An increasing number of our contemporaries are beginning to show interest in spirituality, self-development and are asking questions about the Universe, about the higher mind, about the universe, about the power of the soul... Answers are sought and found in literature, religion, various esoteric knowledge and other sources. From the Bible we know that the soul is the breath of God into the physical body of a person. Having received this breath, the body gains Life. Having lost it, it dies. What the human soul is, its qualities, strength and manifestations will be discussed in the article.
Soul and Spirit
The concepts of soul and spirituality are closely interrelated, but have very serious differences.
The first is enclosed in the body at the moment of birth or conception. The power of the soul gives motivation to a person for existence and knowledge of the world. Three lines of action - feelings, desires and thoughts - connect the personality of its owner with the world. They are like blood, permeating the entire body and penetrating into its smallest components. The power of the soul allows a person to continue to live. And besides, feel, see, breathe, speak, desire, dream... A person has a soul as well as a body. The soul is the essence of man.
The Spirit is called to give life to the soul. And cannot belong to the body. He strives for the Highest and calls the soul behind him. He is not attracted by earthly joys; he easily leaves the human body and returns just as easily. It is his presence that places a person at the highest level in the hierarchy of all living things.
Material desires
Desires are always associated with material objects: gross or subtle.
Gross material objects are perceptible objects that we can enjoy through our senses . That is, it is taste, smell, sound, sight and tactile sensations. Perceived objects produce various states of mind that can be described as “pleasure.” For example, when eating a tasty dish a person experiences one form of pleasure, and when touching a person for whom there is sympathy, another form of pleasure will be felt. But overall it's a pleasure. So, the interaction of the organs of perception with certain material objects gives rise to pleasure.
Subtle material objects are ideas that, when located in a person’s mind, bring him pleasure . The source of pleasure is no longer interaction with material objects, but the state of mind that arises as a result of the activity of the mind. Ideas can be: superiority, honor, possessiveness, rightness, and so on. That is, having proven a certain idea within oneself, a person experiences pleasure. For example, having gained respect for something, a person will enjoy this state, which will cause him to have a certain state of mind. These are the states that a person enjoys as a result of the emergence of a state of mind.
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Also, subtle material objects are emotions, which are also a source of pleasure for a person if they are positive. Negative ones, accordingly, bring suffering to a person.
Emotions and ideas are material because they are in the mind. The mind is made of subtle matter and is material, although not tangible. There are enough material, but not tangible objects in the world, for example, sound or light.
Understanding material desires will greatly help determine which quality predominates in a person by identifying his main desires. The most manifest quality of everything is very clearly expressed in a person - in his words, actions and habits, as well as goals and plans.
Spiritual qualities
Psychologist Oleg Gadetsky states:
All higher qualities are a manifestation of the soul, all lower ones belong to material nature.
Positive spiritual qualities are virtues inherent in her from the creator. They are most easily recognized through the actions that a person performs:
- Help your neighbor.
- Respect and care for the elderly and infirm.
- Charity.
- Hospitality.
- Internal and external cleanliness of one’s own body and its environment.
- The ability to celebrate and rejoice.
- Keeping promises and vows.
- Taking care of children. Taking care of pets.
- Compliance with moral and ethical standards.
The power of the soul directs the consciousness to perform good, pious deeds and deeds that help develop the best spiritual qualities in oneself.
Spiritual hero in literature
The purpose of the writer was expressed by A. S. Pushkin in the work “The Prophet”. It echoes the biblical account of the calling of the prophet Isaiah. In the book bearing the name of the prophet, chapter 6 is devoted to this. With a verb, that is, with a word, to burn the hearts of people - this is the task of a prophet and writer who is gifted with talent.
Daniel Defoe described the life of Robinson Crusoe far from civilization. With the moral values from the Bible, he created a beautiful world on the island. He did not go wild, but was melted down in a difficult ordeal.
Jonathan Swift endowed his Gulliver with moral qualities. Some of his actions have become household names.
The Little Prince Exupery amazes with the wisdom of simple logic based on love.
The heroes of Jane Eyre, A.I. Kuprin, Jack London, V. Kataev have accompanied many since childhood. They go through life's difficulties, their character qualities are worthy of emulation.
And people are coming...
It is also worth remembering the statement of St. John Chrysostom:
Nothing gives the soul so much strength as freedom from worries, and nothing makes it weak as much as the burden of worries.
Many people do not think about their soul. They are more concerned about acquiring various kinds of material values, receiving bodily pleasures and other things. And it's not their fault. Social standards and life values of society impose on us from early childhood that a person needs to acquire as many things as possible and achieve a prestigious position.
And only when experiencing suffering or going through difficult times, we think about the strength of the soul and body. We turn to the Supreme for help and support.
Few people consciously go in search of their spirituality. Fortunately, there are more and more of them. Those who complete the spiritual search come to know their own soul. They talk about the path they have traveled, convey Great Knowledge, which provides invaluable assistance to those who are going on a quest again.
The spiritual sphere of social life
Human society is divided into spiritual and material spheres. Of course, the material sphere is important - it ensures physical existence. But in order to manifest himself as a spiritual person, he also needs a corresponding sphere.
The spiritual sphere of man includes religion, science, morality, culture, art, and law. Pedagogy has established that instilling the foundations of culture from an early age makes it possible to raise a harmonious, responsible personality. Doctors have found that the connections in the brain that are formed when playing musical instruments expand a person’s mathematical abilities. The development of creative abilities that art provides expands the scope of freedom and teaches you to make innovative decisions.
The spiritual realm has a powerful influence on the individual. The conclusion is obvious: man, as a social being, cannot fully develop without society.
Find your soul
The soul has an invisible connection with the body. In some teachings it is described as a silver thread, which, at the moment of physical death of the body, releases the soul to freedom.
Is it possible to give a material description of the soul? Some practices use their own tools to describe its color, size, and flaws. Time will prove the veracity of such information.
We believe that the soul is invisible, because it is consciousness. And it belongs to a dimension where only true Light and Sound exist.
The outer expression of the soul is our attention. The mind is constantly busy commenting on life's report and distracts attention from the door leading to the Highest. The endless stream of thoughts can be stopped using various techniques (prayer, meditation, trance, etc.) and look inside yourself, discovering the power of the soul and the coordination of the will.
Her tongue
What do we feel when we say: “the soul hurts or aches,” “the soul grows cold,” “the soul screams,” and so on. Anxiety, fear, pain. Where does this come from? How else can the Universe or God communicate with us? We ask them for protection and help, but often we do not pay attention to the signs that are sent to us.
We are constantly cared for and protected. The language of the soul is different from ours. This is the language of subtle feelings that describes our emotional and energetic state. It is important to listen to what they want to tell us. It is important to look closely at what signs are being sent to us.
If a person is calm or joyfully excited, then he is on the right path. And his soul sings! If, on the contrary, the feeling of depression and anxiety persists, it is worth reconsidering your path. Perhaps they want to protect a person from something.
- The language of kicks. These are incredible random events. For example, you stumbled, broke something, or you were “touched to the quick” by a phrase accidentally dropped by someone.
- Language of the situation. Example: being late, an important meeting was disrupted, a violation of an agreement, and so on.
- The language of failure. In this case, the most important attachment for him is “taken away” from the person. For example, money, relationships, career.
- Language of direct contact. In search of an answer, a person goes to grandmothers, clairvoyants. Or suddenly he receives a book, or an invitation to classes. With this help, he finds the reason for the negative things happening to him.
- The language of dependency. From bad habits, slot machines and so on.
- Language of choice. Serious illness, accidents.
The Creator is like a wise parent. Starts with a little shake. But if a person rejects the information, does not change his attitude to what is happening, does not want to take lessons, the punishment becomes more severe, up to the cessation of any independent choice.
Good intellectual character traits
To understand which traits are best used for work, you need to select the properties of intellectual qualities.
Accuracy
This is the desire to keep order and cleanliness around you. Neatness is noticeable in a person’s appearance, his neatness, careful attitude towards things around him, precision and diligence in business. The surrounding order around a good person is also imprinted on internal harmony.
Politeness
Show respect for others. Regardless of the behavior of the interlocutor, a polite person will continue to communicate in his calm and courteous tone, thereby showing his position.
Foresight
A person who knows how to calculate everything several steps ahead. A good person makes plans with confidence and understands what will happen in the future.
Creativity
The ability to find a creative approach, think outside the box and in an unusual way. This is a good quality to work with.
Wisdom
A person’s ability to apply knowledge and experience at the right time. The ability to avoid unwanted situations and wisely manage acquired skills and resources. Advice from good people is extremely important.
Self-criticism
The ability to soberly assess your qualities, skills and actions, notice your mistakes and correct them. Self-criticism promotes a demanding attitude towards oneself, the ability not to settle on a single opinion, and the ability to rethink the experience gained. A good person needs to maintain the golden mean between the opinions of others and his own, otherwise this will lead to low self-esteem.
Tolerance
This is tolerance towards other people, different worldviews, habits. A good person does not cross out another, but he is not obliged to accept his point of view. This is a sign of respect for all differences.
Hard work
Satisfaction from your own work. The ability to enjoy your work, gladly dedicate time and effort to it. This does not mean that a person does not get tired at work, but at the same time he is charged by what he does.
Love
Words from the famous writer Erich Maria Remarque:
If your soul reaches out to someone, don’t resist... She’s the only one who knows exactly what we need!
It is impossible for a person to live without love. Each of us feels the need to satisfy emotional and sensory needs.
But how often is he deceived, mistaking for a true feeling simply physical dependence on another person, the opportunity to possess someone else’s will and feelings. Personal love makes a slave out of a person, who is attached to the object of desire and sees the meaning of life in his beloved, and only connects his future with him.
True love is the achievement of the strength of the soul. Unconditional, quiet, filled with trust, freedom, warmth and wisdom. She gives wings to her loved ones and does not impose any stereotypes or opinions.
The power of the human soul is capable of hearing the thoughts of other people's hearts and seeing their unity. And find real happiness in this unity.
Spiritual guidelines
Society has always had accepted norms that were considered spiritual guidelines. The Holy Scripture played a huge role in their formation. The two largest religions based on it - Christianity and Islam - are professed by 33% and 23% of the world population, respectively. Social, economic and criminal laws and the Constitutions of many countries are drawn up on the basis of the Ten Commandments.
The Golden Rule, found in Matthew 7:12, encourages people to do as they would like to be treated. This is not just maintaining neutrality according to the formula “do no harm to anyone, so that no harm will be done to you” and not a common saying calling for retribution “as you do to me, so I will to you.” This was taught by many ancient philosophers. Christ taught to actively do good, so that you yourself would be rewarded with good. And he added that this is the whole law and the prophets.
A person's spiritual orientation as an individual is even more closely tied to Scripture, even if he has never read it. Thanks to public morality, the concepts of good or bad, decent or dishonest, acceptable or unacceptable keep the individual within certain limits. Literature is built on the basis of public morality - a powerful means of cultivating spirituality. The author’s detailed description of the deep motives of the hero’s actions makes it possible to gain one’s own experience. Among the great writers who indicated spiritual guidelines are L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. P. Chekhov, C. Dickens, E. M. Remarque.
Health
Our own health and the health of our loved ones is the most precious and important thing for a person. This is something that is difficult to buy, but very easy to lose. This is a state that allows you to do what is planned or realize what you feel. The strength of the soul and human health depend on two main components:
- Maintaining a balance between actions of filling with strength and actions of cleansing from unnecessary things.
- Unity of body, soul and spirit.
The second - the unity of the physical, mental and spiritual - is manifested:
- in the feelings that a person is capable of experiencing;
- and what emotions these experiences evoke; what is their manifestation?
The greater the strength of the soul and the stronger its health, the higher the feelings that its owner experiences and, accordingly, the brighter and more positive the emotions he displays.
The influence of a socially spiritual person on society
No man has influenced history more than Jesus Christ. He taught his followers to spread what they learned. How many times have they been tried to destroy them, like Christ himself! But they still brought the truth to the world. The religion is named after their teacher, and the beginning of a new era is considered to be from his birth.
John Gutenberg invented the printing press to disseminate the Holy Scriptures, and it had a huge impact on culture around the world. Books became much cheaper and everyone could afford to buy them. Cyril and Methodius, Greek missionaries, created the Slavic alphabet for translating the Holy Scriptures and this enriched our language. Many Russian proverbs are actually taken from the Bible.
Leo Tolstoy highly valued the Word of God and in his works comprehensively considered good and evil. His novels were highly appreciated by M. Gandhi, who led the struggle for the liberation of India. He spoke about the importance of Christian teaching, that all the world's problems would be solved if people actually adhered to it.
As can be seen from these examples, even one spiritual person is an undoubted benefit to society.
Filling and cleansing
John Holland opined:
Your soul is very wise and always attracts to itself what you need to learn in life.
To maintain mental health, serious work with the body and thoughts is necessary. It is thoughts that cause us to express both positive and negative emotions. And thoughts are born from experienced feelings.
The strength of the soul weakens from anger, envy, anger, hatred, resentment and the like that destroy it. And vice versa, it becomes greater when a person experiences joy, admiration, gratitude, sympathy, love, tenderness.
Experts recommend a unique set of “tools” for cleansing the body and filling it with strength, which will help get rid of negative thoughts and, as a result, lead to mental health.
Cleansing Tools:
- proper therapeutic fasting;
- fast;
- physical activities and exercises;
- bath practices;
- massage;
- hardening of the body.
Filling Tools:
- proper, healthy nutrition;
- trips;
- walks in the open air;
- creation;
- hobby.
In a healthy body healthy mind. Trite, but simple and true.
Work
The soul goes through certain stages of development and growth.
The birth of a child is a real miracle. Communication with children brings a colossal amount of positive emotions and evokes high feelings. How can this be explained?
The baby's soul is pure. And the same pure soul of an adult is drawn to her. But she was imprisoned by strong walls consisting of past negative experiences, which contain grievances, failures and losses, anger and intolerance towards others.
Freeing the forces of the soul to achieve a state of love and peace, trust in the world and the Highest, and obtaining joy in life is the goal of many seekers.
Awakening
Man, created by God in his own image and likeness, is a powerful being. It contains colossal forces of the spiritual and energetic sphere of the universe. But, unfortunately, the majority leave without knowing their higher nature, without awakening the hidden powers of the soul.
But it’s not difficult. Look around! There are so many people around who need your help or participation. Do good. Provide support to your loved ones and friends. Sometimes someone really needs to be simply told: “It’s so good that you exist!”
The great strength of the human soul was demonstrated by those who, without fear of death, saved others. From fire, from water, from bullets, hunger, cold. Those who defended their country and people.
What is a spiritual person?
If you turn to dictionaries, you can see the emergence of the modern concept of “spiritual person”. At a time when there were few atheists, society was built on faith in God, and a divine spark was recognized in man. V.I. Dal did not include this concept in the dictionary at all (1863), and interpreted the word “spiritual” as “belonging to the spirit.” Regarding the use of the word “spiritual” in relation to a person, he gives the following interpretation: “Everything in him that relates to God, the soul, moral strength, mind and will.”
D. N. Ushakov also does not include the concept of “spiritual person” in the dictionary (1935-1940). He points to the colloquial use of the adjective in the combination “a person of clergy,” making a distinction between the spiritual and the secular. S.I. Ozhegov in 1949 described the word “spiritual” as relating to religion (music, academy, school).
S. A. Kuznetsov in 1998 distinguishes two understandings: the first - related to religion and the second - having a philosophical view of the world. It is interesting that the definition of a spiritually undeveloped person in the Dictionary of Synonyms looks more than unpresentable: redneck, backward, wretched.
Three ways to live
Pay attention to the words of St. Maximus the Confessor:
When the three forces of the soul: rational, irritable and desirable - from the simplicity of the one and only good turn to the consideration and distinction of evil and good things that exist here in the world. Then desire, thought, and feeling inseparably rush towards that which is contrary to the will of God. For then the irritable force moves only towards these and among these things.
A person combines three ways of life:
- plant life;
- life of animals;
- life of Angels.
The plant (lower) component manifests itself in the awareness of the physiological functions of the body - nutrition, breathing, reproduction. The bodily state is characterized by ego-mind (emotions, desires).
Animal (intermediate) - in the emergence of sensual desires, the implementation of voluntary activity. The state of mind is characterized by moral reason (feelings, will).
Angelic (highest) rewards a person with the ability to spiritual life, to communicate with God. She has a spiritual mind (experiences, intentions).
Soul Recognition
Probably, everyone has ever found themselves in a situation where, when meeting a stranger, it seems that you know him very well. He is so close, painfully dear. This meeting awakens you to experience the strongest emotions and feelings that shake you to the core. This phenomenon is called soul recognition.
It is unlikely that this person will “recognize” you. But this fact serves as proof that our souls communicate and are closely connected with one another. And this does not depend on our consciousness.
Esoteric science describes two types of connections that lead to each other and unite them with one destiny:
- karmic;
- and space.
Karmic connection is part of the normal order of evolution. Cosmic communication is supernormal in that it belongs to a completely different set of laws. This is one of the Great Mysteries. It is the lot of the initiated and is mentioned only for the reason that so many try to approach it without being initiated. That is, they experiment with the great forces of nature in complete ignorance of their character and power, which is very unsafe.
Spirituality Brings Responsibility
A spiritually mature person realizes that along with the freedom to do what he considers right comes responsibility for the use of this freedom. Regarding this, there is the following example: an airplane can roll on the ground, but that is not what makes it an airplane. When it is already in the sky, then it becomes obvious that it is an airplane. Likewise with spirituality, there is still no situation in which a person’s spiritual qualities will manifest themselves; it is not visible. But when the decisive moment comes, his high moral essence becomes obvious to everyone - it manifests itself in this situation.
Psychology considers spirituality, freedom and responsibility as the most important components of personality. They are closely related. An unspiritual person will not want to take responsibility for his actions and will begin to look for someone to blame. A spiritual person, having made a mistake, admits it.
