HOW ARE THE

BODY AND
SPIRIT
RELATED?
Kurt Al N. Tuburan
What makes up a person or what composes a human being?
 How are they related?
• The body is a complex machine designed by nature to serve the spirit /soul.
Without the soul or connection to the vital life force, the body is useless. After
death the body decays and cannot function.
• Philosophers consider the human person as defined by the union of the body and
the spirit. The human person is an embodied spirit. Not only are the body and
spirit united, but they are also integrated with each other. This means that we
cannot separate the two and they go hand-in-hand in making us who we are.
Also embodiment enables us to do and experience all the
things that make us human persons.
 What has love got to do with embodiment?

• This would all depend on if you have ever been in love. If you have not yet
experience falling in love, it is certain that you know people who have been in love,
or know what being in love is like from what you have read in books or seen in
movies and television.
• Also we love not just with the heart nor with the brain, but we love another person
with our entire being.
• Our experience is also a product of embodiment. The human mind processes
information through the senses, which are experienced through the body. Aside
from perceiving through the senses, which are experienced through the body.
Aside from perceiving our surroundings, we also react to the things we experience
emotionally. Most of our meaningful experiences are often closely tied to emotions
such as happiness, anger, or sadness.
• The human body also stands as the mediator between the material world and the
spiritual world. Being an embodied spirit, the person is able to encounter the world
of objects (including other personal subjects) in a manner that transcend the
physical. This feature of the person allows him or her to form an intimate
relationship with those outside him or her. Human embodiment allows persons to
attach certain feelings or ideas not only to people, but also to objects
• With human embodiment, physical acts are no longer purely physical acts,
because the body conveys something from a person’s inner world. These
emotions and ideas are given to another person who, because of interiority,
recognizes the thoughts that the other wishes to convey. This explains why people
who are in love with each other seem to communicate effortlessly without words.
The mere act of “holding hands” conveys a powerful message between lovers, as
it is through this act that they can express their affection toward each other.
• A smile from a stranger will not elicit a reaction from you, but a smile from your
crush will immediately cause an intense emotional reaction in you. A pat on the
shoulder may mean a lot to a person if it comes from someone he or she looks up
to.
• These examples show that it is through embodiment that a person is able to have
a very unique relationship with the world. And it is this unique relationship that
defines us as humans.