From physical to spirit

"Do you remember when I told Ted Koppel that pretty soon someone was gonna have to wipe my ass?" He said.

I laughed. You don't forget a moment like that.

"Well, I think that day is coming. That one bothers me."

"Why?"

"Because it's the ultimate sign of dependency. Someone wiping your bottom. But I'm working on it. I'm trying to enjoy the process."

"Enjoy it?"

"Yes. After all, I get to be a baby one more time."

That's a unique way of looking at it.

"Well I have to look at life uniquely now. Let's face it. I can't go shopping. I can't take care of the bank accounts, I can't take out the garbage. But I can sit here with my dwindling days and look at what I think is important in life. I have both the time - and the reason - to do that."

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and let it come in."

His voice dropped to a whisper. "Let it come in. We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said 'love is the only rational act.' "

Mitch Albom, "Tuesdays with Morrie" Doubleday New York 1997 p.49-50

In my class a student presented concepts embodied in this book. She read this passage from the book. I had read the book a number of years ago. I had forgotten that part. I was so grateful for her reminding me of it.

A lot of the class laughed nervously. It is VERY uncomfortable to consider that this is our destiny, but there was no denying the power in those words. Morrie expressed something that we in our deepest parts want to believe but struggle mightily in having to deal with; that healthy dependency is something to be embraced to be able to experience love.

We start out as infants with no shame about having all our needs taken care of. Observe an infant having his or her butt wiped while they look around the room not worried at all about who is watching. As we grow we move towards greater independence. Any deviating from that independence is accompanied by shame from the social group we move in. As we age we move back towards dependency and we have to relearn how to be comfortable in it once again.

In the book "The power of myth" Joseph Campbell explains how our transition in life is from physical to spiritual, from form to spirit. From the moment we are born we are in the process of dying. We shouldn't be surprised by it. The work of maturing is to rely on the body less, and on the spirit more. This is the work of our lives.

It seems that for many, that is a difficult if not impossible transition. Denial is much more effective in helping us get through the day, at least in the short term.

(photo from http://www.hms.harvard.edu/cdi/pallcare)