This beastly body...

"We are constantly confronted with the limitations of the body. My body seems a mere encumbrance to me; an imbecilic wagon, hitched to horses of desire, which is the soul. Without my body, I feel I could spurn the earth and mount to those vast, sapphiric peaks of accomplishment and soluble mystery which by reason of my lumbering and utterly useless body, I can but catch brief glimpses, across the uninteresting and monotonous expanses of worldly life.
Yet, it may be that this beastly body of mine has a purpose. Perhaps abstract desire must take concrete form ere any step can be made toward accomplishment and knowledge."

Robert E. Howard, letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, Jr.
Aug. 28, 1925
(Robert E. Howard, Selected Letters, 1923-1930. Necronomicon Press, 1989)

Why did I post this? Any number of reasons but mainly two... First off I thought it would be an interesting and thought provoking statement, especially when some discover that it was written by the creator of the pulp fiction Conan the Barbarian character. Most who have never read the stories by Robert E. Howard, think of him only as a superficial fantasy writer that deals only in blood and gore. Again, that is because they have never read the Howard stories.

Secondly, I love the analogy of the soul, being compared to a team of horses. The horses of desire. It clicks with my feelings that a soul, while an incorporeal and intangible thing, is still a part of the human body and life, just as much as the heart, lungs or any other internal organ is. Without a soul, I don't think that we would be anything more than just another animal. A soul to me is God's fingerprint on us all, being made in his likeness. And it always seems to me, looking for a way out of the body to soar to a higher peak. And this is why I think humans always strive to attain and accomplish more than what they have. The soul is looking for a better place, a better life, a place where the soul can soar.

Enjoy...

Later!