Started by casualtiger2 · · 👁 8 views · 257 replies
Bluebird. said:
Where does that whole father-protector-directional-guide complex even come from?
Sitting Bull said:Bill Gates/Self/The Absolute is ONE.
George said:Plenty of great artists and philosophers—think Shakespeare, Plato, and the rest—have tackled what it means to be human. They all had their own take, but the core idea is pretty clear if you actually use some intuition. If you're looking at it purely literally without any instinct? Then forget about it.
Goran said:Maybe you just don't have any actual arguments, or you're basing everything on your "gut feeling" again?
You're just throwing out claims like they're gospel (of course, you have a strong feeling they're true), but there isn't a single piece of evidence to back them up.
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Aretha Franklin is out here saying:
Wait, so God is just some three-dimensional being?!?! 😲
😵
🙄
blue bird said:Ah... our little home. I fear this is all we get.
Spirit, soul—it’s nothing more than a desperate craving for immortality. Once death hits, you watch the body break down, dissolve, turn back into dust. It’s a grim realization. We cling to the idea of some non-material component because we're terrified. We need something to outlast the physical decay, something to carry our thoughts and memories into some transcendental existence.
I wish I could believe in an afterlife—though, honestly, my faith in such things has withered—but everything I observe about how this world actually functions contradicts it. Lightning doesn't strike because of Zeus!
So, to me, the "soul" and the "spirit" feel like mere relics of a bygone era... just pure nostalgia!
Ahu Soph Nia said:Maybe when you gather like this, you gain better clarity or spot certain errors? Enjoy:
The soul is a localized aspect of God residing within the heart of a living being. The spirit is the formless aspect of God that binds the infinite souls of the universe together.
Without the spirit, the soul would be blind—completely severed from the cosmos.
Without the soul, life itself would be hollow; humans and all other creatures would be nothing more than animated puppets.
God, Spirit, and Soul are three manifestations of the spiritual realm.
Depending on how you look at it, various teachers or schools will offer their own definitions and divisions; they usually just tailor it to what the students are actually capable of grasping.
Because of varying levels of instruction, people often mix these three up; you see folks mistaking God for the soul or the spirit.
From a spiritual standpoint, these three phenomena are one, yet distinct.
Regardless, I am giving it my best shot:
The soul animates the living being.
The spirit animates the universe.
All of this is made possible by God.
God is the master of both soul and spirit.
Now, we have established that breath equals spirit.
In other words: he who consecrates his breath, enjoys a holy spirit.
Soul and spirit both have material analogs.
An analogy for the spirit might be the wind; meanwhile, the material mirrors of the soul are intelligence and the mind, for example.
Without further deliberation,
soul and spirit are two lower—though not material—attributes of the eternal God.
The soul is the essence of man. The spirit is the essence of the universe. God is the Essence.
Man is constantly immersed in the spirit, yet fails to perceive it directly.
The soul communicates with man constantly, yet man does not hear it directly.
God communicates with both soul and spirit constantly; yet, no one sees it at all.
Can God exist solely for Himself? He can; there is nothing we can do about it.
Can the soul survive the total destruction of the universe? It can.
Can the spirit destroy the soul or overshadow God? It cannot.
God is the source; the soul is the ocean; the spirit is the current.
Even though the soul isn't a separate entity in its own right, there is an element of reality within it—namely, the light of consciousness, which stems from the true Self, perceived by us as "I am."
What Sarma intends to convey is that while the soul is eternal, it cannot exist independently. The soul manifests within the Spirit, and God manifests within both the Soul and the Spirit according to His own will.
God is that which does not depend on Spirit or Soul. The soul depends on God.
The soul might even become independent of the Spirit, but the Spirit can never become independent of God.
A being is that which is alive. Life is spirit. God is the one living Being who is the Master or Source of Life.
The Absolute has absolutely NO "labels" or forms in itself.
What is meant here is that it will be difficult for you to perceive the Absolute on your own, as the Absolute possesses no attributes or forms that you could simply point to with a finger.
But the fact that labels and forms exist—or that we recognize them as such—is the obvious will of the Absolute. This provides clear insight that while labels and forms aren't inherent, the Absolute is the very form that exists by itself.
The soul says "I am"
The spirit says "I am That"
God says "I am I"
the Word said:if you didn't know, there is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
9 For they are a Trinity testifying in heaven: "Father, Word, and Holy Spirit; and these three are one,
8 And there are three testifying on earth: "Spirit, water, and blood; and these three are one.
Sitting Bull said:Where exactly?
| First off; if there even is an "I" (how can we possibly verify its existence?) is that "I" actually the Soul? By what mechanism is the soul perceived? What specific instrument of cognition is capable of recognizing the soul? Is it the ego? Or perhaps intelligence? |
| If a soul exists (how can a soul know that it is a soul?) |
Let’s take concepts like consciousness and energy as our starting points.
In that framework, the Soul acts as the fountainhead of consciousness, while the Spirit serves as the source of energy. And God? God remains beyond it all—entirely independent of both consciousness and energy.
