Spirit and Soul

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 Feb 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Aoife	16 Feb 2003
I realise I'm using these terms quite arbitrarily without enough thought to what they actually mean. Then when I stopped to consider I realised that I'm really not sure what they do mean. What do you understand by the terms 'soul' and 'spirit'?

scheherazade	16 Feb 2003
I understand them as the deepest essence of a thing, living as we know it to be or not so. They are arbitrary, for the most part - it's just that I associate souls more with human essence, and spirits with everything else in this universe.

jmd	17 Feb 2003
In our more materialistic world, not only have these two seem to have somewhat lost their meaning, but also their difference. Even in Christianity, which at least recognises the existence of the spiritual dimension, it is said that the tripartite nature of the human being (Body/Soul/Spirit) was reduced to two at one of the early Councils (in the fourth century, if I recall). The Spirit may refer to the human being 'proper', the spiritual essence underpinning the developing personae, whereas the Soul may be described as the various ways in which the spirit develops and manifest in its own individuality - including, therefore, its various faculties. The Divine spark vs its individual striving to be...

Diana	17 Feb 2003
I have always understood the word "Spirit" to be the actual Divine substance; and "Soul" to be the reflection of this Spirit. And Man is the reflection of Soul.

Aerin	17 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Diana I have always understood the word "Spirit" to be the actual Divine substance; and "Soul" to be the reflection of this Spirit. And Man is the reflection of Soul. Sort of like a cube is a 3-D reflection of a 4-D tesseract a square is a 2-D reflection of a cube a line is a 1-D reflection of a square a point is a 0-D reflection of a line so while they all reflect some truth about each other, information is lost/ transformed on the way ???? Aerin, coming over mathematical

cheekyminx	17 Feb 2003
spirit v's soul A person's true essence is their soul. Souls are eternal. A spirit is more ghostly. E.g There's a spirit in my house, or I feel a spirit around me. One doesn't say there's a soul in my house do they? When a soul makes contact with a person, they become a spirit, as this soul has left a tangen to be on earth??? Mediums/clairvoyants see spirits not souls? So what i'm trying to say is' "A soul is within each & everyone of us, upon death the soul leaves its incubator & its not until that soul makes human contact it becomes a spirit' lol Did that even make any sense?

Diana	17 Feb 2003
Minx: this makes sense when one talks of a spirit. But not of Spirit. Same word, but two different meanings altogether. Aerin: I don't understand mathematics. :( But I don't think anything gets lost in the process. A reflection is expression. Nothing gets lost in that expression.

Moongold	17 Feb 2003
I see the Soul as being that part of us which is a reflection of the Divine. Minx described it earlier as our essence . Our spirit is the vital, dynamic aspect of the Soul. I find it hard to say how the Soul can be understood. It reflects and discovers much that is beautiful and must constantly seem to change. The change, however, is simply the reflection of beauty or life in its myriad forms. Spirituality is the Soul in action. The sharing of love and understanding, the search for the Divine, the rediscovery of the Divine. It is hard to capture this in words and a really good question, Aoife. Moongold

firemaiden	17 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Aerin Sort of like...a cube is a 3-D reflection of a 4-D tesseract ... Okay Aerin: if you just explain 4-D tesseract, I'll have understood your whole post, and then I'll be able to say, "Now I think you're really on to something!" ..and I think it is close to what Diana said. But I think sphere, circle, and point might be more to the point than cubes and squares (is there a 4-D sphere-eract?) The wonderful collapsable-expandable sphere expresses the mysteries of macro- and micro-cosmos nicely, and also by extension, visible and invisible worlds. Does any one understand a word of this?? How's this??? 4D- God 3D-Spirit 2D-Soul 1D-man Linguistically, I think "Soul" has more to do with vibrations from the heart-being -- a cups like concept, where "Spirit" has more to do with the mind-being. If there is such thing as a soul separable from the body, I would expect the spirit to accompany it...LOL., but if we need to make distinctions, I would expect the soul to carry my deepest feelings and truest essence, and my spirit to carry my awareness of existence. So, yes, I agree with Aerin, the Spirit is a "4D-Tesseract" what ever that is... belonging to yet a higher dimension than the soul. -------- Now,for the sake of argument, leave out dimensions of existence beyond man altogether --then: My soul would be my deepest truth, my profoundest feelings and My spirit would be like my "third-eye",; my superconscience, (that thing therapists want to develop in us); the little voice-over in my brain that remains objective even in the worst circumstances; sort of like an omniscient, impartial narrator in a passionate novel...

PurpleGoddess	17 Feb 2003
you all have touched on every aspect for me. there's nothing more for me to say except that our souls/spirits pick the body, the family it's meant to be with in this lifetime and any that follow to learn whatever it needs to learn. i also believe that when we die our spirits/souls don't go to even we become apart of the network of life in another dimensions until it is time for us to come back. we are only in these bodies so we can move around, speak and learn. there's more to it but i've got the snow bug. a true blizzard is possible. so i want to go out and play. blessed be! :THP

jema	17 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Diana I have always understood the word "Spirit" to be the actual Divine substance; and "Soul" to be the reflection of this Spirit. And Man is the reflection of Soul. *scribbling away in my journal* this was just such a great quote Diana

Aerin	17 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden Okay Aerin: if you just explain 4-D tesseract, I'll have understood your whole post, and then I'll be able to say, "Now I think you're really on to something!" ..and I think it is close to what Diana said. But I think sphere, circle, and point might be more to the point than cubes and squares (is there a 4-D sphere-eract?) The wonderful collapsable-expandable sphere expresses the mysteries of macro- and micro-cosmos nicely, and also by extension, visible and invisible worlds. Does any one understand a word of this?? How's this??? 4D- God 3D-Spirit 2D-Soul 1D-man A tesseract is just a 4-D cube. Here's a picture of one http://pw1.netcom.com/~hjsmith/WireFrame4/tesseract.html and here's an explanation and a demo http://www.geom.umn.edu/docs/outreach/4-cube/. And yes, you do understand me (thank goodness someone does :).) Diana, it's not so much that information is lost (I phrased it wrongly) it's just that only so much can be perceived from each type of space. firemaiden, I like the idea of a sphere. Oh, and you can make as many dimensions as you want, I can't find a special name for a 4-D one though. These sites aren't as useful as the hypercube/ tesseract ones, i.e you need to dig through them more but lots of nice info. Also pretty pics at http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/~rfrankel/fourd/. http://www.geocities.com/jsfhome/Think4d/Hyprsphr/contents.html http://www.bright.net/~mrf/hierarchy(1).html http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/projects.old/classes/ma8/papers/leckstein/Cosmo/sphere.html Aerin ps edited to say: ooh! ooh! A hypersphere symphony as well http://www.emusic.com/cd/10735/10735087.html

The Spirit and Soul thread was originally posted on 16 Feb 2003 in the Spirituality board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Spirituality, or read more archived threads.