What is spirit?

[Postteen]

I was reading about Hegel and his "world spirit" and etc,so I remebered that I always had that qurey.All the religions(and most of the philosophers) seem to mention everywhere that we have a spirit which is separated from the brain and that spirit is connected with our emotions....

I must say that I don't believe in such a thing because it is kind of too theoretic for me.I thought that our emotions came from our brain!(the cellules of the nerves carry the messages)

I'm confused.What is a or the spirit?Where is it?

[Fidelbrand]

I believe in energies around us, hmmm.. something like negative or positive atmosphere that are surrounding us.

Ask Greece about this thing called "spirit" , I guess it can be used as an example ---- > Everyone hoping to win , everyone having a thirst for winning, the players on the field won matches and is backed up by its people -------> all these positive energies create a positive outcome.

[Postteen]

yes,but do you mean the team spirit?I mean the Spirit,like eumm....the soul!

[Revolt!]

You'd have to have a religious inclination prior to believe in spirit. In Hegelian philosophy the spirit (or Geist) is the same as soul.

[Pedro Alonso Lopez]

Well as you may guess from my name I believe in a form of spirit, however I've since started to believe the Will (or Will to Power) is somewhat the closest thing to the soul I can comprehend.

[Trissy]

I think one of the difficulties with 'spirit' and 'soul' is the range of meaning that people attach to the words. If we add to that the difficulty in translating 'Geist' from German to English (it is roughly linked to spirit or intellect) then we add more difficulty to understanding the term.

Personally I don't believe in a soul that inhabits the body and lives on after death. As someone who holds existential views I believe in a consciousness that is not matter (although it is related to matter somehow) but I don't believe it exists prior to birth or that it survives death. The closest I ever get to understanding what a soul is in believing that we have our own personalities. This I think relates to what choices we make, the actions we take, and how we go about making these choices and committing these actions. Spirit in this sense refers to consciousness and its relation to matter, and not this mysterious thing that we often link to religion.

[Hate Is Art]

I'd like to think there is a soul, something which makes us us. We all have completly different tastes, opinions, personalities etc

This would lead to a belief that there is a part of us which is completly different like a soul for instance.

[Wenty]

Spirit in this sense refers to consciousness and its relation to matter, and not this mysterious thing that we often link to religion

Heaven forbid eh tristan. Sometimes i think your anti-religious views stem more from a desire on your part to believe them more than them actually being true.

[Vinny Rafarino]

I must say that I don't believe in such a thing because it is kind of too theoretic for me.I thought that our emotions came from our brain!(

You were correct.



I'm confused.What is a or the spirit?Where is it?

The concept of a "spirit" or "soul" exists only in the imagination of irrational people and archaic phillosophers.

[refuse_resist]

I'd like to think there is a soul, something which makes us us. We all have completly different tastes, opinions, personalities etc

I agree with you on that one. Honestly, I do believe we all have souls.

Now as far as what Hegel could have been refering to by "world spirits", he's probably talking about the will of the people and how much they're determined to accomplish what they're trying to do.

[Postteen]

People often say for someone:he's a good man he has a nice/pure soul.When a person is "good","kind"etc,doesn't this come from the brain?Or:when you kill someone,do you do it because it's logical(your mind tells you to do it)or because you're angry,mean,bad and your soul dictates you to do it?

[Trissy]

Heaven forbid eh tristan. Sometimes i think your anti-religious views stem more from a desire on your part to believe them more than them actually being true.

:lol: Oh you never cease to crack me up Adam!

You may think whatever you wish, but please don't try and rope me into whatever mess you choose to take part in. If you want to believe in a soul, or life after death, or even in some loving 'thing' that is very magical then feel free to do so. Just don't be surprised if I add my thoughts at every possible oppurtunity (especially if you want to spread this fluffy nonsense).

My anti-religious views stem from the fact that I believe what religions teach to be wrong, and from the fact that I believe these teachings to be detrimental to both the individual and the world at large. My belief that there is no God is sincere I assure you and I promise that I'll be saying the same things on my deathbed as I am saying to you right now.

Oh...and do tell us your wonderful views on the soul Adam. Do you agree with the Christian principle that a male foetus receives its soul before a female foetus or are your views more personal/heretical?

[Hate Is Art]

Courage, Honesty, Decency etc
These things are as tangibale and as real as the "spirit" Would you say that they traits of personality don't exist?

What then makes some people brave? Others cowardly? Some Honest and Decent other liars?

[Trissy]

Courage, Honesty, Decency etc
These things are as tangibale and as real as the "spirit" Would you say that they traits of personality don't exist?
I'll argue that there is no human nature. I'll argue that there is no fixed 'personality' that determines our actions. To refer back to what I initially said


The closest I ever get to understanding what a soul is in believing that we have our own personalities. This I think relates to what choices we make, the actions we take, and how we go about making these choices and committing these actions

To further explain this slightly. My personality is how I go about making choices and this relates to my experiences. My experiences and prior choices influence me but they do not determine me. My choice to run away from home may be influenced by terrible childhood memories but at the end of the day this choice is mine and it is made freely. People may comment on how I am a coward or how I am shy but they do so only because my actions strike them as cowardly or nervous. As I see it being nervous or cowardly do not make me act in certain ways, nor do they relate to a soul or spirit.


What then makes some people brave? Others cowardly? Some Honest and Decent other liars?

I think Sartre answers this better then I would do and so I shall quote 'Existentialism and Humanism' if I may...

What people feel obscurely, and with horror, is that the coward as we present him is guilty of being a coward. What people would prefer would be to be born either a coward or a hero. [...] The existentialist says that the coward makes himself cowardly, the hero makes himself heroic; and there is always a possibility for the coward to give up cowardice and for the hero to stop being a hero. What counts is the total commitment, and it is not by a particular case or particular action that you are committed altogether

[Wenty]

This part of Sartre's philosophy has always interested me simply because i can't make up my mind whether to reject it or not. Would Sartre say that i can will myself to, say, not be in love with someone or whatever emotion. If thats so my life would be a lot easier to say the least.

[Trissy]

One can will one's emotions in a sense and as such they are linked in with our actions. For Sartre there is no love except in the actions of love, and in this sense one can influence one's feelings and emotions through the actions one takes. I can't just will myself to be happy or to be in love, but rather the actions I choose shall define who I am and the emotions I have.

Of course an obvious reply to this could be 'But what about the shy individual who does not declare his feelings? Surely this is as much love as is the person who expresses there love through clear actions?'. The answer to this would be that even the man who chooses to hide his feelings expresses and defines himself through his actions. The nervous smile or the extra few seconds lingering in a friendly hug with the object of one's affection betray the feelings of the man. The fact that one does or does not say they love someone does not make something 'true love' just like not expressing an emotion directly doesn't mean we don't feel an emotion. My actions make me a lover, a coward, a hero or a fool and that is how I make myself the lover, the coward, the hero or the fool.

I don't know if you've read 'Existentialism and Humanism' yet Adam but I'll quote briefly a part that I think is relevant:

But in reality and for the existentialist, there is no love apart from the deeds of love, no potentiality of love other than that which is manifested in loving; there is no genius other than that which is expressed in works of art. The genius of Proust is the totality of the works of Proust; the genius of Racine is the series of tragedies, outside of which there is nothing. Why should we attribute to Racine the capacity to write yet another tragedy when that is precisely what he did not write? In life, a man commits himself, draws his own portrait and there is nothing but that portrait. No doubt this thought may seem comfortless to one who has not made a success of his life

[Wenty]

I have read it yes and actually remember reading that passage. It still troubles me somewhat though.

[Trissy]

How does it trouble you? Does it trouble you in the sense that you feel an emotion influences our actions and we can't do anything to prevent it, or in some other way? I mean to get around to reading Sartre's 'Sketch for a theory of emotions' but I have so many books to read and not enough time. I'm not a good, devoted reader by any stretch of the imagination...

[Wenty]

Does it trouble you in the sense that you feel an emotion influences our actions and we can't do anything to prevent it, or in some other way?

It troubles me in the sense that I don't know whether what Sartre says is possible.

[Hate Is Art]

It seems a bit strange, I may be climbing up the wrong bliddy mountain but does he mean we can affect our emotions?

I believe in love, you can't choose who you fall in love with, you just do and you can almost instantly tell who you are in love with.

Love is more a gut feeling then an emotion in that sense?

[Kobbot 401]

Im the Morman beliefe, your "spirit" is a gift from god, it is called the Holy Ghost, and is given to you to guide you to heven.

To me though I think its all bull. Your "spirit" is a sub-consiouse impulse that deserns from good and bad. People just call it a "spirit" because they dont know what to call it otherwise.

[Trissy]

It seems a bit strange, I may be climbing up the wrong bliddy mountain but does he mean we can affect our emotions?
Emotions are seen as an effect rather then a cause so in that sense we can affect our emotions through choosing our actions. By that I mean our choices will lead to certain situations occuring, which will influence my feelings, which will lead to further choices and so on.

The sight of someone who is breathtakingly beautiful may make me feel a certain way, but it is how I react after that feeling that will define me. If I choose to talk to them then I may start down a path of choices that could define me as a lover...if I choose to run from this then I could just as easily start down a path of choices that could define me as a lonely hermit. What one cannot do is say that I acted this way because of love or anger or melancholy, etc. To do so would to commit an act of bad faith.


I believe in love, you can't choose who you fall in love with, you just do and you can almost instantly tell who you are in love with
You cannot choose your feelings in responce to something directly, but you can choose certain actions that will be more or less likely to produce similar feelings. To go back to the example I gave above, love is more then just a feeling...it is just as much a set of actions. Actions cause people to fall in and out of love, and in this sense we have control over how we feel and what we do. Existentialism does not accept that man is a slave to his emotions...a boat being tossed about by strong waves.


Love is more a gut feeling then an emotion in that sense?
A feeling maybe...but at the same time it's more then a feeling.

[honest intellectual]

People say they don't believe in the soul because of all the religious baggage associated with the word. In both ancient Greek and Latin, there is no distinction between the concepts of 'mind' and 'soul'. ('Psyche' in Greek, 'Anima' in Latin) It's a pity that they're seperate in English.

The soul does exist. How do I know? Well, because it's so fuckin' obvious! It's the most obvious, certain and indubitable fact of the human condition. We can be more certain that the soul exists than that the body exists.
Descartes in 'The Meditations' hits the nail on the head. In dreams, for example, we may think we have a different body, but we always have the same 'anima'.
'I am a thinking thing.' 'I think therefore I am'.

[Nickelby]

I don't know about you lot, but I think the soul is a supernatural object made out of non-physical matter: 'soul-stuff'
A soul is capable of existing on its own, quite inderpendently of anything in the physical universe.
It is your soul that thinks, feels, is conscious, has experiences, makes decisions, and so on.

I'm not to sure about spirit, I thought if someone was ready to go and all exited, he had lots of spirit