The Four Sheaths – The Physical Body

How can I understand the nature of the human being? All too often we take this very nature for granted and do not really take the time and effort to understand it. Of course we have various points of view on this nature, points of view that generally sprout when we are confronted with the question “Why does he\she do\behave like that?” Could the nature of the human being so difficult to grasp although we are constantly surrounded by it? Through these series of short essays, let us consider an alternative way of looking at what the human being is and allowing us a chance to understand, hopefully better, why we are the way we are.

Let us begin with the most visible, tangible, part of our body, the physical body. We are beings of a physical world, a world that can be measured to some degree, grasped, sensed, and in some cases even shaped. There is clearly and distinctly a part of the world which is the epitome of the physical as it is constituted of a certain density, mass, and gravity. One may refer to it as the “material world”; it may also be considered the mineral world. Mineral comes from the same root word as mines. With this picture in mind, it would be difficult to escape the idea that the physical, mineral world is truly of the earth. 

Minerals, as we generally understand, tend to be found in the earth, sometimes quite deep. Many, if not all, are shaped by forces that surround the mineral. These forces press and shape the mineral from the outside. It is as if something has been “deposited” into the earth and then pressed and shaped into its final form. Both these images are important in our understanding of the physical body of man. We do have clearly, a mineral element in our bodies, the skeleton. Made primarily from calcium, it cannot be mistaken for anything but a mineral. If this is so, could it be possible that, just like the minerals of the earth, it too is the result of “deposits” or precipitates that are then formed and pressed into its shape by forces that are external to it? Naturally we would tend to say to this picture. But let us consider the similarities.

Consider our entire body as the earth. Minerals are found deep within the earth, just like our skeleton. Like all minerals, they have distinct form, the result of forces that must be pressing down upon it from without. Like all minerals, our skeleton too has a relationship with veins. Just as there are veins of minerals, our veins continuously deposit material that eventually develops it minerals (imagine uric deposits at joints, these are minerals forming at the wrong place and the wrong time). And yes, when bones break, there is an additional deposit of material that eventually will form the new or repaired bone. Such similarities are too consistent to ignore.

Our skeletons and that which builds around it are necessary to be part of this material world. Just like the earth, our minerals are found mostly deep within and then surrounded by a sheath to shield it, hide it, protect it. Mineral ore lies deep within the earth, shielded, hidden, protected. 

Our physical, mineral body is what allows us to take shape to be part of the physical world. Without it, we would not possibly be connected to the physical world as we would share nothing in common.  Let us look at this sheath, this physical body, therefore as the first part of four that constitute the human being. In the next three essays on this topic, we will discuss the remaining three. These are important in understanding the nature of the human being in the world we live in. 

Next: The Etheric Body