What is Man?
by Ian McKerracher
It is my hope that the readers of this blog do not take offence at me using the collective term, “Man” for what we are. I am fully aware that the term encompasses the all-important half of us that isn’t like me that is included in the term. Actually, you women are inescapable, thankfully! I suppose I could also have used human beings, humanity, or any of those kinds of variants and I probably will in most of the rest of this blog. I want to talk about my worldview of what makes up a human being. I think it is important to understand what we are in order to understand who we are. Also, it is a good idea to know where to look for a solution when we run into problems in our lives. It would not do to look at the steering mechanism of a car if the engine doesn’t start if you catch my drift. So, what are the constituents of a human being? What is it that makes us a “me”? In my worldview we are made up of a body, a soul, and a spirit.
First, I want to say that there is some controversy about that, right up front. Some believe that we are strictly a “meat computer” made up of atoms and molecules arranged in a fortunate pattern that can propagate itself. All body with no soul or spirit or any such thing that cannot be weighed and measured. Even thoughts are suspected self-imposed illusions, regardless of any consideration about who is doing the fooling and why. That worldview is called Naturalism and I am uncomfortable with that for a couple of reasons. A big source for my discomfort is that the proponents of that worldview do not interact with their family and friends as if that is true. Naturalists love and are loved by those close to them and their actions point to relationships with something more than meat. They think and plan and live their lives as if they believe that they are more than what they are confessing as illusion. They do not live their existence reduced to such. The second reason why I cannot believe what they may say about this is because I don’t live that way either. It is not the way I experience Life being lived, especially in the privileged, inside knowledge of being me. I think and feel and know. These are not self-imposed illusions. It isn’t how human beings live, the Naturalist’s claims of it being thus, notwithstanding.
“proponents of [naturalism] do not interact with their family and friends as if that is true. ”
Even in the Church world there is controversy over this issue. Some see us as two-part beings, body and soul, each with specific jobs to do, while others separate out some of the aspects of the soul into what they call the spirit and believe that we are three-part beings. I am of the later, though I extend to those who believe the two-part idea, the freedom to believe what they like about that since exploring what constitutes the soul is a very different issue than dismissing the soul altogether.
So, in my worldview, as I said, there are three things called “me”: my body, soul, and spirit. Each one is essentially “me” arranged in an integrated whole, all working together to be the “me” that I am. It is less being separate parts and more a multi-faceted expression of personhood (where have we heard that before?). Each of these persons called “me” have a function and a purpose unlike the others, though the defining lines may be smudged and all dance together in the waltz called life. Even my heart beats in a ¾ time like a waltz.
Firstly, there is the body, the world-centric person that is me. The body has certain functions that serve the person who owns it. These are, in no specific order, locomotion, sensing, procreation, and the supply of physical needs, like food, water, oxygen, rest etc. that keep us alive. I doubt if that is an exhaustive list and you all can probably come up with more. Locomotion is handy when you want to get from place to place. It provides for the wonderful experiences of travel, seeing different vistas, locales, and cultures, and enriches us is so many ways. Our appreciation of the visual arts, though including some aspects of the soul, enters us through our eyes. Our appreciation of food is because we have taste buds. Our lives are made precious, in part, because we feel the touch of a loved one. Bodies can be used for establishing the sense of self that we see in the mirror. Procreation can be a source of continual joy when done right. Kids are cool!
“Unfortunately, in the last few hundred years [the intellect] has fallen out of favor in many corners of the Big Tent of the Faith, creating an anti-intellectual Christianity that seems to stumble along as the outsiders gain popularity. ”
So much can go right with a body, properly considered. But so much can go wrong too. The sin of greed, for example, is expressed primarily through the body and its appetites, though it may germinate in the soul or the spirit. The pursuits of sexual experience beyond the social designs of our creation can produce a whole lot of hurt. The ravages of illness and disease can make us wish that humans didn’t have a body so that our loved ones under the debilitation of such things can find some solace apart from it. Age can make it creak and groan and refuse to do what we want it to do anymore. Such is the burden of having a body in this life.
Secondly, we have a soul. Our soul is the sense of self-awareness that what makes us, our selves. This is the “me” in the inner conversations that we have. The soul is the seat of the mind, will, and emotions. We think, we feel, we choose; all in the arena of our soul. The intellect was once an important aspect of Christianity through most of Church history. There was a time when science, philosophy, and theology were the driving forces of civilization and people came to the Church to get them done. Unfortunately, in the last few hundred years it has fallen out of favor in many corners of the Big Tent of the Faith, creating an anti-intellectual Christianity that seems to stumble along as the outsiders gain popularity. That is because of another part of our soul, the emotions, which have taken over because we were not careful. Emotions are all fine and good when they are subject to their proper place. They make great servants but poor leaders. It makes no sense (in an intellectual way, I mean) to make important choices relying on the shifting vagaries of emotions. Much of the problems that we experience in marriages is because we allowed emotions to choose our mate or the way we relate to them, for example. We will find dire consequences when allowing emotions to be the defining part of our soul. That is one of the reasons I am concerned with the direction our world is going right now as emotions are elevated beyond their ability to sustain order.
Both of those, the mind and the emotions, influence our choices. The will is where those choices are made; where we commit ourselves to a certain direction, whether in thought or deed. That is where many of our conflicts, both internal and external, are fought. For Christians, there are other influences that bear down on our will, related to the spirit but suffice it to say that we are choosing constantly, going through cost/benefit analyses as we step through our lives.
Thirdly, there is the spirit. The spirit is where our functions of worship, revelation, and conscience are found. The spirit of man, in some theologies, including mine, remains immature until it is impacted by the Holy Spirit during the salvation process. Make no mistake that those functions of worship, revelation, and conscience can be done outside of any religious context. Go to any rock concert and you will observe people worshiping. We might think of intuition as “revelation without a Revelator”. Our conscience can be trained to believe horrible things if we are not careful. The unregenerated spirit of man functions in its limited way as far as it is able.
The proper way that things are done by this “hat trick” of being a self is that the spirit should do the controlling, the soul does the considering, and the body does the living. We can get into a lot of trouble if we rearrange that order. Think of the mess that our culture is experiencing right now because the appetites of the body are driving the train. Think of the difficulties that arise from a generation given to setting aside the empirical realities in favor of the subjective dictates of their feelings. The spirit is somewhat faulty in its self-centered way and can give really bad advice, if we are not careful. Everybody wants to be thought of as “spiritual” but self-centeredness tends to get in the way whatever we believe.
“The proper way that things are done by this “hat trick” of being a self is that the spirit should do the controlling, the soul does the considering, and the body does the living. ”
The essence of Christianity is that God in the Holy Spirit becomes a constant companion in our human spirit. One of the wonderous experiences that people can expect as they enter the relationship with Jesus is that the Holy Spirit comes to live here. The “born again” experience is what we live through when this “expression of the divine” comes into our lives. It is here in our spirit where we become “born-again”. The functions of the spirit of man are super-charged with the “mind-meld” with God in this. Worship becomes centered on the real objective deity who is our creator, our sustainer, and our instructor. This God is the one that we now worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). As we worship our Lord, he provides real revelations about the world around us. It is promised to happen as we read the Bible, but it can happen any time we are sensitive to the Spirit’s influence. Where other people will see the biggest change in our nature will be in the sensitivity of our conscience. So many actions and attitudes that we casually accepted as normal, become less comfortable. Some of the things that we used to do begin to give us shame or embarrassment. We really want to do what is right.
So, for a Christian, the Spirit takes the lead in the determinations of morality. The struggles in our soul are impacted by a new combatant involved in the battle. It is on the side of rightness, regardless of whether we agree or not. We are led to a change of heart about some of the things we do, or don’t do. We are touched by a heightened sense of community and the care that must be put into it. All this is what is called “walking in the Spirit”. (Galatians 5:16).
This new reality of Christ influencing our lives, body, soul, and spirit is the motive force behind why Christianity works in the trenches of living our lives in our social circles, filled with regular people. Those regular people may be outside the Church and can be invited into that relationship that changes everything. Or they may be fellow Christians who need encouragement. The Holy Spirit inside of us can give us grace, or even which words to say, to converse with needy people with respect and gentleness. He can give us insight into the inner thoughts of others so that we can love them more effectively. The effects of it changes the individual, the communities, and ultimately the whole world …. body, soul, and spirit. That’s my worldview of the constituents of this creation called Man.