Wednesday, December 17, 2008

the existence of soul part 2.

for anyone who reads my blog fairly steadily, you may remember a blog about "the existence of soul." when i wrote that, i was not making a statement of my own belief, but simply working out (through words) my thoughts.

in reading "new seeds of contemplation" i have new thoughts to add to the question of how soul and body interact.

a quote from thomas merton:

"Hence we say rightly, though symbolically, that the body is the 'temple of God,' meaning that His truth, His perfect reality, is enshrined there in the mystery of our own being. Let no one, then, dare to hate or despise the body that has been entrusted to him by God, and let no one dare to misuse this body. Let him not desecrate his own natural unity by dividing himself, soul against body, as if the soul were good and the body evil. Soul and body together subsist in the reality of the hidden, inner person. If the two are separated from one another, there is no longer a person, there is no longer a living, subsisting reality made in the image and likeness of God. The 'marriage' of body and soul in one person is one of the things that makes man the image of God; and what God has joined no man can separate without danger to his sanity."

i don't know exactly what commentary i could have on this -- it's beautifully straight forward, really. i agree with merton's words, he makes incredible points, AND a lot of what he's said goes against some of the logic i presented in my previous post, i think. this is good -- being challenged is good. i need to continue study this both through merton and biblically.

expect "the existence of soul part 3." :)

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