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spirit and soul
- Thread starter syo
- Start date
This is a really good question which my best answer may be idk. I often try and take a stab at it though, it seems like our thoughts are non-material but not entirely if it's a frequency. A frequency means something is there to vibrate. I've come to believe that spirit is matters' timeless and spaceless connection with the one, and that everything is pretty much made of a matrix like super knowledgeable multi-dimensional existence.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Spirit is the life a person; their personality; their persona; their energy.
"An animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms" (Energy)
This is why people can feel another person's energy around them even if they aren't in the room or if they are deceased.
Soul is a personified spirit. I have a soul. Its alive by spirit. Spirit cannot be alive without a shell. The shell is the body.
"The principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body, and commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; the spiritual part of humans as distinct from the physical part."
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The terms are certainly used differently by different people at different times, myself included.
Here is how I think is the best way to understand them.
Spirit is the fundamental aspect of creation Consciousness/God/Source/Brahman. It is only One. A spark of this One Consciousness is what animates 'living' things.
Soul is an individual body on a higher realm of nature animated by spirit.
There is only One spirit but we each have individual souls.
Each person is likely to have their own definition for these two. However soul is usually the I or self. One person told me there is only one soul in the universe everyone shares.
Spirits are many, in fact an individual can have many spirits all vying for control at any moment. Your persona may be made up of many spirits or there maybe one dominate spirit.
Does alcohol age a person? If so how long would George Burns have lived without it?
Oddly, I'd think the difference is pretty obvious.
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
Buddha would have likely declared this to be another of the imponderables.
When God breathed the breath of life into lifeless Adam then Adam became a living soul or living person according to Genesis 2:7. So, at death Adam became a dead soul, or as Ezekiel 18:4,20 says the soul that sins dies.
As a high-spirited horse is a lively horse, or as a pep rally is designed to create school spirit, then our spirit is our spirited energy by which we move and live. As a foreclosed house does Not move or go anywhere, but simply goes back to its owner, our spirit of life goes back to God. Meaning any future life prospects now lies in God's safe hands.
For this one -
Spirit designates the essence/nature/person of something; the all-that-it-is; identity-and-self. For example, a tree spirit is the tree that you witness before you - a physical and tangible thing. It is also the tree that was in years past, and the tree that it will be in years future. It is the tree in relation to its environment, and it is the tree as others see and know it through story and song. Most in my culture use "spirit" to mean only intangible aspects of a person/identity. For me, it references at least the intangibles, but also the tangible aspects.
Soul is not a term that I use.
Spirit designates the essence/nature/person of something; the all-that-it-is; identity-and-self. For example, a tree spirit is the tree that you witness before you - a physical and tangible thing. It is also the tree that was in years past, and the tree that it will be in years future. It is the tree in relation to its environment, and it is the tree as others see and know it through story and song. Most in my culture use "spirit" to mean only intangible aspects of a person/identity. For me, it references at least the intangibles, but also the tangible aspects.
Soul is not a term that I use.
I find that Adam did Not have a soul, but that Adam was a soul.
According to Genesis 2:7 Adam did Not have a soul, Adam did Not possess a soul, but Adam was a soul or person.
At his death sinner Adam became a dead soul or a lifeless soul. The soul that sins dies according to Ezekiel 18:4,20. So, Adam went from non-life, to life, and returned back to non-life. A person can Not ' return ' to a place he never was before, so Adam simply returned back to the dust of the ground as per Genesis 3:19.
No post-mortem penalty for Adam just non-existence. Since we can Not resurrect oneself or another then our future life depends on resurrection. Jesus can and will resurrect the dead - Revelation 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:26.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
If Adam was an actual human being, he had a spirit god gave him when he breathed in life. The soul is a personified spirit. All humans have spirit. Soul depends on ones belief system. Cant live without energy but it doesnt need to be personified.
I find that according to Genesis 2:7 that created Adam was material/physical.
Adam did Not come to life until God breathed the breath of life into lifeless Adam.
Adam then became a living soul or a living person. At death Adam returned back to dust as per Genesis 3:19.
The dead have No spirit of life because a resurrection is necessary to have life, be lively, again.
If the dead would be more alive at death, there would be No need for a resurrection for the living.
To me that is why Acts of the Apostles 24:15 uses the ' future tense ' that there ' is going to be ' a resurrection.....
That future resurrection for the still unconscious dead ( Ecclesiastes 9:5; John 11:11-14 ) will take place during Jesus' coming 1,000-year governmental rule over Earth.
If Adam's soul was a personified spirit then I wonder why Genesis 2:7 does Not say that.
To me the belief system of Genesis 2:7 shows all of Adam was a living breathing soul.
No where do I read that Adam had a personified spirit soul but rather Adam was a soul.
At his death Adam's spirit went out just as a burned-out light bulb goes out. (finished)
Yes, one's spirit doesn't need to be personified.
Just as a high-spirited horse is Not personified, just as school spirit is Not personified, but lively energy.
So, true we can't live without energy (energized spirit) and it is Not personified.
Just as also God's spirit is Not personified but neuter as the word "it" as found at Numbers 11:17,25.
I wonder where the idea or teaching about an ' immortal aspect of one's being ' comes from.
In Scripture Adam was mortal. Mortal Adam did Not have an immortal aspect to him.
At his death mortal Adam simply returned to where he started from - the dust of the ground - as per Genesis 3:19.
The immortal can Not ' return ' to a place he never was before. Mortal Adam went back to non-lfe.
No mention about any post-mortem life or penalty for Adam, but just going back to the dust of the earth.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
I dont understand where you getting at or disagreeing with. By definition, spirit is energy and soul personification of that energy defined as a separate person apart from the body.
So if Adam was a soul and not a body, he would be, how do I say, an entity or ghost. Instead, (from dust to dust) Adam body was from the earth/ashes/dust and became human. God breathed spirit into him (what makes a human alive).
Hmm. Eucharist is a good example.
Concecrated bread and wine is the body and blood
Communion is the spirit/connection of the people bring christ spirit present in the communal meal
The soul or persona of christ is in each individual person when they come in one spirit (christ name) to be one body and this with god.
Its not complicated just I dont use soul. I stick with spirit.
My understanding of Genesis 2:7 is that God breathed the ' breath ' of life into lifeless Adam to make Adam alive.
I never read a verse saying God breathed spirit into Adam.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Spirit is breathe of god. Spirit is life. Energy of a person.
If god didnt breathe in spirit, what did he breathe into Adam?