Spirit moves life forward.

In a sense, the body is a temple for the spirit, but just as a university is a place of learning for the student, the human presence of all in the university is far greater than the mere university. The spirit, the soul, needs the body to learn, but that entity is far greater than the body. Greatness does not refer to size but to energy. The energy of spirit, the energy of soul, is far greater than could possibly be imagined by a human being.

Both body and soul, therefore, need one another. The body provides a kind of sustenance for the soul, but the soul provides a guidance for the body. It is the soul that provides a sense of human direction. It is not by legislation but rather by spirit that humankind moves forward, and that forward motion is a function of this mutual relationship between body and spirit.

The spirit is permanent, and the body is not. But the impermanence of the human life, the impermanence of the human body, does not speak of its insignificance. It is essential for the development of spirit. Your soul, your spirit, belongs to the human life to which it is connected. That belonging is a dependence as well as a guidance, for there are certain lessons to be learned that are only possible in the accompaniment of human life. Your life is significant because it provides a context within which the soul flourishes. But the spirit is also essential to the body, for the spirit provides a context for understanding human life.

This relationship between body and soul is not the same as a relationship between two individuals, one with power, one without. It is rather of two individuals who need one another because each complements what is not present in the other, and together they are complete.