The consciousness that looks through the body
Life contains beauty, a beauty that does not need to be sought because it is not hidden in the highest places or in the farthest journeys, but in the capacity for perception that we all carry within, a perception that so often remains veiled by layers of internal noise, imposed goals, haste, unhealed wounds, and the Western idea that we must conquer something to feel fulfillment, when in reality fulfillment has always been waiting to be recognized, not achieved. Contemplative neuroscience explains that the perception of beauty is not a property of the object seen, but a pattern of coherence between the body, the nervous system, and states of consciousness, which means that beauty is not discovered outside but awakened within when the mental mode that keeps us alert decreases, and a more open, slower, more receptive state activates, almost as if consciousness expands into the body instead of being contained within it. Many traditions have said that “vision depends on the state of the one who sees,” and for the first time I understood that I had spent years accompanied by clouds, trees, seasons, animals, and skies that changed constantly, but without truly seeing them because I was trapped in goal after goal, looking outside for a response that could only appear when I stopped.
The body as the painter’s instrument
One of the deepest teachings is understanding that the body is not a prison or a biological accident, but a subtle tool, an instrument chosen by consciousness to paint its work in the material world, to touch, smell, feel, move, learn, and remember what the mind often forgets. Somatic neuroscience describes the body as an emotional archive, a living storehouse where millions of micro-experiences remain engraved that the mind forgets but the nervous system integrates, from the first ray of sunlight felt in childhood to the last caress, and also every fear, every contraction, every gesture of love or protection. That is why in Taoist practices it is said that “the body knows before the mind,” because the body perceives the world’s changes as a form of natural wisdom, without narrative, without judgment, without story, simply from pure sensitivity. Rumi expressed the same from the heart when he said, “You are not a drop in the ocean; you are the entire ocean in a drop,” reminding us that what we are is not limited to the skin or shape, but that infinite consciousness expresses itself punctually through the body, like music that needs an instrument to sound in the physical world.
Clearing to see
For years I thought that beauty was something I had to reach, as if I needed to achieve, demonstrate, or conquer something outside myself to feel life fully, but one day I understood that beauty was already there, that I only needed to remove the layers that prevented me from seeing it, and that my mistake had been seeking external approval, believing that others knew something I did not, when in reality it has always been the opposite: if you know how to continue your path even when nothing around seems to indicate progress, you will discover a strength you never knew you had. Taoism teaches that “the path appears when walked,” a phrase that might seem simple but contains immense truth: there is no clarity before the step; the step is what opens the path. That is why, when one day I decided to walk my own path until the last of my days, something settled inside me, because I understood that many things can inspire you from outside, but nothing can replace the inner work of clearing perception, returning to the present, and remembering that the most valuable has always been within you. The body, like a great silent teacher, waits to be listened to, because if we could ask it how many sensations it has experienced throughout a life, it would show us an immense and sacred map of all we have traversed, a cartography of our journey through existence.
Returning to oneself
Loving oneself is not a selfish act but the only possible starting point to transform anything in the world, because one who does not listen cannot listen, one who does not care for themselves cannot sustain, and one who does not see themselves cannot see life with clarity. Everything you seek outside is already within you, and science, mystical poetry, and ancestral traditions converge on this truth in a surprisingly harmonious way: what matters is not reaching another place, but awakening the perception that allows you to see the beauty that is already here, beating, waiting, living.
A poem of mine, dedicated to my readers
Do not enter your mind, for I live beyond thought,
in the quiet chamber of your heart where time unravels.
Close your eyes, let the noise fall away,
and return to the home you have forgotten but never lost.
You have searched, you have prayed, you have pleaded,
yet you did not find me—
not because I was far,
but because you wandered away from your own essence.
I am the pulse beneath your breath,
the warmth behind your ribs,
the stillness that watches your storms with tenderness.
Come back to me by coming back to yourself,
for the path is not outside you,
and the love you seek has always waited
in the quiet of your own being.