Ethics Embodied 2: Moral Muscles

Been awhile...and summer invites us to a different rhythm of life. Nonetheless, this July 4th I am thinking about the things that we believe are worth "fighting for" and how this relates to the previous post on Embodied Ethics. The founders of our country believed that certain freedoms are worth "fighting for." One could say this belief was pat of their moral tissue--or moral "muscle" if you will.

Moral muscle...hmmm. That has me thinking. How strong are our moral muscles? What and Who are we willing to fight for? The Oppressed in the world are often not lacking moral muscle, but are rather being overpowered by individuals and systems that are unjust. Will we engage our "moral muscles" to fight on their behalf? Will we embody our ethics? What would it look like to flex our Moral Muscles and fight back poverty, discrimination, hatred, hunger, corruption,...

Embodied Ethics. Let's put some Muscle behind it!

Moral Tissues...Ethics Embodied

 Edith Wharton (1862-1937) wrote the following in her novel "Sanctuary" (1903) about a mother who is trying to guide her son...

"It was part of her discernment to be aware that life is the only real counselor, that wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissues." (p. 123)

There is a lot packed in this little statement I think. First, I think unfiltered wisdom in our day and age is actually called "knowledge". Knowledge about things can be interesting, but what to do with knowledge, applied knowledge, is actually called "wisdom."  And wisdom comes from experience. So...what about the phrase "moral tissues?" That's a new one for me....but...this was written in 1903. I think this is a fascinating somatic idiom, the idea of "moral tissue." Maybe said another way: Ethics cannot simply be a cognitive or intellectual exercise...although clear and rigorous thinking must be part of its formation. Ethics and morality must also become a part of our "moral tissues"...a part of the very fiber of our beings, i.e., ethics must be embodied.  This a challenge for all of us. When the rubber hits the road, when the birds come home to roost, when the gig is up...you name it....our moral fiber is being tested to see if it is really true. We embody what we believe, more than we know.

Growing Pains...OUCH!

Well, I have been having a most interesting experience the last three weeks. My shoulders have been in quite a bit of pain. At first....I thought it was that one night I spent an hour reading in bed (yeah...a no-no for posture.) Next morning--wow was my left shoulder torqued! Things like that usually wear off over the day. Next morning--after a bad night's sleep--still problematic. Got some bodywork done...still hurting. Hmmm. What could this be?

It has slowly been dawning on me that this new discomfort might just be growing pains. WHAT? You say to yourself...doesn't that stop in early adulthood? Well--I thought so too. However, the fact is over our lifespan, our body changes in relation to the tasks we engage in. So, as I reflected on my past weeks, I realized I have been doing more bodywork sessions than when I first started (good news) but I didn't expect my musculature to be so effected. WRONG! It is! I have found my upper arm strength increasing, my hand grip strength is now crazy strong, and my shoulders are broadening (hence the pain).

My posture is changing too. I used to stand out of habit at times with my arms crossed. Can't do that anymore for longer than 5 minutes or my shoulders hurt. What is so interesting to me about this is about 5 months ago I began to pray that God would open me up to become a more loving, caring, non-judgmental presence to all those around me. (For those who have studied eastern modalities of bodywork/energy work, it is regarding the heart chakra). Well, it is happening. I just didn't think it all through to the logical embodied result. My posture is actually opening up to others. Wow. Be warned! Be careful what you pray for....God just might answer it! Be ready to embrace your growing pains!

The Body as Gift

One of the main goals of therapeutic bodywork  is to facilitate the experience of "the body as gift." This is in contrast to our culture's view of "the body as object." An object (like a rock) does not have feelings. But Bodies have feelings. Bodies FEEL. We feel. If we don't feel, it may be that we are actually "cut off" from our body's ability to perceive and process. The body learns, the body remembers. As one of my friends is very fond of saying, "The body does not lie."

It is not healthy to view our Self as separate from our Body. This is the wonder of being human. We are embodied spiritual beings, which differentiates us from angels (spirits). In the movie, City of Angels (1998) there is an interesting conversation about how angels are puzzled and intrigued by the human experience of being embodied. Because we have bodies, we can feel what it is like to run a marathon, hug a friend, feel the sun on your face, let a snowflake melt on your tongue, taste strawberry pie, smell a rose, enjoy sexual intimacy. You have to have a body to experience these things.

So, therapeutic bodywork helps people experience their body as Gift, i.e., as Good. This translates into themselves being a gift, and good. This may be quite a revolution/revelation. Some people may have experienced terrible things in their body (trauma)--or have experienced nothing at all (neglect/deprivation). Both experiences tend to cause the body to be forgotten, or in some instances, even punished as if it had done something wrong.And then people begin to believe that they themselves are wrong/bad.

Sensitive and caring bodywork can facilitate a "coming home" to one's body--where we can truly embrace our body as our friend, our Home. The Christian faith is one of the few faith systems where the body is not left behind--but is itself restored and redeemed. Our body is the dwelling our own spirit....and of God's Spirit. When the Bible talks about our body being the temple of the Holy Spirit....this is what it means. God can and does LIVE IN US. That should blow our socks off! Our body, our Gift, our Home.

Why the Incarnation?

There are of course many important reasons that Christ came in the flesh, theologically known as The Incarnation. But from a bodywork perspective, the Incarnation holds unique importance. It is a common maxim in bodywork that "People hold their issues in their tissues." What this means in its basic sense is that we are not just creatures of our minds, but are truly embodied. Most people identify with the fact that they hold "stress" in various places in their bodies. But the fact is, we hold all of our emotions in our bodies. Sometimes we may hold anxiety in our gut, anger in our throat,grief in our heart, or confusion in our heads. The list could go on. But one of the aims of bodywork is to help people release the issues in their tissues--to release the emotions and pain that have been stored there and have been preventing them from living an abundant life.

By coming in the flesh, the Incarnation, Christ Jesus redeemed our bodies. He desires to free us from the brokenness in our bodies...and is why in the great Eucharistic Prayer, He says, "This is my Body, Broken for You."