THE SPIRITITUAL SELF
I. THE CONCEPT OF SPIRITUALITY
 The spiritual self is who we are at our core.
 is more permanent than the other two selves,
material self and social self .
 Is our subjective and most intimate self.
 It is the aspect of self which develops a certain
level of spirituality which is deemed as man’s way
of seeking as well as expressing the meaning and
purpose of his life.
SPIRITITUAL SELF
It speaks of the quality of one's relationships with God,
self,others, institutions and God's entire creation, marked by
respect, forgiveness, generous service and prayer.
SPIRITUALITY
 Spirituality leads man to a deeper communion with
the Divine .
 It is a path of direct and personal connection with
the Divine.
 It embraces all faiths, social and political ideologies.
It aids persons in spiritual, emotional or physical
distress, crisis or discomfort as well as those
seeking to make a significant change trough self-
awareness.
 This can be a healing process that leads to personal
in their lives development.
A. THE SPIRIT AND THE SOUL
 The interconnection of two important terms in our
discussion needs to be considered , which is that of
the spirit and the soul.
 Though these are sometimes used interchangeably,
they have distinctions which need to be recognized
According to l. Mercado (1994)
SPIRIT
 The spirit in the Hebrew language is ruach or
pneuma in Greek which means breath (esp. the
breath of life),
 The spirit is described as the disposition of an
individual, a person’s habitual attitudes , as man’s
supernatural power which comes from God.
 It is the part of us through which all life and power
of God flow. It is the “life-givingpart of man” (Jas.
2:26)
 The ethical factor which adds the new dimension
of relationship with God.
 Spirit enables man to serve God and to participate
in the supernatural order.
SOUL
 Soul on the other hand is in Hebrew , nephesh or in
Greek, psyche, originally meaning ‘throat’ or ‘neck’ ,
which means ‘human life’ , the animating principle
of human nature.
 In modern psychology, it is described as the ‘will,
mind, the seat of emotion, conscience’
 Stands for natural man
However, the Hebrew concept of man is holistic, not a
trichotomy of body (flesh), soul , and spirit, but one totality.
The Hebrew sees the distinction between the natural and the
supernatural, in respect to the soul and spirit.
Filipino term For spirit Espirito or espiritu – a loan word for
spirit
 Ginhawa - in Visayan term
 Hininga - in Tagalog
 Anges – in Ilocano
Soul
Nonphysical aspect of the person, the complexity of human
attributes that manifests as consciousness, thought, feeling,
and will, regarded as distinct from the physical body. It is the
person’s emotional and moral nature, where the most
private thoughts and feelings are hidden
The Soul
In some systems of religious belief, the soul is the spiritual
part of a human being that is believed to continue to exist
after the body dies. The soul is also regarded as subject to
future reward and punishment
The Bible further speaks of the soul as the innermost aspect
of the person which signifies the spiritual principle in him,
“the breath of life”. It is because of this spiritual soul that the
body becomes alive.
B. The Filipino Traditional Understanding of Soul
THE FILIPINO TRADITIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF SOUL
 The key to understanding ourselves at
present,recalling our past as a people which still
has traces in today’s context.
 According to Demetrio ,.et al. in the book “The
Soul According to Indigenous people”,”kaluluwa,
kararwa, kadkadduwa; all came from the root word
duwa ,which means ,two.
SOULS HAS TWO EXISTENCE:
 One ,physical that is connected to the human
body ,and it’s life.
 And the other spiritual where it exist on its own.
The Ilocano “kadkadduwa” is derived from kaduwa
means,”constant companion” therefore, “an attached
companion of the living person”.
SOULS IN DIFFERENT FILIPINO LANGUAGE
 “Kaluluwa” in tagalogs
 “Makatu” by bukidnons
 “Kadkadduwa or “Kararwa” (inside physical body)
by Ilocanos.
 “Gimokud” by Bagobos
 “Kaluha” by Cebuanos
 “Dunggan” by Visayans (Willpower)
 “Dungan” (if person is alive) , “kalag” (if the person
is dead) by Ilonggos
 “Karadwa or Kalag” by Mindoro Folks.
 “Ab-abiik” (also applicable to trees,stones,
rivers,etc, which also believed to have ab abiik by
Kankanays of Cordillera.
Demetrio used the word of Mariano Gatan “karkarua” for the
Ibanag soul means, “the body can still live independently of
the soul; while the
soul itself ,when separated from the body (Demetry O et,al,.
1199
 “Manggagayakao” is a ritual to invite the soul to
return to its body (Mercardo 1994)
 Jocano refers to the soul of a living person as his
“kakambal” a consciousness which is the
individuals capacity to think, to reason , to learn
and to have the will power. At night, the kakambal
may travel around and its troublesome encounters
could be the cause of nightmare (bangungot) .The
double becomes a kaluluwa after the person dies
(Jocano 1971).
 The dungan (not normally seen by the human eye)
for the Ilonggos and Cebuanos sometimes come
 out of the body, and takes on a visibile form like
insect, housefly,or even a lizard) . The dungan may
leave the body voluntarily as when a person is
asleep according to them.
 Alicia Magos (1986) indicates that another
 cause of the withdrawal of the soul from the body
is when the body is maltreated.
 Arsenio Manuel speaks of soul, leaving the body
involuntarily as in the case of a child who is
frightened.
 The kaluluwa or dungan departs from the body and
so there’s a need to call the soul back by saying
“Come back, come back soul of (name), return to
your home body.”
 Another involuntary departure of the soul happens
when it is lured or captured by bad spirits or
“engkanto”
 Magos says that Visayan Dungan has secondary
meaning of ‘will power’ “A strong dungan is the
intellectual and psychological capacity to dominate
or persuade other to one’s way of thinking. It is
capable of causing illness or seriously weaken
other persons who have weak dungan.
 Mercado says that if weak,”the dungan has to be
strengthened in a religio –magical rite to prevent
or cure body illness caused by inherent weakness.
At death, the soul(kalag) leaves the body via the
nose, ears eyes and other orifices and eventually
goes with the air of the wind towards the upper
regions where it waits until it can find another
body to enter. To be sure that the kalag will go to
its fial destination, the rite patulod (to push) is
performed on the third day after the burial of the
person.”
FOUR SOULS THAT ANIMATE THE BODY IN EARLY
ILOCANO BELIEF (Llanes (1956),as cited by Demitrio,et,al.
2011
1. The kararwa or the soul proper, is the vital element
in the man. It can leave only after death. – It is the
Ilokano name presently used for the Christian Soul.
2. The Karkarma or second soul can leave the body
when one is frightened or it can be stolen from the
body when the person goes to isolated places. If
the soul fails to return ,the owner becomes insane.
3. The Aniwas (aningas/ alingaas) or the third
soulsoul can leave the body,during sleep and visit
places which the person who owns it frequents
when awake. If he wakes up,he may lose his is
aniwaas and became insane.
4. Ar-aria (al-alia) or fourth soul , is the liberate soul
of the dead. It is the soul that comes down to the
earth to visit its relatives and friends ,asking them
to pray of perform a duty it failed to do in his/her
life
II. Loob and Personhood
Loob, the inner self or inner being, is the core of one’s
personhood and where the true worth of person lies. It is
connected to human behavior.
Contemporary Psychology
 Defined the person by his relationship with others
and such is done by describing what sort of loob he
has such as magandang loob or mabuting loob and
masamang loob.
Mabuting loob vs. masamang loob
 An individual relates himself/herself well and
positively with other people.
 Well-intentioned and promotes well-being of
others.
People of goodwill.
 An individual relates himself/herself negatively to
other people.
 Manifested through external behavior, and
behavior of an authentic person stems from the
loob.
Mercado (1994)
 A purified kalooban is supported by constant
prayer and religious exercises.
 Strengthened and purified in a form of sacrifices
and acquires commitments.
 Penitensia
 Held during Good Friday.
 The penitents reenact the suffering of Jesus
Christ, from flagellation to crucificion.
 The penitents emerges a “new man” whose
loob has been renewed.
 In his book entitled “The Filipino Mind”, amulets
(anting-anting) can be a source of power, aside
from prayers and rituals.
 Believed that the words of Christ and the things
used in Catholic liturgy are a strong source of
power. While Scriptures say that the word of God
is efficacious (Heb. 4:12; 1 Th 2:13 ff.)
 The efficacy depends on proper exertion of certain
rituals and the following of strict rules.
 Obtaining, testing, and recharging of powers of
anting-anting’s happens during Holy Week
God’s kagandahang-loob
 Kindness, generosity, benevolence, and
helpfulness can be the appropriate description of
who God is for Filipinos.
 It is a quality of BEING which has its roots in the
very heart of the person and which is given
expression in the totality of one’s life of
interrelationship.
Loob and prayer
 Prayer is said to be “the first expression of inferior
truth”.
 The ultimate organizing center of human reality
and the very zone of creaturehood.
 People who have pure, serene, and controlled loob
have “special powers” granted by Christ.
 Prayer becomes an active receptiveness, an active
listening to what God is revealing to one’s loob.
 It is always a free gift of God, which leads us back
to him, pagbabalik loob (conversion) to restore
one’s original goodness of kalooban.
III. Finding and Creating Meaning
Viktor Emil Frankl
 was born in Vienna, Austria onMarch 26, 1905. He
is a medical doctor, a psychiatrist who developed
Logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy, based on
helpingclients find a sense of meaning and purpose
in their lives.
FINDING and CREATING MEANING – VIKTOR EMIL FRANKL
 According to Viktor Frankl, "meaning is something
to discover rather than to invent." It has the same
concept with inner happiness, life satisfaction, self-
actualization, deep spirituality. He believes that in
life, there is an existential vacuum which means
that life is empty, meaningless,purposeless,
aimless, adrift, and so on. Because of this
existential vacuum, we fill our lives with pleasure,
eating beyond all necessity, or even having
promiscuous sex.
 We might seek power, especially the power
represented by monetary success. Because of this
existential vacuum, Frankl says that we fill our lives
with “busy-ness,” conformity, conventionality,
anger, hatred and even attempts to destroy what
we think is hurting us, a neurotic “vicious cycle,”
such as obsession with germs and cleanliness, or
fear-driven obsession with a phobic object.
A. Three Ways of Discovering Meaning in Life
Viktor Frankl indicates three broad approaches namely:
experiential values, creative values, and attitudinal values.
a. Experiential Values - This approach involves
experiencing something or someone we value. The
most important example of experiential values is
the love we feel towards another family. Relatives,
friends, and worworkmate
b. Creative Values- This is the traditional existential
idea of providing oneself with meaning by
becoming involved in one’s projects, or, better, in
the project of one’s own life. It includes the
creativity and passion involved in art, music,
writing, invention, and work.
c. Attitudinal Values- Attitudinal values include
practicing virtues such as compassion, bravery, a
good sense of humor, and the like. But Frankl’s
most famous example is achieving meaning by way
of suffering. The ultimate goal is self-
transcendence, in the spiritual realm. It is a
reference to God, a reference to religion.
B. The Practice of Religion
Researches speak of religion as the people’s way of
connecting themselves to God as they search for meaningin
life. Religion is also popularly understood as “beliefs
andbehaviors related to supernatural beings and powers.”
Still others define religion as “an organized system of ideas
about the spiritual sphere, along with ceremonialpractices;
our way of relating with the supernatural or the DIVINE”. All
cultures have religion. Religion serves several functions to
man as follows:
“The practice of religion has a significant effect on
happiness and an overall sense of personal well-being” (Stark,
R., 1971). “Regular religious attendance led to much less
psychological distress” (Williams, D. 1970). “Young people
see love as the central aspect of the meaning of life; they
believe that religion is still important in helping form
judgments and attitudes (Thomas. D.). The cohabitation rate
is seven times higher among persons who seldom ornever
attend religious services compared to persons who
frequently attend (Larson, D).
“Therefore, the practice of religion is beneficial to
individuals, families, states, and the nation. It improves
health, learning, economic well-being, self-control, self-
esteem, and empathy. It reduces the incidence of social
pathologies, such as out-of-wedlock births. Crime,
delinquency, drug and alcohol addiction, health problems,
anxieties, and prejudices. Furthermore, religion creates a
moral community to which people experience a sense of
belonging. It provides rites of passage as in the case of
sacraments in Christianity. It provides emotional support.
Itserves as a means to provide answers to ultimate questions
in life. It shapes the people’s views of the universe. Finally, it
can be a powerful agent of social change” (Haviland, et.al.,
2007).
I. Rituals
Rituals are patterned form of behaviours that have
something to do with the supernatural realm.They are
performed in a repetitive nature. They are performed in
repetitive nature. They can be religious or secular.
Vegans of Phuket, Thailand
They perform various acts of self torture, including bathing in
hot oil, fire walking, and piercing thierselves with sharp
implements during their annual vegan festival
Examples of rituals in the Philippines
 Harang - practiced by Visayan fishing villages
 Kanyaw - performed as an expression of
thanksgiving to the deities in Cordillera
 Buklod - performed in the Zamboanga to honor the
spirits and plea for favor
II. Magic
Magic is commonly referred to as "tricks" or
"illusions" that make impossible things seems to happen,
usually performed as entertainment. However, magic, as
anthropologist used the term, refers to activities, usually
rituals, by which a person can compel the supernatural to
behave in certain ways. It is used in many cultures for healing,
keeping away evil, seeking the truth, or for vengeful purposes.
III. Witchcraft
Witchcraft, commonly understood as "kulam", refers
to the idea that certain people have inborn power to harness
Spirits or energies for specific purposees.Witchcraft is closely
understood as sorcery. It is considered evil. Like sorcery, it is
seen as magic or special power that is worked for illegal and
antisocial ends.
What Does The Bible Says About Magic, Rituals, and
Witchcraft?
Deuteronomy 18:10-13 KJV There shall not be found
among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to
pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer
of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, [11] Or a charmer, or a
consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
[12] For all that do these things are an abomination unto the
Lord : and because of these abominations the Lord thy God
doth drive them out from before thee. [13] Thou shalt be
perfect with the Lord thy God.