Quite a number of people have remarkably similar views and understanding of “spirit.” Angel, someone I consider a companion who has helped me through many trails and tribulations, and who has also experienced a few of her own spiritual experiences, gave me an inspiring and profound understanding of "spirit": “Spirit, to me, is literally; everything. It is the universe beyond our very small, limited existence as human in a physical world. This encompasses the view of Spirit being a creative force. It is THE creative force since it is everything. So when we as humans, create or connect or dream or heal...we tap into Spirit.” In seeing the remarkable success of the Star Wars movies, it would be safe to assume that the idea of The Force touched and tapped into the idea of Spirit as "The Creative Force" - and the Archetype of the Spirit mirrors the idea of The Force. as Angle observed. Similarly, Jung summarizes his idea of “spirit” when he states, “In keeping with it’s original wind-nature, spirit is always an active, winged, swift-moving being as well as that which vivifies, stimulates, incites, fires, and inspires…… [That is,] spirit is the dynamic principle!” (p.210 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious)
In Buddhism, there are several concepts that relate to energy or life force.In the Buddhist Pali Canon's Sutta Pitaka, vinnaṇa is one of three overlapping Pali terms used to refer to the mind,andVijnana(Sanskrit) is translated as "consciousness," "life force," "mind," or "discernment."Furthermore, the Buddhist understanding of "life-force" is understood as the "Life of the Universe" which is a physical reality that is considered to be "divine." The word “Myo” conveys the idea of the intrinsic divine nature of Life as creating an essence of a “wonder beyond explanation.” The emphasis is on the essence and the being as opposed to a manifestation of one kind or another.
Spirit and Life: and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters
As Jung, and other scholars have observed, it seems clear that early humans made a definite connection between life and spirit.n It is evident that the early humans realized that something mystic and invisible changed when humans died since they stopped breathing - yet there were no other changes.The
roots for the Christian understanding of the concept of spirit originate in Judaism
and Hebrew literature. The Hebrew word “ruach” translates alternately as
“wind,” “breathe,” or “spirit.” In Arabic, there are two words for the words:
spirit, soul or self - namely, ruH (spirit, soul) & nafs (spirit, soul,
self). Both these Arabic words can somehow be connected to breath or wind, e.g.
ruH is connected to riH (wind) and nafs to nafas (breath).Also, the same effect appears in many cultures. In Sanskrit the word prana in
Hinduism refers to “breath,” "life force," or "vital
principle" and is viewed as all cosmic energy. The ancient Egyptians
believed that a human soul was made up of five parts: The Ka part was the vital
essence. Ka was breathed into a human being at the instant of birth and it was
the ka that actually gave the person life. Likewise, in Scandinavian, Baltic,
and Slavic languages, the words for "breath" are intimately connected
to concepts of "the spirit.” Of course, in the Biblical Creation story, Spirit created the earth an the waters from the formless void. Genesis 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. So Spirit should equate to life, creativity and truth rather than miracles or transcendental spiritual experiences.
For the Record - A Question of Perspective
Stefan, an award winning author and retired psychology/philosophy professor, when asked, did say he had not seen any psychologists specifically address the question of a drive closely connected with spirit or spiritual processes. As I mentioned, many psychologists as well as "Christian leaders, in my view, seem to dwell excessively on the transcendental aspect of religious beliefs. For instance several studies in 'Psychology of Religion books cite studies of prayer which, on the face of it, attempt to measure the efficacy of prayer which necessarily would attempt to measure divine intervention - which needless to say is beyond quantification or measurement. There were mixed results but those studies without question have an obvious error in methodology, have no scientific merit and should not have been mentioned in a book about science. The same is true for Freud and Maslow which have no scientific basis and as the positivists point out are completely interpretation with no evidence to support them. The University of Chicago did do studies which did show that satisfying spiritual needs do create happiness, but that does not even begin to touch the "function" of religion or even the comprehensive theory of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Link to Demons of Freud: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/demons-freud Link to Refutation of Maslow: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/refutation-of-maslow
Furthermore the 'Psychology of Religion books overlooked the "New Integrative Approach" - a synthesis of Jung, Frankl, James, and Durkheim's theories which all concur that "spirit" or spiritual processes create meaning, a sense of reality, and ultimately truth. In the five 'Psychology of Religion books there were no references to Jung's statement "Spirit gives meaning to [his] life." or that religious beliefs and spiritual beliefs create social ideals as Durkheim argued (though there was a reference to how religious beliefs created the institute of morality. Link to Integrative Approach: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/brief-1-page-sum-of-new-integrative-approach
Lastly, here is a link to an essay about how psychology bypassed the process of categorization of spiritual experiences: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/flawed-methodology-in-the-science-of-psychology
Content Copyrighted Charles E Peck Jr. Copyright ©
References and Footnotes
Profile of Dr. James Doty: https://profiles.stanford.edu/james-doty
The Center for Compassion And Altruism Research And Education: http://ccare.stanford.edu/
American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/
Association for Psychological Science: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/about/links.cfm
Albert Einstein comprehensive website: http://alberteinsteinsite.com/
Albert Einstein Biography: https://www.biography.com/people/albert-einstein-9285408
Godel’s Theorem of Incompleteness: https://www.jamesrmeyer.com/ffgit/godels_theorem.html
John Bargh, PhD: http://bargh.socialpsychology.org/
https://www.rogerdooley.com/john-bargh-priming
http://www.psych.nyu.edu/bargh/index.html
Rupert Sheldrake: https://www.sheldrake.org/
Viktor Frankl: http://www.viktor-frankl.com/
Viktor Frankl: http://www.viktorfrankl.org/
Dr. Harold Koenig: https://spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Harold Koenig: https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Roy Baumeister: http://www.roybaumeister.com/
Roy Baumeister: https://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/baumeisterr/baumeister.dp.php
Dr. Paul Wong: http://www.drpaulwong.com/
Dr. Paul Wong: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/paul-wong-biography/
Clifford Geertz: https://www.biography.com/people/clifford-geertz-9308224
Carl Jung: https://www.biography.com/people/carl-jung-9359134
Carl Jung: https://www.psychologistworld.com/cognitive/carl-jung-analytical-psychology
12 common Archetypes: http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html
Emile Durkheim: http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/
Emile Durkheim: http://faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Durkheim/index2.htm
William James: https://www.biography.com/people/william-james-9352726
William James: https://study.com/academy/lesson/william-james-psychology-theories-lesson-quiz.html
Tania Singer references: http://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/Tania-Singer.htm
https://charterforcompassion.org/discovering-empathy/dr-tania-singer-and-the-neuroscience-of-empathy
Dr Amit Sood Mindfulness: https://www.mindfulleader.org/amit-sood
Dr. Harold Koenig Director, Center for Spirituality,
Theology and Health: https://spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Koenig on what spirituality can do for you: https://www.beliefnet.com/wellness/health/2006/05/what-religion-can-do-for-your-health.aspx
Keith Karren – Body, Mind, Spirit:
http://pgrpdf.abhappybooks.com/mind-body-health-keith-j-karren-ph-d-pdf-5716009.pdf
E O Wilson Biodiversity: https://eowilsonfoundation.org/
E O Wilson - PBS on Ants: http://www.pbs.org/program/eo-wilson/
Anthropologist Malinowski: http://anthrotheory.wikia.com/wiki/Bronislaw_
MalinowskiSocial Anthropology - Malinowski: http://scihi.org/bronislaw-malinowski-social-anthropology/
St. Augustine (Catholic source): https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=418
St. Augustine: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine
Konrad Lorenz: https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/scientist/konrad_lorenz.html
Konrad Lorenz: http://www.famouspsychologists.org/konrad-lorenz/
St. Gregory of Nyssa (Franciscan): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-gregory-of-nyssa/
St. Gregory of Nyssa (wikiorg): https://orthodoxwiki.org/Gregory_of_Nyssa
Neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene: https://www.edge.org/memberbio/stanislas_dehaene
Imants Barušs, psychologist and parapsychologist: http://www.baruss.ca/
Julia Mossbridge, psychologist and parapsychologist: https://noetic.org/profile/julia-mossbridge
https://sharingthesearch.com/tag/j-mossbridge/
https://www.closertotruth.com/contributor/julia-mossbridge/profile
Friedrich Nietzsche: http://nietzschecircle.com/
Nietzsche biography: https://www.biography.com/people/friedrich-nietzsche-9423452
Abraham Joshua Heschel: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/abraham-joshua-heschel-a-prophets-prophet/
Iroquois:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/1d.asp
Greek Mythology: Apollo and the Oracle of Delphi
https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Apollo/apollo.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/apollo-greek-god-sun-music-prophecy-111902
http://greek-gods.info/greek-gods/apollo/
https://www.coastal.edu/intranet/ashes2art/delphi2/misc-essays/oracle_of_delphi.html
https://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/background/7_p1.html
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/pythia-oracle-delphi-001641
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/pythia-oracle-delphi-001641