So why do I shave my legs? Spirituality in the form of a knife

The farm in Cornwall around 1972

When we had holidays, we always went to Cornwall, in the south west of the UK. My dad hated driving, in fact he made us leave London at 3am to avoid traffic.

Cornwall is one of the wildest and most visually romantic areas of England, we don’t have the mountains of Scotland and Wales, but we do have the windswept moors leading to a wild (for us) and stormy sea.

The second night we were in the cabin, I walked into the bathroom and saw my dad’s razor on the sink. I have no idea why, but I picked it up and shaved the hair off my shins and under my arms.

I know a lot of women do this, but my only two female role models, Mom and Grandma, had never shaved a beard in their lives, in fact, they were completely shocked that I felt the need to do something so totally crazy. All I can tell you is that I felt bad about having that body hair. It just didn’t feel like me.

Obviously I was very unaware of this at the time, the only memory that sticks is my mom buying me some cheap razors to keep me from dull dad’s razors. Why does women’s hair dull razor blades faster than men’s beards? I guess one of life’s imponderable unknowns.

From that day forward to this day, 43 years later, I still shave my pimples and underarms, and it feels completely right to do so.

The other day, the memory popped into my mind, and as I reflected, links began to form with the philosophy I embrace: that we have all been here before and are spirits having a human existence.

Although it may sound like something very small, hardly worthy of an article, it struck me how important it was that something culturally foreign to me felt so completely natural and correct. So what prompted the sudden decision?

Only one explanation occurred to me. That he had once lived in a culture where shaving body hair was normal practice.

I don’t know what you think of this, but in the search for spirituality and spiritual connections it’s good to look at the person you are and ask yourself how much of you comes from the people and influences around you. Are you completely a product of your past and gene pool, or is there an aspect of you that, like me, has emerged completely formed apparently on its own?

It is an interesting reflection on the search for the meaning of life and existence, even if it is generated by the hair on the legs.

Or is that armpit spirituality?