What are you ... really?

 

What I will say next will prove uncomfortable to many people. Even Christians. That is because most of us, whatever our beliefs, choose in life not to think about this particular thing. We put it at the back of our minds. Yet, it is central to our very existence. Many claim they believe it, yet prefer not to think too much about it.

There is ... out there somewhere ... all around us, another world. An invisible world. A spiritual world. A world inhabited by living beings. Perhaps better known as spirits.

This is a fundamental basis of our Christian beliefs. When we recite the Credo we say, (rather glibly):

 I believe in one God, the Father Almighty. Maker of Heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

He has made everything. Visible and invisible. This bit is important. It says visible and invisible. Not seen and unseen. If I were to leave one room and enter another I become unseen. But I am not invisible.

The use of the word invisible is to underline the fact that there is an invisible, spiritual, world which we do not see. We are both visible in human form and invisible in our spiritual form - our soul.

There is also an invisible world of angels and spirits of those departed from this world; that is the souls of humans like us who have died. As well, of course, as the invisible Holy Spirit. The invisible God Himself and His Son Jesus, who is now an invisible spirit having departed this life as a human after His Human Resurrection. This bit is also very important. He died as a human. He was raised from the dead by God His Father. He was raised as a human and was seen by His disciples. He was then raised to Heaven where He is now a spirit.

In summary, there is a spiritual world. An invisible world inhabited by spirits. Even the devil and his demons inhabit this invisible world.

We are spirits. We are souls. Invisible souls. The only reason we can see each other is that our souls, temporarily, in this life, are encased in bodies. This is the bit that most people find uncomfortable.

They cannot distinguish our ever living invisible souls from our visible bodies. People see first of all our bodies, as we are born as babies, as we grow up and as we are throughout life. That's what they recognise in each person they meet. The body. Which is given a name at birth, which grows up and gets a job, starts a family or whatever. The body is what becomes recognisable in peoples' mind. Not the soul. Because we don't see it. Out of sight out of mind, as they say. People are recognised by their bodies, and their behaviour.

But it is the soul that initiates and controls one's behaviour. It is the soul, the invisible soul, that develops our character which is recognised by others. Not our bodies.

Our bodies are only a mixture of water, chemicals and minerals. When a body ceases to function it disintegrates and, as they say, returns to dust.

But the soul lives on. Many religions believe that. Many people think they believe that. But they don't give it much thought. Because it is too uncomfortable.

MORAL: By all means look after your body. But look after your soul even more.