Fleshliness

Fleshliness refers to the tangible and often sensual qualities associated with the physical body, emphasizing its material existence, its needs, and its vulnerabilities. It embodies the aspects of being human that relate to our biological composition: our appetites, desires, and mortality. It acknowledges the inherent physicality of life, the limitations and potential for pleasure and pain associated with having a body. It can also imply a focus on the corporeal at the expense of the spiritual or intellectual, or a sensual indulgence that is considered excessive or unrefined. It highlights the contrast between the spirit and the body, the ephemeral and the tangible, and the natural drives that govern the human experience, encompassing all things material.

Fleshliness meaning with examples

• The artist’s paintings celebrated the full, ripe fleshliness of the figures, their curves and textures captured in vibrant, earthy hues. The focus wasn’t on idealism or ethereal beauty, but a bold embrace of physicality, suggesting a celebration of life's sensual pleasures and the vitality of the human form, ignoring any suggestion of shame or modesty.
• Her writings explored the raw fleshliness of poverty and suffering, documenting the physical and emotional toll it took on the vulnerable. It was not just about abstract statistics but about the everyday struggles, highlighting the basic needs for sustenance and the ways in which social systems affect our physical bodies.
• The novel depicted the characters' hedonistic pursuit of pleasure, portraying the temptations of fleshliness: extravagant meals, lavish parties, and excessive displays of wealth, emphasizing the material indulgences that preoccupied their lives and blinded them from more meaningful pursuits.
• The film, with its graphic violence and explicit sexuality, was criticized for exploiting the fleshliness of the characters. It was accused of sacrificing artistic merit for sensationalism, capitalizing on the audience's primal fascination with the body and its fragility. Critics questioned the morality of it all.
• The philosopher contemplated the duality of human existence: the tension between the spirit's yearning for transcendence and the limitations imposed by fleshliness. He explored the eternal philosophical struggle and wrestled with the question of how to reconcile our physical needs with our spiritual aspirations. He attempted to find the middle ground.