To be A Human Fully Embodied
Theology II Essay on what it means to be a human fully embodied - Feb 2021
To be a human fully embodied is a commitment to the known and unknown (Tonstad, 71). It is an ever-evolving journey to transcend “ways to be” prescribed by sociopolitical systems (Tonstad, 66;68) and to take ownership of our ancestors, our present moments, and the hope of the future ahead (Copeland, 17; 20). To be a human fully embodied is to deny the normative rights over our bodies and ways of becoming (Tonstad, 69). The embodiment of one human cultivates radical freedom and offers a communal ripple effect for humankind (Copeland, 8). To be a human fully embodied, then, means radical freedom to flourish as we become in our lives and in relationship with creator.
Before we’re born into the world, ideologies about nature and culture prescribe normative expectations and classifications for our personhood (Tonstad, 54). At various levels of privilege, the human body enters the world disembodied. I wonder what kind of pain that brings our creator who desires so much more for our being. These normative expectations, in my queer experience, are heavily binary, disruptive to the discovery of how God uniquely creates us, and fracturing to the ability to see we are indeed kin to one another (55). A part of queer embodiment is unveiling the privileges and unstable nature of these binaries (56). Transcending these prescribed notions of how to be in the world makes way for radical freedom, perhaps seeing the world more for what it is, and being called toward an embodiment that returns power back to the people and the body (58;68). To be a human fully embodied, then, is to seek freedom unattached to societal hierarchy or normative prescriptions.
As long as racial, gender, and sexual bias are embodied as the sole source of order, then a disembodiment transcends over humanity’s lived experiences. The notion of Audre Lorde’s infamous words of “no one is free until all our free” applies here and applies to the ever-evolving journey of embodiment. Copeland speaks to witnessing concrete bodies and experiences that help us interrogate the “dynamic unfolding of created spirit in the struggle to exercise freedom in history and society” (8). If we as humans in search of embodiment make room for such witnessing, we reverse disembodiment. We work together toward the truthful embodiment of our privileges, existence, and cultivate a practice of leaning into embodiment work not just for the moment, but for life (17; 20). To be a human fully embodied, then, is to lean into the uncomfortable, to train the “eye to see” and remain open (17).
Embodiment has a direct correlation to our Christian task of desire and longing for communal relationships with each other and the divine. To be a human fully embodied is to be a human always seeking, longing, and desiring to know it’s being and to know God. Embodiment is not a destination it is “rising and ebbing moments of presence and absence between humanity and divinity” (Hillgardner, 157). This yearning fuels the devotion of transcending norms, a commitment to interrogation of self and world, and freedom to flourish (159). The world is widened, the self is explored, and the human working toward full embodiment is sent outward to live in relationship to others and the divine more authentically (165). To be a human fully embodied means a practice of never relinquishing the desire to be radically free as creator intended for each of us (Gen. 1:26-31).
With longing, our desire for embodiment is not lost in translation. Instead, it is pursued with openness to engage one another and God. Through this pursuit comes radical freedom. We as humans can live a more flourish-filled embodied life with each other and the creator. This is true embodiment radical freedom to become with kin and our creator.