It Takes 2 to Make a Thing Go Right (I)

During my undergrad days it was quite normal to hear a certain phrase in connection with pornography; and ever since, it has almost served as a mantra for certain faithful (or perhaps not so faithful) adherents of Theology of the Body.

The phrase used and now in vogue is, "the pictures do not show too much. They do not show enough." The point being of course is that the woman in the magazine is reduced from a person of inestimable worth to an object of lust. And of course this is right "in a certain sense." Just recently a friend of mine (not Mr. C) and I were talking and he used this phrase and it struck me as a little, well, not entirely correct. And all of you who know me I'm sure can guess what happened next. Immediately a song, which has bothered me for some time, came into my head.
The song is a John Mayer song and the lyrics go **throat clearing** like eh-zo.

Some day I'll fly/some day I'll soar
Some day I'll be/somethin' much more
Cuz I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for.

Ironically, this comes from the same man who wrote "Your Body is a Wonderland." At any rate, what has bothered me about the song lyrics is how John confuses (perhaps with invincible ignorance) our sinfulness with the body. When John Mayer says he's "bigger than his body," what he means is, he's capable of more than his sinful nature gives him credit for. To say otherwise, would be to say that the body is evil and enslaves the soul.

Now it is true, our sinfulness is mediated through our bodies, but it's not the body's fault per se. [Insert attempt to make a quick though readily intelligible argument from Aquinas] The soul is the principle of the body...the body cannot go anywhere without the soul. And the soul needs the body in order to do human things like understand stuff, "there is nothing in the mind that was not first in the sense." The unity between the body and soul is so great that I can call this unity, "Reginald" - one subject.

On the one hand, if John is looking to place the blame for his frustration, he won't find it in the body. He'll be even more frustrated when the soul does not have a body. If on the other hand, he wants to accept his real lot, he'll come to know his soul is indeed trapped, but by sin and his only true freedom will come in realizing his unlimitted capacity for virtue, goodness, and perfection in and through his body - probably greater than he "gives it credit for."