Ash Wednesday: A “Back-the-Body” Perspective

Ash Wednesday

The core purpose of the “Back-to-the-Body” Perspective is to ferret out the natural way of living. Today is February 18, 2015. This is Ash Wednesday—the day after Carnival. In this article, I discuss the meaning of Ash Wednesday from the “Back-to-the-Body” Perspective.

If you believe that the Human Fall took place at the dawn of human history, then the “Back-to-the-Body” Perspective contains arguments that we have already paid the price for the Human Fall, and that we have now “returned to Paradise.” If you do not believe that the Human Fall took place at all, then you can look at the “Back-to-the-Body” Perspective as a way for us humans to go back to a more natural way of living, which will bring us good living, peace, and joyful prosperity.

This does not mean that the world is perfect–which we know that it is isn’t. It means simply that, more than ever, we have everything we need to create a better world. The conditions for a happy world are all here. And if we do not have a happy, prosperous, and peaceful world, it is because we persist in following crazy ideologies instead of seeking to co-exist in peace and prosperity with one another.

Suppose the Human Fall Has Never Occurred

Nature is beautiful

Through the “Back-to-the-Body” Perspective, we look at the world as if the Human Fall does not exist today. This is so for two reasons: either the Human Fall has never existed–as some people in the world believe; or we humans have already overcome the Human Fall.

This is the point where believers and nonbelievers can come together and co-exist in peace and prosperity. Every person in the world is seeking to fulfill their unalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. If you believe in the Book of Genesis, you will see that Genesis presents these three unalienable rights in the form of the Three Great Blessings given to human after the creation and before the Human Fall: Be fruitful; multiply and fill the earth; and have dominion.

LIFE                                                Be fruitful                prosperity
LIBERTY                                         Multiply                   peace
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS         Have dominion       joy

Ash Wednesday and the Winter Season

Nature sleeps in winter

The winter season corresponds to the period between 9:00 PM and 3:00 AM of the day’s 24-hour cycle. This is the time for deep sleep, relaxation, and rest. From the “Back-to-the-Body” Perspective, then, the period from Ash Wednesday until the beginning of spring is a time for deep relaxation and resting.

All this applies to the Northern Hemisphere, of course, and needs to be adjusted to the Southern Hemisphere. In the northern half of the world, we are now in the winter season. This is a time when we make adjustments in our life style, diet, activities, and work habits in order to slow down and experience the resting rhythms of the body.

Sunlight is scarce; the days are gray and dark; the weather is fiercely cold sometimes; and the body naturally slows down and seeks to rest. In the spring, life will come back again in full force; but for now, we slow down and enjoy the warmth of the slower rhythms of the body. This could be a re-interpretation of Ash Wednesday from the “Back-to-the-Body” Perspective.

Paulo-Juarez Pereira
Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA—where temperatures are hovering zero degrees Fahrenheit.
February 18, 2015

Photo Credits:

Photo: Ash Wednesday; Author: prince lang; Source: http://bit.ly/1EOT3o3; Creative Commons License: Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Photo: Nature is Beautiful; Author: Biodiversity Heritage Library; Source: http://bit.ly/1MwLSGL; Creative Commons License: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).

Photo: Nature Sleeps in Winter; Author: Cathy; Source: http://bit.ly/1yW636D; Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)