Guest Author - Andrea Gardiner, Ph.D.

There are four mainstream concepts of Spirit expressed within society that deserves examination. Although these concepts are privately held and highly personalized thoughts, they are nonetheless products of societal attempts to reason a knowing that they cannot escape. As discussed in a previous article, The Metaphysical Origin of Religion, the evolution of your conscious mind initiated a separation from an innate knowledge that you still possess. As a species that desired (and still does) specialization in terms of creation, communities and societies were formed to foster this aspiration. You still however could not completely eradicate your personal knowing of Truth from your Being, and so within societies the concept of Spirit and spirituality was created. Philosophy for the most part was the instrument used to reason out this matter but eventually religion became the main vehicle used to focus on spirituality.

The first of these ideas can be found implicitly within all concepts of Spirit while still possessing a degree of separation; it is the idea that Spirit is formless. It is really a common sense approach to the concept since Spirit is a construct that you try to rationalize. You know for instance that you have never physically seen or touch Spirit, at least to your knowledge. You do not see Spirit as the physical objects that you encounter on a day to day basis and so you logically accurately assume it is formless.

The second concept is one that has been discussed previously in another article, The Birth of a Religious God; it is the idea that Spirit is an entity or Being. This notion is what I like to call the “people-ized” version of the Spirit. Formlessness is inherent within this concept as well, however because your ego mind has been focused more or less in a physical manner, you find it hard to conceptualize existence with formlessness. The idea of simple formlessness was too problematic for the ego especially as you began to make steady progress in your separation from creature-hood. As a result, you attribute a personality to the idea of Spirit.

The third concept is a mixture of both philosophical and religious thought. This idea dictates that Spirit is the substance that gives life to what would otherwise be inanimate, lifeless objects. It has been referred to many times over in philosophies known as panpsychism. This concept is also referred to as the Divine Breath and is displayed gracefully in various religious versions of the creation of mankind. Again, formlessness is laid down elegantly in this notion of Spirit as a magical unseen force that drives life as you know it.

The fourth and final concept has already been touched on within the article The Amazing Fluidity of Self and it deals with the popular holistic perception of the Trinity. In this scenario, the Spirit is a distinct and separate part of the Self. The Spirit is not usually integrated into the perception of Self and is often seen as a possession of the Being rather than being itself. You end up with a layered version of the Self where Spirit (again formless) is at the highest point while the body, which is physical, is at the lowest point.

Although each concept is separated into its own category, they all possess a degree of similarity. They all point to a pattern of thinking in regards to Self (Spirit) which eventually works to alienate the individual from an organic and friendly perception of All That Is. What usually develops around these view points is the attitude that Spirit, God, All That Is, or whatever other labels exist is incomprehensible and maybe you are better served if you simply gave up pursuit of such knowledge. Is it time to re-examine you thoughts in regards to Spirit?