I Am Not My Body

There is comfort in believing that I am more than my body. This belief comes from years of study and contemplation in psychology, religion, and spirituality. It has led to having no religious or spiritual preference, but I feel grounded in knowing what I am. It leaves me with an inner feeling of peace that rests in heart, like having a room within emptied of worldly desires and filled instead with peace and joy; a room cleared of the past and filled with full awareness of the moment. It is in this space that I have come to know that I am not my body.

Some physicists think otherwise; notably those who study quantum mechanics. More than one of these scientists has said that we are nothing but a body. They believe the body to be our sole existence. For them, there is no reality beyond the body, as found in religion or spirituality, and philosophy to some extent. At least this is the message I get from reading their books. Their work is fascinating, and they have solid reasons for their existential beliefs, which cannot be denied. They just are not mine.

Quantum physics concerns itself with the mechanics of existence. It wants to know how the universe works, so it studies the matter and energy comprising it. Physicists explore the properties and interactions of events from subatomic particles to giant stars and black holes. In the process, they develop formulas to describe what they learn. These formulas help to explain how the universe operates mechanically, but not spiritually.

The exquisite formulas of physics capture the mechanics of existence in the beauty of their own poetry. They are marvels to behold and wonders of creative thinking put to practical use. They help to answer many existential questions, but the consideration of realities beyond the body remain with metaphysics, whose knowledge comes mostly from direct experience with our true nature as revealed in such timeless teachings as Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, and by voices such as those of Jesus, Rumi, Greek philosophers, Meister Eckhart, and so forth.

Metaphysicians see our reality as being beyond the mere existence of the body. To them, our true being is much more than just measurable interactions among objects, forces, and subatomic particles. Our reality beyond life in this world cannot be similarly measured because, being eternal, it has no form or dimensions. Then how do we know this reality if it cannot be measured? The measure of eternal reality is within us as knowledge that passes all understanding. We know this from teachings that have come down to us through the ages and from our own spiritual experiences. But scientists who study subatomic particles and the laws that govern them often disagree that we are anything more than the body.

Science offers elegant equations to explain its insights and observations of both the macro- and micro- physical worlds. These equations and the theories they represent can be tested and retested until there is no doubt as to their validity. Metaphysicians think outside the physical world to examine information gained from insight, intuition, meditation, logic, and leaps of faith. But such information can be as real as that gained from objective analyses. Belief in spirit, whatever form it takes, exists as strongly in metaphysics as knowledge of particles and their governing laws does in physics. Our inner experiences and the knowledge arising from them have their own reality and personal validity. What they do not have are proofs displayed in mathematical formulas.

Brian Greene, noted professor at Columbia University and theorist in string theory, presents in his 2020 book, Until the End of Time, the quest to pinpoint consciousness as a physical aspect of our brains. Greene represents the viewpoint that we are merely bodies of particles bookended between birth and death. His book is an intriguing look into our true self being only our transitory body in a cosmos that will burn out eons upon eons from now. It is the work of a man who understands the cosmos and the workings of the particles of existence far, far better than I, so he gets no argument from me. The book is an extraordinary, intellectual ride through physicists’ knowledge of existence and their advocacy that we are no more than evolved flesh, bone, and brain matter in search of meaning where there is none but the body.

Which leaves me with a question: Is consciousness an evolved aspect of the body (ala Greene) or is the body a projected aspect of eternal consciousness (ala metaphysics)? For now, I live as if the latter were true, although I suspect there is truth in both positions. Whatever the answer, it would be sad for me if consciousness were only brain chemistry that was born with the body and died with the body. Metaphysics also would suffer if that were the only truth, for there would be fewer existential questions to ponder. I like to think that we are here in consciousness to ponder life’s meaning and our reality beyond the body’s birth and death. Where would be the wonder of one’s life if it were nothing but a flit of evolved protoplasm? I must believe that there is more to life than our brief existence as a body. I want there to be a larger picture than particles and the laws that govern them. Otherwise, what is the point?

I know too little to argue with Greene, et al. They know far better than I how the universe works. Their findings reveal existence to be particles following the laws of physics. Their formulas exemplify the laws and put them to work for our benefit in this age of technology. But what I know in heart does not allow me to accept that I am only a body that is born, lives, and dies back into the oblivion it came from.

Greene likely would say that any knowledge coming from heart is but a highly evolved arrangement of particles. That is not my sense. I feel as if there is more to my reality than an evolved body and its brain. My feelings cannot make a hard case against his facts, but they are truth to me. I grant that my existence as a body with all its senses and emotions may be particles, but I am convinced that my reality goes beyond that.

What am I? is a mystery that keeps on giving. Teachings attributed to mystics such as Krishna, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Jesus, et al, keep the mystery alive today as in ages past. Such teachings have given me twia as my belief in Self. Quantum physics also offers a doorway into the mystery. Neither metaphysics nor physics has a final answer. For now, I have a peaceful relationship with both, knowing we can never fully comprehend the mystery through a single lens. Meanwhile, I accept twia as my truth in this moment.