Understanding the human nature (part II)
About three gifts of the Holy Spirit of the Soul
Jesus is the Soul of the Holy Trinity.
Our Soul, along with our Mind, can discipline the Heart and lead us to our goal: eternal life. Thus, our Soul is a crucial means of salvation because it arises from the wishes and thoughts of our Heart and Mind. If we save our Soul, and bring the white dress before the Truth, we will also save our body.
Of course, we can never deserve such gifts, but we can collaborate with the life of the Holy Spirit, Defender, and Truth to become godlike beings (7). This is the privilege of being called God’s children. Those who struggle with being godlike and think this is not meant for everyone are like people with opinions who know without knowing, preaching how to become saints without believing it is possible. An opinion arises when you do not have the Truth, and a lack of logic signifies a lack of the Truth; when you do not try sufficiently to understand what you are discussing, you foster opinion. Therefore, to begin cleaning up opinions, one must acquire the three gifts of the Soul.
Sanctification involves receiving three gifts for the Soul that empower us to fulfill our mission and reach our ultimate goal: Truth, a perfectly logical life, or a perfect unity in Truth.
A Heart that loves the Truth and a Mind that fears God can receive the gift of wisdom for the Soul. To have a Soul that saves the body, one must live cleanly. Clean eating means not succumbing to the desires of our heart; instead, it involves disciplining the Heart to love what nourishes the body. Living clean means that heart desires are filtered through the Mind and then transferred to the Soul. Staying alert to avoid letting bad food into your Soul is a daily task. A healthy soul is free from lies; she is wise, strong, and advisory. The only heart that should lead the Soul is the Holy Spirit. Our Heart should be governed by the mind and soul; the heart requires discipline (hence disciples). A grounded, humble person has a mind and soul rooted in reality (the triangle pointing up stays in the Truth). Here is another topic, but the same law of freedom:
(5) WISDOM, answers our “WHAT” in life
Adam represented the Mind, while Eve embodied the Heart. Evil arises from a heart that fails to love the Truth, instead seeking shortcuts: pleasures and wisdom from the same fruit. Rather than fearing God, Adam feared his wife; any fear apart from the fear of God will not lead to blessings. As a result of Adam and Eve’s free choices, they lost their Sanctity (a garden separated from the rest). Acknowledging mistakes is part of the process, yet when the mistakes occurred, neither of them wanted to take responsibility. Half of the Mind and half of the Heart were corrupt. Adam and Eve’s children are two Souls one envious and full of wrath, Cain, and the other wise and hard-working, Abel. A lack of fear of God and love for the Truth gives birth to an envious soul. Cain could not understand why God loved Abel more than him, nor did he fear lies. Understanding in the Heart and knowledge gave birth to Abel, even one talent is enough to save your Soul. The good aspects of the Mind and Heart united in Abel. Through this story, we can also observe the reality of the law of nature, how sins are passed down through family lines, and how descendants bear the consequences of our reckless behavior. If you find the story too extreme, you should watch this compelling one-hour documentary about the patterns of Cain and Abel repeating in real life.
Our Soul is, therefore, an offspring of our Heart and Mind, the result of our desires and thoughts, of love and faith or lack of those.
Envy always leads to death. An envious soul seeks shortcuts to success, undermining the competition and imposing his or her will on nature. You may think I am exaggerating, but even if your envy does not directly kill a single person, it can still cause damage. Like math, when you spread your envious energy across 1000 or 10,000 people, you might end up harming one person in total. We do not know this for certain; it works mathematically, but God knows.
A Mind that does not fear lies and a Heart that does not love the Truth leads to an envious, stubborn Soul that fuels wrath because it can not establish rules in life. That wrath is directed towards God and life as well as towards neighbors. This was Cain’s story, a man who felt insecure and inferior and harbored rage towards God because he felt overlooked despite his efforts, leading him to kill his brother. Wrath towards humans is always a reflection of rage towards the Truth. The envious Soul fills the mind with fear and paranoia that others wish to kill him, prompting the belief that more power or control can save one’s life.
Genesis 4:6-7 tells us: “Then the Lord said to Cain: Why are you angry? Why are you dejected? If you act rightly, you will be accepted; but if not, sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it.”
There is a wisdom of this world that differs in nature: one that excels in accumulating material possessions and worldly fame is not the Wisdom that elevates the Soul to counsel or endure for the sake of others. Fortitude is found only in those healed by the Truth, deriving strength from within the Soul.
To seek the Truth, one must be strong; it is not a pursuit for weak Souls. The light is intense, blinding eyes accustomed to darkness. The fear of being unworthy to that Soul feels far greater than the fear of falsehoods. This keeps her enslaved: the byproduct of an opinionated Mind and an irrational Heart that torments the Soul. Attempting to save your life leads to weakness and no gifts capable of rescuing your Soul. A person who can not save her or his Soul poses a danger not just to themselves but to their neighbors as well. It is an illusion that we can do better for others than for ourselves, unlike Jesus, who sacrificed himself for our sake. If any of us could have accomplished it, Jesus would not have taken it upon himself.
A Mind filled with opinions and an irrational Heart yields envy. The soul is tortured by his or her mind and heart, cut off from light (upside-down triangle). Instead of coming to its senses, that Soul is governed by a vengeful heart that can not have its way and rejoices when misfortune befalls a neighbor perceived as competition. Competition for Heaven? No competition on Earth! The envious soul can never be truly happy; any happiness is merely temporary and twisted in its logic. Just as the killer girl said, one lie leads to another. One virus begets another; the first wrong step leads to another unless we make a 180-degree change. Instead of the wisdom Eve wished for, the Soul acquires the opposite: envy.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” Theodore Roosevelt
Our Heart should point upwards instead of being an upside-down triangle, as we pray during the Mass (Catholic Church). Please refer to one of my previous posts for an explanation.
A wise Soul has their “What” answered and possesses clarity about the purpose of life, allowing them to be less afraid and more courageous by not relying solely on their own strength. Once the “What” is resolved, the soul can build strength to endure life’s atrocities, learning how to survive during times of weakness. A Wise Soul has HOPE, which can yield joy, while a hopeless, envious Soul is drowning in despair and resentment. The only way for envious Soul to feel happy is through Schadenfreude.
(6) FORTITUDE, answers our “HOW “ in life
Fortitude is the virtue that enables us to overcome fear and maintain our resolve in the face of obstacles. “Prudence and justice are the virtues through which we determine what needs to be done; fortitude provides us the strength to act on it.” Fortitude embodies the strength or endurance required to pursue the path of Truth.
“Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecution”. (link)
A soul must be edgy/salty, not round like a ball, curling up whenever there is an obstacle in life. Instead, it should have the stable base of a triangle, with edges making a person stable in hope, preventing a change of mind or heart with every discomfort. This quality enables us to stay on our path. This is what Bishop Barron said:
“One of the chief marks of the Holy Spirit is the prompting to bold speech. From the Apostles through the great evangelists and theologians, up to Billy Graham and John Paul II, the Spirit prompts people to confess the lordship of Jesus. Remember that Paul told us, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
Instead of seeking fortitude, an upside-down triangle’s Soul looks towards the Earth and seeks power in the world. To feed the fear of not being enough, it must soothe her or his soul with power; she is always hungry for more, insatiable. An empty soul is, by definition, insatiable. But the reality is weakness within the soul, resulting from torture and bruises:
Jesus on the Cross is a clear and vivid representation of the inner state of a tormented soul, bruised to death by one’s Heart and Mind. Jesus on the cross illustrates what our minds and hearts inflict on our Souls, so we can not expect to do any better for our neighbor.
Jesus on the cross illustrates the torment of the soul enslaved by evil but offers hope!
He conquered sin, freeing us from slavery. We can win the battle and take the steps to heal the Soul, now.
Classically, fortitude was that virtue that made a man willing to fight and even potentially die in battle or stand up for good against evil.
To fill the Soul with the gift of fortitude, which enables us to endure the path we are on, we need strength. We require the right nourishment; we can not consume just any food or lies, but only the Truth.
Lack of fortitude results in sloth, leading to a lukewarm heart- not hot or cold, but merely average. Conversely, selfish hearts cherish minds filled with opinions but lacking knowledge, remaining indifferent to being average in their actions. For instance, a person who constantly shares opinions but never writes an article on any subject, or someone who enjoys hearing others' viewpoints but refrains from expressing their own to avoid conflict or thought. Both situations illustrate laziness in pursuing the Truth. Valuing the Truth may seem irrational or even futile, as it is often viewed as unknowable, and everyone claims the right to their opinion. We agree to disagree. Living parallel lives does not bring unity in Truth.
Cleaning up the lies from the Truth is a hard task, not a walk in the park. A person with extensive information or expertise in a field can have a cold and unreasonable heart and possess no coherent knowledge or theory- just a collection of information piled up in an illogical forest and an upside-down triangle trying to execute their own will, emptying the Soul of any possible gift. That person would rather be right than find the Truth.
Only the combination of knowledge and understanding builds the strength of the Soul and gives hope that the initial belief in the Truth will be answered when the time comes. This means never giving up on the Truth, regardless of the price. People are good at calculating costs and love to straddle both sides: Truth and Lies, believing they can always discern situations in which it is wiser to apply the Truth or better to remain silent, like Pontius Pilate, a worldly-wise man. It takes considerable wisdom to stay true to the Truth on every occasion.
Lack of humility is failing to remain true to the Truth. St. Faustina wrote in her diary: humility is the Truth.
(7) COUNSEL answers our “WHY” in life
Counsel, or a Gift of Right Judgment, is the ultimate gift of being God’s child, evident in making decisions based on your “gut feeling. " This is the gift where all the effort of disciplining your Heart pays off, allowing you to perceive the Truth here on Earth and enjoy perfect clarity. The only way to receive that gift is by having the Mind and Soul grounded, and the Heart elevated, listening to both the Truth and one’s Mind and Soul. Face the Truth with your face, not your rear end.
Many people do not try enough to gain clarity in their lives but listen to their hearts and confuse their “gut feeling” with their soul. A troubled Soul continually feeds fear and worry to the Mind, which are symptoms indicating that something is wrong, a red flag. A Heart enamored with shortcuts will lead the Mind astray, to resolve issues with more lies, pleasure, and greed or control.
We need counsel as a gift to share love, spread the good news, and bring truth to the world. Love is about giving, but a fearful and worried Soul has little to offer except fears, blame, accusations, and judgments. No one can give what they do not possess.
On the Counsel: “Its function is to enable a person to judge promptly and rightly, as by a sort of supernatural intuition, what should be done, especially in difficult situations. With the gift of counsel, the Holy Spirit speaks, as it were, to the heart and in an instant enlightens a person on what to do. It corresponds to the promise made by Christ to his followers, "When they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you" (Matthew 10:19).” (link)
“The spiritual gifts that are most salient for counseling include exhortation or encouragement (Rom 12:8), healing (1 Cor 12:9, 28), wisdom (1 Cor 12:8), knowledge (1 Cor 12:8), discerning of spirits (1 Cor 12:10), and mercy (Rom 12:8).”
“If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.”
A person possessing this most beautiful of all Gifts for the Soul is filled with the Holy Spirit and is recognized as an upright triangle, and every sick person, by definition, wishes to turn the world upside down, in line with their position. In the world, more worldly wise people do not favor the triangle that seeks truth; however, the joy and beauty of seeing clarity where many are blind grants eternal joy. This joy enables one to encourage oneself and others, heal oneself and others, share wisdom and knowledge, easily discern spirits, and show mercy. That Soul is on the path to salvation.
The absence of counsel manifests as an inability to make decisions. Living a life like this is exceedingly difficult, which is why agencies like the CIA seek the truth but can not obtain it by adhering to the same rules that we all must follow.
A soul that appears wise from a worldly perspective looks appealing on the outside but resembles a grave on the inside, bruised and tormented by evil forces. The image of Jesus on the cross reflects the inner state of such souls. This person is so focused on a self-image that they cannot tolerate small mistakes yet they are capable of killing one’s soul.
A lack of counsel leads to immoderation and exaggerations of all kinds. A person can not make good decisions, is always fearful of making another mistake, and tends to go to extremes in lust, greed, or gluttony, attempting to feel more alive and happy. This is the opposite of living in freedom: a sick soul searching for happiness and purpose in life through lies, favoring dopamine over serotonin. Here is the scientific explanation of the difference between addiction and happiness:
We often forget that the Soul feels most alive when it suffers for the Truth. Therefore, the way forward involves stopping the attempt to save your life. Security is death for the Soul because it can never learn to discern evil from good, which is counsel, a gut feeling that accompanies a Heart that loves the Truth. Moreover, you will never achieve health by blaming others for their sickness; transferring your illness to someone else will not solve the problem.
A wise soul is gutty and bold and can discern with enough confidence to make the right choice. This short video nicely illustrates the gift of Counsel: to assess quickly and accurately, almost as if guided by a form of supernatural intuition, what actions should be taken, particularly in challenging situations.
We attribute this to instincts or gut feelings; indeed, the seat of our Soul is in the gut. Such individuals are referred to as heroes in folklore, often possessing characteristics of semi-divine origin. This is precisely what sanctification entails: becoming a god-like being. Therefore, do your best to seek counsel for your Soul, and you will lead a happy life.