What Are We?

This blog is written by Professor Larry Jensen and Dena Jensen

A person is a body, mind and spirit

 

The old time philosophical and recent  psychological belief that within everyone there dwells an innate intelligence that we are more than just existing, or that we are "more" than just the body we have. 

This intelligence is the belief that we have a spirit or we have a self. Typically this spirit is thought to exist in a timeless way.

When you believe that you are more than just brain and body and that you have a spirit, you can see that those you come into contact with, also has a spirit. If you believe that your spirit and others spirits have enduring qualities, then everything you conclude about yourself and the one you love will be different. 

 When we believe that we have spirits and we are all different and our existence is more than just the body and brain we have, then we can conclude that this spirit existed long before our bodies. We can also conclude that our spirits will endure long after our bodies have turned to dust.  If we conclude this belief then the logical and central core of our existence is our fundamental belief and key in understanding our marriage. In valuing your spouse as a being with a spirit, your marriage in turn has a deeper meaning, because you will be valuing your spouse with that deep understanding. 

 Here is an example: 

The old woman was skipping and almost dancing as she flittered around the large hall. The program was over and the cleanup had begun. Her eyes beamed as she moved among those clearing tables and visiting. She held my attention as I thought her childish actions were unbecoming of a person her age. "Who does she think she is?" "She should act her age."

Then suddenly, everything changed. The grandmother transformed into a little girl. I saw her in her youth. I saw within the old body a young vibrant spirit. My criticisms melted. I felt so good watching her enjoy life. I felt she was so lucky to still have a young and joyful spirit. I felt I was fortunate to be able to, at that moment, see more that meets the eye. 

When seeing the old woman as more than just a worn body, for a slight moment her spirit was seen. 

In any relationship with anyone, if we see people who this student saw this old woman, we will be practicing the key to a good relationship. This will further our relationship with becoming a better marriage partner. 

 First and foremost, we all were and will be spirits. 

 This is not mentioned in Marriage and Family textbooks.  However, in these books there is a one hundred percent agreement that each person has a body of material that can, by physicists be reduced and/ or identified into smaller matter and smaller units. Not everyone will agree as to what the units are. However, all will agree that people are reducible to some kind of matter and energy. The next one hundred agreement is we all have our own unique mind. The popular belief is that the brain is the mind. 

So then we are left with a third element to this deep philosophical point of "What Are We?" 

All of the religions we have in this vast earth, namely Christians, Judaism, Islam, along with many countable other religions believe that the spirit is part of the person or the person is part of the spirit. Non-religious scholars and philosophers often refer to man's spirit. Usually, spirits are to exist before, during and after ones life. This belief is found in nearly all religious writings. Nowhere is it stated more directly than in Job 32:8.."But there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding"...

You are a spirit and either you married a spirit or you plan on marrying a spirit. To become the best marriage partner you can possibly be, you must understand the spirit, as well as the body, and the mind.