Do you ever wonder what is the spiritual self? “The spiritual self” is thus a constitutive element of man which is throughout our earthly existence in close contact with our individuality, our personal self.
We have spoken for the moment of three of the components of human nature: the physical, emotional, and mental bodies. These three components are born at the same time as the physical body, are built year after year, and forge in us a (physical) appearance and a personality (emotional and mental).
We generally agree that we are all different, with a particular character, more or less pronounced skills in this or that field: science, arts, commerce, languages, education…
We can legitimately ask ourselves if all this path of life that goes from childhood to the adult world (family, work, leisure) and finally to old age has a meaning for the human being.
Religions have tried to provide an answer that seems more or less satisfactory. Do we find in the human being something more?
“Men Are Spiritual Beings in Human Experience.”
This time no reasoning can help us. To overcome this difficulty, we can either trust people who have experience in this area or look at major religious texts or listen to our inner light.
The result of this study will be, in fact, a personal synthesis of different external and internal influences. It’s a journey in Metaphysics.
This synthesis, though imperfect, can help those who read these lines not to adhere to a new religion but to make their own inner journey, their own discoveries. The purpose of this philosophical reflection is not to advocate a new religion but to try to immerse ourselves in Metaphysics by trying to understand and know the human being.
Most religions think that something in man survives after his death and also that what survives is eternal or may be eternal. And you, what do you think?
On earth, we are able to verify that everything that is born one day dies one day. This is a universal datum, which is no exception to my knowledge. This data concerns plants, animals, and men as well as the matter of the earth and the universe.
If something in us is eternal or can be eternal, then it cannot be our physical body, our emotional and mental bodies.
What Is the Spiritual Self?
That part of us that transcends the human species, which is human and physical, is, therefore, more spiritual in nature. For simplicity, we will name this part “the spiritual self.”
This reflection is nothing other than a philosophical essay on Metaphysics.
1 – What Does the Spiritual Self Want and Do?
The spiritual ego of every man is neither completely happy nor perfect, for if he possessed happiness and perfection, it would manifest itself equally in every man.
“Our spiritual self” will, therefore, seek to acquire happiness by realizing life experiences through the various vehicles attached to it: the physical, mental, and emotional bodies.
*** We Can Compare the Spiritual Self to a Driver and His Vehicle to a Car That Allows Him to Go From One Point to Another.
Without this car, the driver would have a lot of trouble traveling great distances. So it is with the spiritual self, who, without this body, would have a hard time making progress toward happiness and perfection.
The happiness he wants to acquire is the happiness he wants to have on Earth, and he wants to see it continue in the afterlife on Earth.
The experiences of lives will, therefore, be memorized and “assimilated” by the spiritual self to be useful to them after, as some say; others think so, but nothing is verified yet!
So a group of people suggests that in the same way that we do from time to time summarize our life experiences by reflecting on what has been successful or less successful, the spiritual self is going to have to do a job during this lifetime and a soon after to assimilate all his experiences, his moments of life. Do you share this opinion?
2 – The Evolution of the Spiritual Self
The spiritual self has eternity before it. This eternity depends on his life on earth – either his condemnation (the perdition of his life, his return to nothingness) – his salvation (the eternal life offered in Jesus Christ). That is why we will answer before God the use of our bodies: physical, mental, and emotional.
This term “eternal” is something that is difficult for a man to understand because, as I said, nothing is eternal on this earth and in our universe. Except after his passage on earth, the spiritual self will be situated on his fate: the return to nothingness or to spread in eternal life.
When we talk about eternity, we talk about something that has no end. But we should also talk about something that has no beginning.
Because as I showed in our sensitive world, everything that has a beginning also has an end.
What has no beginning and no end has not been created. Yet is indeed a creature of God, notwithstanding the refusal of some to admit it!
*** If I Take a Lake and Consider Its Composition. All the Liquid “Stuff” of This Lake Is Composed of Water.
If I consider water to be eternal, without beginning or end, I can see that this water and all the molecules that compose it will undergo changes. The water will evaporate, condense in clouds, descend on the ground in the rain, flow in the streams, in the rivers, then into the sea.
The number of water molecules on earth will remain the same, but each molecule will have lived a life of its own and will have returned to the end of the cycle in the great ocean.
On the other hand, if the spiritual self touches eternity, it cannot go from progress to progress, from glory to glory, from perfection to perfection: something of which it dreams!
We can understand the search for the answer, what is the spiritual self, as a long journey to try to reach the source or ocean from which it comes. The goal of the “spiritual self” is, therefore, to attain ineffable bliss, bliss eternal life. For before the entry of sin into humanity, the spiritual self knew that he had an eternity before him – an eternity he could acquire. But now, he is aware that he must aspire to this eternity; this eternity becomes a quest for him now. Therefore, who does not dream of eternal life after death on earth?
3 – The Way of Balance
Man must try to live harmoniously with his body, his environment, and his family. His goal is to avoid suffering as much as possible, to promote his happiness and that of others. Whenever he puts an action, it has a consequence. This consequence will be favorable or not for him.
*** Eat the Amount Needed
If I eat to feed my body, I can eat just the amount needed and in a balanced way; then it is likely that my body will respond by maintaining or improving my health.
If I eat too much or if what I eat is not of good quality, then my body will react with discomfort, an illness, so that I will suffer quickly enough.
If I do not eat enough, I will see my health deteriorate, and I will lose my energy. All my actions will require me more effort. I can also feel sick, and sooner or later, if I prolong the fast, I will suffer.
If you analyze all areas of life well, you will understand that if you do not respond in a balanced way to the needs of your body, then there will be suffering in the short or medium term.
I can mention, among other things, the main functions of the body: breathing, sleep, solid or liquid nutrition, caloric balance, heart rate, locomotion, and sexuality…
*** What Is True for the Physical Body Can Be Checked on Our Other Emotional and Mental Bodies.
This law of cause and effect, linked to our other bodies, is not always immediate. If, from an economic point of view, my intellect evaluates or miscalculates spending according to earnings, I may become aware of the consequences through the debts that I will have contracted several months later. This is the case of a loan or a purchase on credit, for example.
Similarly, emotionally, if I isolate myself and I no longer have relationships with my loved ones, I risk, after a few days or weeks being sad or depressed.
If I am constantly in contact with others, day and night, I will have more and more trouble supporting them; then conflicts will appear.
*** We Have to Find a Balance
So, in terms of relationships, I have to find a balance.
The individual balance will be variable, from one person to another or according to the expectations of each one at a time of life.
I prefer, at certain periods, to be more alone, or at other times, to rub shoulders and frequent many people.
Thus our actions always have consequences if the balance proper for each person is not preserved. We may not always be aware of the consequences immediately, but life takes care of it from time to time. At this moment, we may suffer pain and suffering, and we can hope that the lessons that will be “taught” in this way will be understood.
We can also be a victim of other people, like our parents. In childhood and into adulthood, our parents try to educate us, but because of their own difficulties, their imperfections, their action is sometimes too strong or too lax. In both cases, we suffer or suffer the consequences because our own construction and balance depend on the quality of the actions of our parents and entourage.
The consequence of the actions that are taken can have an impact on a community or entire country. This is true in the case of conflict and war between two countries; this is also true in the spread of contagious diseases.
*** The Path of Balance for an Individual, for a Couple, or for a Country Is a Goal That Is Always Unstable.
This is why we must relentlessly try to maintain the balance and even improve it, knowing that nothing is definitively acquired.
Our death, if it is natural, will be the consequence of an imbalance of the functions of the body, for example, the circulatory or cardiac functions, the functions of renal elimination, and the regulation of glycemia…
It is our spiritual self that lives, our inner being. This is why all balance is internal before being external. Let’s say any balance is, above all, spiritual. Therefore, our spiritual self being in human experience is in search of stability and balance in this present life.
4 – The Spiritual Self in Search of the Truth
We are always searching for the truth, for fear of being deceived or making mistakes ourselves. This is the case of the spiritual self, who is constantly seeking the truth. This is why men are constantly learning, searching, and making discoveries: just because they all aspire to the truth – not to say the absolute truth – whether it exists or not. […]
When a judgment is made, for a criminal case, for example, we try to gather evidence of a person’s guilt.
If this evidence is sufficient and the majority of the jurors are satisfied, the person is sentenced.
We see here that the search for the truth requires at least two things:
1. bring evidence
2. convince several people
It happens that a convicted person is found innocent several years later because other elements were brought to the attention of justice after his conviction.
*** The Truth Is Not Easy to Obtain
The truth is something difficult to obtain and fragile because it is very easily questionable and criticizable.
In the scientific field, researchers are advancing step by step. They make assumptions, then try to control a large number of cases that their assumptions are true, that they are true.
If it turns out that the hypotheses sought are not 100% verified, we will say that they prove with a certain probability.
When I roll a cube with six numbers and faces, there is a one in six chance for the number three to emerge.
By the purest of chances, I can throw the die a hundred times without the number three coming out once.
It’s possible but unlikely, and mathematics allows me to calculate the probability factor for such an event to happen.
Another case. Science tells me that any object that I drop is attracted to the center of the earth by the law of gravity, and so will quickly touch the ground.
If I inflate a balloon with helium or hydrogen, then I can see that balloon flies when I let go, rather than falling and touching the ground. The law of gravity is apparently taken in default.
To explain this phenomenon, I can only do this if I take into consideration other elements, such as the presence of air in this case.
To get a good idea of things, you have to look at every aspect of the object being analyzed. That is why the spiritual self-seeking truth drives a man to seek truth in every way.
*** If Two People Are Face to Face and Look at a Coin
The first person will see the pile side, the second side face.
When I ask these people to describe the piece, their descriptions will be very different or even opposite. They will have the impression of having each good version of the facts, the truth, but in fact, the “truth” exposed by each person will be partial.
To get a better idea, I’m not going to say that one of the people is right and the other wrong. No, I will gather all the information, make a synthesis and give a more comprehensive description of the room with its side stack, its side face, and even its edge.
This is so for the spiritual self since it is in human experience; it only partially knows the truth. The other part of the truth may be reserved after its passage on Earth. You understand why it is difficult to pronounce life in the afterlife or not if hell or paradise unless one stick to religious teaching. And again, each religion interprets it differently from the other.
*** Doubt Is Rooted in Our Understanding
When someone tells me about a lived experience, I will have to ask myself the following questions:
• Does the person want to expose the reality of his experience or to deceive me?
• If she tries to tell the truth, are the facts she reports partial or complete?
• What is the element of objectivity and subjectivity in what she tells?
• Does she have photos or items that can support the facts?
• Can I check at least some things myself?
• Can I meet other people who have witnessed the same experience?
This is how doubt is rooted in our understanding. Failing to find convincing answers according to our understanding, we often come to doubt. […]
No organization is immune from error and does not possess the truth with a great V. The history of scientific and religious organizations is full of examples where mistakes have been made.
This does not mean that we must stop and consider that the truth is not attainable…
Sometimes it takes time, years, and many lives, but one day the truth must come up and burst if it is necessary or vital to us.
We have more than ever the opportunity, in our time, to get the most accurate and truthful picture of the issues that concern us.
Our own internal resources and the multiplicity of information circulating are able to enlighten us without any measure of the times that preceded us.
So be convinced, seek, and struggle patiently, and no question will remain unanswered. But if you have never known the truth during your life on earth – who knows – maybe you will know it after your journey on earth if you extend into eternal life, something that all spiritual selves aspire for!
5 – The Spiritual Self and the Imagination
Imagination is a faculty used by the mind to allow us to represent and visualize concrete or abstract things, real or unreal situations. But it is the activity of the spiritual self through the mind.
This faculty can be lived passively, I let my mind wander, and images and scenes appear in front of my inner screen; we are then in the field of daydreams and dreams.
I can have an active imagination, and I will exercise my will to represent myself and mentally construct images, things, and scenes.
This image will be exercised until the object of my creation conforms to my expectations.
The mental creation is going to be helped by my will, my memory, my intelligence, and also by the objective that I have set for myself.
In fact, all my mental faculties are going to be at the service in this case of the active imagination, which is not the case for the passive imagination.
An architect, for example, before any drawing and representation on paper, will mentally build the building that he wishes to achieve by imagining the appearance, the external aesthetics, the volume, the height, the width, the number of pieces, the function of each volume, materials that can be used, layout and interior decoration.
He will also imagine how people will live in this space, the type of communication, and the relationships people will have.
He will look at how this construction will fit into the immediate environment. Should we create gardens and communication routes to access them?
All this thinking will probably generate several possibilities of construction, and he will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each of the representations that are the fruit of his imagination.
It will retain one or two possibilities that, this time, it will sleep on the paper and work afterward.
This whole process takes time, and it is truly a creative process, even if his project never sees the light of day.
*** You Are Able to Use Your Imagination
Each person is able to use his imagination with more or less effort and success. If the result of this work is realized, then the energy spent will be rewarded by the pleasure of this creation and much more if the people who benefit from this creation are grateful for the quality of the work done.
The areas in which the imagination is exercised are of an incredible variety in all human activities, family and professional, artistic, scientific, educational, religious…
One of the areas where complete freedom can be expressed is imagination. It is right that the spiritual self has imaginations about his life or his evolution after his passage on earth in this human experience. We understand how the idea of eternity tortures the human mind, the conduit of reflection in reflection, imagination in imagination, and research…
On the other hand, to realize the work of the imagination relative to our life on earth takes time, energy, and money.
So there is important inertia that makes a small number of imagined “things” really see the light of day.
This is probably better because we would be in a world of perpetual change if everything imagined was instantly created.
It is also not certain that these creations would really be useful to society.
We can feel the importance of the will that is needed to bring these creations to life. This is where the notion of the will comes in for the concretization of our imagination with regard to our earthly existence.
These will be a little of ourselves because we can pass in the act of creating all our sensitivity, our love, and our intelligence.