This blog is written by Professor Larry Jensen and Dena Jensen
The old time philosophical and recent psychological belief that within everyone there dwells an innate intelligence that we are more than just existing, or that we are "more" than just the body we have.
This intelligence is the belief that we have a spirit or we have a self. Typically this spirit is thought to exist in a timeless way.
We talked about this in our Self Help Discussions. Our Belief Two is "I Am More Than Brain And Body".
When you believe that you are more than just brain and body and that you have a spirit, you can see that those you come into contact with, also has a spirit. If you believe that your spirit and others spirits have enduring qualities, then everything you know about yourself and your spouse and those around you are in fact different and and you in fact are different. Everything that you love about yourself and those that you love, then, also are different.
When we believe that we have spirits and we are all different and our existence is more than just the body and brain we have, then we can conclude that we had this spirit before our bodies and we will continue to have our spirits. If we conclude this belief then the logical and central core of our existence is our spirits.
Do you think that knowing this, and in logic terms, giving more value to those around you and especially your spouse, that this is a key element in understanding who you are and who your spouse is? If you are not married, those who you love and those you want to spend your life with.
When you want to spend time trying to understand the one you are married to and those you love, this belief is very valuable.
Here is an example:
The old woman was skipping and almost dancing as she flittered around the large hall. The program was over and the cleanup had begun. Her eyes beamed as she moved among those clearing tables and visiting. She held my attention as I thought her childish actions were unbecoming of a person her age. "Who does she think she is?" "She should act her age."
Then suddenly, everything changed. The grandmother transformed into a little girl. I saw her in her youth. I saw within the old body a young vibrant spirit. My criticisms melted. I felt so good watching her enjoy life. I felt she was so lucky to still have a young and joyful spirit. I felt I was fortunate to be able to, at that moment, see more that meets the eye.
When seeing the old woman as more than just a worn body, for a slight moment her spirit was seen.
In any relationship with anyone, if we see people who this student saw this old woman, we will be practicing the key to a good relationship. This will further our relationship with becoming a better marriage partner.
First and foremost, we all were and will be spirits.
This is not mentioned in Marriage and Family textbooks. However, in these books there is a one hundred percent agreement that each person has a body of material that can, by physicists be reduced and/ or identified into smaller matter and smaller units. Not everyone will agree as to what the units are. However, all will agree that people are reducible to some kind of matter and energy. The next one hundred agreement is we all have our own unique mind. The popular belief is that the brain is the mind.
So then we are left with a third element to this deep philosophical point of "What Are We?"
All of the religions we have in this vast earth, namely Christians, Judaism, Islam, along with many countable other religions believe that the spirit is part of the person or the person is part of the spirit. Non-religious scholars and philosophers often refer to man's spirit. Usually, spirits are to exist before, during and after ones life. This belief is found in nearly all religious writings. Nowhere is it stated more directly than in Job 32:8.."But there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding"...
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