Introduction As I was considering how I wanted to talk about how I love my body, my mind wandered over time from when what has become my body was genetic material in the ovum that became my mother in my grandmother’s ovary to long after the lifespan of my body when it has become dust. This really put me in the mood to get philosophical. So, I put on my favourite philosophy podcasts and got to work. This is a series of paintings investigating the essential nature of what it means to me to have a body. There is responsibility with having a body, for the works that we create with our body in our life time, the creations of our being have a karmic trail. That is a trail of cause and effect. What we do with our life matters unto ourselves and unto others. I have not always loved my body maybe because I did not even understand how or why it was so important. Sometimes what I thought was love was not love at all. There have been times that my body has taught me how it needs to be loved. I began to think about questions that I have thought about from time to time my whole life. Who am I? What am I? How do my creations serve? Why are these questions important? A self -portrait and a value study of my hands, the work of my hands seemed to be appropriate. ‘I am the Universe’ Size: 36x48 Medium: Acrylic In our genetic material we carry our ancestors. In our blood we carry iron from the earth. In our bones we carry carbon possibly even from the stars. It is completely unknown how vast our consciousness can be. Most of our body is water. Women’s bodies are pulled, in rhythm with the moon’s cycle rising and falling in concert with the universe. In the top centre of the portrait there is a single bright star. This is an important element of the piece, it is the polestar, a north star a guiding principle, a central point of focus. We all need a polestar to live a clear life, a good life. Without it a deep aimlessness can overtake a person and set them adrift in deep space, floating in the vast meaninglessness of suffering that life can at times be. This is not a good place to be. What that polestar is may vary, but when aligned with the deepest truth of your being the path becomes a life with direction and purpose and meaning. The body is the vessel on this voyage and bears with us through every storm, experiment, mistake, and valiant effort and thus is so worthy of love and care. I think if we used new eyes to see ourselves and each other all sorts of ‘unacceptable’ physical manifestations would either be so accepted they would become our greatest gifts, lessons and attributes or they would leave us, for in our truth we would no longer hold them to ourselves. The body is the vessel that carries us through the most harrowing journey we will ever make, the journey of our life. And that is absolutely amazing. Artist: Rebecca Light