—Mary Baker Eddy
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 425
