Why I'm a Spiritual Liminalist, Part 2

We humans are not the only ones with spirit.

Every living thing has spirit:

Green grass, daffodils, dogwoods, the earth from which they grow.

Copperheads, black cats, wolf dogs, and crows.

Goddesses and gods and all invisible beings.

Rivers, mountains, valleys, and woods.

Lightning, thunder, waves, and wind.

Sun, Moon, planets, and stars- spirit

makes all these and more alive.

What I believe about spirit is deeply Western,

rooted in Homer’s great epics. But Middle Easterners (Christians on a mission) invaded, conquered, and suppressed the West: Even its Renaissance and Enlightenment could not break Christianity’s enslaving shackles.

Christianity’s time is passing. Its dominance is diminishing. As it wanes, its loyal adherents dig in and resist.

Its lukewarm adherents become “spiritual but not religious.” Generic, hybrid monotheists with personal religions.

Its apostates turn Eastward, become agnostics, or embrace atheism.

Those who never believed, become more free.

Western science advances.

I’m among those more free. I never truly believed.

I’m in, but not of, Western culture corrupted by Christianity.

What I believe about spirit, puts me in the borderland

between corrupted Western culture and all other cultures.

I’m a spiritual liminalist.

Why I'm a Spiritual Liminalist, Part 1

I’m a spiritual liminalist. Here’s why:

I believe in spirit.

It’s as natural as our body, mind, and social relationships.

It’s a natural force like magnetism, electricity, and gravity.

The natural force of spirit makes us alive.

When we have spirit, we’re alive.

When we don’t, we’re dead.

Our spirit is the agent of our life.

It animates our body.

It drives our physical instincts

that compel us to do what we

need to keep living: Eat. Drink. Play.

Protect ourselves. Have sex. Provide

for ourselves. Mate and nurture our young.

Our emotions are our spirit’s responses to stimuli.

Our moods are extended emotions.

Our spirit animates our mind.

No spirit, no living, learning, imaging, problem-solving mind.

Our spirit animates our social relationships.

No spirit, no interactions with others, no family, no friends, no lovers, no children.

No spirit, no esprit de corps, team spirit, school spirit, no Lady Liberty or Uncle Sam.

More than the difference between being dead or alive,

our spirit is the difference between merely existing or truly living.

No spirit, no life. No character or reputation.

Our spirit directs us to fulfill the life-affirming desires

of our heart. That’s our destiny.

You're Already Healing...

Future Posts

I started this blog in order to blog my way to my first book. I did nothing to promote it. All I did was discipline myself to publish at least three posts per week. It was a good discipline for me. It worked. I'm about three fourths of the way through writing my first book.

Since my first book is a brief introduction to Thumotics with many ideas crying for further development, I decided to use this blog to do just that. I'll develop and share my ideas here first. Then I'll refine them and publish them in future books.

So, if you are in one of the thirty-eight countries where I've had readers and are among those who like to be first, stay in touch. You'll be among the first to read my ideas regarding spirit.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to comment and ask questions as we go.

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?

Professional Care of Spirit, Part 2

Defining "Spirit" and "Care of Spirit"

Unfortunately, we have no general consensus on the definitions of spirit, spiritual, or spirituality.  Consequently, we also have no general consensus on what "care of spirit" is.  

This problem is illustrated in the article "Spirituality Unplugged" by Unruh and Versnel published in the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69:5-19, 2002. The article presented the authors' comprehensive literature review which found 92 different definitions of spirituality. Imagine the state of physical and mental health care if we had no general consensus on the definitions of body and mind.

I propose that we define "spirit" as "that which makes alive."  There are several good reasons for defining spirit this way. 

First, it has deep roots in Western civilization. It goes back at least as far as Homer and his frequent use of the word thumos. Thumos was translated into Latin by the word "spiritus" from which we get our word "spirit."

Secondly, defining spirit as "that which makes alive" clarifies what "care of spirit" is and what a healthcare professional caring for spirit actually does. "Care of spirit" is "helping with the health and well-being of spirit." A healthcare professional who provides care of spirit, provides therapeutic care for that which makes us alive. 

Thirdly, clarifying care of spirit clarifies what it means in healthcare to care for the whole person- body, mind, and spirit. We have a general consensus on what it means to care for a person's body and mind. With this definition of spirit it is possible to have a general consensus on what it means to care for a person's spirit.

Fourthly, this definition removes care of spirit from a religious context and puts it in a human context. Understanding the human spirit in a human context makes it possible to develop a science of spirit and a therapeutic care of spirit informed by that science. I propose the word "thumology" to refer to the scientific study of spirit. And the word "thumotherapy" to refer to the therapeutic care of spirit.

Finally, defining care of spirit as "helping with the health and well-being of spirit" distinguishes it from "care of souls" which is traditionally what clergy and chaplains provide. 

Physicality of Our Spirit

Since Renee Descartes, if not since the rise of Christianity to cultural dominance, we Westerners  have tended to divide reality into two realms: the physical and the spiritual. 

We perceive that which is physical with our eyes, ears, noses, hands, and tongues. That which we cannot perceive with our physical senses we call spiritual. We know what is spiritual, if we know it at all, by faith in those to whom it was revealed. 

In this Western dualistic view, the human body, part of physical realm, became an object of science. The human spirit, part of the spiritual realm, became an object of religious faith and theology. 

However, this dualistic view of reality is culturally and historically limited to Western civilization. It has never been the view of everyone on the planet. Neither has it always been the view of Westerners. Today, in modern Western science, it is an antiquated view surpassed by modern physics.

Ancient Greeks, among others, viewed the human spirit (thumos) as quasi-physical. It was both unseen and physically located in the body, specifically in the chest, in and around the thymus gland.  It was associated with the lungs and even more so with the breath.

If the spirit left the body temporarily, fainting occurred. If it left permanently, death occurred.

Its varying degrees determined a person's physical weakness and strength. It also had both cognitive and emotional functions.

In the view of the Ancient Greeks spirit and body were so closely connected that they did not exist apart from each other.

The Ancient Greek view of spirit informs the Thumotic perspective. 

Contra "Spirituality": Part 3

Religious beliefs have to do with beliefs (creeds) about divinities and other invisible beings, ourselves, the world in which we live, other worlds, and how we behave in relationships with divinities and others (codes and cultus). They may or may not say anything about our own spirit and that of others.

If a set of beliefs is not about our own spirit or that of others, why call it spirituality? If a belief has nothing to do with spirit, why call it a "spiritual belief"?

If it is a personal collection of beliefs picked from the world's religions, why not call it "personal religion"? Doesn't "personal religion" more accurately describe what it is?

Likewise, why not call personal religious beliefs what they are- personal religious beliefs rather than "spiritual beliefs"?

Those who are allergic to the "r" word can drop it and just say "personal beliefs."

Then we could use the word "spirituality" to refer to something actually related to spirit: a collection of ideas and practices related to spirit. We could also use the words "spiritual beliefs" to refer to beliefs about our own spirit and that of others.

If we are going to advance our love, knowledge, wisdom, and ability with regard to spirit, we need our use of the words spirit, spiritual, and spirituality to support rather than confuse our efforts.

More on this topic in Part 4, the final part in this series.

IQ, EQ and...?

If you've been reading my blog you probably guessed: SQ.

IQ = Intelligence Quotient

EQ= Emotional Intelligence Quotient

SQ= Spirit-related Intelligence Quotient

NOTE: Remember "spirit"  in this context refers to "that which makes alive."

What is SQ?

SQ has to do with our ability to identify and be aware of our own spirit and that of others.

It's the ability to assess the condition of our own spirit and that of others.

It's also the ability to regulate our own spirit and that of others.

Is there a test?

No, the test to measure SQ hasn't been invented yet. Let's not let that stop us from assessing and developing our SQ.

What is Your SQ?

Since Spirit-related Intelligence begins with our own spirit, let's begin there.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being total awareness, rate your ability to identify and be aware of your own spirit.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being mastery, rate your ability to assess the condition of your own spirit.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 again being mastery, rate your ability to regulate your own spirit.

Total your score. 

How did you do?

Which of the three abilities was easiest for you? Which was the hardest?

What might you do to raise your score?

My Non-spiritual View of Spirit

For Ancient Greeks spirit (thumos) was not a metaphysical or religious belief based on nothing but faith. It was not in any way a higher being. Their belief in spirit was rooted in their experience. For them spirit was quasi-physical. 

In humans, spirit was located in the center of the chest and associated with the thymus gland, heart, lungs, and breath. Thumos, spirit, could be strengthen by self talk and the herb thyme. Fainting was a temporary loss of spirit. When thumos returned the one who fainted regained consciousness. Death occurred when thumos failed to return.  When it failed to  return it did not continue to exist but dissipated and returned to the wind.

In the view of Ancient Greeks, humans were not the only spirited beings. Oceans, rivers, springs, plants, animals, and the goddesses and gods had thumos. They were spirited beings. Thumos was what made every living being alive.

It is the Ancient Greek understanding of spirit that informs my work. It is the basis of the science of spirit I propose: thumology. It is the basis of the new therapeutic care of spirit that I am developing: thumotherapy. It is also the basis of what I call thumotic spirituality, a set of spirit-related theories and practices informed by both thumology and thumotherapy. 

 

Are the Poor in Spirit Blessed?

Many believe they live fallen lives in a fallen world. Some believe they are sinners in a sinful world. Others believe they chose to descend from a "spiritual" realm into this world in order to live as a human and learn an important lesson. Still others believe this world is an illusion of suffering and they continue to reincarnate in this world until they are enlightened and liberated from it.

These different views share much in common. They share in common a low view of both this world and human beings. They express a belief that this world and all human beings are flawed or somehow less in comparison to something higher and beyond. Some go so far as to say that we humans are to blame. They believe that we ruined ourselves and the world by our own free will.

Those who believe such things devalue both this world and being human. They deny rather than affirm them. At heart they are anti-world, anti-human, anti-life, anti-spirit.

Why would anyone believe that this world and all human beings are somehow flawed or less than something beyond? Why would they believe in an imagined better place and way of being? 

From whom would such belief spring? Would such beliefs spring from the hearts and minds of the strong spirited among us?

Might such beliefs come from the poor in spirit who lack the strength to live well in this world?  Are they not the ones unable to enjoy the beauty of the world and the pleasures of life. Are they not too weak to live noble human lives in the world as it is? 

Do they not cope with their poverty of spirit by fantasizing about a better place to go after they die? Is it not they who want prophets and teachers to show them a way to escape this life? Is it not they who long to be rescued by a savior?

Perhaps the problem is neither the world or us humans. Perhaps everything is just as it is. Perhaps the problem is the belief of the poor in spirit. Perhaps what they believe is wrong.

My Proposal for the Meaning of "Spirit"

Since Renee Descartes it has been normal to speak of body and mind are as if they are merely abstract concepts and mental things to analyze and argue about. It is as though our body and mind exist only is the static realm of ideas like dead specimens to be examined in a lab. 

What's wrong with this? Spirit is missing; that's what's wrong.

We are alive. We're spirited. We're living, physical, emotional, thinking human beings. We do not have bodies; we are bodies, spirited bodies. We do not have minds; we are minds, spirited minds. 

Being alive, our body is constantly changing. We're conceived in our mother's womb. We're born. We grow up and mature. Then we decline and die. We're constantly processing the air we breath, food we eat, and fluids we drink. Our skin is new every twenty-seven days. Our bodies are living, organic processes rather than static mental things to be dissected in a mental Petri dish.

As with our body so with our mind. Being alive our mind is constantly changing. Thoughts come and go. Mental images come and go. From and to where they go, no one knows. Like our body, our mind is an organic process. It develops to a point and then it declines. It isn't a static, abstract thing. It's alive.

What makes us a living body and mind? What makes us alive rather than dead? Our spirit. It makes our body and mind alive. Without spirit we're a cold, pale, thoughtless cadaver.

Here is my proposal for what we refer to when we use the word "spirit": spirit is that which makes alive. If there is no better definition of spirt, let this be what we Westerners mean by spirit. 

Is Our Spirit "Spiritual"?

Just as we have  no consensus on the meaning of the word "spirit", so it is with "spiritual." The word "spiritual" can be a synonym for "religious." It can refer to something that is other-worldly, supernatural, or metaphysical.

If spirit is that which makes us alive, then it is no more "spiritual" than our body and mind. It is of and in this world. Our spirit is as much a part of nature as our body and mind. It is as natural as the the wind, rain, and fire. It's not something supernatural or metaphysical. 

The sooner we embrace that our spirit as much a part of nature as everything else in this world, the sooner we can get on with learning more about it. As we learn more about our own spirit, we can also learn more about the spirits of all other living beings.