The Body Shop

Excerpts from Who Are You? Discovering Your Real Identity by Chris Butler

— The body is yours—but it is not you. The body is a garment you are wearing, a machine you are using, a vehicle you are driving. The body is your possession. Just as a person does not identify himself as being the shirt he is wearing, he also should not identify himself with the body he is wearing.

— A retired professional football player in the United States once discussed the particular event that made him decide to quit playing. He had been running with the football toward the goal, with two tacklers chasing him. As his legs started giving out, he thought, “Come on, you old legs—don’t give out on me now!” This is like a race car driver who talks to his car: “Keep on going, Betsy—don’t let me down now!” In other words, you use your body as a type of vehicle; but like all vehicles, your body is certain to break down sooner or later.