Joni Mitchell Was Right: We Are Stardust

"We are stardust, we are golden," Joni Mitchell sang. Astro-physicists inform us that this is literally true. Every atom of this human body was forged inside a supernova.

Statements like "you are not this body," even though repeated by "saints," express centuries of monasticism and denial of earthly life. Just as calling life a dream is meaningless for someone who is dreaming, so it is meaningless for someone in a body to say, "I am not this body."

Innocent though it sounds, the monastic teaching that "you are not this body" may justify unspeakable slaughter in the name of religious duty (dharma). If flesh is just an illusory veil to imprison the immortal atman, then killing the flesh doesn't matter, as long as it is done as dharma.

We don't need an enlightened mind, we need an enlightened body. Here is the politics of enlightened body-awareness: When we realize that our flesh is sacred, we will we stop killing people in the name of God, for we will wee every body as God.

Why seek enlightenment elsewhere? Give up the search and just become aware of your molecules. Upanishads declare, Ano raniyan, mahato mahiyan: "One particle of the smallest is greater than the greatest." Relax and be this sparkling condensation of God-Consciousness, every cell overflowing with starlight, every atom expanding with the silent majesty of infinite space.

Body awareness is not materialism. It is the play of Krishna, the Formless in form, who dances with you just as you are. Body awareness is Christ, whose incarnation demonstrates that God's golden light is human.

Meditate on your body, in your body, through your body. Your body is woven from layer upon layer of celestial choirs, angelic hosts clustered into sub-atomic particles. Your body contains worlds of wisdom, spiraling ever inward in galaxies of downy light. Your body is not an obstacle on the path of transcendence: it is your ticket to transcendence. In your body, you can encircle the cosmos without going anywhere. Bathe in the inter-stellar radiance of your sacred flesh. "Glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:20)