Spirit (non-physical entity)

“ The spirit, in whatever state, when connected with matter, is, like Prometheus chained to his rock, in a constant struggle to escape from its shackles, and assert the full power of its divine strength. ”

“ While mind is energy associated in purely material beings and spirit associated in purely spiritual personalities, innumerable orders of personality, including the human, possess minds that are associated with both energy and spirit. The spiritual aspects of creature mind unfailingly respond to the spirit-gravity pull of the Eternal Son ”

“ Candid minds cannot, I think, avoid the conclusion that Spirit is acting upon Matter in some way not explainable by any known laws of our being. Whether it is Spirit in the body, or out of the body, seems difficult to decide. ”

“ But if the form must be thus purified in order to express the appropriate content, and, furthermore, if the conformity of meaning and expression is to be complete, the content which is the spiritual idea must be perfectly capable of being expressed through the bodily form of man, without projecting into another sphere beyond the physical and sensuous representation. The result is that Spirit is characterized as a particular form of mind, namely, as human mind, and not as simply absolute and eternal ”

“ He knows in his best moments another vivid aspect of his being, as strong as these, though often kept below the threshold of his consciousness: the spirit, which informs, yet is distinct from both his body and his mind. ”

“ Who of us, in fact, does not believe himself an indivisible being, one and identical, the same yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow? Well, the word body, the word matter, signifies nothing else than the subject of external phenomena, the most eminent of which are form, impenetrability, solidity, extension, divisibility. The word mind, the word soul, signifies nothing else than the subject of the phenomena of consciousness, thought, will, sensation, phenomena simple, unextended, not solid, etc. Behold the whole idea of spirit, and the whole idea of matter! ”

“ Those who maintain the opinion of the soul's immortality, regard it—that is, the soul—as a being distinct from the body, as a substance, or essence, totally different from the corporeal frame, and they designate it by the name of spirit. ”

“ But who plants this spirit within us? It stands, independent of form; it moves, independent of force; it waits not for life, to exist; it perishes not in the swoon of death. Above, it assumes the shape of heavenly bodies; on earth, that of hills and streams: in the dark, that of spiritual beings; in the broad light of day, it returns again to man. ”

“ If the presence of a soul could explain dreams, it could equally well be made to explain such things in himself as man could not rationally comprehend. The idea of his own soul is followed by the idea of a soul in every man. From this it is but a short step to the idea of a soul or spirit in nature, to account for mysterious powers and properties. Thunder and lightning become the work of a spirit ”

“ Spirit is Immortal Truth, and matter is mortal error. Spirit is Real and Eternal, matter the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and Man is the Image and Likeness of God; therefore Man is Spiritual and not material. ”

“ You are aware that the physical body is composed of grosser elements of substance, and the Spirit body of elements more refined, the elemental quality of the Spirit body depending upon the manner of existence of the mortal, so you readily may conclude that those Spirits are of an exalted plane, else they would not present such a glorified appearance, neither would they be able to serve the purpose for which they have assembled. ”

“ This individual spirit energises through each of our bodies. Of our own spirit we have a very close knowledge, of other spirits we have a rather more remote knowledge from inference; we infer their states of mind from the states of body which we observe, or from the material effects which they cause in speaking or writing. ”

“ What would the soul in its perfection mirror? Would it reflect within itself the myriad life of humanity? Would the spirit mirror the heavens, and the imaginations of the Divine Mind well up within it in mystic and transcendental ideations? ”

“ What is spirit? What are our own minds, the portion of spirit with which we are best acquainted? We observe certain phenomena. We cannot explain them into material causes. We therefore infer that there exists something which is not material. ”

“ But, when this Body, or its motion, or figure, or other thing, depending upon its nature, can be perceived by a Spirit, so as, upon that occasion, this Spirit has thoughts, it had not before, it may be said, that the Body has acted upon this Spirit, for as much as it has caused all the change in it, whereof it was capable according to its nature. ”

“ It is as if spirit called to spirit across the abyss, from the immaterial to the material, as if somehow we obtained a conviction of the existence of spirits around us by the very sympathy of our natures and their relationship to the immaterial world, rather than by the ordinary avenues of intelligence. ”

“ Matter was made for spirit, body for mind. The mind, the spirit, is the end of this living organization of flesh and bones, of nerves and muscles; and the end of this vast system of sea and land, and air and skies. ”

“ SPIRITUALITY OF THE SOUL. 1 But though this substance be the root of sense,
Sense knows her not, which doth but bodies know:
She is a spirit, and heavenly influence,
Which from the fountain of God's Spirit doth flow.
2 She is a spirit, yet not like air or wind;
Nor like the spirits about the heart or brain;
Nor like those spirits which alchymists do find,
When they in everything seek gold in vain.
3 For she all natures under heaven doth pass,
Being like those spirits, which God's bright face do see,
Or like Himself, whose image once she was,
Though now, alas! she scarce his shadow be. ”

“ To sum up the whole argument in a single sentence, the physical senses are dependent, for their perceptions, entirely upon the action of matter, and hence spirit, which is not matter, can in no way affect them. ”

“ Spirit, per se, as we understand it, is the vitalizing, unchanging principle which expresses the infinite, intelligent, indestructible, unvarying, all pervading energy and in every atom of the universe this indivisible spirit is manifested. As without substantiality there can be no existence or state of being, conclusively, spirit is substantial and all entities or individualized expressions of substance hold within them the spiritualized potentiality of evolution or growth. ”

“ But, in truth, the assertion is unphilosophical and incorrect in a far wider sense, and in reference to a much more extensive range of phenomena than those which concern the mysterious relations of the soul with the human body. Throughout all nature are to be seen the plainest indications of the influence and operation of spirit on the material world. It is spirit only which animates, informs, and shapes the whole universe. ”

“ If he is spirit, he is matter-loving spirit, and if he is matter, he is spirit-loving matter. Every time he touches a spiritual thing, he makes it (as God makes mountains out of sunlight) a material thing. ”

“ The dogma of the immortality of the soul supposes the soul to be a simple substance; in a word, a spirit. But I ask again, what is a spirit? "It is," say you, "a substance void of extension, incorruptible, having nothing common with matter." If so, how is your soul born, and how does it grow, how does it strengthen or weaken itself, how does it get disordered and grow old, in the same progression as your body? ”

“ Every sensation is intensified, because we enter into closer relations with the One [Pg 265] Life, the One Spirit that fills all space. Everything is within our consciousness, and outside of that there is nothing. ”

“ I believe that the soul of every human being has its attendant spirit—a nimble, delicate essence, whose method of action is by a subtle suggestion which it contrives to insinuate into the mind, whether asleep or awake. We are too gross to be capable of understanding the signification of the dream, the vision, or the sudden presage, or of divining the source of the premonition or its import. ”

“ He names six modes of being as elements in which the universe subsists, viz., matter, force, life, soul, spirit, and God, defining soul as "that mode of being which is characterized by intellect and will," and spirit as "that mode of being which is characterized by consciousness of God." ”

“ We reason imperfectly, from effect to cause, when we conclude that matter is the effect of Spirit; but a priori reasoning shows material existence to be enigmatical. Spirit gives the true mental idea. We cannot interpret Spirit through matter. ”

“ I can imagine the spirit struggling outwards making of element, colour, form or sound a mirror, on which, outside itself, it would find symbols of all that was pent within itself, and so gradually becoming self-conscious in the material nature in which it was embodied, but which was still effigy or shadow of a divine original. ”

“ But what is the truth of the Spirit but the Spirit itself,--the conscious I? which is never even thought of in connection with it. In what form, then, shall we recognize it? In its own,--the form of Life,--the life of the Human Being; that self-projecting, realizing power, which is ever present, ever acting and giving judgment on the instant on all things corresponding with its inscrutable self. We now assign it a distinctive epithet, and call it Human.
It is a common saying, that there is more in a name than we are apt to imagine. ”

“ They recognized man as a trinity, the three elements of which are "body, soul, and spirit." The soul, in their system of philosophy, corresponds to the objective mind, and the spirit to the subjective mind. ”

“ Does Spirit enter dust, and lose therein the divine nature and omnipotence? Does Mind enter matter, to become there a mortal sinner, animated by the breath of God? I am opposing the validity of matter, not the validity of Spirit, or its creations. ”

“ Spirit and matter are distinct in kind. We cannot justly think of spirit, or the spiritual, as refined matter,——etherealized matter,—matter so attenuated that it is only a finely diffused mist or essence. ”

“ How could man, who is at least partly material, represent a pure spirit, which excludes all matter?
How could his imperfect mind be formed on the model of a mind possessing all perfection, like that which we suppose in the Creator of the universe? What resemblance, what proportion, what affinity could there be between a finite mind united to a body, and the infinite spirit of the Creator? ”

“ That, though unseen by mortal eyes, the animating Principle, the Real Self, is Immortal, and in Realms indescribable by human language, those who have passed from Ento and other Worlds, live, love and enjoy, or sorrow, in accordance with the purity or impurity of their mortal existence. They also have come to proclaim to you that there is but One God, Who is the Infinite Spirit, Who permeates all things. The Infinitely Intelligent Spirit, who knows all things. The Infinite Energy, who is the Source of all things. ”

“ But though spirit signifies a being of higher rank than body or matter, yet the word is too low to express the essence of God, any otherwise than analogically, or metaphorically. He is infinitely more excellent than the highest created spirits, being eternal, and immutable. ”

“ And if I try to think of the "spirit" which a man, by this hypothesis, carries about under his hat, as something devoid of relation to space, and as something indivisible, even in thought, while it is, at the same time, supposed to be in that place and to be possessed of half a dozen different faculties, I confess I get quite lost. ”

“ The spiritualist errs when he pronounces upon the nature of spirit, as it lies beyond his ken, naming it, in essence, immortal, divine. Unity there somehow is in this universe. There are no breaks if we could read aright. ”

“ You will say, perhaps, That the divine Soul in Man is a Spirit: but I desire you to call to mind what I oftentimes have told you, to wit, that when I speak of the Soul of Man, I mean onely the Natural, not the Divine Soul; which as she is supernatural, so she acts also supernaturally; but all the effects of the natural Soul, of which I discourse, are natural, and not divine or supernatural. But to return to Magnetisme ”

“ Because the evidence of the existence of Spirit, or Soul, is palpable to spiritual sense only, and not apparent Cognizance. to the material senses, which only cognize the unrealities of existence, — though you aver that these senses are indispensable to man's existence or entity, — you must change the human concept of yourself as matter disappears, and at length know yourself spiritually. ”

“ The abstract idea of a spirit certainly implies that it has neither substance, form, shape, voice, or anything which can render its presence visible or sensible to human faculties. ”

“ Besides this consciousness or sense of material life, or life in the body, there is another sense or consciousness of Truth, Love, beauty, expressed in the word God, or Spirit. The impressions of Spirit not only do not come to us through the personal senses, can not be cognized by material sense, but they are contrary to this sense, are the opposites of the phenomena of material sense. They are distinct or obscure, just as the individual is immersed in or withdrawn from the objects of material sense, and the impressions derived from them. ”

“ But while this was often the starting-point, the nature of soul, and spirit, and consciousness in general have been brought under discussion and subjected to attacks which sought to show how vague and questionable was the reality of spirit as contrasted with the palpable, solid and indubitable reality of the outer world. ”