Spirit and Soul–What’s the Difference?

Several people responded to my article on anger, in which I mentioned the soul and spirit, asking the question, “What’s the difference between the two?”

I responded in the Comments for that post, but thought I’d make it more visible here.

Some people don’t distinguish between spirit and soul, but Arthur Burk makes some useful distinctions, based on 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The soul is the mind, will, and (conscious) emotions, and is somewhat tied to the physical. So, for instance, the soul develops as the brain develops. We can help the soul grow by developing better thinking habits.

Soul memories may be more tied to brain development. These kind of memories can often, I believe, be healed through traditional psychological interventions, such as cognitive therapy. The soul is important. But the soul and body both are actually quickened by the spirit.

The human spirit is the completely non-physical part of us, and I believe starts at conception (if not before, with God; not sure how that works). The spirit has memory and feeling (deeper than emotions). The spirit memories are, I believe, what science now calls “cellular memories.” That is why one can have a “cellular memory” from the time in the womb.

Notice that in the scripture above, the order is “spirit, soul, and body.” Spirit comes first. That is why Arthur Burk can report such great results when mothers and fathers start blessing their baby’s spirit in the womb. Arthur says it gives the babies about a 10-month lead, because the “soul” doesn’t start to develop until the myelin sheath in the brain develops to a certain point. But the spirit records everything in every cell (cellular memory), and the spirit also, I believe, interacts with both soul and body.

My schematic is that the human spirit is meant to be connected to God’s Spirit, and then the human spirit is supposed to control both body and soul.

That is why, when you heal the wounds of the spirit–“heart issues”–everything improves. Physical health improves because the spirit is able to instruct the body how to heal, and the blocks to healing have been removed. The soul heals because the spirit is informing and infusing emotions and thought patterns with truth and love.  Thus relationships and one’s ability to succeed improve.

And that’s why, when you heal your spirit/heart matters with something like The Healing Codes and/or healing prayer, everything else improves.

Always focus on healing the spirit and getting it in right relationship with the Source of all life. Everything else just seems to flow from that. God’s Spirit, connected with your spirit, flowing life and love to body and soul. . . .