Gerrit Gielen

Some people view the body much like they do a machine, for example, a car. The analogy is fitting. A car needs regular oil changes; in an emergency, we may need a blood transfusion. A car goes in for regular checkups; we go in for our yearly medical checkup. Cars have punctures, we fall and break a bone that needs surgery. Carburetors and brakes need to be replaced; so do knees and hips. We live with the constant fear of getting old and dying but tend to assuage the fear with the fixes available to us, which fool us into believing we can escape both.

Are our bodies really only mechanical things, easily fixed with replacement parts?

From the spiritual perspective, the body is intelligent and wise with its own needs and desires. It is also in continuous communication with you, an ongoing energetic exchange is always transpiring. Your body is loyal. It helps you, carries you, and houses your burdens. When you fall out of balance, it does everything it can to restore it.

As you grow older, the body slows down. At the beginning of your life, it was adept at exploring the outer world, now it decreases its speed giving you time to discover the inner one. It wants to integrate the earthly life experiences you have enjoyed in the company of your soul. In old age, you have time to restore and deepen the connection with your soul as your perspective and goals shift leaving behind the fascinations of youth.

The Function of the Body in Each Phase of Life

The youthful human body wants nothing more than to learn about, discover and enjoy the physical world. It displays an endless energy for play and movement. It is curious and eager to explore what catches it’s fancy in the present moment. As a child, we are innocent and pure. We don’t know much about the world we find ourselves in, but we have a strong desire to find out. The present moment, the here and now, is our domain. We gladly experience everything the world has to offer and explore it to the fullest.

When I was a schoolboy, I felt extremely tense watching the clock tick toward the late afternoon dismissal. The tension increased with every passing minute. I could feel it building in my legs, hardly able to keep them still. Finally, at four o’clock, we were free to leave and go outside where we could run and play to our heart’s content. That energy was thrilling, fun, and enjoyable compared to what I lived through at my desk. To run and skip and discover the world before you was everything. Each discovery was new and exhilarating.

As we grow older the sparkling, enthusiastic energy inevitably diminishes. We become inured and staid as we take on the cloak of adulthood. We know how the world works, we take on more and more responsibility, we work and build an identity we call “me” based on our personality and place in society.

The body, which is now strong and molded by the world, is not as present and carefree. It has undergone years of modification; it has been trained to stand still in the world; mobility decreases as rootedness increases.

And then comes old age.

The body is different now. It is quieter, which enables us to lovingly restore our connection with our soul. It is inviting us to go on the inner journey back to the source and integrate all our life experiences, and heal what needs healing. This is what the age of being old is truly about and it is essential to accomplish this integration.

The body wants to take us Home. It wants to remind us of  who we truly are. We have enjoyed countless experiences in our life on Earth. We are adept at putting things into perspective, more at ease with ourselves. We have developed a deeper understanding of others. We are certainly wiser. The world and all its struggles, dramas, and breaking news interest us less and less.

We look at ourselves differently now. We look back on our life and know what we stand for, what we have meant to others, what we have done to others and for others, which opportunities we have seized, and which ones we passed by.

Your body tries to help you with that process of internalization and integration.

The Language of the Body

Yes, sometimes old age brings aches, pains, disease, and other various ailments. If you look at these changes from a spiritual perspective, the body is trying to tell you something important and you might want to look deeper into what it is saying.

You eventually figure out there is way more to the noises your body makes than what appears on the surface. Pain and discomfort have a voice; they will speak to you if you are still and listen. Imagine what the sharp pain in your back might say to you if you ask, Why are you here? Do you have a  message for me? How can I understand what’s happening to me?

In the quiet process of aging, your body speaks to you. Listen carefully. It may ask, what do you no longer need to carry? What doesn’t fit you anymore? What are you afraid of?

It may be inviting you to stop doing certain things and turn your focus elsewhere. It may be telling you to spend more time connecting  with your soul, and less time with the goings on in the world, the fast frenzied pace outside your door. Consider it.

How does the body communicate with us? In two ways.

First, over time, our bodies become increasingly sensitive to the energies and urgings of the soul. Elderly people tend to be more sensitive to beauty, truth, and love. They have milder ways, can more easily entertain other perspectives besides their own. The body transmits subtler vibrations than before, which harmonize with the soul, thereby strengthening its presence.

Second, we can now feel how the body signals us when it comes too close to negative energies. They don’t resonate with us anymore; the busy, hectic, multitasking energies of modern society fray our nerves. Noise and hustle repel us because they are not useful, they don’t teach us anything about our  true selves. The frequency is too heavy and difficult to take in. Listen and take heed.

Sometimes, “ailments of old age” are signs that the old ways of how we live, think, and act in the world are no longer genuine. We sense we are about to change or already have.

Physical problems arise when we stubbornly hold on to what no longer serves us. For some reason, we expose ourselves to these old negative energies and tensions, which in the end exhaust us and can cause somatic aches and pains. If we cling to the dark energies of this world, continue to identify with the temporary, and desperately hold on to the unresolved past without integrating it, life becomes increasingly difficult and constricted resulting in need for control.

It is easier to let things go if we allow the light of the future to shine on us. Our bodies do what is necessary to precisely accomplish this. When we learn to read and interpret what our bodies are saying, we have taken one more step into the deeper meaning of things, our lives, and our true identity. Who are we behind the persona we have created? It is time to remove the mask.

When we experience physical pain, ask it to reveal what energies or experiences no longer benefit us. These energies steal our attention from discovering our inner world, inner self, our souls, while our body is trying to focus our attention on them. The body is there to bring us Home, to remind us of who we really are and point us away from the constant pressure and restlessness of the world. The body is our guide to a higher consciousness, a guide onto a path that takes us toward the recognition of our own divine light. This is what the body is committed to.

When you let go of what you are not, you have the space to embrace and claim who you are. The last chapters of your life are bound to be a profound awakening process, a new journey of discovery. This time, however, you are not discovering the world outside you, you are discovering the world inside of you. You’re discovering your own inner light. The great inner awakening comes when you remember this. You exchange the personality/ego identity with the soul/spirit identity. Then, you’ve arrived home.

Suppressed Energies

Our body helps us deepen contact with our soul when we take a step back from the world. It also assists in the integration of all the life experiences we have had on Earth. Tension is present between our personality and soul, the worldly energy, and the spiritual energy. The body helps us resolve this. As we age and diminish physically, we let go of our possessions, all the things we have accumulated in our lives, but we fail to let go of what has accumulated inside because we are too afraid to face it.

The personality holds onto less pleasant energies, one could say, those that are suppressed or repressed and are held and stored in the body. This is understandably necessary to some degree in order to function in the world and meet the expectations and responsibilities of a hectic, busy world.

Emotions of fear, grief, anger, and stress are not always allowed to be acknowledged or felt; there is no safe place to express them and there is no time. We have never learned to go inward and give them attention. We push them down, put them aside, and move on to the next piece of busyness. The lack of time and motivation to self-reflect only leads to more of the same. The  body is very capable of carrying an incredible amount of suppressed emotions. It not only carries them, it also absorbs them. Subsequently, we may have a heart attack, pain in the abdominal area, or suffer from terrible headaches.

The body finally loses the willingness to carry the old, buried emotions. It  is not responsible for them anymore. It wants to release them after holding them for years and years. What we have refused to see or feel comes up in our consciousness as an invitation. We have the space and time now to heal and integrate these outcasts before we die.

We have to first be aware of them, deal with them, and reap the inner peace that follows.

The unseen wants to be seen.

The unresolved longs to be lovingly accepted.

We must find the courage to face what is buried and say yes to it.
Yes, this belongs to me.
Yes, this fear, anger, or jealousy is part of my human history.
Yes, I want to look at everything and bring it into the light.
Yes, I am afraid, but I will befriend what’s hidden.

It is time to turn inward and meet everything that arises with love.

Unconditional self-love is the key to integration. We have to love every moment of our lives; all the foolishness, the mistakes, the times we hurt others, the missed opportunities. It all deserves a home within; it all belongs to us.

Look back on your life with love and understanding, never abandon yourself. With this kind of self-love, we create inner peace. There is no need to run and hide. We are becoming who we truly are by integrating the personality with the soul.

We do this by completely loving and embracing ourselves. To look lovingly at ourselves entails total honesty.

Unconditional love is a strength, not a weakness.

Old Age as Awakening

Summary

In the traditional, materialistic view, the aging body develops ailments and diseases that ultimately cause the death of the body. Old age is seen as a continuous decline culminating in death.

From a spiritual perspective the aging body offers an opportunity to reconnect with your soul. You stop identifying exclusively with what passes away; your body, your achievements, your possessions, your appearance, your social role, and instead identify with that eternal and immortal part of yourself.

Deep within there is an incredible richness and beauty waiting to be discovered, a radiant, shining light that transcends time and space. This is your soul. This is your timeless essence.

When you recognize the richness of your own inner light and allow it to come in, you will be able to recognize that light everywhere in the world around you, and you will fulfill your spiritual purpose of growing old.

When you can see your own beauty and replace the persona with the identity of soul, you will recognize that beauty in others as well. You need to do very little; say a few words, a look into someone’s eyes, or your mere presence is enough for someone to know that they are also pure, eternal light.

The aging body helps you remember your immortality.

When you identify more deeply with the immortal part of yourself, you will experience death very differently. The moment you truly realize I am my soul, the meaning of finitude changes, and death ceases to exist.

As your body grows old, and you see the changes in the mirror, ask yourself—what is my body trying to show me? Is there something within me that is more me than my physical self?

Yes.

You are not a body that is slowly disappearing. You are an eternal consciousness that temporarily lives through the body and survives the death of the body. Not merely a human being with a past and a finite future, but a soul that transcends time and space.

The aging body does not bring death; it brings eternal life.

© Gerrit Gielen

Edited by Suzy Conway

---