Question:
Why do some people believe that the "spiritual" and the "material" are separate from each other?
2008-11-10 22:16:35 UTC
Why do some people believe that the "spiritual" and the "material" are separate from each other?
23 answers:
WesleyFromTexas
2008-11-10 22:26:21 UTC
Because no one can prove it in either case.



And people like to have opposing views on things.



We don't fully understand the material world and we can't define what spirit is...



So analyzing their interconnection, juxtaposition, or seperation is really a futile practice at this point and time.
Dolphin-Bird Lover8-88
2008-11-11 07:18:34 UTC
Not some but most people would perceive all material things as visible and can be touched, whereas spiritual things belong to the unseen, ether world of ghosts, gods,etc. They are two vastly different entities. However there are some who believe that the human body comprises matter and spirit, and that spirit continues to exist even after the body dies.These are the psychics or persons who have the sixth sense of feeling or seeing spirits or ghosts.



Physicists and metaphysicists would believe that a special energy or spirit resides in all material things, and that energy is indestructible. It just flows from one solid, liquid form into a gaseous or etheric form. I believe it is the special collection of energy between brain cells, that give a person a 'soul' or 'spirit' that supports the health and workings of the whole body and give the person vitality, character, personality, drive and will.



This positive Spirit, known in Chinese and Indian philosophy as 'Chi', also resides in every living thing, plant or animal, other than humans. Its nature and movements can be guided and controlled in religious, healing, meditative and martial art practices, by some masters. In these cases, the spiritual and material worlds can be said to merge. This remains to be one of the greatest mysteries concerning matter, energy and spirit.
Zsolt H
2008-11-11 20:24:57 UTC
The most important word in your question is "believe".

Which means we do not know.

We only "know" the material world, as our 5 physical senses are only capable sensing that.

We have ideas, beliefs of a different plane, a spiritual world, but we do not have any perception of it.

Until we acquire an additional sense we will not be able to sense the spiritual world, and thus know the difference.

To confuse the matter a bit further even the material world we think we know, might not be completely true as we think it is.



If you want to see why, here is a video about our perception of reality, and the same link guides you to study, that could give us that additional sense to perceive spirituality too:

http://www.kabbalah.info/course/main/?utm_source=Yahoo!%2BAnswers&utm_medium=forum&utm_content=text-link&utm_campaign=semester-winter-2008



Just to make the answer more interesting, at the end we will se, that actually "spiritual" and "material" are not separate from each other at all...
Papa McCain
2008-11-11 12:32:02 UTC
That's a basic tenet of the Christian Science faith along with many others. If I believe that this material body is all there is and that I don't have a spiritual self that continues on when the shell has died, why should I have hope? If this is all there is, the body dies and it's lights out fade to black drop the curtain, then why would anyone want to live any resemblance of a virtuous life. If you don't have a spirit there is no chance for an afterlife, no heaven no hell. It's this belief by the majority of the world that keeps us out of anarchy and chaos.



Don't rock the boat dude.
sassychickensuckerboy
2008-11-11 07:41:07 UTC
The material is on a different level than the spiritual. One way to look at this is through the chakra systems. There are baser levels of energy, (base and second chakra) middle layers (3rd, 4th, 5th) and the higher levels (6th, 7th....and so on). The difference between the higher and lower levels is that energy is more compressed and time moves slower in the lower chakras. In the higher chakras, energy is more decompressed and time travels faster. One would assume that god lives on a very decompressed plane of existence and his essence is spread very thin across infinite space-time.



The main difference between dimensions involves density. The material realms are quite dense, while spirit is lighter and less dense.



One reason people believe that there is a difference between the physical and spiritual is because they find it difficult to move a rock with their mind. That is because the rock is much denser than mind, and the two energies don't operate on the same level.
2008-11-11 17:47:13 UTC
Mind and brain are not the same. Mind is spirit .Or why else would it say to have the mind of christ. People believe in the spirit realm because they seeked after it and they had enough faith to look at the possibility and found that it was true. People who never seek never find many times. Seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened. You can cut up a brain but you won't find the holy spirit inside like a piece of bacon that says hi . The holy spirit is a spirit .
Nick
2008-11-11 06:21:50 UTC
Because people simply believe that these two ideas operate on different levels/planes. Material being something objective, something you can touch, feel, smell and taste. Spiritual simply being something subjective, occurring on a different level. Within the mind, something you are aware of but cannot see, touch, taste or smell.



Does that answer your question? Unless you have a theory on why you think they are related?
♥♡Kissy Galore ♥♡ 007
2008-11-12 14:38:13 UTC
There is more out there,,than we can see with our eyes..hear, taste,feel (The basic 5 senses)(made of material brain matter)...it's a hard concept to put in a box,,because it makes them feel uncomfortable not knowing all,,they try to separate it from themselves, and I think they like to label that with a material label to make them feel more in control over something that they have no control over..the abstract world...walla.."spirituality"

it's out there,,we just don't have the senses to see it..like cats can see in the dark..or how dogs can smell you coming a mile away...and start scratching on the door..it seems like they have esp,,but they really have a very good sense of smell...lol (kidding)



lol...I should write one of those something for dummy's books..heehee
VAndors Excelsior™ (Jeeti Johal Bhuller)™
2008-11-11 07:11:41 UTC
There are four stages of mans spiritual development. Basic man is exists, functions, his mind aware only of the immediate and material. Led by need and desire, with no hindsight or consideration of long term consequence to his emotional wellbeing, he lowest chakra.



The highest condition of man is the spiritually transcended, the super conscious, he governed by the all pervading cosmic force and will.



The two extremes are almost a different species. Mind is the function of man, imagination is its spirit, not all have imagination, and for those who have, not all their thoughts dwell on high minded universal thinking.
ahsoasho2u2
2008-11-12 04:02:49 UTC
Does this mean that Madonna is not the Spiritual Material girl?
2008-11-11 07:05:57 UTC
Aren't they?





Is God tangible? Are ghosts visible?



Is religion something that you can look at face-to-face; life, death, heaven, and hell: all things that you will someday see when you're strolling down the sidewalk?



I would like to disagree; sprituality is on a whole different plane of materialistic things.
Bellini
2008-11-11 06:28:31 UTC
I personally don't have any reason to believe that they are in some way connected. And the "spiritual" itself, I find it questionable.
t_blond_chick
2008-11-12 07:12:18 UTC
"Hold loose the things of this world"..

The brain has a spiritual section,physically there for said function,go figure,..who knew?
2008-11-11 06:36:27 UTC
THE GREAT SCROLL: THE UNION OF SPIRIT AND FLESH



(read this entire synopsis, and be transformed)







"The union of spirit and flesh is the 'one thing' spoken of by Hermes Trismegistus, who was also known as Mercurius, in his Emerald Tablet; it is the aqua vitae and quintessence of Alchemy; it is the Qi of Chinese Qigong; it is the Tao of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu; it is the Mysterious Female and tenuous matter of mystic Taoism; in Hinduism it is represented by Ardhanarisvara, who is the union of Shiva and Shakti, of being and non-being; it is the Great Way into Zen stillness, the Mother Luminosity or Rainbow Body of Dzogchen Buddhism, and the enlightened body of Buddha; it is the Tree of Life, linking Heaven and Earth; it is the transfiguration of the canononical Gospels, and the 'rapture' of Revelation; it is "of movement, and of rest", as declared by Christ in the Gospel of Thomas, and "The Word become flesh", of the Gospel of John; it is the ascension to unity spoken of in the New Age movement, and it is the eternal OM of the Goddess Lakshmi; it is the foundation of the Kabbalah; it is the unified wave structure of matter, of the new physics, and dark matter of astrophysics; it is the body electric of Walt Whitman, and the body divine. In short, the union of spirit and flesh is the essential component of all progressive cosmologies, for it is the true enlightenment. Historically this 'oneness' has be called advaita (non-dual). However, the non-dualists of history seem to have overlooked the flesh as being part of that oneness, and continually declared that the body, and all matter, were merely illusion. Fortunately humanity is at a point in its evolution where the flesh can be known to be divine, and a new advaita in which emptiness and fullness are one can come into being. For some people there must be a healing of the pain caused by division in order for them to return to the original harmony of the cosmos. The use of Tibetan singing bowls and Crystal singing bowls can assist in the re-union of our harmonic oneness. This eternal unity is well documented by Masaru Emoto, and Helena Blavatsky. One of the key players in this re-union is the Green Man. In traditional Buddhist spirituality this profound unification is known as Maitreya. In Hindu lore this new vibration is known as Kalki. In Taoism this union is practiced by the circulation of the light. Ken Wilber calls it the one taste, which in Tibetan Buddhism is known as Yab-yum. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother spoke of the divine body. It is through this new, and absolute, unity and oneness that the true ascension of Sophia, our cosmic being, occurs. This is when the vibration of flesh is raised into the vibration of spirit, and the vibration of spirit descends into harmony with the flesh. Within this new and holy oneness, nothing shall be alien: matter is mind, will is consciousness, and flesh is now holy ground! A truly Pagan event: the divination of matter has occurred. This unification is the actual intent behind the Christian Eucharist and the Catholic communion; the word 'catholic' means 'universality'- or, that which is without limits. Communion is thus the integration of the body (flesh) and the blood (spirit), of Heaven and Earth, of form and formlessness, of Creator and Created, and of He and She. The Aquarian Age is upon us, and Love is the one and only Law. And, as in the Jeweled Web of Indra- in which the entire cosmos is made of hollow gems, each filled with nothing but the reflection of all other gems- we must now know and feel that separateness is an illusion and we are all actually an interdependent, multidimensional, infinite oneness. Each of us is everything. A great silence. A new vibration. An holistic ascension. This is the Aquarian Awakening into the Cosmic Christ."



Blessings on your journey
2008-11-11 06:23:18 UTC
cause the spiritual consists of the soul and the material consists of the flesh....
kiki
2008-11-12 10:24:08 UTC
Because they're out of their minds.. (the material part)..
delhitewonder
2008-11-11 06:37:54 UTC
The people who met with me only think the way you have mentioned.
2008-11-11 07:42:37 UTC
G Because they believe in souls.
Thy Will is/be done
2008-11-12 02:44:14 UTC
the spiritual is what is beyond out limits.

our limits are our senses.
Aradhana
2008-11-11 11:20:29 UTC
I think its different perspectives of watching the same one thing :)
2008-11-12 10:32:12 UTC
what Kiki and Kathwah said..I let Kiki do my talking now..I look great in those jeans hey..?
?
2008-11-11 13:45:44 UTC
Some good reading here...
thatartistwin
2008-11-11 06:40:38 UTC
Too deep and too many zinfandels for me thanks


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
Loading...