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 to 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Love
Words 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 from another person, the ability 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.
Strength human soul able to hear the thoughts of other people's hearts, see their unity. And find real happiness in this unity.
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.
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.
Cleansing Tools:
- proper therapeutic fasting;
- fast;
- physical activities and exercises;
- bath practices;
- massage;
- hardening of the body.
Filling Tools:
- correct, healthy eating;
- trips;
- walks in the fresh air;
- creation;
- hobby.
A healthy body means a 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 gives rise to 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 hidden forces souls.
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 someone to simply say: “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.
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;
- animal life;
- 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 appearance 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).
Needs
According to the Creator's Plan, a person's spiritual needs must be leading, so that the spirit controls the soul, and the soul controls the body. Violation of this hierarchy is a perversion of human nature. Spiritual needs are higher than all, without their satisfaction we cannot find harmony.
The great power of a person’s soul leads him to realize his essence. Towards an understanding of the unity of everything and everyone on Earth. Gives him a sense of responsibility for everything he has done, thought, felt, felt.
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.
“The soul is tripartite and is contemplated in three forces: thinking, irritable and desirable”(St. Gregory Palamas).
“We must give the three forces of the soul the correct movement, in accordance with their nature and in accordance with the intention of the God who created them. Namely: the irritable force must be moved against our external man and against the serpent Satan. “Be angry, it is said, and do not sin” (Ps. 4:5). This means: be angry at sin, that is, at yourself and at the Devil, so as not to sin against God. The desirable force must be directed towards God and virtue, and let us place the mental force as mistress over both of them, so that with wisdom and prudence it orders them, admonishes, punishes and rules over them, as a king rules over his subjects. And then the mind that exists in us according to God will govern them (that is, when it will dominate over them, and not obey them). Although passions rebel against reason, we do not cease to command that reason rule over them.”(Venerable Hesychius, Presbyter of Jerusalem On Sobriety and Prayer).
“Train the irritable part of the soul with love, wither the desirable part with abstinence, inspire the rational part with prayer, and the light of the mind will never be darkened in you.”(Callistus and Ignatius Xanthopoulos, Instruction to the Silent).
“Each rational nature, brought into being to receive divine teaching, was created in a special way from three simple parts by the wisdom of the glorious Creator: these parts are desire (will), irritation (feeling) and understanding (mind). It is necessary to know what each of these parts receiving the teaching is made of.”
Those first two parts [will and feeling] together are called the active part of the soul, and this third [mind] is called divine contemplation, that is, the good use of that knowing part, which is thinking.”(Venerable Isaac the Syrian, On Divine Mysteries and Spiritual Life, Conversation 19, P. 1)
“The soul is characterized by three powers: the cognitive ability, called reason. The second power of the soul is that to which anger is attributed; This is animal power, the neighbor of wild desires. The third power is the desired ability."(Clement of Alexandria, Teacher, Book III, Chapter 1.)
“In the soul we meet three forces: mind, feeling, will, or, as with the Holy Fathers, the power of reasoning, irritability and desire”(St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation)
“And when they [the forces] are within themselves and are watched with attention and good dispositions, then the rational force reasons sensibly and correctly distinguishes good from evil, and shows definitely and authoritatively to the desirable force which things it should be inclined to desire, which ones to love, which ones to turn away from; the irritable force (heart) stands between the two of them, like a submissive slave, ready to serve their desires, and will always help them.”(St. Simeon the New Theologian, Creations Vol. 2. Sl. 84)
“One horse is noble [mind], another is disorderly [will], the third is meek [heart]. And if you loosen the reins of the violent [will], he rears up, becomes stubborn, puts you in difficulty along the way, rushing, not knowing where; he [the will] attaches to himself the average horse [the heart], convinces him to be at one with him, and the noble horse [the mind], as a captive, enslaves and carries away against his will, although he grieves about being led astray. But the wild horse [will], disorderly, with the most senseless aspiration, rushing uncontrollably downwards, as if from a steep slope, does not look forward at all, does not stop its run until it rushes into the gates of hell, destroying both itself and you, unfortunate soul! And if you reasoned in accordance with your nature, you would gladly leave the entire path to the noble horse [reason], which knows well the path leading to things above; You would strictly inspire the average horse [heart] to show his zeal wherever it should, and to run along with the smart horse; and she would begin to pacify the disorderly horse with strong butts [strikes of spurs], without loosening the reins for a minute. Then your path would be joyful, respectable, calm, carefree, full of hope.”(St. Gregory the Theologian, Creations. Vol. 2. Reproaches to the unreasonable aspirations of the soul. P. 117.)
As can be seen from the diagram, in an everyday or fallen state souls, the three main forces (mind, feeling, will) are in a “horizontal” state, which is not synergistic with the divine (“vertical”), but is closed from it. In addition, the forces of the soul themselves in the “horizontal” state are divided among themselves and do not have a trinity.
Thus, the stratification and “horizontalization” of the three main forces of the soul (mind – feeling – will), is nothing more than the result of damage to the original chaste nature of man with the division of forces mind, feelings and will into separate components with loss of coordination (harmony) between them.
“The fathers took a closer look a long time ago and divided all the actions of the soul into three categories - thoughts, desires and feelings, calling each a special side of the soul - thinking, desiring and feeling. Let's take this division and start looking at each side."(St. Theophan the Recluse, What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it, 12, p. 43)
Diagram of the change in the state of the soul's powers after the Fall from vertical to horizontal Ninefold hierarchy of changes in the states of the three forces of the soul ( mind, feelings, will) depending on the three main states of human nature according to St. Theophan the Recluse.
This law of the nine-fold hierarchy was first formulated by Saint Theophan the Recluse in his work “Incarnate economy, the experience of Christian psychology.”
“It is not surprising to notice that within us there are three types of actions: mind (thoughts, ideas, considerations); feelings (feelings of all kinds), will (desires, inclinations, enterprises. But just as in the composition of our being one cannot help but distinguish three parts: body, soul and spirit, then those three types of actions appear in us at three degrees, or in three states , namely: bodily (animal), mental and spiritual.
Now placing a special force at the basis of each of these circles of actions, we must recognize the nine-fold hierarchy of forces that in our inner world are qualitative and act under the cover of the body, this gross material-elemental composition, just as in nature the nine-fold hierarchy of material forces acts under the gross element visible to us. composition of our planet and how in the invisible, spiritual world there are nine ranks of angels.”(St. Theophan the Recluse, “Incarnate economy, the experience of Christian psychology”, XXV, p. 233)
The essence of this spiritual-psychological law comes down to the fact that the three forces of the soul (mind, feeling, will), through the prism of three states of human nature (bodily, mental, spiritual), are refracted by nine different states of mind, feeling and will.
- Mind in a bodily state - ego mind,
- The mind is in a state of mind - moral reason
- Mind in a spiritual state - spiritual mind.
- Feeling in a bodily state - ego emotions.
- Feeling in a state of mind - moral feelings,
- Feeling in a spiritual state - spiritual feelings and experiences.
- Will in a bodily state - ego desires,
- Will in the state of mind - moral will,
- Will in a spiritual state - spiritual intention.
Thus, the physical state of a person is characterized by: ego reason, ego emotion, ego desire.
The state of mind is characterized by: moral reason, moral feeling, moral will.
The spiritual state is characterized by: spiritual mind, spiritual experience, spiritual intention.
Another merit of the saint in relation to the study of the state of the forces of the soul can be considered the painting of a 5-tier layout of all states of human nature in the process of deification with the addition of two more transitional states to the three known states (bodily, mental, spiritual) ( physical-mental and mental-spiritual ) :
“You see how many sides or, better yet, degrees of life we have! There is a spiritual side and degree of life, there is a spiritual-spiritual one, there is actually a mental one, there is a mental-physical one (it seems that I did not highlight it properly - this includes observations with imagination and memory, desires from the needs of the body and feelings of bodily states and impressions), there is a bodily one. Five tiers, but a person’s face is one, and this one face lives first this, then another, then a third life and, judging by the kind of life it lives, receives a special character, reflected in its views, and in its rules, and in its feelings, that is, it can be either spiritual - with spiritual views, rules and feelings, or spiritual - with spiritual concepts, rules and feelings, or carnal - with carnal thoughts, deeds and feelings.” St. Theophan the Recluse, What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it, 12, p. 43)
Essentially, Saint Theophan formulated the principle of changing dominants in the process of deification:
- physical condition ( passionate dominatrix) – consumer ego thinking and worldview (old man),
– physical and mental state ( converted passionate dominatrix) – rational ego thinking and worldview,
- state of mind ( balance 50% to 50%) – morally oriented thinking and worldview,
- mental and spiritual state ( transitional virtuous dominant) – sacrificial thinking and worldview,
– spiritual state ( virtuous dominant) – spiritual thinking and worldview (new man).
“Every person sometimes comes to his senses and knows that the thing he wants to do is incongruous with anything, however, since he has love for it and does not renounce love, he yields victory over himself. At first, within his heart there is war, struggle, and balance, and inclination, and a predominance of either love for God or love for the world.”(Venerable Macarius of Egypt, Spiritual conversations, Conversation 5, 8)
“For some earthly and carnal love, with which a person binds himself of his own free will, catches his sin, becomes for a person shackles, bonds, a heavy burden, which drowns and suppresses him in the evil age, not allowing him to gather his strength and return to God. What a person loves in the world burdens his mind, takes possession of it and does not allow him to gather his strength. Balance, decline, and preponderance of vice depend on this; in this way the entire human race is tested, all Christians living in cities, or in mountains, or in monasteries, or in fields, or in desert places are tested; because a person, caught by his own will, begins to love something; his love is bound by something and is no longer entirely directed towards God.”(Venerable Macarius of Egypt, Spiritual conversations, Conversation 5, 9)
From the point of view of patristic Orthodox psychology, this is the spiritual-mental methodology of “subtracting” the passionate and old (bodily) ego of a person for the transition to a “new” person and a passionless (spiritual) one.
In Greek, the word “soul” (psyche - from psykhein - “to blow, breathe”) meant the very life of a person. The meaning of this word is close to the meaning of the word “pneuma” (“spirit”, spirit), meaning “breath”, “breath”.
A body that no longer breathes is dead. In the Book of Genesis it was he who breathed life into Adam:
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).
The soul is not something material, substantial, visible. This is the totality of all our feelings, thoughts, desires, aspirations, impulses of the heart, our mind, consciousness, free will, our conscience, the gift of faith in God. The soul is immortal. The soul is a priceless gift of God, received from God solely out of His love for people. Even if a person did not know from Holy Scripture that, in addition to the body, he also has a soul, then with just one attentive attitude towards himself and the world around him, he could understand that what is inherent only to him: reason, consciousness, conscience, faith in God, everything that distinguishes him from the animal, constitutes its soul.
It is often observed in life that people, healthy and wealthy, cannot find complete satisfaction in life, and, conversely, people exhausted by illness are full of complacency and inner spiritual joy. These observations tell us that, in addition to the body, every person has a soul. Both soul and body live their own lives.
It is the soul that makes all people equal before God. Both men and women were given identical souls by God at creation. The soul that the Lord gave to people carries within itself image and likeness of God.
God is eternal, He has neither beginning nor end to His Being. Our soul, although it has a beginning to its existence, but it does not know the end, it is immortal.
Our God is God Almighty. And God endowed man with the traits of power; man is the master of nature, he owns many secrets of nature, he conquers the air and other elements.
The soul brings us closer to God. She is not made by hands, destined to be a dwelling place for the Spirit of God. It is the dwelling place of the Spirit of God in us. And this is her highest dignity. This is her special honor, intended for her by God. Even the pure and sinless are not given this honor. It is not said about them that they are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, but about the human soul.
Man is not born a ready-made temple of God.
And when a person is baptized, she dresses in snow-white clothes, which usually become contaminated with sins throughout life. We must not forget that our spiritual nature is structured in such a way that all thoughts, feelings, desires, all movements of our spirit are closely connected with each other. And sin, entering the heart, even when it has not yet been committed, but only the thought of it has come, and then through action, immediately leaves its mark on all aspects of our spiritual activity. And goodness, entering into the fight against the evil that has penetrated us, begins to weaken and fade.
The soul is cleansed by tearful repentance. And this is necessary, for it is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit can only dwell in a clean temple. The soul, cleansed from sins, represents the bride of God, the heir of paradise, the interlocutor of the Angels. She becomes a queen, filled with the grace-filled gifts and mercies of God.
From the book of Archimandrite John (Krestyankin)
When St. Gregory wrote about the soul; he began with an apophatic approach, recognizing from the very beginning that the soul belongs, like the Lord himself, to the realm of the unknowable through reason alone. The question “Why am I living?” requires silence and silence.
When the Holy Fathers spoke of reason in relation to the soul, they called it "nous" (a term coined by Plato to denote Supreme Intelligence. “Nous” is the manifestation of divine consciousness in man - approx. ed.). The fact that this word is considered a synonym for the word “intelligence” is part of the sad story of our loss of understanding of the meaning of this concept. Nous, of course, also understands and perceives, but not at all in the same way as the intellect.
Origin of the soul
The origin of the soul of each individual person is not fully revealed in the word of God, as “a mystery known to God alone” (St. Cyril of Alexandria), and the Church does not offer us a strictly defined teaching on this subject. She decisively rejected only Origen’s view, inherited from Plato’s philosophy, about the pre-existence of souls, according to which souls come to earth from the mountainous world. This teaching of Origen and the Origenists was condemned by the Fifth Ecumenical Council.
However, this conciliar definition does not establish: is the soul created from the souls of a person’s parents, and in this only general sense constitutes a new creation of God, or is each soul directly created separately by God, then united at a certain moment with the forming or formed body? According to the view of some Fathers of the Church (Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Ephraim the Syrian, Theodoret), each soul is created separately by God, and some date its union with the body on the fortieth day of the formation of the body. (Roman Catholic theology has decisively leaned towards the point of view of the separate creation of each soul; it is dogmatically pursued in some papal bulls; Pope Alexander 7 associated with this view the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary). - According to the view of other teachers and Fathers of the Church (Tertullian, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, St. Macarius, Anastasius the Presbyter), about substance, soul and body simultaneously receive their beginning and are perfected: the soul is created from the souls of parents, like the body from the bodies of parents . Thus, “creation here is understood in a broad sense, as the participation of the creative power of God, inherent and necessary everywhere for all life. The basis for this view is that in the person of the forefather Adam, God created the human race: “ from one blood He produced the entire human race” (Acts 17:26). It follows that in Adam the soul and body of every person are potentially given. But God's determination is carried out in such a way that both body and soul are created, created by God, for God holds everything in His hand, “ Himself giving all life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). God, having created, creates.
St. Gregory the Theologian says: “Just as the body, originally created in us from dust, later became a descendant human bodies and does not cease from the primordial root, enclosing others in one person: so the soul, breathed in by God, from now on co-enters into the formed composition of man, being born again, from the original seed (obviously, according to the thought of Gregory the Theologian, spiritual seed) given to many, and in mortal members always maintaining a constant image... Just as breathing in a musical pipe produces sounds, depending on the thickness of the pipe, so the soul, which turns out to be powerless in a weak composition, appears strengthened in the composition and then reveals its entire mind” (Gregory the Theologian, word 7, O soul). This is the same view of Gregory of Nyssa.
Father John of Kronstadt in his Diary argues this way: “What are human souls? This is one and the same soul or the same breath of God, which God breathed into Adam, which from Adam has spread to the entire human race to this day. Everyone is human, so it is the same as one person or one tree of humanity. Hence the most natural commandment, based on the unity of our nature: “ Love the Lord your God(The prototype of yours, of your Father) with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbor(for who is closer to me like me, a half-blooded man), like yourself“. There is a natural need to fulfill these commandments” (My Life in Christ).
From the book of Protopresbyter Mikhail Pomazansky
Soul, spirit and body: how do they relate in Orthodoxy?
The soul, while not being a “part” of a person, is an expression and manifestation of the integrity of our personality, if we look at it from a special angle. The body is also an expression of our personality, in the sense that although the body is different from the soul, it complements it and is not opposed to it. “Soul” and “body” are thus only two ways to display the energies of a single and indivisible whole. A true Christian's view of human nature must always be holistic.
John Climacus (7th century) says the same thing when he describes his body in bewilderment:
“It is my ally and my enemy, my helper and my adversary, protector and traitor... What kind of mystery is this in me? By what law is the soul connected to the body? How can you be both your friend and your enemy at the same time?
However, if we feel this contradiction in ourselves, this struggle between soul and body, it is not at all because God created us this way, but because we live in a fallen world, subject to the influence of sin. God on His part created man as an indivisible unity; and through our sinfulness we have violated this unity, although we have not completely destroyed it.
When the Apostle Paul speaks of “this body of death” (Rom. 7:24), he is referring to our fallen state; when he says: “...your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you... Therefore glorify God in your bodies” (1 Cor 6:19-20), he is talking about the original human body created by God and what it will become, saved, restored by Christ.
Likewise, John Climacus, when he calls the body “enemy,” “adversary,” and “traitor,” means its current fallen state; and when he calls him “ally,” “helper,” and “friend,” he refers to his true, natural state before the Fall or after the restoration.
And when we read Scripture or the works of the Holy Fathers, we should consider every statement about the relationship between soul and body in its context, taking into account this most important difference. And no matter how acutely we feel this internal contradiction between physical and spiritual needs, we should never forget the fundamental integrity of our personality, created in the image of God. Our human nature complex, but it is united in its complexity. We have different sides or inclinations, but this is diversity in unity.
The true character of our human personality, as a complex integrity, diversity in unity, was beautifully expressed by Saint Gregory the Theologian (329-390). He distinguished between two levels of creation: spiritual and material. Angels are only of the spiritual or immaterial level; although many Holy Fathers believe that only God is absolutely immaterial; angels, compared to other creations, can still be called relatively “incorporeal” ( asomatoi).
As Gregory the Theologian says, each of us is “earthly and at the same time heavenly, temporary and at the same time eternal, visible and invisible, standing in the middle of the path between greatness and insignificance, one and the same being, but also flesh and spirit". In this sense, each of us is “a second cosmos, a huge universe inside a small one”; We contain within us the diversity and complexity of all creation.
Saint Gregory Palamas writes about the same thing: “The body, once having rejected the desires of the flesh, no longer pulls the soul down, but soars with it, and man becomes entirely a spirit.” Only if we spiritualize our body (without dematerializing it in any way) can we spiritualize the entire creation (without dematerializing it). Only by accepting the human personality as a whole, as an indivisible unity of soul and body, can we fulfill our mediatorial mission.
According to the Creator's plan, the body must obey the Soul, and the soul must obey the spirit. Or, in other words, the soul must serve as a working organ for the spirit, and the body is intended to carry out the activities of the soul. For a person undamaged by sin, this is exactly what happened: the Divine voice was heard in the very sanctuary of the spirit, the person understood this voice, sympathized with it, wanted to fulfill its instructions (that is, the will of God) and fulfilled it with deeds through the medium of his body. So now, most often, a person who has studied with God's help always be guided by the voice of the Christian conscience, capable of correctly distinguishing between good and evil, thereby restoring the image of God in oneself.
Such a restored person is internally whole, or, as they also say about him, purposeful or chaste. (All words have one root - whole, the same root in the word “healing”. Such a person, as the image of God, is healed.) There is no internal discord in him. Conscience proclaims the will of God, the heart sympathizes with it, the mind ponders the means for its implementation, the will desires and achieves, the body submits to the will without fear or grumbling. And after committing actions, conscience gives a person consolation on his morally correct path.
But sin has perverted this correct order. And in this life it is hardly possible to meet a person who always lives chastely, wholeheartedly, according to his conscience. In a person who has not been regenerated by God's grace in ascetic asceticism, his entire composition acts at odds. Conscience sometimes tries to get its word in, but the voice of spiritual desires, mostly oriented towards carnal needs, which are often unnecessary and even perverted, is heard much louder. The mind is directed towards earthly calculations, and more often it is completely turned off and is content only with incoming external information. The heart is guided by fickle sympathies, which are also sinful. The person himself does not really know why he lives, and therefore, what he wants. And in all this discord you won’t understand who the commander is. Most likely - the body, because its needs for the most part come first. The soul is subordinate to the body, and in last place are the spirit and conscience. But since such an order is clearly not natural, it is constantly violated, and instead of integrity in a person, there is a continuous internal struggle, the fruit of which is constant sinful suffering.
Immortality of the soul
When a person dies, one of his lower components (the body) “turns” into soulless matter and is given over to its owner, mother earth. And then it decomposes, becoming bones and dust, until it disappears completely (what happens to dumb animals, reptiles, birds, etc.).
But the other, higher component (the soul), which gave life to the body, the one that thought, created, believed in God, does not become a soulless substance. It does not disappear, does not dissipate like smoke (because it is immortal), but passes, renewed, into another life.
Belief in the immortality of the soul is inseparable from religion in general and, even more so, constitutes one of the main objects of the Christian faith.
She couldn't be alien and... It is expressed in the words of Ecclesiastes: “ And the dust will return to the earth as it was; and the spirit will return to God, who gave it”(Eccl. 12:7). The entire story of the third chapter of Genesis is with the words of God’s warning: “if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then you will die by death - is the answer to the question about the phenomenon of death in the world and, thus, it itself is an expression of the idea of immortality. The idea that man was destined for immortality, that immortality is possible, is contained in the words of Eve: “ ...only from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, do not eat it or touch it, lest you die”(Gen. 3:3).
Liberation from hell former subject hope in Old Testament, was an achievement in New Testament. Son of God “ descended before to the underworlds of the earth“, ” captivity captivated” (Eph. 4:8-9). In a farewell conversation with the disciples, the Lord told them that He was coming to prepare a place for them, so that they would be where He Himself would be (John 14:2-3); and he said to the robber: “ today you will be with me in paradise”(Luke 23:43).
In the New Testament the immortality of the soul is the subject of a more perfect revelation, constituting one of the main parts of the Christian faith, animating a Christian, filling his soul with the joyful hope of eternal life in the kingdom of the Son of God. “ For for me life is Christ, and death is gain... I have a desire to be resolved and to be with Christ” (Phil. 1:21-23). “ For we know that when our earthly house, this hut, is destroyed, we have from God a dwelling in heaven, a house not made with hands, eternal. That is why we sigh, wanting to put on our heavenly dwelling.” (2 Cor. 5:1-2).
It goes without saying that St. The fathers and teachers of the Church unanimously preached the immortality of the soul, with the only difference that some recognized it as immortal by nature, while others - the majority - as immortal by the grace of God: “God wants it (the soul) to live” (St. Justin Martyr); “The soul is immortal by the grace of God, who makes it immortal” (Cyril of Jerusalem and others). The Fathers of the Church thereby emphasize the difference between the immortality of man and the immortality of God, Who is immortal by the essence of His nature and therefore is “ the only one who has immortality” according to Scripture (Tim. 6:16).
Observation shows that faith in the immortality of the soul is always internally inseparable from faith in God, so much so that the degree of the former is determined by the degree of the latter. The more alive the faith in God is in someone, the stronger and more undoubted is the faith in the immortality of the soul. And vice versa, the weaker and lifeless one who believes in God, the more hesitation and greater doubt he approaches the truth of the immortality of the soul. And whoever completely loses or suppresses his faith in God usually ceases to believe in the immortality of the soul or in a future life. This is understandable. A person receives the power of faith from the Source of Life Himself, and if he breaks the connection with the Source, then he loses this flow of living force, and then no reasonable evidence and convictions are able to infuse the power of faith into a person.
It can rightfully be said that in the Orthodox, Eastern Church, the consciousness of the immortality of the soul occupies its due, central place in the system of teaching and in the life of the Church. The spirit of the church charter, the content of liturgical rites and individual prayers support and revive in believers this consciousness, faith in the afterlife of the souls of our loved ones who have died and in our personal immortality. This faith casts a bright ray on the entire life work of an Orthodox Christian.
Soul powers
“The powers of the soul,” writes St. John of Damascus, - are divided into reasonable power and unreasonable power. The irrational force has two parts: ... vital force and a part divided into irritable and lustful.” But since the activity of the vital force - the plant-animal nutrition of the body - manifests itself only sensually and completely unconsciously, and therefore is not included in the doctrine of the soul, it remains in the doctrine of our soul to consider the following forces: verbal-rational, irritable and concupiscible. These three forces are what St. points to. The Fathers of the Church recognize these very forces as the main ones in our soul. “In our soul,” says St. Gregory of Nyssa, - three forces are discerned from the initial division: the power of the mind, the power of lust and the power of irritation." We find such a teaching about the three powers of our soul in the works of St. Church Fathers of almost all centuries.
These three forces must be directed towards God. This is precisely their natural state. According to Abba Dorotheus, who here agrees with Evagrius, “the rational soul then acts according to nature when the concupiscible part of it desires virtue, the irritable part strives for it, and the rational soul indulges in the contemplation of created things” (Abba Dorotheus, p. 200). And the venerable Thalassius writes that “the distinctive feature of the rational part of the soul should be exercise in the knowledge of God, and the desirable one should be love and abstinence” (Good. T.3. P.299). Nicholas Kavasila, touching on the same issue, agrees with the mentioned fathers and says that human nature was created for a new man. We have received “a mind (λογισμό) in order to know Christ, and a desire in order to strive for Him, and we have acquired memory in order to carry Him in it,” for Christ is the prototype of people.
Lust and anger constitute the so-called passionate part of the soul, while reason constitutes the rational part. In the rational part of the soul of a fallen person pride reigns, in the lustful part - mainly carnal sins, and in the irritable part - the passions of hatred, anger, and memory of malice.
Reasonable
The human mind is in constant motion. Various thoughts come into it or are born in it. The mind cannot remain completely idle or withdrawn into itself. He demands external stimuli or impressions for himself. A person wants to receive information about the environment around him. This is the need of the rational part of the soul, and the simplest one at that. A higher need of our mind is a craving for reflection and analysis, characteristic of some to a greater extent, and to others to a lesser extent.
Irritable
Expressed in a craving for self-expression. For the first time she wakes up as a child, along with the first words: “I myself” (in the sense: I will do this or that myself). In general, this is a natural human need - not to be someone else’s tool or machine gun, but to make independent decisions. Our desires, being affected by sin, require the greatest educational work in order to be directed towards good and not towards evil.
Lustful
The sensitive (emotional) side of the soul also requires impressions characteristic of it. These are, first of all, aesthetic requests: to contemplate, listen to something beautiful in nature or in human creativity. Some artistic and gifted natures also have a need for creativity in the world of beauty: an irresistible urge to draw, sculpt or sing. A higher manifestation of the sensitive side of the soul is empathy for the joys and sorrows of other people. There are other cardiac movements.
The image of God in man
The sacred writer tells about the creation of man:
“And God said: Let us make man in Our image and likeness... And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:26-27).
What is the image of God in us? Church teaching only instills in us that man in general is created “in the image,” but it does not indicate exactly which part of our nature reveals this image. The Fathers and Teachers of the Church answered this question differently: some see it in reason, others in free will, and others in immortality. If you combine their thoughts, you get a complete picture of what the image of God in man is, according to the instructions of St. Fathers.
First of all, the image of God must be seen only in the soul, and not in the body. God, by His nature, is the purest Spirit, not clothed with any body and not involved in any substance. Therefore, the concept of the image of God can only refer to the immaterial soul: many Fathers of the Church consider it necessary to make this warning.
Man bears the image of God in the highest properties of the soul, especially in its immortality, in free will, in reason, in the ability for pure unselfish love.
- The Eternal God endowed man with the immortality of his soul, although the soul is immortal not by its very nature, but by the goodness of God.
- God is completely free in His actions. And he gave man free will and the ability, within certain limits, to act freely.
- God is wise. And man is endowed with a mind capable of not being limited only to earthly, animal needs and visible side things, but to penetrate into their depth, to cognize and explain their inner meaning; a mind capable of rising to the invisible and directing its thoughts to the very creator of all that exists - to God. A person’s reason makes his will conscious and truly free, because he can choose for himself not what his lower nature leads him to, but what corresponds to his highest dignity.
- God created man out of His goodness and has never left and will not leave him with His love. And a person who has received a soul from the inspiration of God strives, as if for something akin to himself, to his Supreme Principle, to God, seeking and thirsting for unity with Him, which is partly indicated by the elevated and straight position of his body and facing upward, towards the sky, his gaze. Thus, desire and love for God express the image of God in man.
To summarize, we can say that all the good and noble properties and abilities of the soul are such an expression of the image of God.
Is there a difference between the image and likeness of God? Most of St. The Fathers and Teachers of the Church answers that there is. They see the image of God in the very nature of the soul, and the likeness in the moral perfection of man, in virtue and holiness, in the achievement of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, we receive the image of God from God along with being, and we must acquire the likeness ourselves, having received only the opportunity from God to do so. Becoming “in our likeness” depends on our will and is acquired through our corresponding activities. That is why it is said about the “council” of God: “Let us create in Our image and likeness,” and about the very action of creation: “In the image of God He created it,” argues St. Gregory of Nyssa: by the “council” of God we have been given the opportunity to be “in the likeness.”
The teaching of the holy fathers about the tripartite, or three forces, soul
(Extracts from the Philokalia)
The soul is tripartite and is contemplated in three forces: thinking, irritable and desirable (St. Gregory Palamas).
We must give the three forces of the soul the correct movement, in accordance with their nature and in accordance with the intention of the God who created them. Namely: the irritable force must be moved against our external man and against the serpent Satan. “Be angry, it is said, and do not sin” (Ps. 4:5). This means: be angry at sin, that is, at yourself and at the Devil, so as not to sin against God. The desirable force must be directed towards God and virtue, and let us place the mental force as mistress over both of them, so that with wisdom and prudence it can order them, admonish, punish and rule over them, as a king rules over his subjects. And then the mind that exists in us according to God will govern them (that is, when it will dominate over them, and not obey them). Although passions rebel against reason, we do not cease to command that reason rule over them (St. Hesychius, Presbyter of Jerusalem On Sobriety and Prayer).
The rational soul acts in accordance with its nature when the desirable part of it strives for virtue, the irritable part strives for it, and the thinking part is devoted to the contemplation of things.
The soul is tripartite, according to our wise teacher (St. Gregory of Nyssa). When virtue is in the mental part, then it is called prudence, sharpness and wisdom; when it happens in the desirable part, then it is called chastity, love and abstinence; when it happens in the irritable part, then it is called courage and patience. The point of prudence is to fight against forces that oppose us, to protect virtues and to drive away vices. The work of insight is everything that contributes to our goal, to arrange it properly, and the work of wisdom is to contemplate corporeal and incorporeal creatures in all respects. The business of chastity is to look dispassionately at things that usually arouse in us unreasonable dreams and desires; the work of love almost manifests itself in relation to every person bearing the image of God, as it does to the Prototype, even though the demons try to humiliate others before us; the work of abstinence is to joyfully reject everything that delights the larynx. It is a matter of patience and courage not to be afraid of enemies and willingly endure all sorts of troubles (Abba Evagrius Chapters on Active Life).
The Fathers said: “Contain the irritable part of the soul with love, the desirable part with abstinence, the rational part with prayer, and the light of the mind will never be darkened in you. There is a timely silence to curb anger; wishes for unreasonable food; uncontrollable thoughts, a prayer of one mind” (Callista and Ignatius Ksanfopulov, Instruction to the Silent).
All Divine commandments lay down laws for the threefold nature of the soul and make it healthy through what they command. Whoever strictly follows them, this tripartite becomes truly sound. But against this same tripartite soul the devil wages war day and night. If Satan wages war against tripartiteness, it is clear that through this he fights against the commandments of Christ, for Christ, through the commandments, imposes a law on the tripartiteness of the soul, that is, the irritable, willing and thinking powers of the soul. And look: the threat that “he who is angry with his brother in vain is guilty of judgment” (Matthew 5:22) and His subsequent commandments to heal the irritable part. The enemy is trying to subvert this commandment and the others laid down along with it internally through thoughts of covetousness (a tendency to quarrel with words, argumentativeness), rancor and envy. This opponent (ours and God’s) knows that the ruler of the irritable part is mental power. Why does it first shoot arrows at it through thoughts, suspicion, envy, bickering, quarrelsomeness, deceit, vanity and inclines the mental force to relinquish its inherent power and, giving the reins to irritation itself, leave it without any control. Then irritation, throwing away its ruler, without restraint wears out through the lips in words everything that was previously invested in the heart, that was previously hoarded in it through enemy thoughts, with the negligence of the mind. (Then a similar description of the battle in the wishful and mental part of the soul is made and in conclusion it is said): The well-controlled tripartite keeps the feelings from everything that is placeless. And then the mind, remaining in silence, with other forces controlled by God and in their obedience, conveniently gains the upper hand in mental warfare. When, through inattention, he allows other forces to become confused, then, being overcome by the excuses of the evil one, he transgresses the Divine commandments. The transgression of the commandments is followed in every possible way by either corresponding repentance or torment in the next century (St. Philotheus of Sinai, 40 chapters on sobriety).