We are not bodies that have souls. We are souls within bodies. What we do with our bodies, affects our souls.
I always thought I was quoting that right out of my favorite book, Screwtape Letters by C.S.Lewis. But when I went to triple check (because I'm OCD about things like this), I learned that I was actually quoting my journal, circa 2004. It was then that I read Screwtape Letters and was so enlightened by the unseen realities of life. Somewhere around page 16, is where this hit me- I am not just a body that has a soul to "take care of" or to "ask Jesus to come into"... but I am a soul inside of a body that greatly affects my true well-being.
The letters are from the experienced demon, Screwtape, to his minion, Wormwood...
"...At the very least, they can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls... turn their gaze away from Him towards themselves. Keep them watching their own minds and trying to produce feelings there by the action of their own wills. When they meant to ask Him for charity, let them, instead, start trying to manufacture charitable feelings for themselves... When they meant to pray for courage, let them really be trying to feel brave. When they say they are praying for forgiveness, let them be trying to feel forgiven. Teach them to estimate the value of each prayer by their success in producing the desired feeling; and never let them suspect how much success or failure of that kind depends on whether they are well or ill, fresh or tired, at the moment..."
I have a theory about how interconnected our bodies and souls are. In your lifetime, you've felt disgusting and shameful after polishing off an entire box or oreos, or binge drinking, (or whatever tickles your fancy). You've counted yourself as worthless after a week of having every spare moment be wasted by television, facebook, or naps. I even have a friend who is convicted that his chemical imbalance (diagnosis: bi-polar) is a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality in his life... And on the flip side, you've met a person whose attractiveness you attributed to their heart, or character, or soul.
Do our souls feel trapped inside our bodies? Do they feel stifled by the fuel we give our bodies? Does physical laziness cause atrophy in the soul? Does the business of the tangible world suffocate the productivity of the spiritual real world? Is the Bible right about the source of beauty being the heart?
The above mentioned friend and I had an incredible discussion about living from the soul. It may seem far fetched or ridiculous. But, if you are a Christian, you can't argue that the reality is we are souls. And with the testimony of Job, can we really be so lofty as to think our physical bodies are not effected by the spiritual world and vice versa? Satan, an unseeable spiritual being, inflicted Job with boils- a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality.
I'm just saying.... our health could be a lot more holistic than we realize.
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