Entropy Part 6
March 6, 2026
Entropy Part 6
Entropy can not only diminish our spirituality; it can also affect the body.
We often speak of spiritual or psychological entropy, but our flesh, too, is subject to this quiet diminishment. They say we lose muscle mass as we age. I didn’t believe it until one day I found that I could not lift our luggage with the ease I always had. Entropy, the natural tendency of all matter to disperse and weaken, shows itself unmistakably in the body.
The body is a complex and mysterious system, still being explored by medical science. Yet one truth is beyond debate: it is the only vehicle in which we physically move in the world. Essential to life, it is also vulnerable to accidents, neglect, assault, abuse, environmental toxins, aging, and disease.
In the Enneagram tradition, the body is one of our three Centers of Intelligence, along with the Head Center and the Heart Center. It speaks constantly. It tells us what is happening within us and alerts us to what is occurring in our external environment. Given its indispensability and its fragility, it becomes our responsibility to protect the body as the temple of the soul and the Holy Spirit.
I once took my body for granted. It seemed as permanent and dependable as my parents, our house, the grass beneath my feet, the trees, and the sky. But life teaches us otherwise. Things and people can disappear, but the body is irreplaceable. It can be damaged, injured, and, ultimately, die.
My body now teaches me plainly that it is subject to entropy. Muscles are not as strong as they once were. The circulatory, digestive, and nervous systems no longer function with the same efficiency. Time leaves its unmistakable mark.
So, what are we to do in the face of this natural but unwelcome process? If the body is truly a temple for the Holy Spirit and the soul, then at every age we are called to nurture and preserve it, just as we do our hearts, minds, and inner life. Though the body ages, it remains ours to strengthen, and to restore.
For me, this has meant lifting weights and daily vigorous exercise, which has made a profound difference. But I have also learned from those I trust that we can train ourselves to listen more attentively to the body. By tuning into its sensations, needs, and hard-wired involuntary responses, we gain invaluable information. When we actively engage the body through movement, strength, and presence, we expand it. And like spiritual expansion, this movement counters entropy.
And there is something even more remarkable. It is perhaps the most vital gift the body offers us: embodiment. When we embody our Holy Ideas, our Virtues, and our Essential Aspects, these living spiritual energies enter the physical realm. They inhabit our cells. They become flesh. A cell infused with love is a cell filled with life. And in this union of body, soul, and spirit, entropy itself is quietly transformed.
Spiritual practice: In meditation, picture your virtue entering your body. Be present to that virtue. Invite it to enter your body. Feel it on the cellular level. Be a living expression of your virtue.
Self-inquiry: What is the cost to you of taking care of your body and embodying your Holy ideas, Virtue, and Essential Aspects?
Prayer:
Dear God, I pray for the consciousness to embody Holy Strength and Faith. Amen
