Spiritual Formation Part 1

We had fun last night...

There were several new faces, which is always exciting.

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We talked last time we gathered about:

Spiritual Formation

With the Great Commandment as a template we defined a human being in terms of neighbor (social aspect), strength (physical aspect), mind (emotional and intellectual aspects), heart (the will; the spiritual aspect), and soul (the holistic; all-inclusive personal aspect).

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We defined the spirit in synonymous terms with the heart and the will:

Heart
We call it the heart because it is the core of who we are; it is not all of who we are, but it is the part that gives shape and drive to the rest of our person.

Will
We call it the will because it is the part of us that desires, yearns, chooses, creates and originates.

Spirit
We call it the spirit because it is non-physical; it is not sense-perceptible.

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The spirit is not perceivable through the five senses, however this does not mean that it is non-existent.

We are used to thinking of the spiritual in very cloudy imagery, but the spiritual is not fluffy, nebulous, or even metaphorical. By contrast it is concrete, specific and very real; fiercely and intensely real! We remember going to church, or even viewing awe-inspiring landscapes and thinking, "This is a spiritual experience," and so we define spiritual as, "warm-fuzzy feelings." (This is actually the realm of the emotions!)

In reality the spirit organizes human life. Whenever we want something, choose something, originate something; our spirit is active. When our desires are frustrated by the desires of another, our spirit/will is bumping into theirs! In point of fact, we interact at the spiritual level all day long!

It is simply, what one author has called, the Failed Enlightenment Experiment that has convinced (through repetition and propaganda, not through logic and sound evidence) that what is real is what we can "clunk with our knuckles..."

Simple reflection will allow us to realize that we operate under constant interaction with non-physical realities.

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...more to come.