spirit and psychotherapy
Notes for a forthcoming workshop on psychotherapy and the spirit. Soul, Spirit, and the Moral Exhortation to Joy Soul and spirit are not infrequently conflated. Perhaps this happens most often when the assumption has been made that "soul" and "spirit" gain their meanings by referring to things (other than human beings) . It's hard then to think of two different beings that the two different words signify. But often we might do better to consider "soul" and "spirit" to enjoy their meaning by way of referring not to entities but to sets of qualities . ... And yet we do anyway know that soul and spirit, these two sets of qualities, are very often intimately related in our lives - this is why St Paul talks of " the word of God [being] sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit...". Even so, Mary distinguishes them in her song: “My soul [ ψυχή] glorifies the Lord, and my spirit [πνεῦμ...
