Word of the Day: Spirit
Often in holistic health care we hear the words mind, body, and spirit used together to represent a whole picture of health. Spirit is the most ethereal of the three and is sometimes hard to define.
Recently we explored the meaning of inspire, which is rooted in breath and breathing life into projects, ideas, and actions. Spirit is a relative of inspiration.
Let’s explore the meaning of spirit more deeply through etymology.
spirit (noun) :
the nonphysical part of a person which is the seat of emotions and character; the soul
an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms
a supernatural being or essence
the immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person
the feeling, quality, or disposition characterizing something
prevailing tone or tendency
enthusiastic loyalty
(distillate) the liquid containing ethanol and water that is distilled from an alcoholic liquid or mash
There are likely even more ways to define spirit, but I will stop with these for now.
Like inspire, spirit comes from the Latin word spiritus meaning “a breathing (of respiration, also of the wind), breath.” Spiritus can also refer to the breath of life or the breath of God and can be associated with life itself. It is related to the Latin word spirare which means “to breathe.”
Breath is considered an essential life force. Spirit and breath animate our physical bodies with life.
One of the definitions of spirit speaks to it being the immaterial part of a person. The physical body is material. The definition of spirit shows that we are more than just our material presence. Spirit includes the intelligent and sentient immaterial aspects of self, which are a part of the whole.
Spirit is mentioned in holistic health care in part because it speaks to the fact that we are more than just our physical bodies. In healing the whole person, we look to all parts of the whole and seek to bring all aspects of self into balance. An imbalance in the immaterial aspects of self can create disease in the material and vice versa. Emotional distress can cause physical distress. Physical distress can cause mental distress. We can start healing from any of these aspects of self as we invite health to the whole.
In the definitions of spirit we see the words feeling, tone, immaterial, intelligent, sentient, vital, emotions, supernatural, and essence. These are not things we can grasp through physical senses alone. There is a mysterious and ethereal quality to the spirit.
Spirit is often used to describe an aspect of God, the Holy Spirit. This is due in part to the word’s non-physical intelligence and sentience. It’s also because breath is a force that gives us life.
Spirit refers not just to the physical act of breathing, but also to the wind. This shows relationship to the elements of nature and to forces beyond our human form. Spirit connects us to all that breathes and all that is. There is enthusiasm and animation in spirit. We are invited to bring enthusiastic awareness to the fact that we are a part of the mystery, connected to all life through the animating force of spirit.
