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17. The long war against the body
Manage episode 485730061 series 3644109
What if history’s greatest heresy wasn’t the rejection of God—but the rejection of the body?
In today’s show, we follow Nietzsche’s assault on the Christian hatred of the flesh. From medieval monks who saw filth as virtue, to saints who mutilated themselves in pursuit of ‘purity,’ we uncover a disturbing legacy: the systematic degradation of the body in the name of the soul. Christianity didn’t merely neglect the body—it waged war on it.
But this isn’t just religious history—it’s a philosophical reckoning. Nietzsche’s naturalism puts the body back at the centre of life, value, and meaning.
We close with a meditative practice to awaken your awareness of the evolutionary story written into your own anatomy.
The takeaway? Your body is not your prison—it is your potential. And far from being sinful, its impulses are the very stuff of life itself. You don’t have a body. You are one. And it’s time to rediscover its nobility—and restore the honour it is rightfully due.
As we continue this exploration, we’ll see that to affirm the body is to affirm life—and that this affirmation is the precondition of strength, of freedom, of power, and of joy.
Music: Misdirection by Dark Rooms
Music credit in intro: ViraMillar on Freesound - "Music by UNIVERSFIELD from Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/UNIVERSFIELD"
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