THE CARING OF THE TEMPLE

Yusuf Islam

Recently I was gifted by an event of grace that characteristically arrived unannounced. PBS was conducting one of its week long fund raising drives, one of life's necessary evils I try to endure with what little poise I have reserved for such things. Earlier this year a long lost taping of the last public concert Cat Stevens performed had surfaced out of no where, having survived in remarkable condition and this wonderful concert was the center piece of the PBS program, repeated several nights that week. I had lost track of Cat, now Yusuf Islam, after he left the professional life of performing music. But hearing him play again was a return to another time, another me, and era of naive but abundant hope and loving expectations for a new world, a future full of promise, depth and meaning. Because the concert was filmed in the 70's all the songs that had come to mean so much to me were center stage. And a line that for some reason has always touched my heart stirred me again as he sang, "my body's been a good friend, but I won't need it in the end". Perhaps these lyrics strike a chord with me precisely because I am a type (five if you are familiar with the Enneagram) who lives as if I had no body. By inclination I am a talking head, living in my mind for the most part with little regard for expression of feelings, emotions, such physical dynamics as health. That is why I am getting so much out of my weightlifting program that is an essential part of this integral path. I'm making modest progress and enjoying it so much I now work out every other day instead of the twice a week schedule I began with. I've added weight to each exercise on a weekly basis, have learned the basics of each exercise and am concentrating more and more on improving my technique. To quote my mentor, "You can have a great training program, the best equipment, a perfect nutritional plan, an ideal rest and sleep schedule, and the most positive attitude in the world, but it will all be largely if not totally wasted if you do not use good exercise technique. In order of priority, exercise technique comes before program design." from Weight Training Technique by Stuart McRobert. Cat Stevens reminded me that I would do well to recast my image of my body as a "good friend" that I want to treat like the loyal companion it has been all along despite no acknowledgment or regard on my part. "Do you not know that your body is the temple, the very sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who lives within you, whom you have received as a gift from God? You are not your own." I Corinthians 6:9.