I am more than just my physical body. There is a part of me that is not material. My body, because it is made up of matter, ties me down to the material world. I am earth-bound and I cannot live outside of this earth. I also intimately know there is a part of me that is not earth-bound. With my mind and imagination, I can scale heights of the heavens and plumb the depth of the seas. I can be anyone, anywhere, anytime, – if I so choose. I can choose. Because of my will, I can break free from whatever shackles that may tie me down. My body may be in chains or in prison, but there is something vital within me that remains free. Call it soul, anima. Call it spirit, animus.
I think of two friends in intimate conversation: sharing, affirming, confiding, talking heart to heart. They are in an animated conversation. I love watching ballgames live. There is a certain animus in the the arena that one does not catch when watching the game on TV. When people live together, they create a certain spirit out of their common and shared experience. Thus, we can speak of the Filipino spirit or the American spirit or the German spirit or even the Asian mystique. People living through the same times and age create a palpable and defining spirit or mood of that particular period. The Germans have a very descriptive word for it: zeitgeist.
Yes, I am a physical and material being. But I am also a spiritual being. My world is not just the physical world. It is also a world animated by a real spirit. I help create the spirit/animus and soul/anima of my environment and milieu. At the same time, I am deeply influenced by it. Growing up, most of what we learn is caught from the environment. If I do acts of love, then the spirit of love animates my milieu. If I engage in hate and anger then their spirit will animate the world I live in. If I act in a generous and giving manner, then generosity and abundance will light up my environment. If I am greedy and selfish, I help create a world driven by greed and selfishness. Yes, truly I can create the world I live in.
To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Psalm 116
Jesus said to his disciples:
“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes,
nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,
but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Luke 6:43–45