Soul-Body Interaction

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May I add another element? There is body. There is soul. There is spirit. Are the soul and spirit the same thing?

Isn’t the soul, my soul? The invisible element that either goes to heaven or that other place. The spirit can be referenced to God as in the Holy Spirit. The spirit also is invisible.

Which is the animating force? And the soul is what can communicate with the spirit. Invisible does not mean unseen and/or undetected. As gravity is invisible, but the apple fell on Newton’s head. Magnetism is invisible but the compass still points North. In the same way, the soul’s presence can be seen in the body.

When it leaves the body, I do not know. Since it cannot be hurt by anything physical, it could even hang around for a while after the body dies, as Christ did for some 3 days… and more. At the time of physical death, who then is in charge of the soul? Since it is not us anymore. Who, or what spirit then ‘directs’ the soul to whatever or wherever?
 
This question has been under my consideration for many decades now. I have no absolute answers and I am sure that no matter what we say, “We all will have our theology corrected in Heaven.”

I have done the Matter / Energy thing because of my training in physical sciences. The soul and spirit are energy, kinetic and potential, and the body is matter.

When we look at Einstein’s famous equation (E=mC^2). We can rewrite it as m=E/C^2. Thus when we view the universe of matter as a sub.set of energy and we have support from from Scripture that God is pure energy (God is light and there is no darkness in him).

A small amount of matter can be represented as the energy of the soul and can depart at death.

How about a new thread looking at not only the body-soul interaction but expanding the issue to the universe as a whole and with God being pure energy the matter of the universe is an emanation of God.

I think I have stirred up the pot enough for one evening.

Harri
 
Harri, funny how one thing leads to another. It is difficult to talk about either the body or the soul, or both, without touching on other areas that are touched by each. Once one makes a ‘specific-generalization’ it becomes irrelevant because of the interaction of other elements that affect it. The same can be said for the ‘general-specifications’.

Good thing this is a philosophy thread. And good thing the Catholic Church references the ‘universal’… the entirety.

Yes, when one looks at a part of something, they have to remember, it is a part… not the whole. And when one looks at the whole, they have to remember, it is the whole… which has parts. How does one look at a ‘forest’ and a ‘tree’ and relate each to the other? How does one reference both, at the same time?

Ahhh philosohy, gotta love it!
 
here’s a nice explanation:

kjvbible.org/body.html

Each man and woman born into this world is a being made of three (3) distinct components:

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and * your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Thessalonians 5:23 KJV)

1: The BODY. This is your PHYSICAL component of being. It is flesh made from a collection of unremarkable mineral elements (but is mostly water) and is in harmony with the nature and spirit of this world. It grows, matures, begins to deteriorate, eventually dies, and then decomposes back into its constituent elements and remains a part of the dust of the world. The body is a part of you but is NOT ALL of what defines who YOU are.

“And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,”
(Proverbs 5:11 KJV)

2: The SOUL. This is who YOU are; it is a part of your SPIRITUAL component. This is your individuality, your “I AM” so to speak, your “heart.” Although your individual soul did not exist before your mother and father procreated you, it will exist forever. It cannot be killed by man:

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
(Matt. 10:28 KJV)

When your body dies your soul (YOU) will leave the body of flesh:

“And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.”
(Genesis 35:18 KJV)

3: The SPIRIT. This is the source of power and control for both your body and soul; it is either evil or good, darkness or light, unholy or Holy, unclean or clean, of Satan or of God:

“But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”
(Luke 9:55 KJV)*
 
Pete said:
How can the soul interact with the body without violating physical laws?
Click to expand...
The opposite question is also interesting: How can the body interact with the soul without violating spiritual laws?

For example, how can a crazy, schizophrenic soul be cured/treated/changed by the introduction of antipsychotic medication into the body affecting the brain chemistry?
 
Just_Lurking said:
The opposite question is also interesting: How can the body interact with the soul without violating spiritual laws?

For example, how can a crazy, schizophrenic soul be cured/treated/changed by the introduction of antipsychotic medication into the body affecting the brain chemistry?
Click to expand...
Spiritual laws? How can we know what the spiritual laws are?
 
Much of the teaching of the Latin Church (that is, the largest of the Catholic Churches, not one of the Eastern Catholic Churches) about soul and body builds on the philosophy of Aristotle, as expanded and amended by St. Thomas Aquinas. In that structure, as I understand it, “soul” is not separate from “spirit,” but represent the same thing. There is a unity of body and soul, such that a human being is not quite himself or herself when the two are separated.

This is one reason that the General Resurrection at the end of time is so important and hopeful–we become ourselves again, body and soul, but this time in bodies that are glorified and will last forever.

How does the spiritual ever affect the material things of this world, and vice versa? Frankly, no one knows. I think it is incontestable that each does affect the other. The faculties of the soul work through our material brain, with the latter perhaps acting as a filter, so to speak. The fact that psychoses affect our mental operations, and drugs can alleviate psychoses, show material effects on the faculties of the soul. We’re one being, after all.

I think more broadly, the apparitions of saints and angels indicate that the spiritual world can interact with the physical. Unless one is prepared to deny altogether that such apparitions occur, one has to admit that spiritual persons (saints and angels) can exercise control over physical objects. And it is hard to deny these apparitions altogether, in view of such tangible results as the tilma of Juan Diego that still exists after 490 years, when such articles of clothing usually disintegrate in a few decades; or the healings at Lourdes (spiritual and physical); or the results of miracles still preserved in certain places in Europe (e.g., the annually-liquefying blood of St. Januarius); or the incorruptible bodies of certain saints.

We won’t know how the spiritual can interact with the material until we know a lot more about the spiritual world, and that will probably await our own deaths.
 
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