On the Mind, Body & Spirit

Here are my margin notes--spiritual things I realized while reading Teacher Jeong's messages during the month of June...

First in the order of importance is to learn how to manage and maintain the physical side of life—the body. Second, develop the spiritual side of life—your spiritual body. Finally, with knowledge of the two take action, for this is how you’ll come to truly value yourself and your surroundings; this is how to create true satisfaction (lasting joy) in life.

The “law of conscience” can also be described as having a “good heart”. God judges based on the word, but to those who have not heard it, he judges based on this universal law (having a good conscience).

The conscience is housed in the ‘mind’, a product of the brain. So when you have a choice to make, three avenues of decision making lay before you: a) decide based on knowledge acquired through the use of your brain, b) decide using wisdom cultivated through prayer and the word, or c) amalgamate the two into a holistically informed, God-willed, determination of action.

The nuts and bolts of this are actually quite simple: the word begets prayer which begets action. Wordà Prayer à Action.  Where is the ‘answer’ found? Teacher Jeong says, “… you will realize in your heart,” (ie. in your mind) what must be done.

Now, the caveat: you must control your mind! If you learn to control your mind, controlling your body will naturally follow. With both of these under control your spirit succeeds and your whole being prospers. The controlled mind manages the body, which frees the spirit to succeed. Mind à Body à Spirit.

With the mind controlled and the body managed, the spirit can succeed and in turn enlighten the mind. Again, this is how the human beings (and society as well as culture—in the collective sense) develop holistically; this is the key to balanced physical and spiritual growth. One more time from another perspective: the developed spirit acts upon the mind, producing enlightened thought, which allows you to solve physical problems in novel ways.

A human being functions optimally within a harmonious interaction of mind, body and spirit. Imagine the harmonious ‘being’ to be like three individuals (your mind, your body, and your spirit) seated in a triangle holding a taut rope in each hand. Each rope extends to the next individual and is neither slack nor stretched. 

All that is required to maintain the tautness is for each individual to remain pleasantly engaged in the ‘work’ of living life— a sort of ‘edge-of-the-seat’ focus that one would display when involved in a pleasant task they are passionate about. In this posture life is neither overly taxing, nor relaxed beyond necessity. Another way to view this symbotic relationship of mind, body and spirit is with the mnemonic: One Bright Light. ‘One’ refers to the mind—we aught to be one with God’s will. ‘Bright’ refers to the body—we aught to be shining examples of moral purity in our actions. ‘Light’ refers to the spirit—we aught to be one in simjeong with God’s spirit, the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ spirit, and Teacher Jeong, whom we can know through the spirit.

Mind à Body à Spirit

Word à Prayer à Action

One à Bright à Light

Brain neurons are sensitive, however. Worry and anxiety pollutes your neurons with pain—consciously or otherwise. These forms of agony create an artificial tautness in the ropes you are holding (remember the analogy?). That is, your being strives for harmony (tautness of rope), but when this equilibrium (or harmony) is upset because (for example) your mind becomes undisciplined, your being immediately seeks to restore the equilibrium by overcompensating with (for example) your body. That is to say, one part slacks off causing the rope to become loosened. Noticing the slackened rope, the other being pulls harder to bring the rope taut again. Yet, because of this overexertion on one of the parts, the rope is full of tension—the equilibrium is broken, the situation is unsustainable.

However, for some length of time everything will appear to be in control and normal, but in actuality the rope is artificially taut. At some point the overcompensating part relents and the rope falls flat. The more time this scenario happens the more our being is conditioned to survive outside of equilibrium. The imbalance/overcompensation in our being becomes habitual, and over time this lopsided sort of life becomes a new standard under which decisions are made, life is lived, and children are raised.  

The good news is that nothing is impossible if God makes it possible—including rebalancing your life. In order to do this our responsibility, outside of receiving the word, praying, and taking action, is to cultivate momentum. Momentum is a by-product of confidence. Confidence is the result of a clear and focused mind coupled with taking action. This is a very important point, because confidence is not exclusive to the realms of success. One can fail many thousands of times and maintain confidence so long as the mind remains clear and focused. That is to say, a whole lot of knowledge and wisdom can be salvaged from the ruins of utter failure. Don’t simply equate confidence to be a product of success. 

Imagine a field goal kicker practicing kick after kick from the 40 yard line. Each time he misses the uprights he has an opportunity to know why. Perhaps his foot placement was slightly too high—he adjusts and tries again. With each failed kick the kicker adjusts his aim, all the time growing more confident that he’ll one day perfect the kick. No one would ever suggest that the variables are chance or fate—hardly! The variables are his persistence and skill level. 

In any case, the entire process of rebalancing your life must be anchored with skill and persistence—skilled action, hopeful persistence. Each time you miss the mark (ie. sin) you have an opportunity to correct your aim (repent) and try again, with confidence, so long as your mind is clear and focused.