Information about Spiritual Being

The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin "spiritus" ("breath").

Etymology

The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning "breath" (compare spiritus asper), but also "soul, courage, vigor", ultimately from a PIE root *(s)peis- ("to blow"). In the Vulgate, the Latin word translates Greek (πνευμα), pneuma (Hebrew (רוח) ruah), as opposed to anima, translating psykhē. The word was loaned into Middle English via Old French espirit in the 13th century. In India Prana means breath.

The distinction between soul and spirit became current in Judeo-Christian terminology (e.g. Greek. psykhe vs. pneuma, Latin anima vs. spiritus, Hebrew ruach vs. neshama or nephesh; in Hebrew neshama from the root NSHM or breath.)

Metaphysical and metaphorical uses

The word is used in two related contexts, one metaphysical and the other metaphorical.

Its metaphysical context has attained a number of meanings:
  1. An incorporeal but ubiquitous, non-quantifiable substance or energy present individually in all living things. Unlike the concept of human souls, which is believed to be eternal and preexisting in certain philosophies however in Christianity described as the life-force of any living animal or human that is not eternal after death, a spirit develops and grows as an integral aspect of the living being. This concept of the individual spirit is common among traditional peoples. It is therefore important to note the distinction between this concept of spirit and that of the pre-existing or eternal soul because belief in souls is specific and far less common, particularly in traditional societies.
  2. A daemon sprite, or especially ghost. A ghost is usually conceived as a wandering spirit from a being no longer living, having survived the death of the body yet maintaining the mind and consciousness.
  3. In religion and spirituality, the respiration of the human being has for obvious reasons been strongly linked with the very occurrence of life. A similar significance has been attributed to human blood. Spirit in this sense denotes that which separates a living body from a corpse and usually implies intelligence, consciousness and sentience.
  4. Spirits are often visualized as being interconnected to all others and The Spirit (singular capitalized) refers to the theories of a unified spirituality, universal consciousness and some concepts of Deity. All "spirits" connected, form a greater unity, the Spirit, which has both an identity separate from its elements plus a consciousness and intellect greater than its elements; an ultimate, unified, non-dual awareness or force of life combining or transcending all individual units of consciousness. The experience of such a connection can be a primary basis for spiritual belief. The term spirit has been used in this sense by at least Anthroposophy, Aurobindo, A Course In Miracles, Hegel, and Ken Wilber. In this use, the term is conceptually identical to Plotinus's "One" and Friedrich Schelling's "Absolute." Similarly, according to the pan(en)theistic aspect, Spirit is the essence that can manifest itself as mind/soul through any level in pantheistic hierarchy/holarchy, such as a mind/soul of a single cell (with very primitive, elemental consciousness), or a human or animal mind/soul (with consciousness on a level of organic synergy of an individual human/animal), or a (superior) mind/soul with synergetically extremely complex/sophisticated consciousness of whole galaxies involving all sub-levels, all emanating (since it is non-dimensional, or trans-dimensional) from the one Spirit.
  5. In Christian theology, the Spirit is also used to describe God, or aspects thereof as in Holy Spirit, referring to a Triune God (Trinity): "The result of God reaching to man by the Father as the source, the Son as the course ("the Way"), and through the Spirit as the transmission."
  6. Also in theological terms, the individual human "spirit" (singular lowercase) is a deeply situated aspect of the soul subject to "spiritual" growth and change; the very seat of emotion and desire, and the transmitting organ by which human beings can contact God. It is a central concept of Pneumatology.
  7. In Christian Science, Spirit is one of the seven synonyms for God. These are: "Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 587).
  8. In Harmonism, spirit is a term reserved for those which collectively control and influence an individual from the realm of the mind.


The metaphorical use of the term likewise has several related meanings:
  1. The loyalty and feeling of inclusion in the social history or collective essence of an institution or group, such as in school spirit or esprit de corps
  2. A closely related meaning refers to the worldview of a person, place, or time, as in "The Declaration of Independence was written in the spirit of John Locke and his notions of liberty", or the term zeitgeist, meaning "spirit of the age".
  3. As a synonym for 'vivacity' as in "She performed the piece with spirit." or "She put up a spirited defense."
  4. The underlying intention of a text as distinguished from its literal meaning, especially in law; see Letter and spirit of the law
  5. As a term for alcoholic beverages stemming from medieval superstitions that explained the effects of alcohol as demonic activity.
  6. In Mysticism, as existence in unity with Godhead.


See soul and ghost for related discussions.

Related concepts in other languages

Similar concepts in other languages include Greek Pneuma and Sanskrit akasha, see also Prana. In some languages, the word for spirit is often closely related, if not synonymous to mind. Examples include the German, 'Geist' (related to the English word ghost) or the French, 'l'espirit'. In the Judaeochristian Bible, the word "ruach" (רוח; "wind") is most commonly translated as the spirit, whose essence is divine (see Holy Spirit). Alternately the word nephesh is commonly used. Nephesh, as referred to by Kabbalists, is one of the five parts of the Jewish soul, where "nephesh" (animal) refers to the physical being and its animal instincts. Similarly, both the Scandinavian languages and the Chinese language uses the term "breath" to refer to the spirit.

See also

Latin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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Latin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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Breathing transports oxygen into the body and carbon dioxide out of the body. Aerobic organisms require oxygen to create energy via respiration, in the form of energy-rich molecules such as glucose. The medical term for normal relaxed breathing is eupnoea.
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The spiritus asper ("rough breathing"), dasy pneuma (Greek: dasy, δασύ) or dasia (Greek: δασεῖα), is a diacritical mark used in Polytonic orthography.
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pie is a baked food, with a baked shell usually made of pastry dough that covers or completely contains a filling of fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, cheeses, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savoury ingredients.
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The Vulgate is an early 5th century version of the Bible in Latin which is largely the result of the labors of Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin
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Pneumatology is the study of spiritual beings and phenomena, especially the interactions between humans and God. Pneuma
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Anima,It may come from the Proto-Indo-European language root *ane- ("to breathe"), from which animal and animation also originate. It may refer to:
  • In Christian contexts, the Latin word is used to translate Greek psykhe

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Psychoanalysis

Constructs
Psychosexual development
Psychosocial development
Conscious • Preconscious • Unconscious
Id, ego, and super-ego
Libido • Drive
Transference • Sublimation • Resistance
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Middle English}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: enm
ISO 639-3: enm

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066
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Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300.
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Prana (प्राण, IAST: prāṇa
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The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. In these traditions the soul is thought to incorporate the inner essence of each living being, and to be the true basis for sapience.
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Nephesh (נפש) is the Hebrew word commonly translated as soul in English. It literally means "breath," though it is usually used in the sense of "living being" (breathing creature). The term nephesh applies variously to humans, to lower animals, and to corpses.
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Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science, traditionally including cosmology and ontology. It is also concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of being and the world.
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Metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. In the simplest case, this takes the form: "The [first subject] is a [second subject].
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Incorporeal, from Latin, means without the nature of a body or substance. The idea of the incorporeal refers to the notion that there is an incorporeal realm or place, that is distinct from the corporeal or material world.
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energy (from the Greek ενεργός, energos, "active, working")[1] is a scalar physical quantity that is a property of objects and systems of objects which is conserved by nature.
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The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. In these traditions the soul is thought to incorporate the inner essence of each living being, and to be the true basis for sapience.
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For the evil spirits of the Christian religion, see Demon
The words daemon, dæmon, are Latinized spellings of the Greek δαίμων (daimon),[1]
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sprite is a broad term referring to a number of preternatural legendary creatures. The term is generally used in reference to elf-like creatures, including fairies, dwarves, and the likes of it; but can also signify various spiritual beings, including ghosts.
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ghost is defined as the apparition of a deceased person, frequently similar in appearance to that person, and usually encountered in places she or he frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings.
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ghost is defined as the apparition of a deceased person, frequently similar in appearance to that person, and usually encountered in places she or he frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings.
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MIND High School

Address
4563 St. Urbain
Montreal, Quebec, H2T 2V9, Canada
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Consciousness is a characteristic of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment.
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religion is a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience.
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Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. The spiritual, involving (as it may) perceived non-physical eternal verities (or even abilities) involving humankind's ultimate nature, often contrasts with the earthly, with the material, or with the
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In animal physiology, respiration is the transport of oxygen from the ambient air to the tissue cells and the transport of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction. This is in contrast to the biochemical definition of respiration, which refers to cellular respiration
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Blood is a specialized biological fluid consisting of red blood cells (also called RBCs or erythrocytes), white blood cells (also called leukocytes) and platelets (also called thrombocytes) suspended in a complex fluid medium known as blood plasma.
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Intelligence is a property of mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to learn. There are several ways to define intelligence.
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