The idea that the body must be tamed or even “beaten” into submission is a pervasive one. In his book, Walking Words, the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano sums up prevailing contemporary views of the body succinctly: “The church says: the body is sin. Science says: the body is a machine. Advertising says: the body is business. The body says: I am a fiesta.”
The Jewish perspective on the body is quite different. Whereas some traditions view corporeal life as an obstacle course—a series of challenges designed to test our spiritual resolve and integrity—Judaism sees the body as the interface and means of expression for the soul in physical reality. In this way, the body gives the soul a voice, and the soul provides the song.
@baruch I heard about some Jewish anti-body traditions, but I never understood how can they resolve the contradiction that lots of mitzvot require a physical action and than they cannot be performed without a physical body.
@baruch fascinating. Sums up my issues with the (Christian) church as I don't believe in "sin" (highly illogical/irrational, everything that's against Occam's razor and nature). I never understood why it couldn't just be that we're all here to hang out and experience the world in our own ways. They gotta make all these rules, make it all overly complicated 🤣
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