The human spirit: Difference between revisions
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The language of the Scriptures and of spirituality is non-technical. "Mind," "heart," "soul," and "spirit" are contrasted with "the flesh." It sounds as though the body is a principle of evil, but this is something that was vigorously denied by the Church in her struggle against gnosticism. The body is always innocent; it is the person who sins. When we decide to allow our bodily impulses to be our guide to live, we make a spiritual decision that has evil consequences. "But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, ''from their hearts'', come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile" [http://www.usccb.org/bible/mk/7:19 (Mk 7:20-23)]. | The language of the Scriptures and of spirituality is non-technical. "Mind," "heart," "soul," and "spirit" are contrasted with "the flesh." It sounds as though the body is a principle of evil, but this is something that was vigorously denied by the Church in her struggle against gnosticism. The body is always innocent; it is the person who sins. When we decide to allow our bodily impulses to be our guide to live, we make a spiritual decision that has evil consequences. "But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, ''from their hearts'', come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile" [http://www.usccb.org/bible/mk/7:19 (Mk 7:20-23)]. | ||
== The Gnostic heresy == | |||
Spirit good, matter bad. | |||
Soul good, body (σῶμα) bad. | |||
Plato taught "soma sema": "The body is a prison." | |||
Gnosticism dates from the second century of the Christian era. Its view of the relation between spirit, soul, matter, and body is found in Hinduism, Buddhism, the ''Harry Potter'' novels, animism, and many forms of New-Age religion. | |||
The thought that matter can contain and control a spirit or a soul is ludicrous. Spirits can act on matter, but matter cannot bind spirits. The idea of a spirit contained in a physical reality--a tree, the moon, the ocean, a totem, an idol, a horcrux, or the like--makes no sense metaphysically. | |||
The soul is not "imprisoned" in the body. It is the cause of bodily existence. The soul forms or in-forms matter to produce the body. The soul is "in" the body in a metaphysical sense, but not in a physical sense. No part of the body is absent from the soul. The human soul is not truly itself without the body, although it has a God-given principle of immortality as a consequence of the spiritual powers of intellect and will given to the person by God at conception. | |||
Hindus and New-Agers teach that our true self is a spirit that can act as the driver of any living vehicle whatsoever. The same principle of life ("jiva") can inhabit any form of animal or human life. Jiva has no intrinsic principle within itself that is related to the body it inhabits. It can be any kind of animal, male or female. When the body dies, jiva is released to inhabit some other body in its next incarnation. | |||
=== The Harry Potter heresy === | |||
The soul cannot be broken into parts and stored in containers. The soul has no parts. It is a simple, immaterial, metaphysical reality. | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 21:46, 9 September 2012
God is pure, uncreated spirit.
The angels are pure, created, spirits.
We are incarnate (enfleshed) spirits--"geist im welt" (Rahner).
We are like God in our spiritual powers (intellect and will), but God is not like us (matter in-formed by soul).
The human spirit is not a byproduct of material complexity but is a direct, personal gift from God at the moment of our conception.
Our spirit is our deepest, truest identity.
Our spirit empowers us to receive God Himself. No other living beings on earth have this power; whether there are other incarnate spirits (extraterrestrials) in the universe remains to be seen. God is, of course, present to all created things, but He cannot dwell within them as He can in us.
Hebrew
Hayah is the verb "to be."
- The Hebrew terms × ×¤×© nephesh, רוח ruach (literally "wind"), × ×©×ž×” neshama (literally "breath"), ×—×™×” chaya (literally "life") and יחידה yechidah (literally "singularity") are used to describe the soul or spirit. The soul is believed to be given by God to a person by his/her first breath, as mentioned in Genesis, "And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen 2:7, NAB).
My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior
The Magnificat (Lk 1:46-47) uses both "psyche" and "pneuma" in the same sentence:
- ΜεγαλÏνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν κÏÏιον,
καὶ ἠγαλλίασεν τὸ πνεῦμα μου á¼Ï€á½¶ Ï„á¿· θεῷ Ï„á¿· σωτῆÏι μου
In this prayer of Mary, "my psyche" and "my spirit" are different aspects of the same human being who is thanking and praising God with her whole heart for His goodness to her. It is probably an example of poetic reduplication or elegant variation, where the use of two different words do not point to two different realities.
| Hebrew | Greek | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
|
ψυχή |
anima, mens | psyche, soul, mind, heart | |
| ruah |
πνεῦμα πνεÏματος |
spiritus | breath, spirit |
| lev | cardia | cor | heart |
| μοÏφή | forma | form | |
| ὕλη | materia | matter | |
| nephesh | the whole human being: body and soul | ||
A body without breath is dead
- The body without pneumatos is dead.
- τὸ σῶμα χωÏὶς πνεÏματος νεκÏόν á¼ÏƒÏ„ιν
The spirit is willing ...
- "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
- τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα Ï€Ïόθυμον ἡ δὲ σὰÏξ ἀσθενής.
This is from Jesus' Agony in the Garden; it is a word of compassion about the inability of His disciples to stay awake and pray with him.
The contrast between "spirit" and "flesh" appears in Paul as well.
- Galatians 5-6
- Romans 6-8
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light" (Mt 11:28).
The soul is the form of the body
The developed Catholic doctrine of "soul" depends on Aristotelian insights into form and matter (hylomorphism). Following Aristotle Aquinas, Catholics think of the soul as the form of the body.
The power of life comes from the organic form of matter, known as the "soul" (anima, psyche) in the Aristotelian tradition.
The soul is the form of the body.
There are two kinds of living souls: plant and animal.
The human soul has God-given spiritual powers that distinguish us from all other living beings: intelligence and free will.
From this perspective, plants and animals have souls, because they are an organic form of matter. The human soul is elevated above all other kinds of animal souls because it is given the power of intellect and free will at the moment of conception. Aristotle recognized that these spiritual powers make us immortal; they are simple and cannot decompose when we die, even though at death the soul ceases to form (in-form!) the body.
Metaphysically, the soul cannot be opposed to the body. There is only one principle of life--the soul. The soul causes the body. There is only one living being as a consequence. The soul is not part of the body nor is the body part of the soul. The soul is not located in any part of the body; the soul completely in-forms the body in all of its parts. In the sense, the soul can never be against the body, because the soul is the cause of bodily existence. The body can never stand against the soul.
The language of the Scriptures and of spirituality is non-technical. "Mind," "heart," "soul," and "spirit" are contrasted with "the flesh." It sounds as though the body is a principle of evil, but this is something that was vigorously denied by the Church in her struggle against gnosticism. The body is always innocent; it is the person who sins. When we decide to allow our bodily impulses to be our guide to live, we make a spiritual decision that has evil consequences. "But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile" (Mk 7:20-23).
The Gnostic heresy
Spirit good, matter bad.
Soul good, body (σῶμα) bad.
Plato taught "soma sema": "The body is a prison."
Gnosticism dates from the second century of the Christian era. Its view of the relation between spirit, soul, matter, and body is found in Hinduism, Buddhism, the Harry Potter novels, animism, and many forms of New-Age religion.
The thought that matter can contain and control a spirit or a soul is ludicrous. Spirits can act on matter, but matter cannot bind spirits. The idea of a spirit contained in a physical reality--a tree, the moon, the ocean, a totem, an idol, a horcrux, or the like--makes no sense metaphysically.
The soul is not "imprisoned" in the body. It is the cause of bodily existence. The soul forms or in-forms matter to produce the body. The soul is "in" the body in a metaphysical sense, but not in a physical sense. No part of the body is absent from the soul. The human soul is not truly itself without the body, although it has a God-given principle of immortality as a consequence of the spiritual powers of intellect and will given to the person by God at conception.
Hindus and New-Agers teach that our true self is a spirit that can act as the driver of any living vehicle whatsoever. The same principle of life ("jiva") can inhabit any form of animal or human life. Jiva has no intrinsic principle within itself that is related to the body it inhabits. It can be any kind of animal, male or female. When the body dies, jiva is released to inhabit some other body in its next incarnation.
The Harry Potter heresy
The soul cannot be broken into parts and stored in containers. The soul has no parts. It is a simple, immaterial, metaphysical reality.
References