Body and Soul

Anonymous

Pride and Prejudice, Mister Darcy-"You have bewitched me body and soul"

This is the first thing that came to my mind for the blog topic today. I immediately remembered the line from Darcy and as I continued to run my mind for what to write I realized that I was trying to take the topic in two pieces. Body and soul--one and two, meaning two separate things. Due to the discussion of philosophy and class lectures the separateness is even more defined. And I feel the two are somewhat set against each other, but in the quote they are combined. For Darcy the condition is so great that it captures both. The two become one, no longer separated but rather compounded to be even greater. Though my initial reaction to our topic may be on Kiera Knightley chick flick, I think it brings additional perspective to the phrase that is important. The combination of two can be greater than the division.

But to show I am made of more than chick flicks and girly romance, I will share with you my second thought as I contemplated this category. Again it was a quote: "Free the body and the soul may flourish".

I feel that this really epitomizes some of the lecture points on body and soul. Clearly a flourishing soul is what the goal must be, no doubt from this quote it is the greater of the two. At the same time the body is the weight, the anchoring. It seems we must let the body go, to truly reach greatness. We must not be held back physically nor mentally and therefore must free ourselves of the body. However this makes me wonder, what is the body without the soul? Just dead weight? For some reason that saddens me that the body may be nothing more, even if it is just my irrational emotions telling me so.

And to round out with three as the spiritual, holy number, my final thoughts on this topic came to me while of course sitting in the cafe tonight with good atmosphere and conversation. As we are sitting there a song that I really love and always stops me and begs me to listen, Warwick Avenue starts to play. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhZ5-L9znt8). It is a song that clams and stills my body; the sounds grabbing my soul. The sounds are stiking and beautiful. I particularly love the artist's voice which is pure and literally soulful. I am in no way musical, but I greatly appreciate the art. Soulful voices always catch me and the enjoyment gets me "body and soul" (no pun intended). This experience go me thinking especially as others commented on the her nice voice, thatI agree the soul is powerful but I think the soul needs the body to express itself. Yes, we cannot not let the body hold us back, but we must learn to enjoy the soul and its art and beauty through the body. Let the body be a vessel for the art of the free soul. So finally I leave you with---"Art is the journey of a free soul"-Alev Oguz