Spiritual beings having a human experience

[kr2005]

I keep coming across this statement, no one ever attributes it to a specific person, so I don’t know who said it. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but rather we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” I just wondered if this is theologically correct. Does anyone know who came up with this statement or is it an age-old saying that has become used more often?

 

[Eileen_T]

It is attributed to Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj and comes from a Hindu philosophy so I would be wary

 

[buzzcut]

I believe it is originally from The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1959), though it since has become widely quoted, often without attribution.

 

[gardenswithkids]

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but rather we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” I just wondered if this is theologically correct.

A human has both a body and an eternal soul. We are neither merely spirits nor merely bodies. Jesus took on human flesh and physically resurrected. Our creed reminds us of the resurrection of our bodies. The quote above places emphasis on the spiritual part of our nature as though the physical is unimportant to us being human, so I think it is theologically incorrect.

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

We are both body and spirit. It is true that for a while we will exist as spirit only after we die, we will get bodies back at some point in Heaven.

 

[kr2005]

Thank you for your insightful answers. I sort of liked the saying but I wasn’t sure that it was correct and now I see that it isn’t the best way to view our eternity. Thanks again for your help.