This is part one and an introduction to a multipart series on goddesses, gods and spirit. As in all of my writing, spirit is understood in terms of the Ancient Greek understanding of thumos. Thumos translated into Latin as spiritus from which we get our English word, spirit.
Spirit understood in terms of thumos is not a religious concept. It's not "spiritual" or supernatural. It is very much a part of nature. It's associated with the wind and our breath.
It is that which makes alive. When we have spirit, we are alive. When it leaves and returns we faint and recover. When our spirit leaves permanently, we die.
It's quasi-physical. We feel it in the center of our chest, behind our breast bone and between our breasts. We often refer to it as our heart. It is the seat of our emotions.
According to the Ancient Greeks everything alive has spirit; for example, rivers, trees and other plants, animals, humans, goddesses and gods and other beings invisible to the human eye.
Human spirits and the spirits of all living beings vary in quality. A few spirits are great; that is, strong, expansive, and influential. Most are average and some are weak. Some spirits are warm and loving. Others are cold and mean. Some are expansive, others contracted, and so on.
The series of posts to follow are about goddesses, gods, and other beings invisible to the human eye. It will include my thoughts on the existence of goddesses, gods, and other beings invisible to our human eye, about their being spirited, my answer to whether or not they are eternal, and their relationship to the world and us humans.
Part Two will present my thoughts about the existence of goddesses, gods, and other invisible beings.
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