4.1 The Body: Ashes and Dust.

When I think of my body, my physical being, in terms of ritual practices, I think of setting a goal that is practical and a fitness benefit. Generally, we do not consider our philosophy or ideology to be practical or goal-based. We think of it in the realm of ideas, and not actions. Philosophy is seldom seen as livable. But when I think of the body, the first thing that comes to mind is "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." This phrase originates in the burial service in the Book of Common Prayer: ‘We, therefore, commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The Book of Common Prayer is referencing the idea in Genesis, the book of beginnings, that 'Adam' was formed out of dust. Secondly, 'Adam' is told, "dust you are and to dust you will return."

Let’s note two things about 'Adam' -- the first body. The writer in Genesis is clearly playing on words. Adam means human and later refers to the man, Adam. (The story repeatedly calls him ‘the man’ – which is the word adam. The same word later becomes the proper name, Adam.) Adam is also a play on 'damah' the Hebrew word for ground. Adam, the human, was taken from the ground, the dust. The breath of the Creator is given to Adam. It is life-giving. Breath is vitally important to the body and to the story of humanity. Adam is given life in the image of the Creator. That image is male and female.

We are so accustomed to understanding the idea that Eve was fashioned from Adam's rib that we cannot tolerate the reasonable but contrary idea that Eve was one full side of Adam. (Of the 42 times the Hebrew word is used, only in the story of ‘Eve’ is it translated as rib. The other times it is translated as a side.) This is widely debated. It is suggested that if the story is one of Adam’s rib, Eve is minimized, secondary, a subsidiary. But the image of the Creator is not complete without Eve. We think the story is telling us that she comes after he. But she existed previously ‘together with’ he. The Human adam, versus the male Adam, is the image of God, “both male and female.” (This has implications on how we construe human gender and the 'gender' of the Creator.) Adam needs to cling to Eve to become one again. Adam the Man never gives birth after this.

Our minds have difficulty comprehending that the story could be any different than the story we have been told. This incongruence, a dissonance, is the essence of The Praxis Project. When confronted with a different story, can you believe something that you don’t believe? Or better (or worse), what do you do with a contradiction in your beliefs?

 Our reflections have become dangerously philosophical. Yet our philosophy, our love of wisdom, determines the direction in which our body goes. What we believe will determine how we treat others. Subconsciously, this might be based on how my body is different from other bodies. To be sure, our bodies are dust, with breath breathed only for a short time. The poetry of the Hebrew Psalms notes that the Creator remembers that we are dust, a flower that flourishes then perishes. Our bodies, summarily, are ashes and dust. But the Book of Common Prayer does not leave us there, but says, “We, therefore, commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.’