In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity (Jeremiah 31:31-34) every person can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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Emotions Connect Us
We human beings are complex beings living in several dimensions: body, mind, psyche or heart, soul, and in God.
Your body is like a space ship which enables
you to travel out into the world, do things, and return home
Like a space ship, airplane, or ocean vessel your body is equipped with navigational sensors enabling you to situate yourself wherever you are, to orient yourself towards chosen destinations, and to accomplish all sorts of tasks and objectives. Unlike those inanimate vessels, your body is alive and invested with a sense of its own existence. This is why we identify with our body: we don’t say that we have a body but rather that we are a body, but not only a body. We are much more than just a body.
Your mind is like a computer that enables you to make sense of what’s happening and where you’re going
Like a computer your mind is equipped with applications capable of complex operations, but unlike even the most advanced computer, and like your body, your mind is alive and has a strong sense of its own existence. While humanity is trying to create “artificial intelligence”, we are invested with what we could call “natural intelligence”. As we identify with our body, so do we also identify with our mind: yet again we don’t say that we have a mind but rather that we are a mind, but not only a mind. We are much more than just a mind.
Your psyche or heart deploys a
constellation of emotions to connect you with others, the world, yourself
Far more “advanced” than the most sophisticated network in “the cloud” or in any computing system, your psyche spontaneously manifests a constellation of feelings and emotions. Far more complex than even the most advanced network or neural net, your psyche is alive like your body and your mind, but much more. It even has a very personal sense of being; which is why we commonly call it our “heart”. Probably from the first moment of our conception, our whole being has been accumulating impressions which give rise to our feelings and emotions. At first while we were still in the womb we simply “vibrated” to the feelings and emotions of our mother and soon after to our father who was “outside” but “nearby”. Being born by our mother into the world “expelled” us from the “paradise” of the womb and we immediately began to “feel” and to “emote” in accord to a whole constellation of “states of being”. As birth made our body autonomous from our mother’s body; so too was our psyche or heart made autonomous from our mother’s feelings and emotions. We can now feel and emote on our own; while still remaining related to others and their feelings and emotions. As we identify with our body and our mind, so do we also identify with our heart: yet again we don’t say that we have a heart but rather that we are a heart, but not only a heart. We are much more than just a heart.
Your soul is what contains who you really are,
the person you are becoming, and is connected with God
Unlike your body, your mind, or your heart / psyche, your soul is incorporeal – that is, not made of matter or energy as we experience them in the material universe – which is why science cannot detect or measure it. It is God who has revealed to us over the past four millennia that we human beings have an immortal soul. As it is with our body, mind, and heart, we don’t say that we have a soul, but rather that we are a soul. Like your body, mind and heart, your soul is alive and is imbued with a sense of its own immortal existence. It is their soul that causes even very old people to still “feel young inside”. While most of our human efforts focus on this mortal and temporal existence, our soul is oriented towards eternity. Unlike our Creator God who has always existed without any beginning, we came into being at our conception. Our parents provided the DNA and God provided our immortal soul which will live forever. So we are body, mind, heart, and soul.
We sense within us an “empty space” that longs to be
filled – only the Holy Trinity can fill us in perfect love
The
Holy Spirit is the “breath” of the living God in eternal communion of love between
the eternal Father and his only-begotten Son who over 2000 years ago took on a
human life in Palestine and came to be known as Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God
and son of Mary. Jesus died, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and is
forever in perfect unity of communion with his eternal Father in the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit like the Father and the Son is also a divine Person who
“pours into us” to fill us with the divine life that is in the Holy Trinity.
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In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity (Jeremiah 31:31-34) every person can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so may you be pleased to find here a variety of helps to the life of faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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