Our Bodies, Our Souls

Yogic philosophy emphasizes "oneness." We are all one with the universe. I have always found this to be a challenging notion. I mean, I'm me, you're you, we are distinct beings, how can we be one?
The first thing that helped me grasp this concept was that I had been praying the Shema my whole life and isn't that what is says. Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai ECHAD. God is One. This central prayer affirms God's oneness, and since I believe God resides in each one of us, I could begin to imagine how we are all part of a larger whole.
In an earlier post I pondered the idea of limits and how limits actually give us more feedom (ie. Shabbat, laws, rules). Well our bodies serve as a type of limit as well. If we imagine the world, the cosmos, to be a miasma of energy swirling around- ONE giant energy swirl. And imagine our bodies to be temporary containers of the this energy, holding it long enough to allow us to experience the world, then we can see how we are all one. If you made a jello mold and scooped out portions into bowls- the jello would still be the same substance, just put in smaller containers. If you then poured the jello back into the original bowl, you'd still have one large jello.
Okay that is a goofy analogy and I haven't eaten jello in forever but it worked for me.
We need our bodies to help us experience the oneness of the universe. Without a body our souls would have no boundaries and without boundaries we would not be able to experience a distinction. It is this sense of being distinct that helps us appreciate our connection to every other being.