Many of us in the West are deeply conflicted about our bodies. On the one hand, we aspire to an extremely high level of romantic and spiritual love and on the other cannot find what we desire and succumb to a counterfeit expression. I now see the body as the outer manifestation of emotions. The body is not independent of feelings but rather a reflection of them. It is also built in the mold of memories and holds the keys to our origins in Time and Space, our link to our place in the Cosmic Scheme.
Intellect is a much more curious phenomena.
It is extremely important to differentiate the Law of God from the laws of man. God did not tell us to be hungry, poor, or celibate. I do not want go into religious arguments about what God did or did not instruct each of us to. I want to focus on the essential schism between the psychological and spiritual components of our being. On the psychological level, we are each of us seeking to be understood, to be accepted for who we are, and to recognized as innocent.