Soul and Spirit, a Matryoshka Duality

Both personal and all-encompassing, we know what’s right at all levels.

We are individuals both in and a part of the infinite. Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

When speaking of what it means to be human, we often say we are multifaceted beings. A healthy person is a complex balance of a myriad of many different things. As it turns out, at the most basic level, our bodies are multi-species cooperatives, ambulatory factories seeing to the never-ending business of biology. Bacteria and metazoan symbionts integrated with human cells are all necessary for a functioning human body.

Every biological thing we do at certain levels can be reduced to chemistry and physics. The way individual atoms move through our systems to the construction, use, maintenance, and repair of complex macromolecules interacting with other complex macromolecules.

In the most basic sense, we are tangible things of the Earth and physical realm, manifestations of the Universe writ small. Indeed, each of us is an engine of interactive inquisition built from star stuff, directly brought to life by the physical laws that govern everything out to the limits of our perception and beyond. Our bodies employ the same natural rules that burn in the hearts of every star in the sky. To me, this is a concept both humbling and comfortable.