Spirit: 9 Basic Observations

Thumology, a term I coined based on thumos, the Ancient Greek word for spirit, is the study of spirit. What follows is an initial list of nine basic observations about spirit, that which makes alive.

1. Some beings are alive; that is, spirited. Some are not.

Spirit is the difference between being alive or not. Those who are alive have spirit. Those who

        have no spirit are not alive. 

2. Spiritedness is temporary.

Every one dies. At some point, in a variety of ways, spirit leaves and we die.

3. Spiritedness is potentially eternal.

I see no empirical reason to believe that anyone lives forever. However, it does seem that even

        though individual living beings die, as long as living beings continue to reproduce, life goes on.

        Life is potentially eternal.

4. Unlike physical bodies, spirits do not develop through stages of growth and decline.

We're either spirited or not. I see no evidence of the spirit growing to maturity and declining with

        age. 

5. Spirit varies in degree.

I do observe that some are consistently more spirited than others. I also observe that our

individual spirits can vary quickly from high to low. Sometimes we're very spirited. Sometimes

        we're mildly spirited. Other times we're not very spirited at all.

6. Spirit varies in its qualities.

For example, our spirit can be mean or loving, warm or cold, expansive or contracted, weak or

        strong, aggressive or passive, and so on. I call how we are spirited most of the time our thumic

        norm. 

Our moods and emotions are examples of how the quality of our spirits vary in relatively short

        periods of time.

7. Spirit is quasi-physical.

I got this idea from the Ancient Greeks. In their view, the thumos (spirit) of us humans is located in

        our chest, in the area of our thymus gland. We can feel it physically. When we're afraid we might

        feel an uncomfortable tightness or burning sensation in our chest. When our spirit is passionate

       about something, we might feel a pleasurable warmth or heat in the same area. We can also feel

       changes in our heart rate and respiration.  

8. Spirit has multiple functions.

First, our spirit animates us. It makes us alive. 

It also has emotive, deliberative, and cognitive functions. It is the seat of our emotions. We can

        deliberate issues in our spirit. We also know things in our spirit.

9. Spirits are interconnected.

I've observed in others and experienced in my own spirit, connections with the spirits of others.

        For example, one person's sadness, joy, or fear can influence the spirits of others with whom the

        person relates. Many of us also know the experience of esprit de corps.

There is a social dimension to spirit. 

  

Since you are so very much alive...

Since you are so very much alive, what story are you co-creating with the others you're alive with?

What's your story up to this point of your life?

Is it boring?

There is still time. Make it interesting.

Yes, it will require leaving your comfort zone...and it will be worth it.

Have You Tasted It?

Why are we alive rather than not is a question not instantly answered by an internet search.  

"Why are we alive rather than not?" It's a question we either never ask, answer with the canned, generic answers provided by others, answer for ourselves, or live with unanswered. 

Even though we do not know the answer to the question, I find value in allowing the question to move me into the altered state of wonder. There's nourishment for my spirit, vulnerable and  wondering in the presence of the great mystery of life. 

Have you tasted it? That wonder?

Answers Not Found On Line...

In the age of the internet, search engines, blogs, and social networking it is easy to believe that the answers to our questions are one quick internet search away. We're not left wondering for long. 

Answers to our questions pop up in the first ten search engine results. You know, the ones that represent the mediocrity of 80% of the human herd. Who looks past the first five?

While it might be true that we can get instant on-line answers to many of our questions, what about the questions that really matter? I'm talking about those questions that move us to wonder rather than resolution.

Is it not amazing that we are alive rather than not?

Why? 

Why are we alive? Why are you alive?

What makes you alive?

How will you make your life worth living?

Duck Duck Go that. No one will know.

Wonder! Mystery! We Die...

Many believe they know what death is and why we die. Again, some try to rob of its mystery by reducing it a door to the "next life" in the "next world." Some avoid the mystery by calling it a "transition." Still others, shield themselves from the mystery by confining death to the language of biology. 

No one knows why we die. No one knows death's beginning. No one knows its end, the death of death. 

No one knows if some invisible part of us lives on after we die. No one knows. 

Wonder of wonders. Mystery of mysteries. Death is a great mystery.

No death, no life. No life, no death.

Death feeds life. Life feeds death.

They depend on each other.

The living feed on the dead. Why? We do not know. We just know that is the way it is.

Human death is what we humans make it. The less healthy fear it even as they long for and promote it. It is, after all, the ultimate escape from this life in this world to the next life in the next world.

The healthy live in spite of it. Fearless of death, they live in it's face fully until they die. As they welcome each pleasurable and painful "little death" that punctuates their lives, so they welcome death as the ultimate period on the finished story of their lives. 

If they live on, they'll take it as it comes.  

Fear: A Spiritual Matter

Fear indicates a threat to our life. As such, it is a spiritual matter. How so? Since our spirit is that which makes us alive and fear indicates a threat to our life, fear is spirit-related.

Fear is an acute condition of our spirit. It is a thumological rather than psychological event.

There are two kinds of fear: life-denying and life-affirming.

Life-Denying Fear

Life-denying fear hinders or prevents us from fulfilling the life-affirming desires of our hearts. It is mind-based. Our thoughts (self talk) and imaginings provoke it. 

It's past-oriented in that memories of our own experiences or other's stories of harm inspire our thoughts and imaginings. We speak to ourselves and imagine scenes about things that are not actually happening. They're happening only in our minds. Even so, they provoke fear in our spirit and thereby deny us acting in ways that fulfill the life-affirming desires of our hearts.

Life-Affirming Fear

Life-affirming fear preserves and sustains our spirit and life so that we can fulfill the life-affirming desires of our hearts. It is based in our immediate experience, instincts, and intuition.

It's present-oriented but also about our immediate future. There is a real threat to our spirit and therefore our life. Our life is at risk. There is someone or something that could harm or kill us. 

Taking immediate action to protect and keep our spirit affirms our life. We either freeze, fight, or flee. Since we keep living, we can act in ways that fulfill the life-affirming desires of our hearts. 

We do well to recognize and banish life-denying, mind-based fear. We do well to recognize and develop life-affirming, spirit-focused fear. It sustains our life and enables us to fulfill the life-affirming desires of our hearts.

Wonder! Mystery! We Are Alive...and Sexy!

We are alive and we are very sexy. Look around. We're sexing all the time. Sexing is going on right now as you read these words. Males and females are sexing. Females and females are sexing. Males and males are sexing. Every species is sexing. We're sexing alone, in pairs, and in groups. Orgasms abound all around!

Sex is the second great mystery. Why sex? Many try to explain it by reducing it to either a metaphysical fall into physicality or mere biology. No one knows why life goes on by way of the pleasure and pain of joining genitals, sperm and eggs, earth and sky. It just does. 

Sex is inherent in the great mystery of life. It is a natural part of life. Life and sex go together.

No life, no sex. No sex, no life. 

Human sex is what we humans make it. Healthy humans make sex one thing. The less healthy make it another.

The healthy, those who welcome and celebrate being alive, affirm the pleasures and creative powers of sex free of inhibitions.

 

Only the less healthy, those who despise being alive, make sex life-denying and distort it into something to despise, restrict, and minimize.

Wonder! Mystery! We Are Alive!

Wonder of wonders! Mystery of mysteries! We are alive! We are together, not alone. All living beings are alive and living together, right here, right now.

A few articulate and influential humans make up stories but no one really knows how or why we are alive. We just are.

Some humans welcome being alive. They are healthy, able, and willing to face the challenges of living. They are truly pro-life and pro-choice. They value and affirm their own life and the lives of all other living beings. They choose to live their lives fully and do so their way.

This world is their home. They seek no other. Here they live, work, struggle, and play.

Others are less healthy, less able, and less willing to face the challenges of living. Some even resent those who are healthy. They resent being alive. They oppose choice and life. Rather than valuing and affirming, they devalue and deny their own life and the lives of others. They restrict the choices of others.  

They dream of a better life and world, the "next life" in the "next world." They seek to escape life, work, struggle, and play.

There are three great mysteries. The first great mystery is this: the mystery of life. Wonder of wonders, we are alive!

Caring for Your Spirit: It's Up to You

I cannot care for your spirit for you. No one can. Your spirit is yours to care for. We all need you to care well for your spirit. 

I cannot tell you how to care for your spirit. No one else can either. Your spirit is unique. The difficult work of learning how best to care for your spirit is your work to do. We all need you to do your own work.

Sharing

However, I can help. I can share with you what little I have learned up to this point in my life. Perhaps something I share will help you in your own journey of discovery.

All I ask in return is that you help me. Share with me what you have learned. Perhaps something you share will help me.

One Example

So, for example, I have found it helpful to keep a log of what affects and changes my spirit. Specifically, I find it helpful in learning how to care for my spirit to identify what helps and what harms my spirit.

My log has the following categories:

My five physical senses: What do I see, hear, smell, touch, and taste that helps or harms my spirit? 

Actions: What do I do that helps/harms my spirit? 

People, places, things: Who helps/harms my spirit? What places help/harm my spirit? What things help/harm my spirit?

Events: What events help/harm my spirit?

Thoughts: What thoughts help/harm my spirit?

Imaginings: What do I imagine that helps/harms my spirit? 

Memories: What memories help/harm my spirit when I review them?

Getting Started

To get started, take small steps.

Take no more than 30-45 minutes to use the categories above to make your initial list of what helps and harms your spirit

 

Determining Our Thumic Norm, Part Two

Sample Applications

Determining our thumic norm is helpful in at least three ways. First, once we determine our thumic norm, we have a baseline with which we can compare it with other possibilities and decide if we can and want to work on changing our thumic norm.

For example, we might determine that our thumic norm is high, extroverted, troubled and changing. We can then examine the consequences that we experience with our thumic norm and decide if we want to make some changes.

Secondly, determining our thumic norm makes it possible for us to better identify conditions of our spirit that are not our norm. 

For example, if our thumic norm is somewhat low, somewhat introverted, well, and constant and it changes to, say, more extroverted and troubled, we have something to pay attention to.

Thirdly, determining our thumic norm makes it possible for us to compare our norm with our circumstances and assess if our norm and our circumstances are congruent or not. When they are congruent, we are likely to be effective in our circumstances. When they are incongruent, we can determine if we can adapt or not. If we can adapt, knowing our thumic norm and what our circumstances require, gives us insight into how we need to adapt. Knowing how we need to adapt helps us determine if we are willing and able to do so.

For example, is our thumic norm is high, introverted, well, and constant but our work requires us to be high, extroverted, well and changing, then we have some decisions to make. How long can we sustain the demand? Can we effectively set boundaries on our work and do our job from our thumic norm? Do we need to change jobs?

Determining Our Thumic Norm, Part One

Our thumic norm is how our thumos, our spirit, is naturally. It is how our spirit is when it is free to be itself.

As a way to help us determine our thumic  norm, I developed the following assessment tool with four rating scales:

My spirit is normally-

Very Low <--------------------------------------------------> Very High

               1                                     3                                5

Very Introverted <------------------------------------------> Very Extroverted

                         1                          3                                5

Very Troubled <---------------------------------------------> Very Well

                      1                             3                                  5

Very Constant <--------------------------------------------> Very Changing

                      1                            3                                  5

Explanation

The Low/High scale provides a reading  of the degree of our spiritedness. Are we normally low-spirited, high-spirited, or somewhere in between? NOTE: In this context "Low" is descriptive. It has to do with our degree of liveliness rather than our mood.

The Introverted/Extroverted scale provides a reading of the normal orientation of our spirit. Is our spirit directed inward to our thinking, imagining, and/or emotional processes; outward toward external people, places, things, and events; and to what degree?

The Troubled/Well scale helps us assesses the normal overall health of our spirit.  Are we normally ill-spirited, well-spirited, or somewhere in between?

Finally, the Constant/Changing scale gives us a reading on normal consistency of our spirit. Is our spirit consistently the same or consistently changing? 

The Constant/Changing scale can refer to the three scales above it. Are we normally the same place on the Low/High scale or is our place on that scale normally changing? Is our place on the Introverted/Extroverted scale normally the same or is it normally changing? Is our place on the Ill/Well-spirited scale normally the same or is it normally changing?

Part 2 Will be about some practical applications of determining our thumic norm.  

A Session With Me

I established a holistic health discussion group that meets once a month at the local public library. At yesterday's meeting the woman who was our presenter for the day and I were talking as we waited for others to arrive.

After hearing me answer her question about what I do, she asked, "So, what is session with you like?" Here's my answer:

As session with me is like having a confidential conversation with someone who cares deeply about the things you care most deeply about.

I believe in you. I believe that you have life-affirming desires in your heart that no one else has. They are yours alone to fulfill and no one else but you can fulfill them. 

We all need you to fulfill the life-affirming desires of your heart. However, doing so is not easy. It's very difficult. 

So, if the purpose of life is for each one of us to fulfill the life-affirming desires of our hearts, then sessions with me are about providing a safe, confidential place for you to talk about what you're working on. Sessions with me are about me listening to you, encouraging, supporting, and challenging you to fulfill the life-affirming desires of your heart.

Our Hearts' Desires: The Heart of Thumotherapy

In American Indian Medicine, Virgil Vogel writes, "The theory of disease causation from unfulfilled dreams or desires was most highly developed among the Iroquoian tribes." He goes on to quote the Jesuit priest Joseph Jouvency who wrote about the Iroquois: " For they think that there are in every man certain inborn desires, often unknown to themselves, upon which the happiness of the individual depends." (p.20)

In my many years in both conventional and complementary health care, I have not, until reading Vogel's book, come across a theory of disease causation so similar to my own. Based on my own experience, like the Iroquois, I believe that we each have life-affirming desires in our hearts that are ours alone to fulfill. Also like the Iroquios, I believe that we can get sick when we are thwarted or otherwise prevented from fulfilling the life-affirming desires of our hearts.

We cannot help but be frustrated, stressed, and unhappy when we feel either vaguely or acutely that we are failing to fulfill our in-born purpose in life. 

Furthermore, in my view, the life-affirming desires of our heart are those of our spirit. Here "heart" is another word for "spirit." 

Our spirit, that which makes us alive, has inherent, life-affirming desires to fulfill. Fulfilling these desires is the purpose of our life. It is vitally important for us to be conscious of our heart's desires and do our part to fulfill them. 

When we do not, we put ourselves on the path to a break in our health and an unfulfilled life. We also fail to enrich the lives of others with the gifts that we alone have to share.

In my view, identifying and fulfilling the life-affirming desires of our hearts is at the heart of thumotherapy, the therapeutic care and healing of spirits.  

On Being a Thumologist

To be a thumologist is to -

Devote your life, your spirit, to the study of spirit, that which makes alive

Understand that whatever is in motion and changing is spirited and alive, and therefore

  within your field of study

Value and affirm spirit, your own and that of all others

Care about spirit so much that you are compelled to engage in the ongoing process of

  knowing and understanding spirit in a fuller and deeper way

Study the spirit of others with deep respect, as one who is spirited, not as a living being

        studying an inanimate thing

        Study the spirit not just with one's five physical senses and analytical mind, but also with one's

       own spirit

Be dedicated to the goal of increasing humanity's body of knowledge and understanding

       of spirit

Anyone can be a thumologist to some degree.

The question is who will step up and excel at being thumologists?

Who will stand out as the great thumologists of history?