[PhilThreeten] A Glimpse into a Person
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PhilThreeten
Aug 30, 2006, 11:42:46 AM8/30/06
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I’ve been reading some materials on the importance of the church to be rigorously intellectual. The argument from these articles is that we’ve moved away from intellectual pursuit in exchange for emotionalism and that to return to intellectual acumen would be a return to historical Christianity. I understand the argument, but disagree with it on many fronts.
But in thinking it over, I came up with a picture of anthropology that I thought was helpful (at least to me :) Without getting into the arguments surrounding how many parts makes a person, I’m going to use the heart, soul, body, and mind breakdown used in several places throughout scripture (here and here). Let me start with some definitions:
The heart is our will. It is what propels us through life in whatever direction we go. It is what pursues the food we eat, the relationships we have, and the fulfillment of a million other types of desires.
The soul is our personality. It is what makes us who we are as opposed to being someone else. Most would say it is our body that separates us from others, but that is not true in the case of identical twins. Though our bodies help to differentiate us, there is something more to it than just the physical. Our soul differentiates us from all other people. I believe that the biblical term ‘spirit’ is interchangeable with this part of us.
The body is…well…our body. It is the material aspect of who we are. Interestingly, it is not alive. In fact, scientists have known for quite some time that if you took all the different cells that make up our body and disconnected them, they’re all just dead. This is why a soul/spirit is so critical to mankind since without it, we are lifeless matter.
The mind is our intellect. It is our ability to think – which includes reasoning, extrapolating, propositioning, communicating, learning, and dreaming.
The dangers of articles that focus on any one area of a person – such as the mind – as being the primary focal point of our spiritual walk is that they are compartmentalizing a person. We are not such simplistic creatures.
Does the mind impact the heart, soul, and body? Undoubtedly. But cannot also the heart mislead the mind? Can’t the soul cause the body to act in a particular way? Can the body not effect the heart? We are far more holistic creatures than some appear to understand. Thus, a pursuit of the panacea of spiritual development that does not take all the aspects of our being into consideration – or even worse, takes one part of our being and makes it penultimate over all other parts – is doomed from the start in providing the answer being sought.
Conspicuously missing from my definitions were emotions. It is purposeful. Is it possible that the emotions are an indicator of where a person is in their spiritual walk? That the heart that pursues things (greedy), the soul that is predisposed to anger (hatred), the body that is sick (apathy), the mind that determines its superiority (pride) are all communicated through our emotions?
Lest one think that I’ve fallen into my own trap, I’m not suggesting that emotions are the panacea or penultimate pursuit of spiritual development. They simply are an indicator of areas in our life – heart, soul, body, and mind – that require our attention if we are to live the lives that God will find pleasing.
Does this seem like a picture of men and women that parallels what Scripture tells us?
Categories: Thinking, Living
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Posted by PhilThreeten to PhilThreeten at 8/30/2006 11:38:00 AM
But in thinking it over, I came up with a picture of anthropology that I thought was helpful (at least to me :) Without getting into the arguments surrounding how many parts makes a person, I’m going to use the heart, soul, body, and mind breakdown used in several places throughout scripture (here and here). Let me start with some definitions:
The heart is our will. It is what propels us through life in whatever direction we go. It is what pursues the food we eat, the relationships we have, and the fulfillment of a million other types of desires.
The soul is our personality. It is what makes us who we are as opposed to being someone else. Most would say it is our body that separates us from others, but that is not true in the case of identical twins. Though our bodies help to differentiate us, there is something more to it than just the physical. Our soul differentiates us from all other people. I believe that the biblical term ‘spirit’ is interchangeable with this part of us.
The body is…well…our body. It is the material aspect of who we are. Interestingly, it is not alive. In fact, scientists have known for quite some time that if you took all the different cells that make up our body and disconnected them, they’re all just dead. This is why a soul/spirit is so critical to mankind since without it, we are lifeless matter.
The mind is our intellect. It is our ability to think – which includes reasoning, extrapolating, propositioning, communicating, learning, and dreaming.
The dangers of articles that focus on any one area of a person – such as the mind – as being the primary focal point of our spiritual walk is that they are compartmentalizing a person. We are not such simplistic creatures.
Does the mind impact the heart, soul, and body? Undoubtedly. But cannot also the heart mislead the mind? Can’t the soul cause the body to act in a particular way? Can the body not effect the heart? We are far more holistic creatures than some appear to understand. Thus, a pursuit of the panacea of spiritual development that does not take all the aspects of our being into consideration – or even worse, takes one part of our being and makes it penultimate over all other parts – is doomed from the start in providing the answer being sought.
Conspicuously missing from my definitions were emotions. It is purposeful. Is it possible that the emotions are an indicator of where a person is in their spiritual walk? That the heart that pursues things (greedy), the soul that is predisposed to anger (hatred), the body that is sick (apathy), the mind that determines its superiority (pride) are all communicated through our emotions?
Lest one think that I’ve fallen into my own trap, I’m not suggesting that emotions are the panacea or penultimate pursuit of spiritual development. They simply are an indicator of areas in our life – heart, soul, body, and mind – that require our attention if we are to live the lives that God will find pleasing.
Does this seem like a picture of men and women that parallels what Scripture tells us?
Categories: Thinking, Living
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Posted by PhilThreeten to PhilThreeten at 8/30/2006 11:38:00 AM
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