Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person (Gen. 2:7).
Philosophers and theologians have debated the question for centuries: Is the mind simply a part of the body? Are we composed of two separate parts — mind and body? Or are we really tripartite — mind, body, and spirit? And (if that isn’t enough), is the mind the “soul” or is the spirit the soul?
Roadturn and The DEEP talk about “mind, body, and spirit,” but I’m surely not interested in taking sides in the debate. For my purposes, words are tools for communication. Used correctly, they help us in our efforts to understand one another.
That’s it.
For clarity, though, here’s what I’m trying to describe with those terms. If the ideas resonate with your own way of looking at life… great!
If they don’t, let’s talk about it. I reserve the right to change my opinions any time I see fit.
If life is anything, it is growth. It is learning. Life is for the express purpose of education.
So, let’s get on with it.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Body, Mind, Spirit. Roadturn Reboot focuses on all 3.” quote=”Body, Mind, Spirit. The Roadturn Reboot focuses on all three!”]
Roadturn Terminology
These are fundamental descriptions of the topics Roadturn is most devoted to. I purposely keep them a bit vague. To get too nitty gritty is to enter the argument and raise points that need defense. Roadturn philosophy says we have better things to do than get hung up on semantics…
Body: Most folks have no problem identifying this one. Some say the body is the sum total of your life. That’s all you have. When your body dies, you die. Your mind is a bodily function and nothing more. The body is the ship that carries you through the present physical life. Your body makes use of the five physical senses to assess its standing in relation to other bodies.
Mind: This is the toughest one to tie down. Our thoughts are part of the workings of the mind, for sure. But what about emotions? For our purposes, we’ll look at the mind as the bridge between body and spirit. It is informed by both. The mind is your on board computer. It uses logic, memory, and calculation to help it make decisions that affect your body.
Spirit: For some of you, this leap doesn’t may not make sense at all. The spirit is the “unnatural” component of our lives. The spirit is the beacon that communicates with the unseen. It sometimes manifests as a premonition, the voice of conscience, or a flash of special insight. It is difficult to discern where the mind ends and the spirit begins. It may even be that human beings don’t possess a genuine spiritual capacity until the gift is given to them by The Spirit.
I delineate these three “parts of self,” not to raise a ruckus, draw a line, or claim a special grip on the truth. Concern for the health of body, mind, and spirit is the focus of Roadturn because I believe nothing is more important AND because what affects one of the three invariably affects the others.
The old saying that “When you have your health, you have just about everything” is true… but physical health alone can’t cut the mustard. Plenty of otherwise “healthy” people are mentally and spiritually shipwrecked.
Each year, over 40,000 USA citizens choose suicide over continuing to live. That makes suicide the 10th leading cause of death in this country. Most are middle-aged men, and most LOOK healthy.
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