There is but one temple in this Universe: The Body. We speak to God whenever we lay our hands upon it.

The saying frames the human body as the primary “temple,” shifting sacredness from external institutions to embodied life. Read this way, physical care, touch, and human presence become forms of reverence: to attend to the body (one’s own or another’s) is to engage the divine. The second sentence suggests that spirituality is not only verbal or doctrinal but enacted through intimate, ethical contact—how we treat bodies, including vulnerability, suffering, and dignity. The aphorism also resonates with nineteenth-century critiques of hollow religiosity, implying that genuine piety is inseparable from lived, physical reality rather than confined to churches or abstract belief.