I recently conducted a small and unscientific survey of people on my Facebook page and in several of the Facebook groups that I participate in. Here is the question I asked. "What if anything, is the difference between the soul and the spirit in your view?" Not surprising to me, I received as many ideas as people that answered. So in the people that I currently hang with, there is uncertainty at best and absolute confusion at worst. Let me add that most of the answers came from people who are deconstructing or are outside of the mainstream of evangelical orthodoxy. Even there, there is a variety of conclusions, but dogma has a tendency to bring conformity.
It is my belief, based upon reading the Christian scripture many times, that there are two very important mystics that tell the Jesus story, and one quite reliable reporter. The two important mystics are the apostle John and the apostle Paul. The reliable reporter or journalist is Luke the physician. Let me add that when I mention John and Paul, I include any of their students that were influenced by them. There is an over-all mystical train of thought from Paul, and there is likewise, an over arching mystical focus by John. In many ways, there is an overlapping of their ideas about the nature of spiritual reality, and the same can be true of Luke the physician. What he reports is fairly consistent with the over arching mystical focus of John and Paul. I will include in this the author of Hebrews simply because of the close resemblance that the letter to the Hebrews has with Paul's mystical theology.
I want to introduce here the term "mystical theology" and differentiate it from theology in general. Perhaps I should instead call it mystical Christology. I think I will stick with mystical theology for the time but in my view the two terms are interchangeable. I use these terms because I believe that in all the writings of scripture both Christian and Ancient Jewish there is mystical revelation and also in the mix cultural conclusions. Let me say that this is as true in the New Testament as it is in the Old Testament. And no, the accusation of cherry picking is absurd and ludicrous. Those who claim that scripture is cherry picked show their ignorance of the nature of scripture. They are victims of an age old lie that posits that ALL scripture is infallibly inspired. That is a most ridiculous claim and is not worthy of debate here.
When I speak of mystical theology, I am referring to revelation that came directly from the creative source. Even then, it has a human imprint, but that is not a cause of concern as all of us are gifted with discernment if we were willing, and unafraid to use it; albeit religious dogma and thousands of years of orthodox doctrine makes it a difficult task. I do not want to confuse this term with the Roman Catholic area of study called mystical theology. In my view mystical theology is all embracing and includes mystical revelation from all religions and peoples across the centuries.
Since I am a Christ follower it makes sense for me to begin with Christian Mysticism. I want to dwell specifically on first century mysticism following the resurrection of Jesus. This is where Paul, John and Luke come into play. Paul and John were the mystics and Luke recorded the history of the mystical advancement of the church in his Acts of the Apostles. Even in the New Testament, the Christian Scripture, it is necessary to discern the mystical from the cultural. Both are prevalent in all of the writings.
When I refer to the cultural, I am meaning those things that are a product of Judaism and the first century Jewish culture. It only makes sense that Paul and John would understand their mystical revelation within the confines of their cultural and religious background. It is likewise important to take into account the Hellenization of the Jews and the degree to which Greek thought, especially Greek philosophy, played in the cultural aspect of their writing and teaching.
We'll begin here with Paul. Paul wrote about four aspects of the human being. He wrote about mind, body, soul, and spirit. The Greek concepts were Nous/Mind, Sarx/Flesh, Soul/Psuche, and Spirit/Pneuma. The mind is corporate and individual. Paul speaks of a mind that is in the individual, but he also speaks of the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is corporate and I would say the equivalent of what Huxley called the mind at large. It is the collective consciousness. The body, flesh, or Greek Sarx is individual belonging to one person but is the incarnation of the mind, soul and spirit. The Soul/Psuche is likewise individual. It is the animating life of the individual and contains the individual spirit. The spirit is both individual and corporate. The spirit is the creative force and the divine nature that all people have. This is by reason of being image bearers of God who is Spirit. So when one thinks about humanity being created in the image of God, then it is being created as a creative spirit energy source.
The mystic or individual mysticism stems from the soul being connected to the spirit and the mind. It is the spirit of Christ and the mind of Christ, the collective consciousness that connects with the spirit and the mind of humans that brings about the mystical experience. Abraham Maslow referred to this mysticism as peak experiences. All humanity is capable of having these peak experiences, but some choose to ignore them or simply steer clear of them. The mystical masters throughout the ages were tuned into the mind of Christ, the mind at large, the collective consciousness.
All humans have the basic tools to operate mystically. Current psychology studying consciousness seems to believe that consciousness exists outside the body and the brain acts as a transceiver of sorts. This makes the body similar to an antenna receiving the conscious signals and transferring them to the brain for cognitive purposes. There is much to be learned about this four part human existence that will enable those entering this new millennium to make a gigantic leap in consciousness and enlightenment. I will explore this further in subsequent posts. This sets the stage.
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