Recently, I took the protective case off my phone. This was because the case was chipped in places. When I used it to make calls the chipped parts hurt my face, so it really had to go!
Realisation that I had forgotten something I had seen less than a year ago!
After I removed it I realised that I had forgotten what the phone looked like. I found myself looking at it and thinking it was a really nice phone. I remember thinking it was quit slim, slick, elegant and quite attractive. This realisation came about because I removed the case! The reaction I experienced got me thinking.
Why do our memories fade?
It was strange! Why did I react in this way? I knew what it looked like before. In fact I used it without a case for at least 3 months. If anything, I may have looked at it, used it and explored it more in those months because it was new and less familiar.
Still, I had forgotten how it looked once the case had been on it for a while. I guess I got used to the new look it had and forgot that it was actually a look’ which wasn’t permanent.
Why did I buy and use the phone case?
The case served a purpose! I wanted to protect my phone from being damaged. However, it also needed to be comfortable to use and once this function was gone, I removed it.
Removed forever!
Since then, I’ve not put the case back on! I could have bought another but I haven’t.
Analogy of the Human body and the phone case.
When I started thinking about my reaction I began to think about whether we like that?
Have we forgotten the beauty of our soul because of the body which surrounds it? The example of the phone and case is trivial in comparison but it was the catalyst which made me realise this fundamental point in a different way.
If the phone represented the Soul and the case represented the body; have we got so used to seeing and engaging with our body that we’ve forgotten about the life force behind it? The Soul?
When we have ‘realised’ this beauty will we ever want to be encased again? OR will we want to be ‘free’ forever?
Like the case, the body has a purpose. It enables us to strive spiritually, so that we can experience our Soul.
This body is the means for us to be the best we can possibly me, to shed our karma and stop binding more so that the Soul can be free from being encased or embodied again!
Once we have realised our Soul, we won’t want the Soul to be covered up or hidden any more. We will want to experience it all the time.
So let’s take the huge step of realising that we need to see the body and Soul as separate. Once we have done that we can strive to make it a reality, rather than, a theory.