I Equals Body

The very fact of this expression
Makes it irrefutable
That the body exists

If it weren’t, these words wouldn’t arise —
Much less be understood
Conveyed, or received

The existence of the body —
While irrefutable — does not
Prove that it contains an I

When I say
I exist, or I am
I invariably refer
To the fact that this body exists

When I say
I will die, or someone else has died
I invariably refer
To the death of a body —
Mine, or another’s

In my mind, in my reality, in my words —
I equals body

I take myself to be this body
That exists
And that one day will cease to exist

It would be the end of the story —
If there were not
Awareness

The very fact of this expression
Makes it irrefutable
That awareness is

If it were not, these words would not arise —
Much less make sense
Be understood, or perceived

To say that I equals body
I must already have
An awareness of the body

To perceive or sense anything at all
There must be awareness —
In which, through which
And with which all things are known

On one hand — while I have no proof
No experience, no evidence —
That the body hosts an I
My utterance of I simply refers
To the fact that the body exists

On the other hand — I can never refute
Even for an instant
That I exist — that awareness is
For even a refutation of awareness
Would require awareness

So — I create a congealed philosophy
That goes something like this:
I = body = awareness
Body is born and dies —
Therefore awareness and I are born and die

That, fundamentally
Is the living philosophy of humankind —
From birth
To death

It would be all good —
If there were
A shred of evidence —
Objective or subjective
Empirical or experiential —
To show that a body
This body
Has ever — or could ever —
Exist without awareness

Or if there were
In any realm or imagination
Even a trace of proof
That awareness depends on the body —
Is contained within it
Born with it
And dies with it

Is not the error, then
Simple
A belief — without evidence —
In an I, in awareness
Existing within the body

An unexamined belief
That I am this body
That I equals body
That awareness equals body

Without that belief
What remains
Is not the absence of body
But awareness —
Unborn