What is spirit, exactly? (page 49)

Ruby456

splash great posts (1376 &9) - i agree that the word spirit has multiple meanings and it is truly astonishing how many times it is related to power in the bible. Angels are spirits ps 104:4 and Hebrews 1:7 tell us. Both verses are related to foundational myths and the powers they confer. Angels in their capacity of messenger brings an added dimension of power into focus too - the power of discourse to elevate a body of people - for example angelic anouncements to Mary about her son and a particular section of jews for example to bring them into a position of influence and then domination and then even coercion when Christianity became the state religion. (edit Plus your example of pentecost highlights how the spirit endows the power to establish new foundational discourse). Spirit as power works intersectionally too when different identities are elevated and others put down or even crushed simultaneously - examples are when Jesus (under the influence of spirit) put Mary in her place and when he told Judas what he needed to do and which then led to his (Judas) committing suicide

I'm sticking with spirit being related to power in its many manifestations.

edit: viv I don't think it is possible to abstract brain states from the social world to study them as in neuro science for example and then export those abstracted brain states back to society and expect it to fit without its social context. we are not simply machines

KateWild

By saying my comments are off topic, you indicate I have failed in my explanation.-Splash

IMO, it was on topic. The whole post made sense and I see your perspective and your point. Kate xx

Ruby456

kate - yes he was bang on topic.

Viviane

Viv;...All made possible by the air we breathe, is a statement, it is NOT trying to identify the type of spirit as in gods, demons etc, but rather identfies the ancient concept of the physical air which without we would not be able to communicate as we are now doing, with great spirit I might add.

The ancients had many things they called spirit. You are picking thing arbitrarily out of a hat and pretending it's everything. It's a metaphor, picked at random. It gets us no closer to an answer.

Am I right in believing the spirit you are trying to identify is of the supernatural kind? As I have said previously I don't believe there is such a thing.

I wrote the OP, please re-read it you don't understand.

The ability to make higher order abstractions has nothing to do with intellect. I was not insinuating posters are stupid, just not as able as others in this area.

Since you have yet to explain why accepting a non-answer is a good thing and a sign of being able to perform abstract thinking, you really are just telling people they don't have the ability to get it, that they are lacking. Should you be able to connect the dots and demonstrate WHY this answer requires any form of abstract thinking, you may be approaching the state of "having a point" at that time. So far, we have a non-answer your stance that others just don't have the ability to get it.

You'll need to do better than that. Assuming other people aren't capable is a horrible, ignorant and usually wrong starting position.

By saying my comments are off topic, you indicate I have failed in my explanation.
To assist, please read the entire post, since it is easy to extract individual sentences and project them as being off topic when in actuality they are merely smaller parts of a larger whole.

You were asking biology questions. Start a biology thread if that is what you want to discuss.

Here's where it links to the current topic.

The rest of your comment can be summed up as "We don't know." That answer has already been covered.

So far, we are no closer to an answer.

Ruby456

viv please see my edit above (cut and paste does not work very well for me on this site)

Viviane

IMO, it was on topic. The whole post made sense and I see your perspective and your point.

Your opinion is wrong.

kate - yes he was bang on topic.

Yours is also wrong.

I'm sticking with spirit being related to power in its many manifestations.

Still no idea what it's made of. This is a metaphor for "it's made of whatever". It just substitutes one form of "i don't know" for another.

eidt: viv I don't think it is possible to abstract brain states from the social world to study them in neuro science for example and then export those astracted brain states to society and expect it to fit without its social context. we are not simply machines

Completely off-topic. Also, try using actual sentences so it makes sense next time.

Still no closer to an answer, what is spirit made of? What is the stuff that makes up angels and demons and gods?

caliber

The opinions of the judge are final , just because four or five of us others can see their point has no bearing whatsoever

Ruby456

guffaw

Viviane

Caliber and Ruby, I'll file those answers under "Posters that turn rude when unable to answer a question."

galaxie

Viv.., as you say the ancients had many things they would refer to as spirit, I am talking specifically about one aspect of what they identified as spirit they obviously were ignorant of the scientific make up of the air we breathe , any other ancient idea of what they thought spirit was is just speculation or interpreted by some eg bible writers as supernatural.

Likewise ancient people , although having in their appropriate language a word for water they did not know it as hydrogen and oxygen, therefore you cannot conclude that H2o is a metaphor for water. They are the same thing.

Best wishes

What is spirit, exactly?

Share this