Understanding the Soul & Spirit - YLAM240013

SPEAKER A This programme presents ways to optimise health and wellbeing when considering lifestyle changes. Please consult with your health care provider to ensure they are suitable for you. SPEAKER B Hello and welcome. I'm Kaysie Vokurka. People and animals have things in common. Both have a body and a brain, but humans have something else that animals don't have, a spiritual capacity. Stay with us as we consider this a unique part of our nature. SPEAKER A This is your lifestyle as medicine. A production of 3ABN Australia television. SPEAKER B It's good to have you join us on this programme, we explore ways that you can shape your lifestyle as medicine. Over a number of episodes, we've been exploring the relationship between different aspects of our being with health psychologist Jenifer Skues. In the last programme, we looked at the concept of soul and spirit as aspects of our being. We're going to explore this with Jenifer in more detail today. Jenifer, welcome. So glad to have you with us again. SPEAKER C Thank you. Good to be here again, indeed. SPEAKER B And we had a very interesting time last time you were with us, talking and reviewing the mind body connection, and we were introduced to the dimensions of soul and spirit from a biblical perspective in our being. So can we. We're going to talk about that a lot more today, so can we start with that one? SPEAKER C Well, let's look at. Just a quick look at the whole person, because these three parts aren't separate, and that's evident in Genesis two seven, where when God made man, we are tripartite beings, as they say. In other words, we're three in one. We're body, soul and spirit. And this is. We've got to look at how is it made whole? How does it integrate? And so this is where we're going to look, again at different components, separate components. Whether we define the soul initially and then we're going to work from there and have a look at those parts and then we're going to start looking at how can we be whole? How can we integrate all of these parts of us and have that health and wellbeing on all those levels, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. And as you pointed out, animals don't have that aspect. So we are unique and we can't deny either of the three aspects, we have to look at them together, but we're going to just understand them individually because a lot of people don't. They don't realise or they don't understand, you know, what is your soul? And I get blank stares, or what is your spirit? SPEAKER B I think we understand much more easily the body, of course, because it's physical, it's tangible. But the soul, you know, we can't see it, we can't see the spirit. I mean, we can relate to some aspect of it, but how do you define it? It's like, hmm, I'm not really sure. So, yeah, go into that. What is the soul? How would you explain it? SPEAKER C Okay, well, I did look up some definitions and this was quite a good one. From, this was the Inkata World English dictionary. And says, the complex of human attributes, qualities or characteristics that manifest as consciousness, thought, feeling and will, regarded as distinct from the physical body. Okay, so we've got, it's our humanity, it's who we are, it's how we present. When I'm talking to someone and getting to know them. Sure, I can see the body, but the soul is the part that I am actually hearing, experiencing, okay? And there is the soul. I've got a list of five points here. The mind, conscious will and emotions. Okay? It reveals and expresses the personality, has a conscious sense of self, acts as a mediator between the body and the spirit, and it mediates a physical realm via the five senses. So when you have a look at that list, it's quite a comprehensive one. And so when I'm talking to someone, I'm hearing about them and I'm getting to know the personality. I'm actually starting to understand whether they're very intellectual, strong emotions. You know, you're getting to know them and you're getting to know their sensitivity. It might be in the five senses, you've got noise, might be a sensitivity to some people, but that's then it's sort of the body gives that information that affects the soul, but it's the soul itself that it helps to mediate that physical realm. So, for example, if you're too hot, you will go, maybe take your jacket off, because the body resonates, but the soul is being affected, it detects the heat. Okay? So, but it is the soul that we're looking at. And it's because you can't just separate them so easily. I think it's just understanding. And I think if you see this, the personality, your conscience, your will, which we're going to talk about in a minute, and how you're feeling, these are all part of the soul, okay? Your senses that you resonate with at consciousness. Some people aren't self aware. They've got to learn to be more self aware. Not in a self centred way, but just self aware. So the soul is a very important part of us, really. I guess it helps run the show, basically, doesn't it? It does everything that uses the body, but it's the part we're hearing and seeing and connecting to. And we look at what that connection is, is to do with the soul. SPEAKER B Yeah. And I think it seems like it's very much about what makes us an individual, a unique person, because it's not simply the body. Yes. Everybody is uniquely designed, but if we think about a person, we're thinking not just about how their appearance is, but we're thinking about how they think, habits, the personality that comes through the choices they make. Like all of those things come together when we think of an individual. And it seems like that is what's coming. Yeah, that's what's coming together with when we talk about the soul. SPEAKER C Yes. An important part of that is mentioned in that slide is the will and the conscience. Because you've got the will there. It says the mind, conscience, will and emotions, because the conscience is the part of us. And it's in the front area of the brain. The conscience is actually in this area. The will works across the centre of the brain and back. So it's a physical part of the brain that science can actually measure. So it's not just something that we. They're not words that we don't understand. And they find the conscience. When you make a decision for right or wrong, part of the brain registers that decision and they can tell you from that, regis, how the brain resonates, whether it's a good or a bad decision. SPEAKER B Wow, that's fascinating. SPEAKER C Different lights up in the brain, which is interesting, isn't it? And the will the same. They've actually been able to measure it. And the will, of course, is to action the conscience. So when you look at it again, it's the two choices. Are we going to do the right thing or the wrong thing? How often have you gone to do something and your conscience is going, oh, I don't think I should do that. That person mightn't like it, or we've done something and we know it's not quite right, we've got the choice then of actioning the will. To ignore it, do nothing, or to actually go, no, I need to do the right thing here. See? And that's, again, through the mind, how the mind is working with the soul. SPEAKER B Yeah. So the conscience really then is informing the will with information and then the will can make a deciding. A deciding choice, basically. Yeah. SPEAKER C Yeah. Because when you look at a lot, some of the research I looked at into the conscience is it's a person's moral sense of right and wrong. You know, and you look at moral values in the world today, they've degenerated. And this is a big problem. But I think it's an individual thing. We need to have a good sense of right and wrong because it's part of our health. So it guides us to make choices, the right choices or the wrong choices. The conscience also shapes the character, because if we do all the wrong things, the character reflects it. If we do the right things, the character reflects it. So it's how the soul develops. And again, sometimes we see it as our moral values, our inner voice. It's like my conscience just tells me it's about standards, isn't it? And we need to have standards if we don't know, if we don't have those ethics or beliefs and we're taught them as we're growing up, if we're taught the wrong beliefs, we go the wrong way. If we've got the right beliefs, we go the right way. And this is where I found then that we can action the will in the right way. If the conscience is right, the will will not go against the conscience. SPEAKER B Yeah. So in other words, like, you can actually. You can actually do things that will, I don't know, for, want a better term, programme the conscience correctly or something. So like you're teaching the conscience the right and wrong, giving it a reference point. SPEAKER C Well, we actually learn by mistakes. You know, if I've made decisions in the past that's really impacted someone, and I learn, I think, oh, that wasn't a nice thing to do, and then I might apologise to that person because I've just done something that's upset them and my conscience was telling me, or I might go shopping and I get too much change and I won't keep the change. I go back to the shop assistant and I usually get. No one ever does that. In other words, people go, oh, look, I've got extra money, whereas I will return it because my conscience says to do it. And if not, I walk away. My conscience is working, I'll come back and do it. So it's a personal choice, but I've got to action what my conscience is telling me. And that is what the will is. SPEAKER B Mmm, yeah. And so this is all important parts of the soul and how the soul develops and expresses itself. SPEAKER C It does. And there are certain lifestyle things we do. And they found scientifically that will strengthen the will or weaken the will. And one of them, exercise will strengthen the will where if we eat sugar. It weakens the will. SPEAKER B That can't be surprising. SPEAKER C The question is who directs your conscience and who controls your will? And this is where you want to learn about these things. The Bible has some wonderful insights and information and we can actually, I looked up a few of them and it refers to many aspects of the soul. The soul can be troubled and that's when we get depressed. For example, they say Jesus is an anchor for the soul. So we've got we obeying truth through the spirit purifies the soul. So this is where, if we work from a more spiritual perspective and if the soul prospers, the Bible says we have good health. That's what we just talked about. So see how important the soul is in that part of the journey. SPEAKER B Absolutely. And then, of course, in the previous programme we talked about what makes up the soul, and it's the body and the spirit, and together combined, everything is the soul. And so, yeah, we're talking about it from that sort of point of view. Yes. So tell me more then about the spirit, because we haven't really defined that yet. Can you share a little bit more. SPEAKER C About that when you listen to what people say, oh, I'm in good spirits today, or my spirit's been uplifted, then it is like what they call a vital force. It seems to characterise our energy, living, being, being alive process. So I know I'm alive when my spirit's good. If my spirit's down, then my mood is flat, I don't have as much energy. So we can equate the spirit if we're doing well or not doing well, and if the spirit's flat because we're not doing well, is it the way I'm thinking? Is it because I need to get out and revive the spirit? We talk about reviving the spirit of, okay, but it is. The spirit also has a sense of self, it's an enthusiasm for living. So people who have a strong spirit are so enthusiastic. And people struggle with that sometimes because they call them bliss bunnies, which I laugh at because they're so joyful and happy. They've got a strong spirit. So it's really our energy for living has to do with the spirit. There are, again, four points I found that I think are helpful with the spirit because it's our communication process. So the spirit communicates with God. It's God conscious, it's how we're aware of God. And this is where you can see the conscience is that connection of communication. When you look at the soul and then with the spirit has awareness of our relationships with God. It recognise, comprehends and worships goddess. We worship him in spirit and in truth we often talk about. So you can see how vital the spirit is. And again, the Bible refers to the spirit in various ways. Okay. It says we can. This is a spiritual depression. And David used to express that we groan and sigh in our spirit and the spirit is down, you know, or the spirit can be willing, you know, they say the flesh is weak, but the spirit can be willing. So this is where we can work again as a team. It can be pressed or compelled to do things. So again, it's who's in control. If we're not careful, this spirit can be in slavery to fear and bondage. And a lot of that I'm seeing, this is the biblical side, but a lot of that I'm seeing today with what's going on with health matters and, you know, when you look at the world and where it's headed and what governments are telling us, there's a lot of fear and bondage and people's spirit is greatly affected. Their well being and their spirit isn't uplifted, it's worried, it's burdened, it's feeling down. So, and if we're in a job we don't like, you know, that sort of thing. So you can look at how the spirit can do, but we can grow strong in our spirit and that's important. So again, we're going to continue to look at these things. And this is in the Bible, in Luke, it says a spirit does not have flesh and bones, it is invisible. So that gives us a clue. And this is why people find it hard to understand because I can say, look at the body and you listen to that person, you get an idea of the personality. So even though the soul is not visible, it is, we can connect it more, but we still need the spirit, which is invisible, totally invisible. So how do you see it? SPEAKER B Yeah, another helpful way I saw described is that it's like the mental disposition of a person that comes across and that sort of fits with what you were explaining before about how you can have someone who's a really vibrant sort of spirit or a vibrant person, and you just know that they're full of energy, they're full of life. That's just how they are. And then on contrast, someone who might have a totally different spirit, their disposition might be really flat or really downcast or something like that. And you can just tell that element, it's not tangible, but you can still sense it. SPEAKER C You can see it. And this is where, you know, often say, the eyes of the window to the soul. I can look at a person, I can say, oh, you're really sad today. You were right. And they go, how did you know? And you can just tell by their countenance, which is the face and how the mouth sits. And, you know, you can tell. I've got some people, I know that just to look at them, I know what mood they're in or what they're doing, and that's because of the spirit, or they're joyful. And when the spirit's strong and thriving, then they're uplifted. You can tell in the face, the eyes twinkle. They've got that life force you can see in the whole system. SPEAKER B Mmm, absolutely. Yeah. Another thing that I think is interesting, and I'm interested in your perspective on this, is it seems like there is a little bit of overlap. When you look at definitions of soul and spirit, there's a bit of overlap in scope between them and. Yeah. Just wondering how you see that play out. SPEAKER C Okay, well, there is a good, I guess, diagram of that. It's like a triangular diagram that looks at body, soul and spirit. Right. And we've got that connection. This one you can see is the pyramid. We've got several good diagrams here, but that one we look at, the body connects to the soul and the spirit connects to the soul. So the soul seems to be the integrating factor, and the body is, as I say, the natural physical world. And this is where the Holy Spirit talks to our spirit. So again, we cannot separate them. Once you cut one of them out, you're going to be in trouble. So if we shut down God's spirit or the Holy Spirit, then our spirit starts to languish. And that's what happens with people. They've got a very troubled focus. The soul is troubled, downtrodden, whatever you want to call it. And it. Yeah. And it's very powerful when you have a look at that. Okay. But if you come back to Genesis two seven, then what came first was the body. Right. And then God put the spirit in the body, breathed it in, and the soul came alive. And the only way that can happen is that breathe gave life force where the soul could be alive. So if you extinguish the life force or you don't connect or you pull the plug, basically, then the soul is going to suffer and the body will correspondingly suffer, basically, from that process. SPEAKER B The soul won't even exist, really. If you pull out the spirit, like all you're left with is a body, but it's not even alive. Yeah. It has to be very interconnected, all of these elements. SPEAKER C It does, and I call it a bit of a chicken and an egg argument. You know, what comes first? Chicken or the egg? The egg or the chicken. And it is. It's a roundabout argument where those three aspects are working together. So if the body's suffering, then it impacts the soul, which impacts the spirit. So if my body and I have a lot of people who come to me in pain, massive pain, they've got injuries, they've got unknown disorders, inflammation. And when they get caught up in their pain, they focus on the pain, which is the body. The soul starts to become very negative and the spirit starts to decline. Yet I know of people who have a great spirit, they're in massive pain, but they are not focused on themselves. They focus away and they have a very strong spiritual focus on God on that level. So they're not so caught up in themselves and they cope with the pain a lot better. And the pain is actually reduced, even though they've still got injuries or whatever. So this is where what we do with the spirit is powerful. We connect or disconnect. And this is where some of the work I do is get people to connect more to the spirit, to their spiritual life. That means they need to go to a source of spirit. And we know that source is God. So that's where we. It's like putting the plug back in, definitely. SPEAKER B So it's very interesting because it seems like I know some. There are some concepts around talk about, like, a soul or a spirit being, like, separated from us based on this understanding of how we operate as human beings. You cannot separate these, like, these are all so integrated. If you try and pull one out, you've lost something huge. SPEAKER C Absolutely. The soul cannot separate from the body or the spirit. We can shut the spirit out, but we still have a spirit within that God breathed into us, that life force. When we don't have the original connection, which was God's creation in us, then that will start to decline. And this is what happens when we get depressed. We have mental health problems, anxiety, where. So I guess the issue is, are we caught up in self, or are we looking out externally internal or external? And that is the connection factor, but you cannot separate them. SPEAKER B Yeah, yeah. SPEAKER C There's a very good little diagram again, that shows body, soul and spirit, and it gives you an arrow connecting them, but the arrow can be reversed. So you have the spirit is declining, or we're disconnecting. That means the body's going to suffer, and that's where you find you have more aches and pains. You're more likely to do things that damage you, and then the soul is suffering, too. But then if we do something like, if I get people to do something like with the body and the soul, go out into nature and take your focus off yourself, do some breathing, calm the heart down, then what happens? We're now focusing out and we're revitalising the spirit. You know, people find with prayer, with reading the Bible, you're reading uplifting spiritual literature, listening to spiritual music. It's taking you out of yourself, that self centeredness, and it's connecting at all the dots, basically. So I guess the message is, if you're feeling down and not coping, the body's not coping, the soul's not coping. You've got to say, what is my spirit doing? SPEAKER B Go through and look at all of those elements. Make sure it's all working well. Yeah, I really like the point you bring out there about looking away from oneself as a means of helping you restore the spirit, because referring again back to Genesis two seven, which we discussed, it's interesting because originally that spirit, that life force, it came from outside of ourselves. Like, it didn't come from within, it came from God. Right. According to the verse of it makes sense to. In order to restore that spiritual aspect, to include something that's looking outside of ourselves. SPEAKER C Yes, absolutely. And if we do that, then it starts to, the body, soul and spirit can start to function and integrate again. But it depends on what we're looking out to. If I'm looking out at all my failures or what's going on in the world, and this is where we need a spiritual focus externally. Another way of doing it is to help others. I get people to go and do some volunteer work that starts to revive the spirit, and we work within the capacity. If their body's got an injury, then they have to look at what sort of volunteer work can they do. A lot of people find if they love animals, go and do some volunteer work at animal shelters and walk dogs and do things. Go and be a friend to some animals. It makes a huge difference because they're looking out and they're doing something that is helpful. What a better world it would be if we all did that, wouldn't it be? SPEAKER B It would be so good. SPEAKER C It'd be great. SPEAKER B Yeah. And yeah, there's been. I know lots of research on that, people's altruistic motives and stories where people have done that and it's really revived their lives. SPEAKER C It revives the spirit, doesn't it? And that means the soul will be healthy and the body will be healthy. So the body and soul are markers for our spiritual wellbeing and whether our spirit personally is doing well or not doing so well. And this comes back to that third of the brain, the front, the frontal cortex. And what thoughts are we having, how we interpret life, you know, what choices we make, what the will and the conscience is doing, all directs the three aspects of us with the spirit. SPEAKER B Yeah. So, I guess, would you say then that if we have any sort of problem or bad feeling or sickness, do you think it's actually important, whenever we have a little cue like that, to actually think, well, I should cheque in on the spirit? How is that going? Like, how is the spirit in everything? SPEAKER C And what am I going to do to fix that problem? I can't keep thinking like that. I can't keep behaving like that. Whatever we're doing, if you can't do it, get help. This is where I get people I help. Or you can do programmes. There's lots of good information, good books, but you need to correct that relationship to be fully healthy. SPEAKER B Yeah, well, that's a really important message. And I know there is interest in our society, in the spiritual element, but there's also, as we've mentioned before, a lot of confusion about it. The more we can explore this and get some clarity on what it really means to nurture the spirit and different strategies for that is really a valuable thing. SPEAKER C It is. And there's a difference between self nurturing and self centred nurturing. So if we look after ourself because we love ourselves and we're looking after us, then we integrate those three aspects. SPEAKER B Excellent. Well, thank you so much for sharing today. I know we've got more to explore in the next couple of sessions on this topic, but really appreciate you joining us. Today on this programme, we've been talking with health psychologist Jenifer Skues about the soul and spirit as aspects of our being. We've been building our understanding of these aspects so we can see how they relate to our overall health. In the next programme, we'll be further unpacking the relationship between the soul, spirit and body. So join us then. If you have questions or comments about this programme, or if there's a topic you would like us to discuss, contact us on Health@ 3abnaustralia.org.au. And remember to shape your lifestyle as medicine. SPEAKER A You've been listening to Your Lifestyle as Medicine, a production of 3ABN Australia television.