Is man just body and soul, or is he spirit, soul and body? I believe this is one of the most fundamental questions to which it is important for anyone to know the correct answer. I believe that the topic of body, soul and spirit is one of the most important topics that we touch on on the pages of our magazine. Therefore, I ask you to be very careful as we delve into the Word of God to find answers not only to the question of spirit, soul and body, but also to other equally important questions related to it.
Three parts of man - spirit, soul and body
There is one very important verse in the New Testament - 1 Thess. 5:23: “And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit, soul, and body be preserved intact and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Man consists of three parts: spirit, soul and body.
It is easy to confuse spirit with soul. Some people believe that spirit and soul are synonymous. But the Spirit of God makes it clear in His Word that spirit and soul are two different things and that man has three parts. Between them there are two unions: “Spirit, and soul, and body.” This is exactly what is written in the Greek text. From the grammatical construction it is obvious that the spirit is different from the soul, just as the soul is different from the body. The soul is not the body; similarly, the spirit is not the soul. These are three different parts of one person.
The order in which the Holy Spirit places these parts in a given verse is important. The spirit is mentioned first, the soul second, and the body last. On the outside we have a body, but on the inside we have a spirit. Between them is the soul as a mediator. Looking from the inside out, we have spirit, soul and body. From the outside in we have a body, a soul and a spirit.
There is another verse that shows the three parts of our being and the differences between them - Heb. 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and can discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Soul and spirit are not the same thing because this verse says they can be separated. The soul is the soul and the spirit is the spirit, and they can be separated from each other in the same way that bone marrow can be separated from joints. The brain is located inside the joints; however, the brain is not the joints, and the joints are not the brain. They relate to the physical body and are mentioned along with the spirit and soul. So in this verse we meet again with three parts: spirit, soul and body.
We also see the difference between spirit and soul in Luke. 1:46-47. Mary said, “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” First her “spirit rejoiced in God,” then her soul “exalted the Lord.” These actions are performed by two different organs of her being - her spirit and her soul.
In Phil. 1:27 also reveals that the spirit and soul are not the same thing, but two different parts. It says that we must stand firm “in one spirit, with one soul, contending together in the faith of the gospel.” It may turn out that we are “in the same spirit,” but not “of the same soul.” There are two different activities described here that relate to our two different parts, the spirit and the soul.
So, according to the Scriptures, man is a tripartite being, consisting mainly of spirit, soul and body. This is the fundamental point that allows us to partake of the Triune God.
"For you are dust."
To begin our study of the first man, let us turn to Genesis 2:7. It says:
Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground...”
What part of man did God create from the dust of the ground? His body. This is why elements of the human body can be found in the earth. So, one of the parts that made up the first man was the body. But let's continue:
Genesis 2:7 “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 (soul is nephesh in Hebrew).”
So we saw that God created the body of man from the dust of the ground. But this body had no life. It was a simple lifeless form. Then, as the Word of God tells us, God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.” So what is the soul? This is what gives the body life. The fact that people do not understand the simple truths of God's Word as stated in this verse creates endless confusion. Here the Word of God tells us that the soul is what gives life to the body. Without a soul, the body is dead. Where is the soul, the life of the body, the life of the flesh? And again the Word of God is extremely precise:
Leviticus 17:11, 13-14 “for the soul (nephesh in Hebrew) of the body is in the blood... If any of the children of Israel or of the strangers who dwell among you catches an animal or a bird that can be eaten while fishing, he shall let her blood flow out and cover her with earth, for the soul (“nefesh” in Hebrew) of every body [is] its blood, it is the soul (“nefesh” in Hebrew) of it; Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat blood from any body, for the soul (“nefesh” in Hebrew) of every body is its blood.”
So, what is nefesh, or soul? According to Genesis 2:7, the soul is what gives life to the body. Where is Nefesh, the life of the body, the soul? According to Leviticus 17:11-14, in the blood: “for the life of the body is in the blood.” How is soul-based life passed on from generation to generation? Through blood. That's why Acts 17:26 says:
Acts 17:26 “By ONE BLOOD He made the whole race of mankind to dwell upon all the face of the earth.”
The “one blood” in this passage is the blood of Adam, which is passed down from generation to generation, and it is this that flows in the veins of each of us.
In fact, not only people have souls. Animals also have a soul, which, again, is in the blood. While this is clear from the above passage from Leviticus, which states that the life of every body is its blood, let us turn to Genesis 1:20-21, 29-30 to further verify this:
Genesis 1:20-21 “And God said, Let the water bring forth living things that creep; and let the birds fly over the earth, across the firmament of heaven. And God created the great fish and every living (nephesh in Hebrew) living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that [it] was good.”
Genesis 1:29-30 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed that is on all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; - [this] will be food for you; And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food. And so it became.”
Therefore, not only humans, but also animals have “nephesh,” that is, “soul.” This is not surprising if you understand that the soul is what gives the body life. When you die, you no longer have life, no soul. The same thing happens with animals. For them, the soul is the same as it is for people, and this means what gives life to the body. Although the Bible's definition of the soul is clear, problems arise when people approach the Word of God with the false belief that the soul is immortal. If the soul were immortal, then the souls of various animals would be immortal, since they, like humans, have “nephesh.” The soul is not an eternal substance. She simply gives life to the body. When you no longer have life in your body, you no longer have a soul.
So, we have learned what the Bible teaches: the Lord created the body of man from the dust of the ground and gave this body life, that is, a soul. It's the same with animals. They also have a body and a soul. Every person in the world, believer and non-believer, has a soul and a body. Thus, we can conclude: it is obvious that Adam, having lived 930 years, although he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, obviously did not lose either body or soul. And because something had to die for Adam that day, he originally had at least one more thing that died, was lost when he ate. So let's continue to look in the Bible for information on this matter.
Three parts of the spirit: conscience, communication and intuition
Our body has many parts, and in the same way our spirit and our soul have many parts. Our spirit has three of them: conscience, communication and intuition. Conscience allows us to distinguish right from wrong, to justify or condemn. If we compare Rome. 9:1 and Rom. 8:16, we will have proof that conscience is a part of the spirit. Communication allows us to contact God and communicate with Him. This is clear from John. 4:24 and Rom. 1:9. Intuition allows us to have a direct feeling, or sensation, in our spirit, independent of rational explanation or circumstances. From 1 Cor. 2:11 it follows that our spirit can know what the soul does not know. Our soul learns about something thanks to rational explanation or circumstances, but our spirit can comprehend something without their help. This is intuition, a direct feeling in our spirit.
Three parts of the soul: mind, feelings and will
The soul also consists of three parts. The main part, the mind, allows us to think, reflect (Ps. 13:2), know (Ps. 139:14), and remember (Lam. 3:20). In the mind we have thoughts, ideas, ideas, reasoning, understanding, knowledge, etc. The other part of the soul, the feelings, allows us to love (1 Sam. 18:1; Song of Songs 1:7) or hate (2 Kings 5:8), to feel sympathy or antipathy, to rejoice (Isa. 61:10; Ps. 86:4) or to be sad (1 Kings 30:6; Judges 10:16). All our emotions - both positive and negative - are located in this part of our soul. Will is also a part of our soul. This is the part that allows us to set goals, make choices (Job 7:15; 6:7), and make decisions (1 Chron. 22:19). When I think or reason, I use reason. When I am happy or sad, I am in my feelings. When I decide to do something, my will is involved. Reason, feelings and will are the three parts of the soul.
In Ps. 51:6 reveals that within our being there is a “inward part” and there is a “hidden part.” If we compare Heb. 8:10 with Jer. 31:33, it will become apparent that the mind is part of the “inside.” The other parts of the “inside” seem to be feelings and will. Thus, all parts of our soul are the “inside” of our being, and our spirit is the “hidden part”.
Heart
Since in 1 Thess. 5:23 definitely states that we are tripartite beings consisting of spirit, soul and body, then the heart cannot be a separate part in addition to the spirit and soul. The heart is a combination of the first part of the spirit and all three parts of the soul. It includes conscience (Heb. 10:22), the first part of our spirit. Therefore, like conscience, it can condemn (1 John 3:20). It also includes the mind, will and feelings - the three parts of our soul. Therefore it thinks (Matt. 9:4), it has thoughts (Gen. 6:5; Heb. 4:12); it rejoices (John 16:22) or sorrows (John 16:6); and he has purposes (Acts 11:23; Heb. 4:12). So, Scripture clearly shows that our heart consists of conscience, reason, feelings and will. It is a combination of one part of our spirit and all parts of our soul. Since the heart is made up of parts of our spirit and soul, it is closely connected to both.
The human body
The body is material and has been perishable since the fall of man. This is not only a vessel, but also an instrument of the soul in the physical world, the executor of our mind and will.
There is an erroneous opinion that the spirit and soul are exalted in Orthodoxy, while the flesh is humiliated and even considered as the source of sin. However, the body itself is not sinful. Vices nest in the soul, allowing it to be subordinate to the flesh. The sinner breaks the connection with God and replaces spiritual food with a substitute from the material world. This is how a person becomes susceptible to bodily temptations: gluttony, fornication, idleness, etc.
The flesh must be bridled, but it is also called to deification and salvation. Christianity does not humiliate the body, since the Lord Himself, through the Incarnation, took on human flesh. The sanctification of our entire nature took place - not only on the spiritual, but also on the bodily level. The Apostle Paul says:
“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
During the Second Coming of the Savior, the bodies of all people will be resurrected in a renewed form for life in Eternity.
Purpose of human parts
The purpose of our body is our human existence. Through our body we can exist and live physically and practically for the Lord. Our body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body (1 Cor. 6:13). The Lord has prepared a body for us (Heb. 10:5) so that we may exist and live for Him. Therefore, we must present our body to the Lord (Rom. 12:1) and glorify Him in our body (1 Cor. 6:20).
The purpose of the heart according to God's purpose is to love Him. In Mk. John 12:30 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” Our heart is a loving organ, prepared by God for us to love Him. The purpose of the spirit is to contact the Lord (John 4:24), to receive Him (1 Cor. 6:17), and to contain Him (2 Tim. 4:22). Our heart is the loving organ and our spirit is the touching, receiving and containing organ. The Spirit comes into contact with the Lord whom our heart loves, it receives and contains Him. What, then, is the purpose of our soul? Its main purpose is to reflect and express the Lord. In 2 Cor. 3:18 contains the idea of reflection. Our soul, that is, our personality, individuality, must become the organ that, like a mirror, reflects and expresses the Lord. So we love the Lord with our hearts; we contact Him, accept Him and contain Him with our spirit; and we reflect and express Him with our soul in everything we think, in everything we like, and in everything we decide, that is, in everything we are and in everything we do.
Three worlds
Since man consists of three parts, he is able to come into contact with three different worlds. First, there is a physical world with all the many material things. We interact with the physical world through our physical body through the five senses: hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching. Secondly, there is a spiritual world. Can we contact the spiritual world through the five senses of our body? Of course no. The spiritual world can only be contacted through our spirit. In the spirit we have a spiritual sense with which we can sense God and all things spiritual. Thirdly, there is a psychological world that is neither physical nor spiritual. Let's say you are given a gift and you are very happy. Does this joy belong to the physical or to the spiritual world? No. Experiences such as joy, happiness and even sadness belong to the psychological world. The word “psychology” is based on a Greek root that means “soul.” Thus the psychological world is connected with the soul; it contains everything that pertains to the soul.
Man was created from three parts in order to come into contact with three different worlds: physical, spiritual and psychological.
Spherical diagram
What can you see in the proposed diagram?
In the picture, I depicted seven spheres of medium diameter inside a large circle (schematic sphere), with several small spheres in each medium circle.
Let the large Sphere denote the physical body of a person
- Then spheres of medium diameter are, for example, organ systems - circulatory, say, nervous, musculoskeletal.
- Spheres of small diameter are organs and tissues.
- And inside the small spheres, let’s imagine many more “points” - the cells of each organ.
In general, the entire large sphere (physical body) consists of several trillion cells. Moreover, each cell contains in its DNA all the information about the entire organism.
There are more important organs, and there are less important ones for the life of the whole body, but there is not a single one that is superfluous, not one of the huge number of cells is an enemy to the rest.
Our cells have a limited period of functioning, but due to turnover, due to the fact that new young cells replace dead cells, the body continues to function properly.
Spiritual transcript
Let's imagine another version of deciphering the scheme.
- Small single points (independently functioning equal cells that have complete information about the entire body) are individual Souls (ants of the universe).
- Small spheres are Angels (each Angel has 12 Souls at his disposal, which He has the ability to send for incarnation into bodies with a wide variety of tasks, life after life).
- The middle spheres in this layout are the Archangels (collected according to a certain principle into groups of Angels, united by the breadth of tasks performed in the general organism of the Universe).
- Then the big Sphere is Who? — The entire totality of the Energy of Consciousness of the Creator. God is the whole thing.
Any Archangel = part of God Any Angel = part of Archangel = part of God Any Soul = part of Angel = part of Archangel = part of God
- A single cell is not the entire organism, but only a particle of it, carrying the entirety of information about the entire human body.
- A separate Soul is not the whole “God”, but His Particle – “god in the flesh”, carrying the full potential of the Energy of an Angel - Archangel - God...
Contacting Spirit through Spirit
Since man was created by God from three parts, in order to contact three different worlds respectively, we must use the appropriate part of our being to contact each of them. To contact everything that is in the physical world, we must use the body. To be in touch with everything that is in the psychological world, we must use the soul, the psychological part of our being. If we want to get in touch with what is in the spiritual world, we must use our spirit. We can touch what is in a certain world only with the help of a certain organ of our being.
To make any substance real, the right organ is required. If you want to make sound real, you must use your ears, the organ of hearing. If you want to make color real, you need eyes, the organ of vision. If you use your ears to hear color, you will not be able to make it real because you are using the wrong organ. To feel the taste of food, you need to use your tongue. Any substance becomes real with the help of the right organ.
What is the substance of God? In In. 4:24 says that God is Spirit. Can we contact God with our physical body? No! This is the wrong organ. Can we contact God through the psychological organ, the soul? No. This is also the wrong organ. We can only contact God through our spirit, because God is Spirit. In In. 4:24 not only says that “God is Spirit,” but also that “those who worship Him must worship in Spirit.” This is a very important verse; two spirits are revealed in him. The first is the divine Spirit, God Himself. The second is our human spirit. Since God is Spirit, we must worship Him in our spirit. We cannot worship Him in our body or in our soul. Since God is Spirit, we must worship Him, contact Him, and communicate with Him in and by our spirit.
Two spirits merged into one
In In. 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Here again two spirits are mentioned. They are associated with our rebirth. We are born again when our spirit is regenerated by the Spirit of God. That which is born of the Spirit, the Spirit of God, is spirit, our human spirit. We are born again not in our body or in our soul, but in our spirit. The Spirit of God comes into our spirit and regenerates us in our spirit. Then He lives in our spirit and merges with it.
To Rome. 8:16 says, “The Spirit [the Spirit of God] himself beareth witness with our spirit.” Here again we see two spirits - the Holy Spirit of God, who witnesses with our human spirit. This proves that God's Spirit is in our spirit and the two spirits work together. For this reason, in 1 Cor. 6:17 says, “He who unites himself with the Lord is one spirit.” These two spirits are merged into one spirit. We are one with the Lord in spirit. This is why in many New Testament verses it is difficult to discern which spirit is being referred to: the Holy Spirit of God or our human spirit. These two spirits are merged into one spirit. This is extremely important.
Christ as the Spirit in our spirit
If the Holy Spirit is in our spirit, then where is Christ? He's in the Holy Spirit. He's not only in the Holy Spirit; He is the Holy Spirit. In 1 Cor. 15:45 says, “The last Adam [that is, Christ] became the life-giving Spirit.” Christ became the life-giving Spirit. Could this life-giving Spirit be someone other than the Holy Spirit? Of course no. In 2 Cor. 3:6 says, “The Spirit gives life.” Who is this Spirit who gives life? The answer is shown in verse 17 of the same chapter: “And the Lord is the Spirit.” So Christ, the Lord, is the Spirit who gives life. This is truly wonderful! Christ is Spirit, we have spirit, and these two spirits are united into one. How can we contact Christ? With the help of the spirit! The only way we can contact Christ is by exercising our spirit, for now Christ is the Spirit and that Spirit is the Holy Spirit in our spirit. If we exercise our spirit, we can contact Christ. This is the whole secret.
A journey through the subtle world of the clairvoyant Guzel
Showed a picture
Like a cannonball (1812). Rotating and two tails (waves that set the core itself into rotational motion).
Then they showed what was inside. And there is such a spiral and two squares (black and white).
The squares are symbols, perhaps symbols of protons and neutrons.
If the squares are (conditionally) the same size, then everything is static, but if the volume (size) changes, then everything starts to move.
When I entered the core itself, I was thrown out somewhere, like into space, perhaps into microcosm. Everything is in such small “nuclei”; they, like stars, simply glow against the background of a very dark purple space.
There is no sense of depth or volume. Some special, inexplicable state.
Suddenly I take on human forms - I saw my arms (hands), but behind my back I very tightly felt the core from where I “flew out”, it was clearly with me, with me - this is important.
A spark flew to my hands and touched me, like the tail of a comet. And all the nuclei around lit up and vibrated. My hands transformed into the flaming tails of a “comet”. I started playing with them - they threw out plasma and fireworks. Only smoother and more controlled.
Then the whole body turned into fiery vibrating plasma. This is what our Angels look like. The thought came: little sun, such a body can be changed, given any shape.
This picture was shown when Guzel jumped into the 1 million aSphere. That is, we needed to do something with this information.
Matter is made up of molecules. Molecules are bonded atoms. And the atom itself is a set of energy particles of a certain polarity (magnetic charge) with a particular rotation speed.
Protons and neutrons rotate around themselves and create a curvature of space, like a whirlpool. And they form a mass (like a black hole).
The electron rotates around the nucleus and creates the conditions, together with the nucleus, for the formation of molecules.
When the energy of the carrier (human in our case) of atoms increases, it is necessary to change the quality of the atoms. Adapt them to new, higher frequencies. This process does not happen automatically—it requires a person’s intention to change their own atoms.
As energy increases, the speed of rotation of the electron around the nucleus increases. All other parameters remain the same. Such changes in the atom must be made in the 90 million, 170 million, and 500 million fractals.
Distinguish spirit from soul
Since Christ as the life-giving Spirit dwells in our spirit, we need to distinguish our spirit from our soul in order to contact and experience Him. We may know that man consists of spirit, soul and body, but whether we can distinguish the spirit from the soul is the real problem. It is easy to see the difference between the body and the soul, but it is quite difficult to distinguish the spirit from the soul. The following illustration will help us see this. Let's say we found one thing in the store that we want to buy. The more we think about it, the more we want to have it. As a result, we decide to buy it. Our feelings are involved in this matter, because we like the thing; our minds are involved as we think about it; and our will is involved as we make the decision to buy it. In this way the whole soul is involved. But when we are ready to buy it, something deep inside us protests. Our senses like the thing, our minds think about it, and our will chooses it, but something deeper than all these parts protests. This is our spirit. Spirit is our deepest part, the innermost part of our entire being. It is completely different from our soul.
There is physical life in our body; she is mentioned in Luke. 8:14. In our soul there is psychological life, that is, our human life; she is mentioned in Matt. 16:25. In our spirit there is spiritual life, that is, divine life, eternal life; she is mentioned in John. 3:16. Unbelievers have only physical life in their body and human life in their soul. They do not have the eternal life of God in their spirit because they have not yet received Christ as life into their spirit. Therefore, they can only live with their body and their soul. Sometimes they act according to their flesh, and sometimes they act according to their desires, reasoning and decisions. This means that they live with their body and their soul. They are unable to live by their spirit. But those of us who have received Christ into our spirit can live our spirit through Christ as our life. We can say: “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). In Greek, “I” is “ego.” This is our soul, our “I”. Our soul, our “I”, was crucified, placed in death, and there is no longer “I” - there is Christ, who lives in our spirit.
First, we must realize that Christ is the Spirit in our spirit. Secondly, we must see the difference between the spirit and the soul so that we can renounce the soul and live by the spirit. When we live by the spirit, Christ will have first place in everything. Then we will experience Christ in spirit and learn to apply Him in our daily lives.
Moscow Sretenskaya Theological Academy
Saint Luke of Crimea 06/11/201731345
June 11, according to the new style, is the day of remembrance of St. Luke of Crimea. Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) was the Bishop of Simferopol and Crimea, preacher, and theologian. And at the same time, he was a remarkable scientist and surgeon: there is evidence of how he restored sight to people blind from birth.
We offer the reader 20 quotes from the saint’s famous book “Spirit, Soul and Body” with his own explanations. These are unexpected facts about the structure of the world, the structure and abilities of humans, animals, and plants. Saint Luke himself admits that his theses may seem incredible to some, contrary to science and “generally accepted” ideas. One may agree with them or not, but at least they are worth taking into account, because they are the point of view of a holy man and a scientist.
If you are interested in everything that has been said, we recommend reading the book “Spirit, Soul and Body” in its entirety. It contains much more scientific facts, biblical quotes and life examples.
The article is addressed to students of medical universities, seminaries and anyone interested in the structure and capabilities of their body.
The text contains a lot of natural science terms and complex descriptions, but, you see, it’s even more informative. Let's figure it out together. 1. There are other forms of energy in the world, unknown to us.
Only 50 years ago [more - this was at the end of the 19th century] science became enriched with the knowledge of new, extremely important forms of energy - radio waves, infrared rays, cathode rays, radioactivity and intra-atomic energy. Doesn't this give us the right to assume and even assert that there are other forms of energy in the world, unknown to us, perhaps even much more important for the world than intra-atomic energy?
Atom model. Electricity cannot be called matter, but must undoubtedly be considered energy. It can be assumed that over time such forms of the existence of matter (or rather, energy) will be discovered, which, in their properties, with much more justification than electricity, should be called semi-material. And the very concept of “semi-material” contains in itself the recognition of the existence of the “immaterial”.
How do we imagine this spiritual energy? For us it is omnipotent Divine love. Love cannot be contained within itself, for its main property is the need to be poured out on someone or something, and this need led to God’s creation of the world.
2. If there are unknown types of energy, then a person must have sense organs to perceive them
If we do not know many, undoubtedly active forms of energy, then this depends on the obvious insufficiency of our poor five senses for knowledge of world life and on the fact that scientific methods and reagents have not yet been found for detecting what is inaccessible to our senses. But is it true that we have only five senses and no other organs or methods of direct perception?
I believe that the undoubted facts of a mental order, which will be discussed further, oblige us not only to allow the possibility of aggravation of our five senses, but also to add to them the heart as a special sensory organ, the focus of emotions and the organ of our cognition.
3. The heart is an organ of feeling and cognition, and not just a motor of blood circulation
In everyday life we have to hear that the heart “suffers”, “hurts”, etc. In fiction, in fiction one can find expressions: “the heart yearns”, “rejoices”, “feels”, etc.
The entire heart is intertwined with a network of fibers of the sympathetic nervous system and through it is closely connected with the brain and spinal cord. And what is especially important for us is that these nerve ganglia and fibers undoubtedly play a very important role in the physiology of sensitivity.
Thus, our anatomical and physiological knowledge about the heart not only does not interfere, but rather even encourages us to consider the heart as the most important sensory organ, and, moreover, an extremely subtle and universal one, indicating our subjective state and always exposing it, and not just the central motor of blood circulation.
But Holy Scripture tells us much more about the heart:
· The heart is given importance not only as the central sense organ, but also as the most important organ of cognition, the organ of thought and perception of spiritual influences. And more than that: according to the Holy Scriptures, the heart is the organ of communication between man and God, and therefore, it is the organ of higher knowledge.
· The heart carries out the highest functions of the human spirit - faith in God and love for Him: Love the Lord your God with all your heart
(Matt. 22:37),
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts
(1 Pet. 3:15).
· With our hearts we pray, and one of the great forms of prayer is a silent cry to God. Their heart cries out to God
, says the prophet Jeremiah (Lam. 2:18).
· The heart is the repository of good and evil: out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; a good man brings good things out of a good treasure, and an evil man brings evil things out of an evil treasure
(Matt. 12:34-35).
· In the heart is the seat of our conscience, this guardian angel. If our heart condemns us...
(1 John 3:20).
4. The heart is the second organ of thinking and intuition
It is the desires and aspirations of the heart that determine all human behavior and the choice of life path. And the direction of the path of thinking is determined by feelings and desires. But the heart not only determines our thinking; No matter how strange it may seem to everyone who considers the immutable teaching of psychology about the mind as an organ of thinking and cognition, it is the heart, according to the Holy Scriptures, that thinks, reflects, and knows: Why do you think evil in your hearts?
(Matthew 9:4).
The Word of God... judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart
(Heb. 4:12).
The heart is the second organ of perception, cognition and thought. In him knowledge is born from this activity and wisdom rests in him.
What Bergson later finally called intuition, Pascal called the sense of subtlety, the sense of judgment, feeling, inspiration, heart, instinct. His conclusion is this: “We must, therefore, place our trust in “feeling,” otherwise our hope will constantly be shaken.”
5. The brain is a “telephone exchange”
Bergson expressed amazing and completely new opinions about the brain, the idol of intellectuals. He believes that the difference between the spinal cord, which reflexively responds to received impulses, and the brain is only in complexity, and not in the nature of the functions. The brain only registers the perception that comes from the outside, and selects the appropriate response method.
Our brilliant physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov investigated the physiological significance of the frontal lobes of the brain hemispheres. These lobes were hitherto considered the most important part of the brain, centers of higher mental activity, the organ of thinking par excellence, even the seat of the soul. But Pavlov did not find in them any particularly important devices that would establish the highest perfection of nervous activity.
This is the same thing that Bergson said: “The brain is nothing more than a kind of central telephone exchange: its role is reduced to issuing a message or finding it out. He will not add anything to what he received.”
And if the brain cannot be considered an organ of feeling, then this greatly confirms the teaching of the Holy Scriptures about the heart as an organ of senses in general, and especially the higher senses.
6. One person's thought communicates to other people's thoughts
Mysteriously, the thought of one person is communicated to the thoughts of other people. We are not isolated, we are in an unknown connection with all people. And undoubtedly there is truth in what is called “mob spirit.” A powerful current of sympathy or anger, indignation or enthusiasm, produces in an assembly united in a theatre, forum or parliament, an almost unanimous unity.
Danko's burning heart illuminates the way for people
The selfless impulse of one brave man can captivate the entire army. This powerful stream of the spirit of courage and courage, pouring out from one fiery heart, ignites hundreds of other hearts that perceive it, like an antenna perceives radio waves. What, if not mighty spiritual energy, can we call this all-conquering force!
7. There is no matter. There is only energy
There is no eternal matter, just as there is no matter at all, but only energy in its various forms, the condensation of which appears in the form of matter.
Matter is a stable form of intra-atomic energy, and heat, light, electricity are unstable forms of the same energy. What prevents us from taking the last step and recognizing the existence of completely immaterial, spiritual energy and considering it the primary form, ancestor and source of all forms of physical energy?
8. There is no clear boundary between “living” and “non-living”. Everything is imbued with spiritual energy
We recognize, along with material nature, the boundless, much more important spiritual world. Your imperishable Spirit abides in everything
(Wis. 12:1).
Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?
- says the Lord (Jer. 23:24).
Creation of the World
In all these texts of Holy Scripture, the idea of universal fulfillment and vitalization by the Spirit of God is quite clear. You can’t talk about “dead nature.” There are no clear boundaries between inorganic and organic nature. This is the point of view of modern science.
Inorganic and organic nature is built from the same chemical elements and according to the same physical laws. One great universal law of development governs the entire universe, and there cannot be a stop in development, there cannot be a sharp boundary between it and inorganic nature. All inorganic nature, the entire universe, is permeated with spiritual energy. But only in the highest forms of development (creation) does this energy achieve the meaning of a free, self-conscious spirit.
9.
There is no clear boundary between the plant and animal worlds.
The spirituality of animals is quite clearly evidenced by the Holy Scriptures. Here are the texts confirming this: The life of the body (animals) is in the blood... therefore I said to the children of Israel: You shall not eat blood from any body
(Lev. 17:11-14).
Who knows whether the spirit of the sons of men ascends upward, and whether the spirit of animals descends down to the earth?
(Eccl. 8:21).
In prayer to the Holy Spirit we call Him the giver of life. And if even in inorganic nature the presence of the Spirit is so clear, then, of course, both plants and animals must be considered spiritual.
It is impossible to find a definite boundary between the plant world and the animal world, for in the field of the simplest unicellular organisms there are many almost completely similar forms, some of which serve as the beginning of the plant world, others of the animal world, and it is almost impossible to distinguish them.
10. Plants have an unconscious will to live.
According to Spalanzani's observations, colovratia live in swamp water and the sand of gutters, which can be dried along with the sand and stored in glass containers. If after 3-4 years you moisten the sand with water, then the gelatinous colovratia in their normal state, dried to such an extent that if you press them with the end of a needle, they break like a grain of salt, come to life again.
From these experiments we see that temporary death is possible if the action that delays vital activity does not reach the point of destruction of the organism.
The plant reaches for the light and breaks through the asphalt
If it is so obvious that the temporary death of seeds and animals does not prevent life from arising in them again, then don’t we have the right to assert that this is possible without the manifestation in them of some kind of force unknown to us, a vital energy that is completely beyond influence? harmful agents that destroy the life of seeds and plants? And such energy, of course, can only be spiritual energy, the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.
We do not attribute to plants a soul in the sense in which it is understood in humans and animals, but only an unconscious idea and an unconscious will.
11. Animals have a soul, but it is mortal
What is the soul? In its simplest form, in animals, it is a complex of organic and sensory perceptions, thoughts and feelings, traces of memories, or only (in lower animals) a complex of organic sensations, united by self-consciousness (the mind in higher animals).
The primitive spirit of animals is only the breath of life (among the lower ones). As creatures rise up the ladder, their spirituality grows, and the rudiments of mind, will and feeling are added to the breath of life.
So, the soul can be understood as a set of organic and sensory perceptions, traces of memories, thoughts, feelings and volitional acts.
So, the soul can be understood as a set of organic and sensory perceptions, traces of memories, thoughts, feelings and volitional acts. But without the obligatory participation in this of the highest manifestations of the spirit, which are not characteristic of animals and some people.
Organic sensations and sensory perceptions are inextricably linked with the life of the body, especially the brain, and disappear with the death of the body. Therefore, the primitive soul of animals is mortal, just as those elements of human self-consciousness that emanate from a deceased body (organic and sensory perceptions) are mortal.
12. The spirit is immortal, which can exist without connection with the body and soul
Man has a soul
much higher in essence, for
the spirit
is incomparable with the spirit of animals. He may possess the highest gifts of the Holy Spirit, which St. The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 2:1-3) calls the spirit of the fear of God, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of strength and strength, the spirit of light, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of the Lord or the gift of piety and inspiration to the highest degree.
The spirit and soul of a person are inseparably united during life into a single essence; but you can also see different degrees of spirituality in people. There are spiritual people according to the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 2:14). And there are people about whom the Apostle Jude says: These people... are spiritual, without spirit
(Jude 1:19).
Those elements of self-consciousness that are associated with the life of the spirit are immortal. The spirit is immortal, which can exist without connection with the body and soul.
His spirit shall depart, and he shall return to his land: in that day all his thoughts shall perish
(Ps. 145:4).
And the dust will return to the earth as it was;
and the spirit will return to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7). These two texts are especially important for substantiating our opinion that those elements of mental activity that are associated with the life of the body are mortal: feelings and thought processes that are inextricably linked with the activity of the brain.
“On that day all his thoughts will perish,” that is, the activity of consciousness will cease, for which all perceptions of the living brain are necessary.
It is not the soul that will leave, but the spirit, and will return to its land, that is, to eternity.
During life, the spirit and soul of a person are united into a single entity, which can simply be called the soul.
During life, the spirit and soul of a person are united into a single entity, which can simply be called the soul. In this sense, we must also understand those texts that speak about the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ: When His soul will offer a sacrifice of propitiation...
(Isa. 53:10),
His soul was not left in hell
(Acts 2:31).
That the spirit can have an existence separate from the soul and body is also proven by the inheritance of the spiritual properties of parents to children. I am talking about the heredity of spiritual properties, and not mental ones, as they usually say, because only basic character traits are inherited, their moral direction, inclination towards good or evil, the highest abilities of the mind, feelings and will, but memories of the life of parents are never inherited , their sensory or organic perceptions, their private thoughts and feelings. This indicates the separation of spirit from soul and body.
Love and the beginnings of altruism, as well as aesthetic feelings, are also characteristic of animals.
13. And animals have an immortal spirit
What can we say about the spirit of animals? They, like people, are by nature carriers of a certain spirit. Animals of the same breed can be brave and cowardly, angry and gloomy, affectionate and cheerful. They are not characterized by the highest properties of spirituality: religiosity, moral sense, philosophical and scientific thinking, subtle artistic and musical sensitivity. But love and the beginnings of altruism, as well as aesthetic feelings, are also characteristic of animals.
Not the highest form of love, not Divine love, but only family love; but in this love swans and doves are perhaps even superior to people. There are known facts of suicide of a swan that lost its girlfriend; he flies high, folds his wings and falls like a stone to the ground.
The animal spirit, of course, must be immortal, for it also has its beginning in the Spirit of God, the immortal Spirit. The idea of the immortality of the spirit of animals is clearly contained in the famous words of Paul about the hope of all creation (Rom. 8:20-21): ... in the hope that the creation itself will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
14. The psyche influences the course of the disease
The central nervous system dominates all processes in the body, determines and directs the work of all organs, their growth and condition.
The powerful influence of the patient’s psyche on the course of the disease is well known.
The powerful influence of the patient’s psyche on the course of the disease is well known. The patient's state of mind, his trust or distrust of the doctor, the depth of his faith and hope for healing, or, conversely, mental depression caused by careless conversations of doctors in the presence of the patient about the seriousness of his illness, deeply determine the outcome of the disease. Psychotherapy, which consists of the verbal, or rather, spiritual influence of a doctor on a patient, is a generally accepted method of treating many diseases, often yielding excellent results.
15. We have transcendental, spiritual abilities
The enlightened spirit of saints fully and always possesses those transcendental abilities that ordinary people manifest only in a state of somnambulism (hypnosis).
We have more than just five senses. We have higher-order perceptual abilities unknown to physiologists.
Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev thought a lot about the periodic table of elements, and eventually “saw” it in a dream
The facts of creativity in dreams are widely known. Very important subconscious activity can take place both in reality and in a state intermediate between sleep and wakefulness. What is called inspiration very often comes in a state of more or less complete eclipse of the consciousness of reality. Supernatural, scientifically inexplicable abilities of the spirit also include prophetic dreams.
16. When a person dies, his whole life can suddenly flash through his mind.
It has long been known that before death, his whole life can flash through the consciousness of a dying person with amazing clarity and incredible speed. In these amazing facts of reproducing in two or three minutes the events of an entire life that lasted decades, we are struck, firstly, by the supernatural speed of the flow of memory, and, secondly, by their amazing completeness and clarity.
One man, distinguished by a remarkably bright mind, was crossing the rails at that moment when a train suddenly appeared, approaching at full speed. He had no choice but to lie between the rails. And while the carriages were flying over this frozen man, a sense of danger brought back to his memory all the events of his life, so that it was as if a page from the book of destinies unfolded before his eyes.
If such a sudden review of one’s entire life is possible for a dying person and even in a dream, then it becomes clear how at the Last Judgment the “Book of Sins” will be revealed in our consciousness.
17. It is not so much the brain that is responsible for memory as the spirit.
It is known from physiology that all processes in the nervous system require a certain amount of time. All mental and sensory processes occurring in the brain also occur in time. And if it were possible to add up and calculate the time of all the mental processes that take place in our entire life, then we would get a solid and very solid amount of time. And therefore, it is impossible for these processes to be reproduced outside of time in the brain in the stream of instantaneous memories of a lifetime.
All our thoughts, feelings, acts of will are imprinted in the spirit - everything that happens in our phenomenal consciousness.
And if, nevertheless, they still occur with transcendental speed, then we have the right to conclude that it is not at all in the brain. Where then?
All our thoughts, feelings, acts of will are imprinted in the spirit - everything that happens in our phenomenal consciousness. This is something different than those traces and imprints in nerve cells that physiologists and psychologists use to explain memory.
It is impossible to admit that the brain can preserve forever all the smallest events of our life with all their details, their sensory coloring and moral assessment. The number of brain cells, although very large (6 billion according to Meinert), is still completely insignificant compared with the number of mental processes that are supposed to be imprinted in them.
Therefore, it is necessary to recognize that, in addition to the brain, there must be another, much more important and powerful substrate of memory. And we consider the human spirit to be such a substrate, in which all our psychophysical acts are forever imprinted. For the manifestation of the spirit, there are no time standards; no sequence and causal connection of reproducing experiences in memory, necessary for the functions of the brain, is needed. The spirit immediately embraces everything and instantly reproduces everything in its integrity.
18. Not a single memory of the past is erased
Probably not a single memory of the past is erased. Consciousness forgets a lot, memory forgets nothing. All the many old images remain almost unchanged, although they have disappeared from consciousness.
The amazing phenomena of hypermnesia reported by many authors become clear. Let's mention just a few of them.
Many authors report amazing facts about the memory of long-forgotten languages. One Rostov peasant, in a feverish delirium, suddenly began to pronounce in Greek the opening words of the Gospel of John, which he had accidentally heard 60 years ago, and Seneca mentions one peasant woman, in a feverish delirium, pronouncing Syriac, Chaldean and Hebrew words that she had accidentally heard from one scientist, whom she lived as a little girl.
The testimony of Holy Scripture confirms the correctness of our explanation of memory. The conversation of King Saul with the ghost of the prophet Samuel, whom the sorceress of Endor conjured for him (1 Sam. 28:13-15), indicates that in the spirit of Samuel after his death all the memories of his military life, all the abilities of the mind, will and feelings.
The sorceress of Endor summons the spirit of the prophet Samuel
This is undoubtedly true of Moses and Elijah, who appeared at the Transfiguration of the Lord on Tabor.
19. All people have transcendental abilities
The most important and deepest mental activity occurs beyond the threshold of our consciousness and never stops.
While our life proceeds in the kaleidoscope and noise of external perceptions, while our phenomenal consciousness works in full force, the never-ending activity of the superconscious is hidden. But when, in a state of normal, somnambulistic or hypnotic sleep, or in the case of brain poisoning, the normal activity of the brain dies out, then the light of transcendental consciousness flashes. It is also known that blindness deepens the work of thought and moral feeling and significantly pushes back the threshold of consciousness.
Under certain special conditions and in highly sensitive people, transcendental abilities manifest themselves with extraordinary power in clairvoyance, premonition and prophetic foresight in an unknown and mysterious sixth sense, with which they learn a lot about people from the things that belong to them.
Almost all people, even the least sensitive, have a faculty of cognition other than that of the five senses.
Almost all people, even the least sensitive, have a faculty of cognition other than that of the five senses. The higher a person’s spirituality, the more clearly this ability of higher knowledge is expressed. The Apostle Paul says: Even if our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
(2 Cor. 4:16).
Our inner, transcendental man, freed from the bonds of the flesh, can achieve the highest knowledge of all things in all its breadth, depth and length, for he will be renewed and strengthened in knowledge even in the image of his Creator: he will understand the love of Christ that surpasses all earthly understanding. For by faith Christ will dwell in him. What is incomprehensible to the “geometric mind” will become understandable to the transcendental consciousness of the inner man, illuminated by the light of Christ.
20. We are immortal
The human spirit is the breath of the Spirit of God, and for this reason it is immortal, like all incorporeal, angelic spirits.
The eternal bliss of the righteous and the eternal torment of sinners must be understood in such a way that the immortal spirit of the former, enlightened and powerfully strengthened after liberation from the body, receives the opportunity for unlimited development in the direction of goodness and Divine love, in constant communication with God and all ethereal forces. And the gloomy spirit of villains and God-fighters, in constant communication with the devil and his angels, will forever be tormented by its alienation from God, whose holiness it finally recognizes, and by the unbearable poison that evil and hatred conceal within itself, growing infinitely in constant communication with the center and source evil, Satan.
Of course, God cannot be blamed for the eternal torment of grave sinners. Every person receives and has the breath of the Holy Spirit. No one is born of the spirit of Satan. He who loved evil rather than good prepared for himself eternal torment in eternal life.
According to the clear testimony of Revelation, our bodies will be resurrected into eternal life and will participate in the bliss of the righteous or the endless torment of sinners.
The time will come for a new universe, a new earth and a new sky. Everything will be completely different, and our new life will take place in completely new conditions. Our thoughts will work intensely in understanding the new world. The mind is part of our spirit, and therefore our brain must be immortal. The immortal heart will be the focus of new, pure and deep feelings.
But is it only man who inherits immortality? Great word: Behold, I create everything new
(Rev. 21:5) refers, of course, not to one person, but to the whole creation, to all creatures.
In the new Jerusalem, the new universe, there will be a place for animals; there will be nothing unclean there, and the new creation will receive the ancient justification and sanctification by the Word of God: And God saw everything that He had created, and behold, it was very good
(Gen. 1:31). Man will be whole and harmonious in the future new universe, and every creature will have a place in it. Yes it will! Yes it will!
Migalnikov Alexey, third year student
Keywords:
Heart, body, soul, spirit, feelings, thoughts, death, immortality, energy.
