Everything is Spiritual

Whatever moves is animated. Whatever is animated is alive. Whatever moves is alive.

Since spirit is "that which makes alive", whatever moves is spirited.

Whatever moves is spiritual because it is of, about, or related to spirit.

Since everything moves, everything is spiritual.

Since everything is spiritual, how should we live?

Source of the Death Wish

Since I am a spirited body, I am naturally driven to take good care of myself as a living body. To do so is instinctual. What is living desires to keep living. 

Since I am a spirited mind, I am naturally driven to take good care of myself as a living mind. Again, the desire to keep living is instinctual. 

I am spirited and naturally driven to take good care of my spiritedness. What is spirited desires to remain spirited. The desire of the spirited to remain spirited is inherent to being spirited. 

Only when something is seriously wrong do I lose my natural desire to keep living. Only when my body is too weak, ill or injured; my mind too irrational or full of life-denying beliefs about myself and the world; or my spirit too ill, wounded, or broken do I desire to escape from life or wish to die rather than live. Then I might wax poetic and speak of death as a door to the "beyond" and "something better."

When I am healthy in body, mind, and spirit I enjoy living and desire to live fully. 

Thumonauts: Explorers of Spirit

Thumonauts are pioneers. They explore one of the last great frontiers. They explore thumos, spirit, that which makes alive.

Thumonauts are possessed by a sense of wonder that we are spirited, alive, rather than not. Being possessed by this wonder compels them to explore and discover all they can about spirit.

Here are a few of the questions that burn in the hearts of thumonauts and compel their exploration:

What is the spirit that spirits the living? What is its nature?

What are the characteristics of spirit?

Plants and animals, including humans, are alive. They are spirited. Does the spirit of plants differ from the spirit of animals? If so, how?

What affects the spirits of plants and animals?

What all is spirited? Only plants and animals, others too, everything?

What is the difference between being spirited and not?

How does one become spirited?

Why does spirit leave and how?

When it leaves, where does it go?

Can the spirited be more or less spirited at different times? If so, how? What alters the degree of spiritedness?

Was there a time when nothing was spirited?

If so, from where did spirit come? How did the spirited become spirited?

When did being spirited begin?

Could being spirited come to a complete end so that nothing at all is spirited? If so, what would end spiritedness all together? 

Our Western ancestors associated spirit with both the wind, breath, heart, and the thymus gland. Why?

How is spirit associated with wind and breath?

How is it associated with the heart?

How is it associated with the gland that bears its name, the thymus gland?

These are just a few of the questions about spirit. There is so much to discover about spirit and  so few thumonauts doing the exploring.

 

Reincarnation? A Different Perspective

After being a spirited-minded-bodied ego can I die and yet remain as a spirited-minded ego? No, every spirited-minded-bodied ego is unique. When one dies it ceases to exist.  We only live metaphorically after we die. At best we live on as an influence in the lives of those who knew us.

However, it does seem possible that in some instances our spirited-mind can continue to exist. However, as a spirited-mind I would be less than I was as a spirited-minded-bodied ego. I would be only a shadow of my true self, a shade. The Ancient Greeks understood this well.  So did the Ancient Germanic tribes.

Can a spirited-mind be reincarnated? It's possible. However, since the body is not the same, neither is the ego, the person. Essentially, a reincarnated spirited-mind is a new and unique spirited-minded-bodied ego. As such it is possible that it could recall memories of being a previous spirited-minded-bodied ego.  

After being a spirited-minded-bodied ego can I die and yet remain a spirited ego? I think not. Spirit is simply that which makes alive. It is the same in everything that is spirited. I have no sense that my spiritedness is imprinted with my ego or unique or in any way.

I could, however, have it all wrong.  Right or wrong, I'm not sure it matters.

Contra Descartes

That I am a spirit means that I am spirited, alive. Spirit is that which makes me alive. Without spirit I would not be a living body. Without spirit I would not be a living mind. 

Spirit precedes body and mind because spirit is the life of both body and mind. By my spirit my body functions. By my spirit my mind produces thoughts and images. By spirit I am alive. 

Descartes declared, " I think, therefore I am."

Contra Descartes: I am spirited, therefore I live.

A Different View of "Spiritual Life"

It seems to me that many think that a "spiritual life" is living a life focussed on "spiritual things" rather than "material things". In this view reality is divided into spiritual and material things.

Spiritual things are immaterial, invisible, non-physical, intangible things. Such spiritual things might include a person's god or goddess, participation in the corporate worship and other aspects of one's religion, private prayer, reading sacred writings, contemplation, meditation, denying oneself, giving up physical pleasures like sex, eating certain foods, drinking certain liquids, dancing, or playing games. Giving away money and possessions to the weak, poor, sick, and dying might also be included.

Material things are physical, visible, tangible things like our bodies, sex, food, drink, clothing, housing, possessions, cars, money, manual labor, physical exercise, shopping, dancing, playing games, and reading for pleasure. Material things also include the earth, water, wind, plants, and animals.

Those who think a spiritual life is a life focussed on spiritual things and withdrawn from material things tend to think that the more one engages spiritual things and withdraws from material things the more spiritual one's life is. For example, the more individuals withdraw from bodily activities, physical pleasures, work, material possessions, and the world around them and instead engage in worshiping their god or goddess, reading sacred writings and praying, denying themselves and giving to others, then the more spiritual their life is.

It's also thought that the more spiritual one's life is, the more spiritual one is as a person. So, the more a person withdraws from material, physical, earthly and worldly things and instead worships, prays, reads sacred writings, denies oneself and gives to others, then the more spiritual a person is.

Furthermore, it's thought that the more spiritual one is the better a human being one is. In other words, the true value of a person is in how spiritual the person is. The best human beings are the most spiritual and have the least to do with material things.

A Different View

I'd like to propose a different view of living a spiritual life. In my view, reality is not divided into two separate realms, the spiritual and material. Reality is a unified, complex, varied, and interconnected whole. I base my view of reality primarily on my own experience.

In other words, reality is spirited material. It's spirited; that is, animated, organic, dynamic, alive. It breathes. It is constantly moving and changing. Materially, it varies in thickness. Iron is thicker than flesh which is thicker than blood which is thicker than breath which is thicker than thoughts.

Spirit is breath, wind, that which animates, that which makes alive. Spirited is breathy, windy, animated, alive. Spiritual is of or related to spirit-breath, wind, that which makes alive. To be a human being is to be spirited material, of the earth. It is to breathe, be alive, be spirited, and be of or related to spirit; that is, breath, that which animates.

To live a spiritual life, a life of or related to spirit, is simply to live. There is no such thing as living and not being of or related to spirit, that which makes one alive. All life is spirited and therefore spiritual.

Conversely, all that is spirited, breathed, animated, and changing is alive: the earth, streams and seas, crystals and stones, plants and animals, the wind, rain and snow, planets, moons and stars-everyone.

If everyone is alive and therefore spirited and spiritual, everyone is living a spiritual life and by everyone I mean everything that exists. We all are living spiritual lives, animated by that which makes all of us alive. To live is to live a spiritual life.

It seems to follow that the more spirited one is the more spiritual one is. The more animated and alive one is, the more one is of or related to spirit.

It also seems to follow that the more spiritual one is, the more deeply engaged in living one's life in this world one is. In other words, the more spiritual one is the more one embraces breathing, eating, drinking, speaking, walking, running, singing, cooking, dancing, playing, working, fighting, killing, creating, relating with others, having sex, bearing children, raising children, and more. Greatly spirited persons live greatly animated lives.

Many think that living a spiritual life is about withdrawing from material things and focussing on so-called spiritual things. They think that the most spiritual humans are those who are the least engaged in life in this world. Indeed, those who live and promote such spiritual lives often care little about and contribute little to life in this world. Ironically, what they do contribute is often what they themselves do not value or want: material things, money, clothes, shelter, food and drink.

My view is different. In my view living a spiritual life is about living a life of or related to that which animates us, spirit. It's about living a spirited life. The more spirited, the more engaged and productive the life. The more engaged and productive, the greater the life. In my view, those who live great spiritual lives produce and share with others what they themselves enjoy, all the pleasures of life. The most spiritual life is one lived to the fullest in this world.

Spirit, Spirited, Spiritual

For the purposes of this blog, at this time-

"Spirit" is that which animates; it's breath, wind.

"Spirited" is animated, alive, breathing, windy.

"Spiritual" is of or related to spirit, that which animates, breath, wind.

These definitions are radical. They go to the root meanings of the words. The root meaning of "spirit" is breath, wind and not a ghost-like, non-physical double of our physical body.

These definitions are primitive and pre-Christian. They do not assume a dualistic view of reality in which there are two realms, the physical and spiritual. They do not assume that we humans are spirits trapped in physical bodies awaiting a liberating death.

Rather these definitions are monistic. They assume a unified reality. All is one, connected and interrelated. We humans are breathing, spirited bodies. Everyone is spirited too- all the other animals, plants, wind, earth, water, fire, sun, moon, stars-everyone.

Since we humans are spirited, we are spiritual. We are of or related to spirit, the breath that animates us. Everyone living is spiritual because everyone living breathes.

Try this experiment: Suspend your current belief if differs from what I wrote above. Look at everything as if it everything is animated, spirited, alive. Look at everything as being spiritual.

How does this spirited and spiritual world differ from your normal reality? Do you relate differently when everything physical in this world is spirited and spiritual?

Spirit as life-giving breath

Our word "spirit" comes from the Latin word "spiritus" which means "breath". Some related words are aspire, inspire, expire, and respiration.

We modern Westerners often associate breath with air. We assume that air is an inanimate thing, oxygen, one of the elements in the periodic table. We assume air is a passive thing and that we are active, living instigators of its movement. We believe we animate the air when we breathe in, draw it into our lungs, breathe out and sigh, speak, or blow out candles. Is this the only way to view our breath? What happens when we examine this assumption?

Breath, spirit, implies a breather. Could it be that our breath is not ours but another's? Could it be that breath lives independently of us, comes from outside of us, flows into our nostrils, mouth and lungs and gives us life? Perhaps breath, spirit, is the instigator of our breathing, and we are its passive recipients. Perhaps we are breathed, spirited, rather than those who breathe. Perhaps this is so for all who breathe: animals, plants, and others.

When I imagine my breathe, my spirit, as belonging to another and only borrowed by me, I see breath differently. I see it as that which animates me. A breath not mine enlivens me. It is my life-giver, my life-sustainer.

When I imagine my breath, my spirit, as belonging to another and only borrowed by me, I see myself differently. Rather than having breath, a spirit, I am breathed, spirited. I am totally dependent on the spirit that breathes in and out of me.

Being totally dependent on the spirit that breathes in and out of me, my appreciation of breath deepens. It inspires me. I value the breath that breathes me. I owe it my life. I give it a worth I did not give it when I viewed it as a an inanimate thing that I breathed. I worship the spirit that breathes in and animates me and all the living.

Given my new view of breath, spirit, how can I continue to conspire with others against the breath on which our life depends? How can I poison it with air-borne pollutants? When I poison the breath we all breathe I poison myself and all who breathe. When I pollute the breath that breathes in me I pollute the spirit that animates all the living.