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Body, Spirit, Soul
Hey Guys,
I was wondering what is the difference between the body, spirit and soul?
I read numerous articles online (not necessarily Orthodox) and basically this is what I found:
1) Either spirit and soul are the same thing and these words are synonymns meaning the same thing, which I
highly doubt is true...
2) Well the body is the flesh, the spirit is the eternal thing...and the soul is equivalent to life
But these are my simple results, if anyone knows anything more in depth, I would be willing to learn :)
Thanks, and GB,
Cyril
I was wondering what is the difference between the body, spirit and soul?
I read numerous articles online (not necessarily Orthodox) and basically this is what I found:
1) Either spirit and soul are the same thing and these words are synonymns meaning the same thing, which I
highly doubt is true...
2) Well the body is the flesh, the spirit is the eternal thing...and the soul is equivalent to life
But these are my simple results, if anyone knows anything more in depth, I would be willing to learn :)
Thanks, and GB,
Cyril
Comments
I tend to look at the nature of something to find the truth in it.
So if I think of the body. It is material. Then I looked at the word soul ,and in arabic it is feminine, and spirit masculine.
So in terms of my christian thinking. The soul that is in my body is like a temple. It just stays there.
But the spirit is something that is moving. So a spirit goes into a soul and there they are both combined. Whether they are in agreement is another matter. Would a bad spirit go into a good soul? If so then how does that soul deal with it? For us we have the Holy Spirit that goes into our soul and this is in combat with the unwanted spirit. It cleans us.
Hi Cyril!
Of course the body is easy to understand and explain bcuz, as u know it is our flesh which we experience with all 5 of our senses! Then as Orthodox Christians we learn about the Holy Spirit which is a gift from God. The Comforter sent to reveal to us all things and even prays for us the things we cannot speak or know to pray! Our soul is our personality, it makes us the unique individuals we are!
This is an excerpt from Origen's Spiritual life or A journey of the soul:
Through His grace God leads the soul on and on, from a knowledge of one’s self to the struggle against sin, to practices of asceticism, to the mystical ascent, until at last she is admitted to the mystical (spiritual) union with the Logos:
You can see from this, that when he talks about the soul, he says it is she. That is the journey the soul takes to find God.
Spirit: Concience (1 Cor. 2:11), Faith & Revelation (Revelation of Jesus Christ)
Soul: Will (free will), Emotions & Mind (this is the rational mind/ intellect)
Body: 5 senses (ports of knowledge for the soul)
Mind and emotions drive the will, thus man's personality is either rational or emotional. When the will is swayed towards carnal lusts, man turns to a carnal lustful being.
When we orbit around our soul, we become selfish and ego-centric. While if we grow in the Spirit (i.e. become God-centric), we assume the Image of God.