Body, Mind, and Soul
Content
Body, mind, and soul are interconnected; they depend on each other to function and grow. Opening our minds for spirit reception and thus achieving a successful spiritual experience requires a harmonious, working relationship between these three components of personality. A healthy lifestyle is more than good physical health, it also means making a conscious effort to throw out mental trash, clean the heart, and wash away hopelessness.
A Clean Temple
The human body is a temple of the Spirit because God lives within our hearts and minds. But our reception of divine teachings is hindered if we pollute this temple (body and brain) with physical poisons. And this is true whether we are young or old, a sports athlete, or confined to a wheelchair. Almost all religious teachers are (or were) aware of this. For example, Jesus of Nazareth refused the narcotics offered to him, even as he was dying on the cross (see Matthew 27:34).
You are the temple of God, and the spirit of God dwells in you.
– The Urantia Book
On the most rudimentary level, the body and all its organs operate through electrical impulses and chemical reactions. And in a perfect world free of toxins and adverse effects, it works at maximum efficiency, requiring only good nutrition, clean air, and routine exercise.
Granted, we are substantially more than an electrochemical machine, but the spiritual forces within us and around us work more effectively when our nervous systems and body chemistry are functioning normally in a well-balanced manner. And whenever our physical, mental, and spiritual powers work together in healthy harmony, we greatly enhance our reception of spiritual insight and divine truth.
To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
– Buddha
The Spirit has a difficult enough time getting through to us, even when we are in a so-called normal state of mind. Most of the time, our thoughts jump around the room like a troop of wild monkeys with no apparent focus or intent. And if we choose unhealthy habits, our spiritual awareness is further impeded.
The body is the soul’s house.
– Philo of Alexandria
A Clean Mind
A clean mind is a mind free of animalistic notions. We manage and direct our base instincts by teaching our minds to fully cooperate with the more advanced moral and spiritual impulses residing in our superconscious mind. And to reach this heightened state of conscious clarity, we must clean out toxic thoughts and replace them with healthy ones.
Read: Your Mind – Make It Spiritually Receptive
Fears and anxieties impede our spiritual sensitivities as well as our reception of spiritual energies because such irrational emotions do not conform to a spiritual life; there is no fear or anxiety in the spirit realm. If we wish to live in harmony with spirit, we need to overcome our fears with reason, logic, and a good dose of faith in the goodness, wisdom, and love of God.
Anxiety is a fear of the future; a worry about things that might happen. And just as there are an infinite number of things that might happen, so there are an infinite number of things to worry about.
Today is the tomorrow you were so worried about yesterday.
– Anthony Hopkins
It’s always wise to prepare for the future and to devise contingency plans, but once these plans are in place, it’s not productive to worry about what might happen. Our anxieties seldom contribute to the solution of a problem in any constructive way.
No spiritual force eliminates fear more effectively than divine love in all its forms and manifestations. Having faith in a divine destiny and learning to love others with the same love God offers so freely are practical ways to prevent anxiety. No matter what challenges or tragedies we may face on this world, we can learn to face them with faith, love, and understanding.
There is no fear in love.
– John 4
Anger is another mental toxin. It drains our health, contaminates our thoughts, destroys happiness, and interferes with our spiritual sensitivities. A display of anger is a sign of immaturity. Not only does it indicate a lack of self-respect, but also a lack of self-control, a lack of the capacity to love others, and a lack of spiritual growth. Dispel all anger by allowing the Spirit of Love to dominate your life.
The same is true of envy, jealousy, suspicion, impatience, hatred, and intolerance. These are feelings or emotions closely identified with our crude animalistic natures. Whenever we yield to these self-centered and irrational emotions, we block the reception of spiritual messages and, therefore, impede the spiritual evolution of mind and soul.
Constant regrets and feelings of guilt are also impediments. While feeling sorry for our misdeeds is a sign of a healthy, average, and moral mind, it’s not beneficial to overly dwell on regrets. It’s difficult to advance spiritually when our thoughts are preoccupied with the mistakes of the past. Put things in perspective by realizing that no one is perfect and that we all make mistakes at one time or another. Better yet, we can learn from our mistakes and become more spiritual in the process.
The mistakes which you fail to forget in time, will be forgotten in eternity.
– The Urantia Book
We remedy our mistakes first by recognizing them, coming to terms with them, correcting them, learning from them, making reparations, and then moving on in our spiritual journey.
To progress in the spirit, muster the courage and honesty you need to acknowledge the many misguided sentiments you entertain or indulge, and then change your way of thinking. Ask yourself whether your thoughts truly originate in the spirit domain by evaluating them with divine values.
Read: Four Divine Values
An Open Mind
Having an open mind is a spiritual approach, not just because it is an attitude open to the reception of truth, but because it is a teachable attitude. It is also a courageous attitude because it requires courage and sincerity to consider all sides of an argument and all possible outcomes.
Headstrong opinions, ignorance, and prejudice are frames of mind that blind us to the truth of any situation. Our obstinate views about the nature of people, groups, societies, or governments may or may not have anything to do with the truth. And whenever we entertain such stubborn views, we impede our reception of new discoveries.
The chief inhibitors of growth are prejudice and ignorance.
– The Urantia Book
We may get annoyed when friends, family, or world events do not meet our expectations, no matter how unrealistic they may be. But if we are completely intolerant and stubborn, and always expect people to conform to our way of thinking, the world soon becomes our enemy rather than a place to be improved.
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
– Alexander Pope
A Devoted Soul
We strengthen our ability to contact the Spirit of God whenever we completely devote ourselves to living a life in the spirit—the way God wants us to live. Whenever we remain enthusiastic and loyal to an all-wise and compassionate God, spiritual living is not something apart from our daily activities, instead it becomes the very essence of these activities.
Devote yourself to the Way of God and open your heart to the spiritual forces within you. Have the courage to lay your soul bare to the truth. Make a daily plan for spiritual living and set aside time each day to contemplate God, divine love, infinite goodness, eternal truth, and supreme beauty.
Read: Divine Meditation
Balance Your Self
In all things, seek balance. It’s easy to overdevelop one area of our character at the expense of another, thereby impeding our spiritual progress. A balanced approach gives equal weight to physical health, intellectual development, and spiritual status.
It’s good to work out at the gym, lift weights, run on the treadmill, or swim twenty lengths. It’s great to stay in shape. But we should also take time for intellectual development, which means expanding our knowledge and improving our understanding of relationships, meanings, and values.
But intellectual development can be overdone too. And when it is, we tend to overthink the simple things in life. We risk becoming arrogant, easily distracted, or prone to mood and anxiety disorders. Worst of all, when intellectual knowledge is deprived of wisdom and spiritual insight, it’s difficult for the indwelling Spirit to spiritualize our thoughts. And this is why we balance our intellectual lives with good physical health and enlightened spiritual perspectives.
Along the same lines, any undue focus on spirituality at the expense of the body and mind has its own problems, such as a tendency toward fanaticism, extremism, or excessive dogmatism.
Overspiritual development tends to produce a fanatical and perverted interpretation of the spirit leadings of the divine indweller.
– The Urantia Book
The safest way to advance is to live a balanced and harmonious life, giving equal attention to a healthy lifestyle, average intellectual development, and progressive soul growth. By doing so, we enable the Spirit to function more efficiently on our behalf.
