I understand the inclination to believe, as some say, that we are either spiritual beings or that our goal should be to shed our physical bodies in order to become spiritual beings. Yes, our spirituality is important to our souls and we must nourish our souls, but we help to nourish our souls when we nourish our bodies. Just as our bodies tend to decay or deteriorate if we neglect our soul, so also does it hinder our soul if we fail to take care of our bodies.

What I like about your poem is that it explicitly states that we have these two things (which might be an assumption on my part and I expect you to call me on it if I’m wrong) a physical, empirical nature and a spiritual, deductive nature and we must accomodate both in order to be at peace in ourselves. Gluttony is a sin, yes. …But eating a healthy, even hearty meal in order to build our strength is not a sin. Sexual perversion and excess is a sin, but the healhty expression of our sexual desires in an appropriate relationship is certainly not a sin.

I’m sorry, my friend. I’ve gone on, but as you can see, I’ve thought about this a lot.