Are we human beings or spiritual beings?

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Are we human beings who experience spirituality, or are we spiritual being who are having a human experience?

Just as a blind man is unable to form any idea about colors, or a deaf person to fathom what it means to hear sounds… so the body cannot comprehend the delights of the soul… For we live in a material world, and the only kind of pleasure we can understand is that experienced through our body. But the joys of the spirit are everlasting and ceaseless. There is no resemblance of any kind between the enjoyments of the soul and those of the body.
-The twelfth-century philosopher-rabbi, Maimonides
 
Robert_Sock said:
Are we human beings who experience spirituality, or are we spiritual being who are having a human experience?

Just as a blind man is unable to form any idea about colors, or a deaf person to fathom what it means to hear sounds… so the body cannot comprehend the delights of the soul… For we live in a material world, and the only kind of pleasure we can understand is that experienced through our body. But the joys of the spirit are everlasting and ceaseless. There is no resemblance of any kind between the enjoyments of the soul and those of the body.
-The twelfth-century philosopher-rabbi, Maimonides
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The question itself is problematic, as it seems divide what the nature of the human being, both Physical and Spiritual (the soul). Due to the fallen nature, we would technically have both physical pain and the spiritual pain.

The argument put forth by the Rabbi Maimonides suggests if not empirical then an quasi-empirical approach: ‘For we live in a material world, and the only kind of pleasure we can understand is that experienced through our body.’

Is it only experience through our body? What of suffering?

One may argue that a knife through the hand is ofcourse an experience through the body, however what of that suffering that does not present itself in a physical manifestation?

Christ Himself bled in the Garden of Gesthemane (LK 22:24) due to heavy anxiety of what He foresaw, he also felt the physical anguish, the Blessed Mother’s soul was pierced with a sword (LK 2:34).

God Bless,

Christopher.
 
I think it is impossible to separate the body and the soul. A human person is an entity with constant interaction between his or her physical and spiritual aspects. Our bodies are not merely biological machines but purposeful agents which transcend the laws to which inanimate objects are subject with their urge to survive and capacity for sentience.
 
CGDouglas said:
The question itself is problematic, as it seems divide what the nature of the human being, both Physical and Spiritual (the soul). Due to the fallen nature, we would technically have both physical pain and the spiritual pain.

The argument put forth by the Rabbi Maimonides suggests if not empirical then an quasi-empirical approach: ‘For we live in a material world, and the only kind of pleasure we can understand is that experienced through our body.’

Is it only experience through our body? What of suffering?

One may argue that a knife through the hand is of course an experience through the body, however what of that suffering that does not present itself in a physical manifestation?

Christ Himself bled in the Garden of Gethsemane (LK 22:24) due to heavy anxiety of what He foresaw, he also felt the physical anguish, the Blessed Mother’s soul was pierced with a sword (LK 2:34).

God Bless,

Christopher.
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👍 Very good points!
 
An argument for Spiritual Beings having a Human experience:
Once the Lord knew this earth had matured and settled to form an idyllic dwelling place, it was chosen as a pasture of refuge for His own kind - strong in Spirit and refined in Soul. A ‘Soul’ being an inner place of coexistence with the Lord – a shared communication space belonging to the Lord.
Using the Will of the Lord, His Children came from another place, to settle in the Garden of Eden, a fertile area of land abundant with all forms of life – a land of plenty.

An argument for Human Beings having a spiritual experience :
Amongst the surrounding life forms there had evolved a strain of ‘natives’ similar to His Children, but less spiritually mature: driven by instinct and the laws of earthly nature – competition and the survival of the fittest to ensure the development of the species – and the ways of the Lord were unknown to them.

The Lord knew that the natives were influenced by many earthly forces previously unknown to His Children, and warned against interbreeding with them as the resulting offspring would be torn between opposing inner forces of the spiritual and the earthly kinds, constricting the nurture and spiritual nourishment of the souls of His Children – the essence of the term ‘Sin’, and ‘the forbidden fruit’.

For the offspring of the blend that followed, His Children became aware of themselves within the nature of competition and were at odds with their spiritual nature. They could not overcome the ‘Sinful’ effect of nature’s earthly forces constricting the maintenance and development of their souls, and their inner place of communication with the Lord was corrupted and no longer served them as it had their forebears, and their source of wisdom diminished.

So the answer can be justifiably - Both ??
 
I was to understand humans are both spiritual and physical beings. Obviously for the particular judgment God wills the soul to seperate from the body; however, Christ’s resurrection shows that God also wills that the soul one day be rejoined to it’s body.
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I think this was the question I asked you in one of your other threads.

If we are spiritual beings, then perhaps we existed in a spiritual sense prior to Creation. Maybe everyone was in Heaven, but the lingering desire for Experience (which comes through our natural senses) was the leading factor for which God cast us away from Heaven to experience pain and suffering/happiness and joy for ourselves. I mean afterall, how would we even know if we existed? Perhaps Heaven was too good that we needed a reminder? And for those who choose to remain in Heaven act by His guidelines and those who stray have entered the realm of hell; only to never experience infinite bliss. I often think that all “we” “knew” was heaven, and that God created us so we could experience these feelings and emotions. Afterall, they create individuality.

Or, we are just a human body with the intellectual capacity to create a realm in which we have faith we will one day end up.

In the end, we will never know. Which is why we place such great importance on faith.
 
I’m not drinking beer at the moment,
or having sex,
or skiing down a mountain slope,
or eating good food,
or doing anything else pleasurable,
but I have peace of mind because of what is says in Psalm 23:

Though I walk throught the valley of death I will fear no evil for Thou art with me
Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

Our spiritual component can’t be felt by the body, but we are conscious of it.
We know whether or not we have “peace of sou” to use Bishop Sheen’s words.

The hermits withdrew from the world to concentrate on the spiritual experience full-time.

Sheen also said that melancholy *** , low spirits, comes from “barren activity, romantic nothingness, and futility of life itself”.
Sheen said character is built in one of two ways, either by concentrating on things of the body or concentrating on things of the spirit. Most people are a mixture of the two. Those who only concentrate on the things of the body are doomed to misery, because ‘my self is not enough for me. I need more. I need the infinite.’.

*** Not to be confused with depression which has a physical cause. But somebody could have both depression and melancholy.
The young often have melancholy because they don’t know what the future will be. Melancholy can disappear when you actually achieve a few victories in life. This is the great problem with college students who must delay gratification for a few years.
 
lemondiesel said:
I think this was the question I asked you in one of your other threads.

If we are spiritual beings, then perhaps we existed in a spiritual sense prior to Creation. Maybe everyone was in Heaven, but the lingering desire for Experience (which comes through our natural senses) was the leading factor for which God cast us away from Heaven to experience pain and suffering/happiness and joy for ourselves. I mean afterall, how would we even know if we existed? Perhaps Heaven was too good that we needed a reminder? And for those who choose to remain in Heaven act by His guidelines and those who stray have entered the realm of hell; only to never experience infinite bliss. I often think that all “we” “knew” was heaven, and that God created us so we could experience these feelings and emotions. Afterall, they create individuality.

Or, we are just a human body with the intellectual capacity to create a realm in which we have faith we will one day end up.

In the end, we will never know. Which is why we place such great importance on faith.
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Yes, I did borrow your clever dichotomy between spirit and human experience!
 
Rumor has it that although we are body and spirit in this life and in the World-to-Come, there will come a time when we will become pure spirit and be reunited with God perfectly.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Rumor has it that although we are body and spirit in this life and in the World-to-Come, there will come a time when we will become pure spirit and be reunited with God perfectly.
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Not in Catholic teaching. Our souls and bodies will be separate for a time, but our eternity with God will be with both body and soul together.

Peace and God bless!
 
Ghosty said:
Not in Catholic teaching. Our souls and bodies will be separate for a time, but our eternity with God will be with both body and soul together.

Peace and God bless!
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The experience of eternity is right here and now.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Are we human beings who experience spirituality, or are we spiritual being who are having a human experience?

Just as a blind man is unable to form any idea about colors, or a deaf person to fathom what it means to hear sounds… so the body cannot comprehend the delights of the soul… For we live in a material world, and the only kind of pleasure we can understand is that experienced through our body. But the joys of the spirit are everlasting and ceaseless. There is no resemblance of any kind between the enjoyments of the soul and those of the body.
-The twelfth-century philosopher-rabbi, Maimonides
Click to expand...
👍

An interesting question, but too vague to be beneficial.

What is it to be ?

What is humanity ?

What is spirituality ?

I noticed no mention of the soul.

Beings modified by “human” or “spiritual” send thinking into the abyss.

Safer to say we are beings; adjectives only muddy the waters.

🙂
 
We are not spirits because spirits have power that is beyond the flesh, beyond this reality.

We are souls who commune with spirits. The spirit that we want to commune with is the Holy Spirit.
 
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