“Don’t insult the midwife if you still intend to give birth.” – South African proverb
The question of what constitutes the human being has been debated for centuries. There has never been a decisive declaration, but it is now generally accepted that we are more than just a body. In some circles, the human is said to be “a spirit that has a soul, and lives in a body.”
Others also claim two parts: body and soul composition. Whether we a dichotomy or a trichotomy composite, the most important thing we need to appreciate in our everyday life is that there is more to ourselves than the physical. There is another part or other parts of ourselves we do not see.
Sadly, because the body is the most visible of the nature of our union, we exert the bulk of our efforts on pacifying it. Many of us have been programmed from birth to cater well for the aspirations of our bodies. We have become so used to the body, we do not want to think beyond the body. That is why out of sheer arrogance, some of us believe that ‘life is what you see; and what you see is what you get’.
Such an attitude, in part, has accounted for the emptiness that plagues the lives of the greater majority among us. For many of us, our growth and development is partial. It is only focused on the physical. And as the saying goes, “things done by halves, are never done right”.
As the call to live meaningfully and purposefully spreads, it behooves on us to attend to the needs of more than our bodies. We are challenged to also attend to our ‘non-physical’ aspect – the soul/spirit – to achieve the wholeness we desperately crave for. Quite the majority among us have abundant knowledge about our physical universe, but very ignorant about the other universe that complements what we see. That is the world of the spirituality. And I am not simply referring to the spiritual realm outside of us but also the spiritual being inside of every human being.
The time has come for us to face the truth about ourselves. Honestly, if we want to live holistically, then we have no choice but to face ourselves. Regrettably, some of us prefer to behave like ostriches. We would rather bury our heads in the ground than face the truth about ourselves. We have been programmed for the physical and so we like to hide from the spiritual and rather live in denial of it. But life is irrespective of whether we do what is right or what we want to do. The advantage with doing right is that you get to experience life in its fullness and wonderfulness.
Many of our minds are carnal, and they will function as programmed until we reprogramme them. That act of reprogramming is what is popularly known as the renewing of the mind. Our lives will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And that is what we have to do. We need to start with seeking knowledge about our souls/spirits. Just as we nourish our bodies, so must we nourish our souls/spirits.
We must educate ourselves about our spirituality with the same passion as we do for our physicality. And we must understand the dynamics of how the spiritual world functions so that we can be fruitful in there as well. But that is only possible when we pause and reflect on the meaning of who we are, where we come and why we are here.
By its essence, the spirituality complements the physicality. The irony however is that our souls/spirits are trapped in our bodies. They nourish on the words and deeds of the body in order to grow. When the body dies, it is given wings to fly to its destination for an assessment of how well it has functioned. But to inspire the body of the awareness of the soul/spirit, each of us has been given a conscience to direct us on what is good for our souls. This immediately brings to fore the existence of a Creator, whose ways must direct our ways in order to please Him.
Regrettably, many of us have suppressed the spiritual, or have become adept at running away from it. We have held up a ‘do not disturb’ signage in front of our spirituality and strive to prevent it from teaching us about ourselves. We have conceptualised busyness as a form of running away from facing ourselves. We are afraid to encounter ourselves and so we engage ourselves with other physical things. We tell ourselves we do not need spirituality to do good or right. What we conveniently forget to ask is: “Where did the essence of values and virtues originally come from?”
We need to often be still, and recognise that our creatureliness means we are dependent on our Creator. The question you need to ask yourself frequently is: “Are you in commune with Him?” Since our Creator cannot be physically seen, it is our soul/spirit that does that process for us. It is time to allow the soul/spirit to come to surface and direct our aspirations. And it is time to appreciate that a complementary development of both the body and soul is what will allow us to live holistically and happily. Let us dare to seek our souls/spirits in order to find our true selves.
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Kodwo Brumpon is an author, a life coach and a philanthropist who inspires individuals, groups and organisations to think and feel that which is true, by helping them to positively respond to that which is beautiful, while nudging them to let goodness govern their actions.
Comments, suggestions and requests should be sent to him at [email protected]
