The Human Tricotomy.

Jewelers

Rosanna Urbaez


Jewish Spiritual Medicine

December 18, 2010



​With the experiences of life and the knowledge that I’ve acquired, I’ve learned that there is more to one’s being then the physical body. I’ve learned that the material things and the things that are tangible are not the most important in order to feel fulfilled. There is something else besides our body that complements the essence of our being, and that is our souls. As the mind is looked at as our running machine or what drives us to our actions, we will not be complete as human beings without our souls. The soul is the primary essence of our being and through it; we manifest God’s presence in us. Therefore, it is very important that we dedicate time to enrich our souls throughout life and promote its health. By acknowledging the importance of the well being of our souls, we are able to become closer to God. Becoming aware of the importance of the soul for our own well being, made me realize that development of one’s soul is the purpose of life, because through that development, we ultimately become closer and closer to God and absolute truth.

​In monotheism, the belief that there is only one God, it is believed that God is everything and that everything that happens in the world is a manifestation of the divine (God). The book of genesis states “And the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7)”. God made us humans in {its} image, giving us all a small amount of breath to create our souls.In reality God is an infinite being and by creating us inimage, and giving us his breath, God put a small amount of God’s being in all of us, making us a manifestation of God. So, if we are all a manifestation of God, then our souls are inter-connected. This manifestation then reveals God’s infinity into finite reality, which are human beings.

​In Judaism it is believed that the soul is made up of five levels. These five levels are called the Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and the Yechida. The Nefesh holds the lowest level of consciousness. It is literally the life source that keeps our soul connected to our body. It is the awareness of the physical body and the physical world, and the recognition of one’s self. In today’s modern world, the Nefesh can be looked at as our ego. The Ruach holds a higher plane of consciousness then the Nefesh. The primary manifestation of Ruach is our emotions. It is the house of our heart and spirit. The Neshama is the conceptual grasp of the intellect. It contemplates the manifestation of Divine energy through the activity of understanding. The chayah represents the spirituality of our soul. It is the drive or force towards a Divine life. It is concealed in the level of Neshamah, it is not so much the knowledge of what God is, but instead, it is the knowledge of what God is not, for example, knowing how God is not limited or defined by the reality. It is commitment to the search of absolute truth and faith. And last but not least, the Yechidah is the unity. It is the essence of the soul, which is naturally bound to God. This level of the soul is revealed at the moment of self- sacrifice for the sake of God. And by self-sacrifice I mean recognizing the connection of our souls to God and knowing that we owe it everything to God.

​Since I have demonstrated how important the soul is to one’s being and

Well-being, it only seems logical to promote the enrichment and health of our soul. In our body we house our soul, and without our soul, we are nothing. Without our soul, we would not be able to have spirit, which I believe is the combination of our physical body and our soul. The spirit makes us what we are and who we are. By promoting the development, enrichment, and healthiness of our soul each day, we bring ourselves closer to God and absolute Truth, which can never be fully reached. There are many things that we do in order to enrich our soul, which include but are not limited to, crying and practicing repentance (Tshuvah).

​When we cry out of emotions, our tears are full of proteins, essential nutrients, and hormones associated with stress. When we are stressed, our body uses crying as a mean to restore psychological and physiological balance.We use crying as a mechanism to rid our bodies of hormones and toxins that can be harmful to our emotional and physical well being. So in exchange of using a physical such as crying, we ultimately heal and sooth our soul. I think that the connection between our physical body and something so abstract like our souls is extraordinary. For me, when I came to this realization, the fact that our well being as human beings depends on that balance, it was an eye opening experience. This realization gave me some of direction as to how best live life. Crying is good for the soul; it heals and puts us at ease, giving us peace of mind.

​I believe that a huge part of developing and enriching our soul is practicing Tshuvah, which literally means return. For the most part, I think that the concept of sin is misunderstood. People tend to think of someone who sins as being a bad person. Committing a sin doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person. We are all humans and make mistakes. When we sin, in reality it is a deviation of our path. The idea of Tshuvah is to identify what we have done wrong and return to our spiritual purity. We have to be able to realize the harm that we have done, and feel sincere regret. You have to be able to stop yourself from continuing to do your actions, and make a commitment to yourself and God to refrain from sin. When we are able to recognize that we have done something wrong and feel the harm in it, we grow a bit more as a person, developing our souls. When we practice Tshuvah and return to our spiritual purity, we return to God and come closer to the divine (God).

​I used to think that the soul was something completely independent from our beings, when in fact it is the complete opposite. Our body and our soul are codependent to each other’s existence. They complement each other, and therefore, the health and well being of our body and our soul is crucial. The relative connection between our souls and our spirit can sometimes be unclear. Human beings are souls, and have spirit. The bible says that someone who is a believer is spiritually alive and non-believers are spiritually dead (James 2:26). If the spirit is what allows us to have a connection with God, because God himself is a spirit (John 4:24), then why not make it our mission to develop and enrich our souls? If the development of our soul ultimately brings us closer to God, then our spiritual relationships with God would be much greater.

Walking Around the In the Skin of The paralytic.

Jewelers

Daily Reflection
by Mark D. Roberts on Thursday, January 20, 2011

Walking Around in the Skin of the Paralytic

Luke 5:17-26


Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus.

[Luke 5:18]



This is the fourth installment in a five-day series of reflections on Luke 5:17-26, the story of the healing of the paralyzed man. Each day I'm trying to "walk around in the skin" of someone (or a group) in the story, so as to see things from their perspective. In this way, I hope to hear God's Word afresh. So far, I've "put on the skin" of Jesus, the Pharisees, and the mat carriers. Today, I want to put myself in the place of the paralyzed man.

Once again, we know very little about this man. We don't know why he was paralyzed or for how long. We don't know the extent of his paralysis, except that it's obvious he was unable to walk. We aren't sure whether he asked the men to carry his mat or whether they offered. But we do know that he consented. He was eager to be healed, and Jesus was his only hope. So he allowed several men to carry him to the house where Jesus was teaching . . . one more shameful reminder of his inability to get around on his own. One more time of feeling dependent, needy, and broken.

I can imagine this man's disappointment when he discovered that the crowd at the house was standing-room only. His hope for healing was gone. How devastating! Yet how might he have felt when he heard his friends debating about breaking through the roof to get him to Jesus? Hopeful? Shocked? Fearful?

There is a big part of me that doesn't want to inconvenience anyone. I fear that people won't like me if I bother them. Plus, there's an even bigger part of me that needs to be self-reliant. The thought of being carried on a mat is not a happy one. It gets worse when I imagine being let down through the roof.

Yet, if I'm going to receive the healing Jesus has for me, then I need to acknowledge my neediness. I need the healing that only he can give: the healing of my heart and spirit, if not my body. Moreover, God has designed human life such that my need for him is expressed through my need for others. As James 5:13-18 makes clear, my experience of God's healing and forgiveness depends, to an extent, on my willingness to allow others to be channels of God's grace in my life. In order to receive this grace, I have to admit to others that I need their help and prayers.

The story of the paralyzed man encourages us to take the risk of entrusting our neediness to others. After all, the result of this trust for the paralyzed man was striking: forgiveness and healing! As I read this story, I am motivated to put down my mask of self-sufficiency and risk sharing with trusted brothers and sisters my need, so that they might "carry" me to Jesus.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Have there been times in your life when people have "carried" you to Jesus? What happened? How did this feel? Are you willing to share your needs with others so they might pray for you and care for you? Why or why not?