The Body as a Cross-Section of Mind

"I need clarification about the body-mind. I understand body and mind are one entity. Have I understood correctly that the body is a modulation of the mind? Rupert says: ‘I would say the body is how the mind appears from a second-person point of view. Close your eyes – if this were your first experience, you’d have no idea you are or have a body. You’re having sensations and perceptions, but you don’t know they’re sensations of a body. When I look at you, I don’t see a bundle of sensations – I see a body. Your first-person experience is mind, sensations and perceptions. But when I look at that bundle through the lens of perception, I see you as matter. As William Blake said, the body is that portion of the soul discernible to the five senses. Close your eyes – you are a whole world of mind: thoughts, images, feelings, memories, hopes, fears, intuition. But when that bundle of mind is viewed through what Blake called “the narrow chink of my cavern”, I just see a physical body. Yet we all know we’re so much more. Although I see you as a body, my understanding overrides sense perception. I see you as a body, I know you as a mind, and I feel you as God’s infinite being.’"

From event 21 - 28 November, 2025 Seven-Day Retreat at The Vedanta, 21–28 November 2025

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