Spirit (animating force)

In philosophy and religion, spirit is the vital principle or animating essence within humans or, in some views, all living things. Although views of spirit vary between different belief systems, when spirit is contrasted with the soul, the former is often seen as a basic natural force, principle or substance, whereas the latter is used to described the organized structure of an individual being's consciousness, in humans including their personality. Spirit as a substance may also be contrasted with matter, where it is usually seen as more subtle, an idea put forth for example in the Principia Mathematica.

Etymology 
The word spirit came into Middle English via Old French esperit. Its source is Latin spīritus, whose original meaning was "breath, breathing" and hence "spirit, soul, courage, vigor"; its ultimate origin is a Proto-Indo-European root .

In Latin,  was distinct from Latin anima, whose etymological meaning was also "breathing" (PIE root *h₂enh₁-), yet which had taken a slightly different meaning, namely "soul".

The distinction between "soul" and "spirit" in English mirrors that between "psykhē" and "pneuma" in Classical Greek, with both words having a connection to breathing:

 (ψυχή), originally "cold air", hence "breath of life" and "soul" (PIE root  "to breathe").
  (πνεῦμα) "breath, motile air, spirit", from verb  (πνέω) "to breathe".

A distinction between soul and spirit also developed in the Abrahamic religions: Arabic  (نفس) opposite  (روح); Hebrew neshama ( ) or nephesh ( ) (in Hebrew  comes from the root  or "breath") opposite  ( ). (Note, however, that in Semitic just as in Indo-European, this dichotomy has not always been as neat historically as it has come to be taken over a long period of development: Both  (root ) and  (root ), as well as cognate words in various Semitic languages, including Arabic, also preserve meanings involving miscellaneous air phenomena: "breath", "wind", and even "odour".)

Related terms 

Similar concepts in other languages include Chinese Ling and hun (靈魂) and Sanskrit akasha / atman (see also prana). Some languages use a word for spirit often closely related (if not synonymous) to mind. Examples include the German Geist (related to the English word ghost) or the French l'esprit. English versions of the Bible most commonly translate the Hebrew word ruach (רוח; wind) as "the spirit."

Alternatively, Hebrew texts commonly use the word nephesh. Kabbalists regard nephesh as one of the five parts of the Jewish soul, where nephesh (animal) refers to the physical being and its animal instincts. Similarly, Scandinavian, Baltic, and Slavic languages use the words for breath to express concepts similar to "the spirit".

Views

Ancient Greece 

In Ancient Greek medicine and philosophy generally, the spirit (pneuma, literally "breath") was thought to be the animating force in living creatures.

In Stoicism, spirit is an all-pervading force frequently identified with God. The soul (psyche) was thought to be a particular kind of pneuma, which was present in humans and animals, but not in plants.

Christianity 

The Christian New Testament uses the term pneuma to refer to "spirit", "spiritual" and specifically to the Holy Spirit. The relationship between the Holy Spirit in Christianity and spirit in other religions is unclear. The distinction between psyche and pneuma may be borrowed from the Hellenistic religions through Hellenistic Jews such as Philo, a view held by the so-called History of religions school.

However, others think that the Holy Spirit may actually resemble the Stoic concept of the anima mundi, or world soul, more than the pneuma. According to theologian Erik Konsmo, there is no relationship between the pneuma in Greek philosophy and the pneuma in Christianity beyond the use of the word itself.

The new religious movement Christian Science uses "Spirit" as one of seven synonyms for God, as in: "Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love"

Latter Day Saint prophet Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844) rejected the concept of spirit as incorporeal or without substance: "There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes." Regarding the soul, Joseph Smith wrote "And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is, the man’s spirit), and put it into him; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Thus, the soul is the combination of a spirit with a body (although most members of the Church use "soul" and "spirit" interchangeably). In Latter-Day Saint scripture, spirits are sometimes referred to as "intelligences". However, other LDS scriptures teach that God organized the spirits out of a pre-existing substance called "intelligence" or "the light of truth". While this may seem confusing, compare how a programmer writes an algorithm by organizing lines of logical code. The logic always existed, independent of the programmer, but it is the creator who organizes it into a living spirit / intelligence / soul.

17th century Europe 
As recently as 1628 and 1633 respectively, both William Harvey and René Descartes still speculated that somewhere within the body, in a special locality, there was a "vital spirit" or "vital force", which animated the whole bodily frame, just as the engine in a factory moves the machinery in it.

Animism 
Various forms of animism, such as Japan's Shinto and African traditional religion, focus on invisible beings that represent or connect with plants, animals, or landforms (in Japanese: kami): translators usually employ the English word "spirit" when trying to express the idea of such entities. Compare the concepts of ancestral spirits and of  spirit animals.

Chinese culture 

The traditional Chinese concept of qi is a kind of vital force forming part of any living being. The exact meaning of the term morphed over the course of the development of Chinese philosophy. The literal meaning of the Chinese language term qi (气), like many analogous concepts in other cultures, derives from the word for "breath"; this may have been the meaning of the word in the Analects of Confucius.

Gods, especially anthropromorphic gods, are sometimes thought to have qi and be a reflection of the microcosm of qi in humans. Qi also was in natural forces, where it could be controlled by gods and harnessed by magicians.

Jung 
According to C. G. Jung (in a lecture delivered to the literary Society of Augsburg, 20 October 1926, on the theme of “Nature and Spirit”):

Islam 

People have frequently conceived of spirit as a supernatural being, or non-physical entity; for example, a demon, ghost, fairy, or angel. In ancient Islamic terminology however, the term spirit (rūḥ), applies only to "pure" spirits, but not to other invisible creatures, such as jinn, demons and  angels.

Psychical research 
Psychical research, "In all the publications of the Society for Psychical Research the term 'spirit' stands for the personal stream of consciousness whatever else it may ultimately be proved to imply or require" (James H. Hyslop, 1919).

Death 

The concepts of spirit and soul often overlap, and some systems propose that both survive bodily death.

In some belief systems, the "spirit" may separate from the body upon death and remain in the world in the form of a ghost, i.e. a manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person.

See also 
 Brahman
 Ekam
 Geisteswissenschaft
 Great Spirit or Wakan Tanka is a term for the Supreme Being.
 Manitou
 Philosophy of religion
 Pneumatology
 Scientific skepticism
 Shen (Chinese religion)
 Soul
 Soul dualism
 Soul flight
 Spiritualism
 Spiritism
 Spirit world (Latter Day Saints)
 Spirit world (Spiritualism)

References

Further reading

External links 
 
 

Religious philosophical concepts
Spirituality
Vitalism