The difference between Soul and Spirit: why you should care.

At one point in my life I thought the spirit was an individual expression of the infinite nature of the soul.

In other words I thought the two where the same thing, just expressed differently.

I have reviewed my understanding and now see spirit as something we strive for and soul as what we have.

Let me explain.

Esprit de Corps, otherwise know as morale is what we are indoctrinated with early on as warriors.

The military uses posters to represent the highest precepts of Warriorship. When I read these posters I now think of military spirit. Here's an example.

These are expressions of high ideals, heavenly ideals.

I think of spirit as something I can strive for and sometimes connect with but I don't see spirit as something I'm working with day to day. I see that as my soul.

Basic training was where I first saw these motivational posters and heard about the great spirit of the organization I was earning membership to,
but,
it was my soul slogging through the mud, the muck, and the misery, to get there.

Spirit is why I volunteered, soul is how I pulled it off.

Soul know shadows.

Soul pulls triggers.

Soul suffers in silence so others will still believe.

Soul cares very little for outside recognition.

Soul bares the burden.

Can you see the difference between spirit and soul?

Now,
Why
Care?

I got real caught up in the notion that after proving myself in war I should be all the wonderful things the army taught me to aspire to.

During the day I was courage, honor, and integrity!

But at night I suffered.

My suffering in comparison to what I thought I was supposed to be made me ashamed. I was racked with guilt and shame. This made me want to hide what was really going on with me from other people. People who might have been able to help ease my suffering.

Why I think you should care about the distinction between spirit and soul can be best explained with the old adage:

It's not the destination, its the journey.

Spirit may be the direction your heading, but its your soul that's going to be with you every step of the way.

This post was guided by the 67th stanza of the Art of Peace, a book written by Morihei Ueshiba
Armor Down has a website. Check it out.

If you like the AD Facebook page and I'll email you the PDF of a book called "Mindfulness in Plain English".

Try this meditation I created around the seed sounds of the chakras.

Thrive as a civilian.