Within your creaturehood, you have all kinds of freedom. And all of the freedom you can ever enjoy in your lifetime must come through your creaturehood. Some people spend a good deal of time trying to ignore their own bodies, or trying to pretend that they have only minds, or that minds alone are important. Some people even try to ignore their bodies almost entirely in an effort to be more spiritual, or to be "better" people, which is like a bird trying to fly better than any other bird alive... all the time refusing to use its wings, or pretending that they weren't there. They would never get off the ground. A Bird would never think such foolishness, of course, and often other creatures are smarter than people.
In fact, whenever you're in trouble, it's a good idea to watch animals, for they bask in their freedom and don't worry about their limitations. A cat or dog can teach you a lot. A cat really enjoys its catness, just as you should enjoy your creaturehood. Even a fly buzzing around the ceiling loves its own reality and is free in it. If it stopped to wonder whether or not it could really fly---well, it would fall down in a second and never go fast enough to outwit a human being's flyswatter.
So, trying to be religious, or "good" or "better" by ignoring your body, doesn't make much sense either.
Actually, each person has a private kingdom for his or her very own, because your body is the one part of earth that is really yours, that no one can take away during your lifetime. It's the part of the earth, moving and alive, that belongs to you and nobody else. In a way, it's your portion of the planet, sprung up ina living, moving statue of earth-stuff, for you and no one else. So how you treat your body is important.
You just don't live in it, either. You live through it, there's a difference. You flow through it, moving in all parts of it. The body is your own magic country. Your conscious mind is like a monarch. Now, a good king or queen is loving and gives the people freedom to move about the country. In this case, your own feelings and thoughts and desires re like the people in your kingdom. So you should treat your own feelings graciously, and you and your kingdom will flourish. Some monarchs are dictators, setting up all kinds of impossible laws and taboos, because they're really afraid of the people who make up their own kingdom.
If you're a good king and queen, you'll realize that your kingdom is a good one, and you won't be afraid of your own people---you thoughts and feelings and desires---but will encourage them. And you and your body will have all the freedom necessary to flourish and grow.
~ Jane Roberts, The Further Education of Oversoul Seven
