Let’s start at the ground floor. The only thing I can know for sure is that you have a body, since you clicked on this post with some kind of appendage.

Or maybe you selected it with your MIND POWERS because this post has withstood the test of time, and you’re accessing it in the year 2099. So that brings up my next point. If you could access this with eye-tracking technology (basically allowing a computer to read your mind and what you want to select based on your eye-movement), then you have a mind that wants you to select something. So if your able to think (and of all the ramblings on the internet), select this as the item to delve into further, you have a mind.

I believe that the mind is a little different than the brain. Because animals have brains, but I don’t really know if animals have a “mind.” You have an opinion. You probably even have thoughts about this post itself, i.e.

“That’s it. Amanda has lost it. She’s rambling about crazy crap on the internets”

or

“Ok Amanda, what does this have to do with the Soul? the Spirit? you’re talking about appendages and the year 2099.”

Ah ha, those thoughts lead me to believe, we’re not all a dream a baby is having, but there is something special to each of us. We are real. René Descartes put it as, “I think therefore I am.” So simple. There goes philosophy saying something completely obvious in the fanciest of ways.

So that’s the start. We have a body: duh, and we have a mind: we think, we reason, we have emotions and we can perceive things.

But there is something else. If we just had a body and a mind, we would only be reactionary. There wouldn’t be a desire for something else. I don’t think we would have a desire to create something new or learn a new skill. We wouldn’t be able to “change our mind.” Our mind would just exist, and respond to its environment. So what is this… this desire for more? I believe it is what we call “the will.” When you think about a last will and testament, you’re thinking about the desires of the person. What did they want to have happen with their money or other assets? I think that is the same thing we are talking about when we discuss the will of the person. What do they want? What are they going to do?

Ok so now we’re at three: body, mind, will. I think it’s through the mind we perceive our emotions. The mind is the one long story line (main character energy) that continues throughout our days. We can say “I am sad.” I think the “I” in that statement is our mind. It’s what processes our emotions.

Now, this is where it gets tricky. I still don’t think we’re done. There’s my body, and my mind will and emotions. But what about our conscience? Trust me I don’t want to do what is right even when it hurts. I don’t want to forgive the person who hurt me. I want to lock him or her up, and throw away the key in my mind. Say “you’re not a person who lied, you are a liar.” But there is a part of me that says “Amanda, that’s not fair… You’ve lied.” Where does that come from? It’s not me. If it were only me it would be “yeah! that person is a loser. Never forgive, Never forget.” But there is something else.

This is where I respectfully disagree with many people I love. Some people say it is evolution that leads us to these nagging thoughts. They will say, “it’s better for society if you are kind and polite, and social conditioning has taught you that’s true, so evolutionary responses are encouraging you.” Or in other words “Play nice. Live and let live. Forgive and forget.” And maybe that’s true for some. Maybe they are pretty shallow, and don’t have anything more to them than what will be good for themselves and what will be good for those around them. But I believe that the spirit is our connection to the creator, and it helps us tap in to our purpose and worth. It helps us decide who we want to be remembered as.

The body is our physical and chemical reactions it is the shallow part of our existence.

The soul is the mind will and emotions. It’s deeper than the body or simply one of its three parts.

The spirit is closely intertwined with the soul but its different in that it connects us to a world that isn’t readily available to us and to others.