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Mental health points to the metaphysical beyond the body. So, what’s together with the body? 2 spirits, according to the Bible.
We use two common terms daily: consciousness and mind, although science doesn’t know what either of them is. It’s time to reveal what they are and how they function. Only when you know how a device operates optimally can you fine-tune it.
Humans have physical and mental specifications. We could make lists of body parts and correlate them with their biological functions and nutritional needs. We know that the body gets sick if these needs are unmet. In an identical manner, the human mental “parts” have nourishment essentials to meet their requirements for optimal functioning.
(Transform Your Mind, Upgrade Your Life – Chapter 15)
I want to Unlock Bible Meaning
Unfortunately, the emphasis today is often on pills and potions, which cannot fix the causes of mental illness. What chemical therapy does is inhibit the physical part of the brain to try and control its expression of mental symptoms. This totally sidesteps the cause and only addresses the results, with all of the secondary effects added to the equation.
Mental Makeup – 2 Spirits
Only when we understand how the human mind functions can we know how to treat the causes of mental turmoil. The Bible reveals the composition of the human mind and the way to treat it to reach the serenity so many crave today.
All humans possess and are mentally animated by two, yes, 2 spirits. We have spent the past six chapters explaining what the first spirit is, the breath (neshama) of life. God infused a portion of His own Neshama into humans to make them in His Image, with His fundamental characteristics that the Bible summarizes in five qualities: Purpose, Conduct, Reasoning, Socializing, and Ruling (see diagram in the previous chapter).
Let’s use an analogy to show how neshama works. It’s like an electrical grid built to serve five different structures: a house, an apartment building, a shopping center, a factory, and an industrial site. The wiring requirements obviously are different and are in function of the demands of each site. This is the analogy of your neshama. You have five separate and different traits that are related and intertwined. People live in houses or apartments, work in office buildings or industrial sites, and shop in shopping centers.
But here’s the key to retain from this chapter: the entire electrical grid installed in the five structures cannot light up or operate any equipment unless it is connected to a power source. That origin is electricity. Similarly, neshama has to be activated by the second spirit, ruach.
But there is a spirit (H7307 – ruach) in man: and the inspiration (H5397 – neshama) of the Almighty gives them understanding (H995).
I realize this might be surprising information, but that’s what God’s Word states: 2 spirits, both from God. You can study the word neshama by searching the Hebrew Concordance for H5397. You’ll find twenty-four verses with neshama, ten of which include ruach. Verify this at UnlockBibleMeaning.com and read all the details in Mind-Body Problem Solved.
All the while my breath (H5397 – neshama) is in me, and the spirit (H7307 – ruach) of God is in my nostrils; (Sam: I wish that we be as wise a Job in our understanding that we possess 2 spirits).
Isaiah 42:5
Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out ; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath (H5397 – neshama) to the people upon it, and spirit (H7307 – ruach) to them that walk therein:
The English translation doesn’t do justice to this last verse. I don’t want to go off-course with the interpretation of this 2 spirits verse but notice that neshama is more of a static spirit, given to the people, everyone on Earth; it is an innate characteristic. Whereas ruach is associated with walking, more active and dynamic as we’ll confirm in upcoming chapters.
Look at the translations of these words to comprehend the immobile versus mobile contrast between these 2 spirits.
נְשָׁמָה nᵉshâmâh nesh-aw-maw’; from H5395 (נָשַׁם); a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concretely) an animal:
KJV – blast, (that) breath(-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.
H7307
רוּחַ rûwach roo’-akh; from H7306 (רוּחַ); wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions):
KJV – air, anger, blast, breath, ⨯ cool, courage, mind, ⨯ quarter, ⨯ side, spirit(-ual), tempest, ⨯ vain, (whirl-) wind(-y).
Granted, these 2 spirits have similarities, but neshama is more of a noun, a thing, whereas ruach tends more to a verb, an action. Another analogy I’d use is a blueprint that contains all the specifications and characteristics (neshama) of a house or bridge. But it’s the energetic building and productive construction (ruach) that puts the plan into action.
The 2 Spirits Work Together
Science cannot investigate or measure the 2 spirits. Therefore, it cannot ascertain how they function individually or together. That said, psychology has gathered much experience and can establish certain theories about their functioning based on emotions, feelings, dreams, thoughts, behavior, the subconscious, and many other facets. This observation has given rise to a myriad of treatments, ranging from aromatherapy to hypnosis and electroshock to exposure therapy—some, unfortunately, with harmful results.
Before we can repair something, we must know what we’re dealing with. With neshama and ruach, we have the grid on one side and the electricity supply on the other; they are, in one sense, useless and worthless by themselves. It’s only when you bring them together that the real value is expressed.
The Bible opens with a striking example of God’s Neshama and Ruach, which, generally, we do not consider.
… And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
God said is the outward expression of His Neshama, the vocalization of His Purpose (one of It’s five aspects of both God’s and human consciousness). The Spirit of God is the Power by which light was created and turned on. The Purpose AND the Execution, the tandem of Neshama and Ruach creating together.
By the word of the LORD (God said) were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath (H7307 – Ruach) of his mouth.
This is an alternative way to express Genesis 1:1, where God made the heavens and earth. Throughout the Bible, we find similar expressions where we have the theoretical conception role of the Neshama and the active execution role of the Ruach. Unfortunately, we’re not aware of this dichotomy of roles, and translations do not always help us.
Have you perceived (H995 – same Hebrew word as understanding, conveyed by God’s Neshama in Job 32:8) the breadth of the earth? declare if you know it all.
This verse portrays the 2 spirits. Earth exists and has a diameter, a testimonial to its Creation by the power of God’s Ruach. The question God asks Job pertains to perception: do you understand why the Earth has the width and breadth it does? Do you realize that the diameter of Earth influences our atmosphere, magnetic field, surface temperature, water, even the tectonic plates, and many other aspects of life we take for granted? The point is that God and humans must have specific traits to conceive monumental projects, which God possesses thanks to His Neshama. Humans can examine some of the aspects of God’s Creation because they have a very limited portion of neshama.
God and humans can conceive, invent, imagine projects, and execute, accomplish, and perform them. We are in His image because we are endowed with a portion of God’s neshama, our consciousness, and God’s Ruach, our mind.
How Our 2 Spirits Work Together
Here’s another analogy to describe the 2 spirits: a five-page notepad and a pencil. At birth, each of us receives a five-page notepad. Each page represents one of the five aspects of consciousness: Purpose, Conduct, Reasoning, Socialization, and Rulership. That’s our neshama spirit: it’s innate, and each human automatically possesses it at birth. The pen represents the personal story we write daily on each page. That’s our ruach spirit. We need the page to write on and the pen to write with. The two elements, the 2 spirits, are independent but also interdependent.
Transform Your Mind, Upgrade Your Life involves looking at what we’ve written on our five notepad pages and
- Looking at our Purpose, Conduct, Reasoning, Socialization, and Rulership (our neshama, consciousness), and recognizing what needs modifying or erasing
- What should we write with our ruach, spirit in humans, based on the right principles?
When the five traits are better aligned, we will improve our mental health and upgrade our lives; that’s what this book is all about.
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