Sorry. I can't discuss something of that nature without first validating your Zodiac sign and your Worldview through an Authority. Links please... [sarcasm]
I have seen the idea of the Five Shen associated with Taoism and I kind of like how it addresses different aspects of human spirit: power, will, conceptual mind, corporeal mind, and ethereal (not of this world).
Personally, I think of soul a little differently. Of course I use words like heart and spirit too but I know the analogous vocabulary can get messy. Heart is also the symbol for some desires that are problematic in this context. Philosophers have exhausted their talents attempting to get a grasp on the issue and theologians have probably leveled forests writing about it.
My personal take begins simply enough ... I am obligated to consider the condition of my soul in every endeavor, where a sin is no more than a thing I could do to bring harm to my soul. Soul is something so great on the one hand that all the riches of the world would not suffice to redeem it if lost, ... it is on the other hand the purest form of energy, physically undetectable in its finest form, persisting in eternity, with limitless reach as the states of temporal existence transform in their ever-illusive comings and goings...and beings.
So what does less_ mean by 'lost,' you might ask. What is 'lost?' I can give an easy example of spiritual loss. When another person betrays you, or you him, trust is lost. It's lost for good too. You can do things to repair the relationship and move on but you will never recover the trust that has been lost. If it was you who committed the act of betrayal, the act sticks to your soul, and it will never leave you as long as your intellect and conscience is in tact. You forget thousands of things you do or notice every day but that act even if it only took an instant will never leave you, and you can not buy it back with every resource the world has to offer. If you do not deny your own soul, such an act can weigh heavy on your conscience, long after it is forgotten by the person who was betrayed by you.
We are tasked in the world as we make our ways from birth to death with a struggle to keep our soul and at any moment we may feel the pull, the attractions of the world to make things a little better for ourselves, or maybe a lot better ... even at some small, or maybe not so small cost to soul. The three big ticket items in all their forms are 1)real estate, 2)influence, and 3)carnal desire. |
