Revealing the Human Spirit

Revealing the Human Spirit

My focus has been on the triune human being—body, mind and spirit. Today I would like to change focus and settle in on the intricacies of the human spirit.

We’ve heard in the past saying such as, “my spirits have been dashed,” and “my spirit is heavy.” We’ve heard alcohol being called spirits. We call someone who is animated and joyous, spirited. But what exactly is spirit?

The dictionary defines spirit as all of the above, plus as a noun meaning: the nonphysical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character; the soul: we seek a harmony between body and spirit.

·       such a part regarded as a person's true self and as capable of surviving physical death or separation: a year after he left, his spirit is still present.

·       such a part manifested as an apparition after their death; a ghost.

·       a supernatural being: shrines to nature spirits.

So, most people believe we are a body that has a spirit. You don’t have to be spiritual to see that if you are breathing, you have spirit. If you are dead, you have lost the ability to breath and have no spirit dwelling within or animating you. If this were true, then is spirit made of matter? Can we actually see it? Or is it completely invisible to all.

We can’t see air in normal temperatures, but we know that it exists. So, I get to wonder if there is a metaphysical meaning to all of this. Are we trying to see our spirit with the naked eye without any enhancements? Would it make a difference if we tried viewing the spirit from a different perspective or a different environment?

Certainly, the autonomic system of the body let’s us know that spirit or life exists when there is breath. But has any one ever monitored breath leaving the body in finality? Has anyone ever tried to capture the last breath of a human being? I wonder if it would have a different attribute than the breath of one that is living.

I did a cursory Google search and couldn’t find any passages explaining trying to examine the final breath of a human being. Maybe I’m the founder of a new thought process. If any of my readers know anything about any experiments of this kind, please let me know.

My sister witnessed my father’s passing. She said she saw his spirit escape through the corner of the room closest to the door. It was as if he stopped there, waved and then went on to some place filled surrounded by light.

I have helped a few people pass on during terminal illness. These experiences have been some of the most edifying times of my life. I understood how ephemeral and fragile each breath is and how the body, though it is mostly strong when breathing, becomes gray and smelly quite quickly after death.

I know a mortician. I have been around a few dead bodies. At first, I was freaked out about them. Then it became more intriguing than strange to observe a lifeless body. There was really nothing to feel about my observation at all. I didn’t know the corpses I observed, so I had absolutely no emotion attached to this empty shell.

I appreciated the idea that people want to see their friends and family one last time before they let them go, but after watching the process of a mortician, I think I now prefer the idea of creation for myself. Actually, most of my family feels the same as I, and none of them experienced what I did in the mortician’s room.

So, spirit, though it may be invisible and impossible to capture, is actually quite probably the most amazing and significant aspect of life. Without it, we wouldn’t exist. Yet we know so little.

My time in meditation brings me to a place of understanding the part of the human mind that observes. This is the closest I get to identifying the part of myself that is not completely human.

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Bo Sebastian is a Hypnotherapist and Life & Health Coach, available for private sessions to QUIT SMOKING, Lose Weight, New Lap-Band Hypnosis for Weight Loss, CHANGE YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR LIFE! at 615-400-2334 or www.bosebastian.com. FOR COMMENTS: Go to the Bo Sebastian link under the title and there is a place there to create a comment. Thanks.

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