Spirit

Element IV: The Human Being

Spirit or soul is a term rarely used with precise definition in philosophy, religion, or common life. It is generally regarded as descriptive of an entity related to but distinguishable from the body--the spiritual part of human beings that animates their physical existence and survives death.

You can not touch it or readily see it. Like the wind which bends branches as it moves through the trees, the presence of spirit is revealed in the effects it leaves upon the world around us. It is essential matter for the life craftsperson.

As you grow, the need to express your spirit will grow with you. For many people this means gathering together in common places of worship such as temples and churches, or even a field or mountain top to meditate, pray, learn and be with other people of a similar spirit. This is natural part of spiritual growth and expression. It is as needed by men and women of all faiths as the flower needs water to grow.

Early religions tend to associate the soul or spirit with the vital force in humans and often identify it with particular parts or functions of the body (the heart or kidneys, the breath or pulse). In Hinduism, the Atman (originally meaning "breath") is the individual factor that is indestructible and that after death is reborn in another existence. But Atman is identified with Brahman, the Source of all things to which the soul ultimately returns when it ceases to have a separate existence. (Buddhism, on the other hand, repudiates the notion of Atman, positing the theory of Anatta, nonself.)

Early Jewish thought did not conceive the soul as existing apart from the body except in the shadowy realm of departed spirits (Sheol). Greek and especially Platonic thought divided humans into two parts: body and soul. The soul, often referred to as the psyche, was considered both preexistent and immortal. Philosophy has long been preoccupied with speculation about the existence and nature of the soul and its relationship to the body.

The early Christian church lived under the influence of Greek ideas about the body and soul, although biblical teachings about RESURRECTION were superimposed on them. Throughout the history of the Christian church, there has been no clearly defined and universally accepted metaphysical conception of the soul. Nevertheless, Christian theology and worship have adhered firmly to the conviction of personal survival after death rooted in belief in the love of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

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