Inner Work

For the week of: July 15, 2002

Body Image

Are you satisfied with the way your body looks? Do you like what you see in the mirror? Do you want to change your body? Do you wish it were different somehow?

Entire industries exist to exacerbate and address these dilemmas. We spend enormous effort on the look of our body: clothing, grooming, makeup, shaving, all manner of potions and lotions, body-building, cosmetic surgery, and botox. For our spiritual work, perhaps the most interesting aspect of our physical appearance is the degree to which we are attached to how our body looks, the degree to which we identify with our exterior form.

For this week observe how you relate to your body's looks. What do you reject? What feeds your vanity? Can you simply accept your body in toto, just as it is? This is not to suggest that you give up makeup, or stop shaving, combing, and dressing well, but rather that you investigate where in all this your attachments lie. Where does your attitude cross the line from caring for your body and appearance according to the norms of your society, to being enslaved by vanity?

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