NONFICTION| LIFE| LIVING| HUMANITY

MAN: A TRIPARTITE BEING

Man is made up of spirit, soul and body

Chinedu V. Onyema
Spot On

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Photo by Karina Carvalho on Unsplash

These Could Explain Why Man Is Complex In Many More Ways

Man, as used here, includes male and female. It is not restricted to the male gender only.

Man could be described as a being that is tripartite. That is to say: man is made up of three parts.

These parts are SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY. Although man lives on earth physically, that would not have been possible without the involvement of the other invisible duo of spirit and soul.

SPIRIT

Firstly, the spiritual aspect of man is made up of another three parts. These three parts are Communion, Conscience and Intuition.

Communion is the part of the spirit through which man communes, communicates and relates with the Spirit or God. While the spirit is like the internet, the communion is like the device.

It is through the communion that fellowship or meeting is effected.

Conscience

This is sub-part responsible for consciousness (awareness, perception, knowledge) of what is right and wrong. The conscience is probably the most active of the spiritual sub-branches.

It is active in most human beings who have not motified (deadened) theirs. It is noteworthy that why most criminals are deeply into drugs: alcoholism, marijuana, etc. is to deaden their conscience.

For the newly recruited, the conscience really pricks them that they need drugs to feel better. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, it took Okonkwo days to suppress his conscience after violently murdering Ikemefuna (the “boy who call him father”).

Intuition

This might be described as the most sensitive part of the spirit. Women are very good in intuition. Seers are exceptionally intuitive people.

Intuition is the perfect knowledge or understanding of a fact or reality without any previous idea. This instance might illustrate the point.

Several years ago, this author had gone to a meeting. Few hours later, he was on his way home. Passing through a large public-school playfield which separates a major road and a suburb, something told him to look behind that someone was looking at him.

Down the valley-like end of the path, he looked towards the zenith of the hill: a damsel stood watching unbelievably. It was one of those who had been part of the meeting that had ended minutes earlier.

What was her mission? Absolutely unknown as she stood there smiling like a positive-monitoring spirit whose mission was shrouded in, as topmost, secrecy. But the point has been established. Intuition is real.

For another example, see my story:

SOUL

The soul is akin to the spirit. The soul is invisible just like the spirit. The soul is the centre of consciousness. It coordinates the activities of the spirit and of the body.

The soul is comparable to the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the computer. It makes all the components usefully relevant.

Therefore, the soul is also tripartite in nature. Significantly, the soul consists of the mind, will and emotions.

Mind

This is the brain (or psyche) which is the centre of thoughts, ideas, imaginations and coordinations. Without the mind, man is like a mere structure void of rational or intellectual capacity.

For the records, the mind is the same thing as the intellect. It ensures that man functions optimally with all the artistic, aesthetic, scientific and creative dispositions as a being.

Without the mind, insanity, imbalance, vagueness, indiscipline, excessiveness, absence and irrationality set in.

Will

Will or volition is the ability to have a definite resolution. It is the will or willpower that makes man a free moral agent.

Hence, they (men) possess the freedom or right to decide what they become. This they do knowing all the moral and or legal implications of such decisions.

The most hardened criminals, for instance, are aware of the punishment which accompanies the acts of crimes and criminality.

Why are they still into it?

The will: it is hardly ever tampered with even by the supernatural powers. For instance, some persons have rejected some offers that could have made them multimillionaires or multibillionaires.

Such is the power of the will.

Emotions

These are the feelings we have concerning several things. These include joy, delight, excitement, bliss, pleasure, hope, enjoyment; fear, pain, sadness, disappointment, loss, et cetera.

The various emotions we feel are pointers to our existence as humans. Little doubt, the less one feels or reacts as man, the less humanlike one is.

Emotions are powerful. If the negative ones are not controlled, they could lead to overindulgence. If the negative ones are not restrained, they could lead to tragic incidents.

Emotions reflect the condition of the soul as one of its components. A happy soul will breed pleasant emotions, and vice versa.

Photo by Norbert Buduczki on Unsplash

BODY

The body is the third and the last component of the man. It is the only material or visible aspect of man. It could be loosely described as the flesh.

It looks the most attractive on one breath. On the other breath, what is the comeliness in a wrecked psyche, diabolical soul or depressed spirit inhabiting an apparently gorgeous body?

The body is the most temporal of the trio: nevertheless, it is the only one permitted to naturally, legitimately and ideally exist here on earth. The body is the one in which man is born with as a baby and the one that dies and returns to mother earth as flesh.

At death, the spirit — accompanied by its enlightening partner: the soul — returns to a place of permanent abode.

The body however has five senses or aspects.

These senses are visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), olfactory (smelling), tactile (touch) and gustatory (taste). Incidentally, these senses are studied in literature as types of imagery.

Visual Sense

Visual sense denotes the ability to see things and appreciate them. It is not uncommon, therefore, that man would obviously make decisions based on sight, especially when such an object is appealing to the visual sense.

On role play, a male is more likely influenced by sight than a female.

Auditory Sense

This sense of hearing is another crucial part of the human body. With this, man enjoys the sweet, melodious sounds of music, praise and even that of flattery. It however, appears that the female humankind is more predisposed to be carried away by the sense of hearing.

Hence, they seem to be more swayed or deceived by flattery. Does it include even when they seem to be aware that they are plainly being flattered in the process?

Olfactory Sense

This is the sense of, or ability to perceive, smell. This is apparently relevant when it comes to food. It is also pertinent, on the other hand, as it regards putrifred decay.

Please kindly read my story:

But for the former: the smell of food is said to be eaten before the food proper. No wonder, Esau quickly offered his birthright in exchange for porridge prepared by Jacob.

For the latter, the perception of negative smell warns man of a potential presence of some harmful pollution. Sense of smell indeed is an important part of the human body.

Tactile Sense

This is the sense of touch. No matter how hardened any human being is, when the chips are down, they would respond to a kind, gentle touch.

One could be a General at the warfront. At the same time: one needs not be brutal to one’s tender, innocent toddler.

The sense of touch is easily perceived and received and equally given back to man. It is one of the fundamental senses of man.

Photo by Victoria Shes on Unsplash

Gustatory Sense

This sense of taste is the last of the five but not the least. Could anyone imagine a life without the ability to perceive the taste of delicious delicacies: food, wine, fruits, vegetables and so on and so forth?

Such a life would be deeply disheartening and simply saddening, if not sickening at the same time.

The quality of recognizing and distinguishing tastes (aside seeing) could be described as sine qua non [indispensable] in human experience.

In conclusion, therefore, it is not without purpose that man is made a total package of diverse abilities, strengths and capacities and potentialities in a tripartite system of spirit, soul and body.

Thanks for reading.

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Chinedu V. Onyema
Spot On

From the influence of intuitive inspiration to the affluence of gracious Grace and to confluence of ideas, I write. "Life would be tragic if it weren't funny."