Wow Viv, what a great question and great responses. I am not sure what it means that you have reached page 28 on posts, but I'll bet you had no idea you question would hit such a nerve.
In any event, As far as I am concerned the spirit is what we take from previous generations and hopefully move forward.
As an example, I hope that what I do now is aligned with what my mother considered important. I also hope that she fulfilled, at least in part, the goals from prior generations. And the spirit of the family continues. I hope that my children and their children can finish what I will be unable to complete.
If that happens then my life created value.
I have spent a great deal of time, recently, visualizing the life of my grandparents. I am not sure how this fits in to your questions, but I suspect that it has a lot to do with the general theme of what I consider to be my spirit.