Temporal
In this world our focus too often falls on the flesh - on our temporal covering that operates exclusively as a container. This temporal focus is amplified in today’s world by mirrors. Mirrors are all over the place. We have not only physical mirrors in homes, offices, bathrooms and purses, but we also have digital mirrors in the form of photographs posted all over the internet. Photos on Facebook and Insta accounts, photos stored in millions of databases around the world. They are all mirrors - images of the flesh.
We are consumed with the flesh. We spend trillions of dollars every year on ways to enhance our flesh. While this is an obscene amount of money being spent on our bodies, on that which is passing away, I do not suggest that it is wrong to take care of the machine. A machine is exactly what a body is. A machine needs care, and we should take care of our flesh the same way we take care of our most precious possessions here on earth. After all, the body is what contains you while you reside in human form. It is the box in which you literally live. But remember, it is not you.
Next time you look in a mirror, stop and ponder. At what are you looking? Of course, it is completely natural for us to see our flesh and consider it “me”. I am fat. I am skinny. I am tall, short, beautiful, ugly, old, young, etc. But we need to stop and consider these statements. Is that really you? Next time you look in the mirror, instead of concentrating on the container, look past it. Look past the temporal body that dominates the image you see. It may help to look at your eyes since they are the window into your soul. Looking exclusively into your eyes will get you past all the other mess that tends to catch our focus in the flesh. Focus on your eyes and see you.
If you can see you - awesome! If you cannot - no worries. Do something else. Close your eyes. While you do this understand that what you feel is not you. Feeling is part of your container experiencing the temporal world around it. Don’t concentrate on the feelings. Think instead about the life inside the container. That is you.
I am not intending to promote some metaphysical, spiritual awakening. My intent is simply to change the focus and possibly even priority from that which is passing away to that which will live eternally. Our world would have us, our thoughts and actions, dominated by our temporary, physical existence. This is the part of us that the world can control. The truly eternal part of us, the spirit within, is something on which this physical world has no control. When we slip our physical bonds, we will understand. As the temporal falls away, we will be revealed. This world will lose focus and the eternal will come into full view. I am just trying to start focusing on the eternal a little earlier. To put the focus on that which is truly you and truly me!