The word spirit
has many connotations, from fairies to ghosts to
intoxicating drink. But in the context of
spirituality, it is most closely identified with
"the vital principle or animating force within
living beings." As such, the word spirit
expresses living human conscious awareness, vitality,
and aesthetic sense, which distinguishes the
subjective human experience from mere mechanical
survival.
In addition, spirit is widely associated, by those
who subscribe to belief in an afterlife, with soul,
a mystical essence of conscious self which persists
after physical death. Indeed, this view is so
pervasive in our society that the words spirit
and soul are used interchangeably by most
people. If we adhere to this identity, however,
we encounter a paradox when discussing the
spirituality of those who do not believe in afterlife—a category which includes many religious
people as well as non-believers. It is
therefore necessary to draw a distinction between
soul and spirit, if we are to discuss such matters
clearly and intelligently.
Soul, according to most
definitions, is the conscious entity most closely
associated with afterlife. Soul dwells in the
physical body during life, but is purportedly
independent of it, continuing to exist in some
immaterial form following physical death. As
commonly described, soul is mystically imparted to
humans early in life; however, the question of
precisely when that occurs has never been answered to
everyone's satisfaction. It was long believed
that ensoulment occurs at quickening—the time
of pregnancy at which the woman first detects
movement of the fetus in her womb. Nowadays,
some insist that soul arises at the moment of
conception, while others feel that soul enters at the
moment of birth, when the infant takes its first
breath. Though each of these views has its
attractions, each also exhibits troublesome
inconsistencies in light of observed fact.1
But while the issues of both the origin and the
destiny of soul remain unresolved, the idea that
consciousness lives on after physical death is indeed
a popular one.
Spirit, broadly defined, is life
itself. The Latin word for it is anima,
the energy which animates all living things—particularly animals, but also plants
and microorganisms—and distinguishes them from
non-living things. In a narrower sense, spirit
is a synonym for sentience or self-awareness, a
mental function of humans and (probably) other
animals with highly developed brains. Spirit
elevates the process of living, from mere mechanical
response to stimuli, to conscious experience.
And in a still more refined application, spirit
connotes a sense of aesthetics, that part of our
mental make-up which enables us, among other things,
to interpret a sunset as "beautiful" rather
than as simply blotches and streaks of color in the
sky, or a symphony as an emotionally moving piece of
music instead of as merely a systematic sequence of
acoustic vibrations. We think of spirit as that
which enables us to love, to hate, to form personal
bonds, to feel both joy and anguish. Yet spirit
is not just emotional, for it also engages the mind
in intellectual challenges and pursuits, from the
playing of games to the building of empires.
Spirit, in short, is the experience of life,
without which living would be mere mindless survival.
As with soul, the precise moment at which spirit
arises is poorly defined. However, since spirit
is the experience of life, it can be assumed not to
arise until the brain, nervous system, and sensory
organs—without which "experience"
has little meaning—are fairly well
developed. Because this physical development
occurs over a period of time, it is probably a safe
guess that the awakening of conscious spirit is
likewise gradual rather than sudden, perhaps
beginning during the latter stages of pregnancy and
continuing (some speculate) until two or three years
after birth. (Think about it: Have you
any first-hand recollection of events which occurred
before your third birthday?)
In this view, spirit is a sensory product of the
living brain. It is supported entirely by the
electrochemical processes in that organ, and ceases
whenever the brain has become deteriorated or damaged
to the point that it can no longer sustain those
processes. But though spirit is a complex
phenomenon, it is nevertheless a natural one.
In contrast, soul is usually portrayed as mystical or
supernatural. For our purpose of examining
differences in belief, then, we will find it
advantageous to observe the distinction.
Many who take the view that spirit and soul are
identical, and who have perhaps never considered that
there might be other possibilities and perspectives,
propose that anyone who does not believe in the
mysterious immaterial essence of soul must be an
impersonal, unfeeling automaton, devoid of
spirit. Yet those who lack belief in an
afterlife nevertheless marvel at sunsets and are
captivated by symphonies. They show as much
imagination, creativity, and enthusiasm for life as
anyone else. Indeed, some of the most
creatively spirited minds in human history, from
Socrates to Jefferson to Einstein, have belonged to
those who rejected the notion of afterlife.
Still, do non-believers deny the
existence of spirit? It would be foolish to
deny something which they evidently have.2
It is only that they do not subscribe to the
"mysterious immaterial essence" definition
commonly applied by others. Although some might
prefer to call spirit something else to avoid this
common confusion of terms, they accept it as both an
experience and an expression of personhood, while
rejecting the notion of an independent, incorporeal
soul. Secularists view spirit as the natural
product of a functioning human brain. They
believe that spirit is wholly dependent upon the
electrochemical processes taking place in that organ;
they understand that it can be altered—for
better or for worse—by a variety of natural
and artificial means; and they accept that it is
extinguished whenever those parts of the brain which
support it deteriorate or become damaged beyond
function.
So when an atheist or an agnostic speaks of spirit,
it is not really the contradiction it might
seem. A non-believer's spiritual experience of
a sunset or a symphony is no different from that of a
believer; both feel intense awe and joy. But
whereas most believers are inclined to interpret such
an experience as mysterious and unfathomable,
non-believers celebrate it as a natural and integral
feature of the organic processes of human life—something all the more precious because of its
fleeting nature.
= SAJ =
