Spirit

A basic concept in the Western religious traditions, in which it is often contrasted to the material aspect of existence. The Hebrew word ruah (spirit) originally meant "breath" or "wind," and the association of spirit with breath and wind is also found in the Greek word pneuma. In the Christian tradition, biblical interpreters generally argue for one of two views of the spirit. Some see the spirit as synonymous with the soul and as the principle of all life, including the intellectual, moral, and religious, and believe that when the body dies the soul returns to God, who made it. Others tend to see a distinction between the spirit and the soul. They believe the soul (psyche) is the principle of animal life and is possessed by humans and animals alike. The spirit, in contrast, is that which humans possess which is not shared with other animals—a moral and an immortal life, a conscious relationship to God. In this view, the soul and body die, but the spirit survives and goes into God's presence. This latter view has tended to dominate within Spiritualism.

The Spirit in Spiritualism

In Spiritualism spirit is variously defined as the inmost principle, the divine particle, the vital essence, and the inherent actuating element in life. It is seen as manifesting through its association with protoplasm and dwells in the astral body, which Spiritualists identify with the soul, the connecting link between the spirit and the physical body.

At death the connection between the spirit and the physical body is severed, and the spirit finds no ordinary means of manifestation. Spirits appear to be cognizant of space, although not conditioned by it. The same applies to time. Past, present, and future cease to exist for the spirit in the earthly sense.

Spiritualists do not see spirits in the role of Peeping Toms, keeping watch on the most private actions of the living, but have concluded that they are partly conscious of the thoughts and emotions directed toward them from the Earth.

They also maintain that spirits cannot hold communion with the living if the mental attitude of the latter is not receptive to spirit communication. In the mid-nineteenth century chemistry professor Robert Hare was told by alleged spirits that there were peculiar elementary principles out of which spiritual bodies were constructed that were analogous to material elements; that spirits have bodies, with a circulation and respiratory apparatus; and that they breathe a gaseous or ethereal matter that is also inhaled by men, beasts, and fish.

William Denton a geology professor noted for his research in psychometry, wrote: "The vision that can see through brick walls and distinguish objects miles away, does not belong to the body; it must belong to the spirit. Hundreds of times have I had the evidence that the spirit can smell, hear and see, and has powers of locomotion. As the fin in the unhatched fish indicates the water in which he may one day swim, so these powers in man indicate that mighty realm which the spirit is fitted eternally to enjoy."

Sources:

Crawley, A. E. The Idea of the Soul. New York: Macmillan, 1909.

De Vesme, Caesar. A History of Experimental Spiritualism. 2 vols. London: Rider, 1931.

Driesch, Hans. History and Theory of Vitalism. New York: Macmillan, 1914.

Hackforth, R., trans. Plato's Phaedo. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 1955.

Hare, Robert. Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations. New York, 1856.

Heysinger, Isaac. Spirit and Matter Before the Bar of Modern Science. London: T. Werner Laurie, 1910.

Hyslop, James H. Contact With the Other World. New York: Century, 1919.

King, J. H. The Supernatural. 2 vols. London, 1892.

Mead, G. R. S. The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tradition. London: J. M. Watkins, 1919.

——. Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death. London: Longmans, Green, 1903. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1975.

Tweedale, C. L. Man's Survival After Death. London, 1909. Reprint, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1918.

Tylor, E. B. Primitive Culture. 2 vols. New York: George Putnam's Sons, 1871.