My body is mine. But it does not obey me by itself. Only through practice does it become a tool that follows me willingly. More on this later.

For others something else holds. For them I am free in my body, just as it is right now. It does not first need training.

What follows from this?

I live in this body as a free human being. That is why no one may use it like a beast of burden. As long as I live, soul and body are not separate. I feel in my body. My freedom is there in my body.

A false comfort:

Some say: You can torment the body, but the soul stays untouched. That is a trick of the understanding, which does not grasp the matter. It is true that I can withdraw into myself. I can keep pain away from me and stay free inside, even in chains. But that is my affair, my will. For others, I am in my body. Whoever does violence to my body does violence to me.

An important difference:

If someone damages my car, he hits my property. If he strikes me, he hits me myself, here and now. For I feel in my body. That is why an attack on the body is something other than damage to a thing.

Summary: My body is the existence of my freedom. Whoever injures it injures me. The excuse that the soul stays untouched does not hold.