What meaning do you give to the words soul and spirit?

Answer 1

Given the nearly limitless range of definitions possible, it is important to stop and think a moment. What meaning do I give the words soul and spirit? I intend to balance emotive force of one extreme, that of thoughts, beliefs, and expectations arising from discovery of the impending disease and death of my seed body, with emotive force of another extreme, that of the thoughts, beliefs and expectations arising from mystery of immunity and life of soul and spirit. Therefore, I define souls as the animating forces and vital principles credited with ordering thoughts, feelings and actions that manifest as conscious will in bodies that live and die. Souls exist as the divine eternal essence of finite self. I define spirit as the animating force and vital principle credited with the creation and evaluation of the universe. Spirit exists as the divine eternal essence of the infinite world.



If soul is the divine eternal essence of finite self and spirit is the divine eternal essence of infinite world, then soul spirit is a word meant to convey a sense of the indivisibility of soul and spirit, and integrity of the whole. I understand soul spirit of self to be same as soul. I understand soul spirit of world to be same as spirit. I believe that soul spirit is divine. Divine is an adjective that describes the noun soul spirit as being of a quality of the highest order. That is perfect. Soul spirit is eternal. Eternal is an adjective that describes the noun soul spirit as possessing longevity of the highest order. That is perpetual.

Answer 2

First the word soul...
Means a living creature, human or animal;
life as an intelligent person; remember the saying.."that poor soul?"
The creature soul is mortal, destructible.
Second the spirit...
1. The spirit in humans...
Our forefather Adam did not HAVE A SOUL. He WAS a soul...Gen.2:7 His life was sustained by breathing. Gen.7:22 calls it "the force of life," that is active in earthly living creatures. God the creator put that life force into our forefather Adam...called the breath of life, so to keep living we must continue breathing. It will depart from us at death the life force that originated with our creator Psalm,36:9; Acts 17:28.
When the life force stops sustaining the human body, man-the soul-dies. Psalm 104:29; Ecclesiastes 12:1,7.
The other use of the word spirit Is Gods active force or holy spirit. the power he used in creation Gen.1:1-2
Also he uses it to move individuals to do his will.
I hope this will help you.
Use a good translation that has cross references to check out these things.

Answer 3

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7

The body is the elements of the earth. The spirit is the life breathed by God. The soul is the living being created when those two things come together. After the two original ingredients are removed, the soul remains.

Hope it helps...

Answer 4

We are made up of Body, Soul and Spirit. You know the body, the soul is your mind, will and emotions, but it's the Spirit part that connects with and to GOD.
Hope this helps some.

Answer 5

To me...

Spirit is that part of me that is a child of God and lived with Him in Heaven before coming to this earth to get the gift of a physical body...

Soul is the combination of Spirit and Body.

We are Spiritual beings having a physical experience ... not physical beings having a spiritual experience.

Answer 6

SOUL: Personality, preferences

SPIRIT: Keeps the body alive. At death, the spirit goes to God. The Spirit is regenerated so you can understand the things of God.

Answer 7

**What meaning do you give to the words soul and spirit?

Soul, is the breath of life.
The Lord breathed into his nostrils and Adam became a living soul.

Spirit is the mental faculties that animates the physical.
We think therefore we are.

Answer 8

Soul makes you think. Spirite makes you move.

Answer 9

Wishing that you enjoy this talk:

"CONCERNING BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT

4 Avenue de Camoens, Paris,

Friday morning, November 17th

There are in the world of humanity three degrees; those of the body, the soul, and spirit.

The body is the physical or animal degree of man. From the bodily point of view man is a sharer of the animal kingdom. The bodies alike of men and animals are composed of elements held together by the law of attraction.

Like the animal, man possesses the faculties of the senses, is subject to heat, cold, hunger, thirst, etc.; unlike the animal, man has a rational soul, the human intelligence.

This intelligence of man is the intermediary between his body and his spirit.

When man allows the spirit, through his soul, to enlighten his understanding, then does he contain all Creation; because man, being the culmination of all that went before and thus superior to all previous evolutions, contains all the lower world within himself. Illumined by the spirit through the instrumentality of the soul, man's radiant intelligence makes him the crowning-point of Creation.

But on the other hand, when man does not open his mind and heart to the blessing of the spirit, but turns his soul towards the material side, towards the bodily part of his nature, then is he fallen from his high place and he becomes inferior to the inhabitants of the lower animal kingdom. In this case the man is in a sorry plight! For if the spiritual qualities of the soul, open to the breath of the Divine Spirit, are never used, they become atrophied, enfeebled, and at last incapable; whilst the soul's material qualities alone being exercised, they become terribly powerful -- and the unhappy, misguided man, becomes more savage, more unjust, more vile, more cruel, more malevolent than the lower animals themselves. All his aspirations and desires being strengthened by the lower side of the soul's nature, he becomes more and more brutal, until his whole being is in no way superior to that of the beasts that perish. Men such as this, plan to work evil, to hurt and to destroy; they are entirely without the spirit of Divine compassion, for the celestial quality of the soul has been dominated by that of the material. If, on the contrary, the spiritual nature of the soul has been so strengthened that it holds the material side in subjection, then does the man approach the Divine; his humanity becomes so glorified that the virtues of the Celestial Assembly are manifested in him; he radiates the Mercy of God, he stimulates the spiritual progress of mankind, for he becomes a lamp to show light on their path.

You perceive how the soul is the intermediary between the body and the spirit. In like manner is this tree the intermediary between the seed and the fruit. When the fruit of the tree appears and becomes ripe, then we know that the tree is perfect; if the tree bore no fruit it would be merely a useless growth, serving no purpose!

When a soul has in it the life of the spirit, then does it bring forth good fruit and become a Divine tree. I wish you to try to understand this example. I hope that the unspeakable goodness of God will so strengthen you that the celestial quality of your soul, which relates it to the spirit, will for ever dominate the material side, so entirely ruling the senses that your soul will approach the perfections of the Heavenly Kingdom. May your faces, being steadfastly set towards the Divine Light, become so luminous that all your thoughts, words and actions will shine with the Spiritual Radiance dominating your souls, so that in the gatherings of the world you will show perfection in your life.

Some men's lives are solely occupied with the things of this world; their minds are so circumscribed by exterior manners and traditional interests that they are blind to any other realm of existence, to the spiritual significance of all things! They think and dream of earthly fame, of material progress. Sensuous delights and comfortable surroundings bound their horizon, their highest ambitions centre in successes of worldly conditions and circumstances! They curb not their lower propensities; they eat, drink, and sleep! Like the animal, they have no thought beyond their own physical well-being. It is true that these necessities must be despatched. Life is a load which must be carried on while we are on earth, but the cares of the lower things of life should not be allowed to monopolize all the thoughts and aspirations of a human being. The heart's ambitions should ascend to a more glorious goal, mental activity should rise to higher levels! Men should hold in their souls the vision of celestial perfection, and there prepare a dwelling-place for the inexhaustible bounty of the Divine Spirit.

Let your ambition be the achievement on earth of a Heavenly civilization! I ask for you the supreme blessing, that you may be so filled with the vitality of the Heavenly Spirit that you may be the cause of life to the world.

THE BAHÁ'ÍS MUST WORK WITH HEART AND

SOUL TO BRING ABOUT A BETTER CONDITION IN THE WORLD.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 96)"

Answer 10

soul and spirit i feel are one and the same
soul i would use for the energy within us that spiritual part when we are alive and in this world
spirit is the soul once it has shed the body
the part of us that lives on after death
our inner self , our essence