To experience the latent potential within each of us we must first understand the misuse of the word spirit. We were never intended to be suppressed by the soulish nature of the body. We were all designed to be spirit lead and not soul led. To clarify the point, consider the needs and wants of the body and mind: food, shelter, companionship, clothing, and personal comfort. Now consider the needs and wants of the spirit: food, shelter, companionship, and personal comfort. It is how we acquire these needs and wants that separates the soulish nature from the spiritual nature.
As an athlete I have had coaches who taught basics as the most important item to be mastered in sport. As the athlete achieves mastery of the basics a game plan can then be built for success. As a coach myself I pushed basics so hard some of my athletes thought I would never get to the game plan. Failure to apply the basics is a game plan for disaster. Likewise the same is true of the body, mind, and spirit; failure to apply the basics in equal measure is a life plan for disaster. In previous posts we covered the basics of the body: proper nutrition, exercise, and rest to achieve physical wellness. We have also covered the mind and how to retrain the brain for wellness through nutrition, exercise, and rest. Our best effort will fall short of total body wellness until we complete the basics of the total body. What then are the basics of the spirit lead life? First we need to understand the nature of the spirit. The spirit is hidden potential, hidden from success by the selfish nature of the soul. The soul has learned how to hide our potential so effectively we are willing to accept mediocrity as our potential. When measuring performance results in any effort the standard is set by willing acceptance of mediocrity for which we and others grant praise and approval. The truth is we can achieve so much more than the measure of success we currently use because our basics are missing, basics of the spirit.
The spirit is very much like a seed. Anyone who has ever planted a seed knows that seed is dead. We know the seed is dead, but that is of little concern to us because we are considering the seed’s potential. We plant that seed believing that with proper soil, moisture, and sun light sooner or later it will produce the desired effect we seek. We do not see the seed as something dead rather we see an apple tree, a beautiful flower, food to nourish us, and even some day shelter from the hot sun of summer. We saw beyond the lack of life in the seed and saw the seed’s potential. At no point did we consider that the dead seed would not succeed in its potential. The spirit has potential but it is dead seed within us until it is planted. Planting the dead seed of the spirit in an environment where it has the greatest potential to achieve the desired results is the key. Until we can distinguish the difference between being soul led from spirit led we will serve the soulish nature. The next post will talk about bringing the dead seed of the spirit to life and toward its potential.