It is unique to the human condition to have a sense of one’s own self-worth, as it relates to others in society. This sense of one’s own worth may be derived from a belief that worthiness is a function of one’s beauty, intelligence, talent, money, gender, wealth, religion, cleanliness and hygiene, race, clothes, power and privilege, nationality etc. All people are in a state of constant comparison with the variety of contrasting states in all others that they encounter.
My sense of self-worth fluctuates throughout the day depending on what is being compared and to whom I compare myself with. I am beautiful in comparison with one whom I deem to be less fortunate in the looks department. I am poor, as compared to a man with a relatively oversized bank account, who owns multiple houses and cars. Our fragile sense of worth is rooted in the shallowest of foundations, the relativity of exterior states of being, as compared to that of others’ states of being.
Were we to take away all of the multitudinous
plethora of states one could possibly make comparisons with and focus on one aspect universal in nature, we may come closer to seeing truth. Stripping away at the artifice of what we call worth, let us take one aspect near and dear to all and look at it in detail: the body. It is a part of the condition of all living things to have a body. Bodies are the prerequisite to life in this physical time-space reality. And bodies are the carrier of shame, universal human shame.
I shall, in celebration of all human bodies, list all of the more superficial and obvious functions that each one does. In doing so, I hope to peel away at this layer of shame that we all carry within our collective psyche. When this list is complete it is my hope that the truth of human worthiness will be revealed. On to the list:
What bodies do
Secrete saliva
Secrete urine
Secrete feces
Secrete bile
Secrete seminal fluids
Secrete vaginal fluids
Menstruate
Secrete sweat
Grow hair
Grow nails
Grow skin cells
Shed skin cells
Secrete earwax
Secrete tears
Grow calcifications when bones are fractured
Bleed when lacerated or punctured
Jiggle fat while walking or running
Produce melanin within the skin cells
Vomit
Cough
Sneeze
Laugh
Vocalize
Engage in sexual intercourse
Grow and nurture offspring
Give birth
Digest food
Breathe air
Circulate blood
Feel and take in sensory data through the nerves
Grow, develop and age over time
Move, walk, run, crawl, etc.
This is, of course, an incomplete list of the many functions, actions and events that occur universally within all human bodies with few outstanding exceptions. All human beings, due to human vulnerability and the fragile human need to feel important, make comparisons of themselves with others in a variety of ways. But if we took away all other forms of comparison and looked at what all human bodies do on a daily basis, it reminds us of our similarities and diminishes our differences.
Furthermore, it becomes clear that we shame ourselves all too readily for the things every human body does to ensure its individual survival and well-being, as well as the continuation of our species. It is time for us to shed this layer of shame that we carry simply for being an existing participant in the physical time-space dimension.
Our bodies are our vehicle for conscious experience in this world that we live in. Our bodies are mobile homes. We take them with us wherever we go. We cannot in any way conveniently exchange them for any other body. Treat your body as a sacred temple of Divinity. My body is the seat of the goddess within. The body is the masterpiece of the Great Creator, the artist of this whole cosmos that gives us existence. Nourish it, take care of it, as it is a part of the complete you, which is formless and of worth beyond words and labels and any form of comparison. We are each of infinite and inherent worth.
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