Precept 12: To Learn to Overcome Fear by Realizing That we are not This Body.

Mar 9

Greetings Friends,

Here is our photos and sacred words for Precept 12: To Learn to Overcome Fear by Realizing That we are not This Body.

We hope you enjoy them.

Blessings & Love

Rev Dinah Pemberton

Precept 12: To Learn to Overcome Fear by Realizing That we are not This Body.

The Promise of the Ring

This month, something very beautiful happened during my meditation. I was blessed with a vision of a ring. I also had many dreams of rings as well… choosing rings, wearing rings, rings appearing on my fingers.

I don’t fully know what it means yet, but the feeling from the dream feels tender and sacred. A part of me even laughed and thought, “Is God trying to marry me?” It felt playful and innocent, but also strangely true at a deeper level. Almost like the Divine was saying, “You belong to Me. You are Mine.”

And in a quiet way, I felt loved. I felt chosen. I felt seen. I felt Heard. Not because I’ve “pleased” God. It wasn’t like a reward. It felt more like a reflection of where my heart has been leaning, my efforts… toward devotion, toward surrender, toward wanting nothing more than to be close to the Divine.

The ring felt like a symbol of that inner union, and as someone who has remained single for God, it felt like a reminder that the soul’s relationship with God is deeply personal, intimate, and full of love. A ring of promise, of commitment and a bond. A way of saying that nothing offered to God is ever unnoticed. Nothing given in love is ever lost.

And maybe that’s what this vision is inviting me into: a deeper commitment to the spiritual life, a deeper trust, a deeper belonging.

To Learn to Overcome Fear by Realising That we are not This Body.

Lately, I’ve been sitting with a deep inner truth, one that I’ve known for years, yet am only beginning to truly feel. It’s the quiet realisation that I am not this body. Something in me has always sensed this, like a soft whisper from the soul, reminding me of who I really am.

And yet, I can also see how much I still hold on. How instinctively I protect the body, how quickly fear rises when something threatens it, how easily I slip back into thinking that this physical form is “me.”

It’s humbling to notice these things. But it’s also comforting, because it shows me exactly where my work is, not in rejecting the body, but in loosening my identification with it.

My Body Isn’t the Enemy - It’s Just Not the Whole Story

I’m learning that fear grows strongest when I forget my true nature. When I shrink myself down to skin and bones, to sensations, reactions, nothingness, to the fragile shell that houses the soul.

But the more I shift my awareness inward, the more I feel a subtle spaciousness a sense that I am the one witnessing the body, not the body itself.

This shift doesn’t happen all at once. It comes in small moments:

a breath that drops me into stillness
a meditation where I feel lifted inside
a challenge that reveals how tightly I cling

Each moment is a reminder that the body is an instrument, not my identity.

One practice that has helped me tremendously is fasting. Not as a discipline or a test of willpower, but as a way of stepping back from the body’s constant demands.

When I fast, something in me becomes quieter. The usual cravings soften, the senses settle, and I feel more attuned to the subtle presence of Spirit. It’s as if the body steps aside for a while, allowing the soul to come forward.

During those times, I feel lighter, not just physically, but inwardly. I remember that energy, not food, sustains me. I remember that my true nourishment comes from a deeper source.

I’m still learning. I still hold on in many ways. But I can feel something shifting, slowly, gently, and lovingly.

The more I remember that I am not this body, the more fear begins to dissolve. Not because I’ve conquered it, but because I’ve stopped believing its story.

And in those moments of clarity, I feel a freedom that is the soul’s own.

A Prayer for Remembering Who We Truly Are

Divine Beloved,

Help me remember that I am more than this body, more than its fears, its cravings, its limitations.

Let me feel Your presence in every breath, in every quiet moment of stillness, in every challenge that invites me to rise above myself.

When fear appears, remind me that it is only a shadow cast by forgetting my own light.

Lift my awareness inward and upward, into the spine, into the soul, into You.

May this body become a temple, not a prison.

May my thoughts become offerings, my breath a prayer, my life a pathway back to your love.

Guide me gently, as I learn again and again that I am not this body.

I am Yours.

Aum Peace Amen

Blessings & Love

Rev Dinah Pemberton

Precept 12: To Learn to Overcome Fear by Realizing That we are not This Body.

Precept 12: To Learn to Overcome Fear by Realizing That we are not This Body.

The Promise of the Ring

This month, something very beautiful happened during my meditation. I was blessed with a vision of a ring. I also had many dreams of rings as well… choosing rings, wearing rings, rings appearing on my fingers.

And maybe that’s what this vision is inviting me into: a deeper commitment to the spiritual life, a deeper trust, a deeper belonging.

To Learn to Overcome Fear by Realising That we are not This Body.

Lately, I’ve been sitting with a deep inner truth, one that I’ve known for years, yet am only beginning to truly feel. It’s the quiet realisation that I am not this body. Something in me has always sensed this, like a soft whisper from the soul, reminding me of who I really am.

And yet, I can also see how much I still hold on. How instinctively I protect the body, how quickly fear rises when something threatens it, how easily I slip back into thinking that this physical form is “me.”

It’s humbling to notice these things. But it’s also comforting, because it shows me exactly where my work is, not in rejecting the body, but in loosening my identification with it.

My Body Isn’t the Enemy - It’s Just Not the Whole Story

I’m learning that fear grows strongest when I forget my true nature. When I shrink myself down to skin and bones, to sensations, reactions, nothingness, to the fragile shell that houses the soul.

But the more I shift my awareness inward, the more I feel a subtle spaciousness a sense that I am the one witnessing the body, not the body itself.

This shift doesn’t happen all at once. It comes in small moments:

a breath that drops me into stillness

a meditation where I feel lifted inside

a challenge that reveals how tightly I cling

Each moment is a reminder that the body is an instrument, not my identity.

One practice that has helped me tremendously is fasting. Not as a discipline or a test of willpower, but as a way of stepping back from the body’s constant demands.

When I fast, something in me becomes quieter. The usual cravings soften, the senses settle, and I feel more attuned to the subtle presence of Spirit. It’s as if the body steps aside for a while, allowing the soul to come forward.

During those times, I feel lighter, not just physically, but inwardly. I remember that energy, not food, sustains me. I remember that my true nourishment comes from a deeper source.

I’m still learning. I still hold on in many ways. But I can feel something shifting, slowly, gently, and lovingly.

The more I remember that I am not this body, the more fear begins to dissolve. Not because I’ve conquered it, but because I’ve stopped believing its story.

And in those moments of clarity, I feel a freedom that is the soul’s own.

A Prayer for Remembering Who We Truly Are

Divine Beloved,

Help me remember that I am more than this body, more than its fears, its cravings, its limitations.

Let me feel Your presence in every breath, in every quiet moment of stillness, in every challenge that invites me to rise above myself.

When fear appears, remind me that it is only a shadow cast by forgetting my own light.

Lift my awareness inward and upward, into the spine, into the soul, into You.

May this body become a temple, not a prison.

May my thoughts become offerings, my breath a prayer, my life a pathway back to your love.

Guide me gently, as I learn again and again that I am not this body.

I am Yours.

Aum Peace Amen

Blessings & Love

Rev Dinah Pemberton

Precept 11: To Practice Devotion