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The soul and the spirit. What is the difference between these two auras and being of self? Well, looking at the literal definitions there doesn't seem to be much to distinguish. The soul is the neither here nor there conception of a human being, it creates the actuate cause of the individual's lifespan and ideas.

The spirit is said to be the vital principle in all of life, it is a primary emotional and controlling belief that it used to define a person or any other being's sense of status and character. In ancient times, people thought the soul and spirit were conceptions of fire and flames. A bit later around the middle ages and renaissance era, the theory of souls and spirits became that of ghosts and haunting ghouls.

This thought is still with people today and have been used in many different creative outlets. But that is just one defining aspect of these two words. They can be used in many different ways. For example, they are used in literature as descriptions of characters and places, such as maybe "He has a lot of spirit," or "This is the heart and soul of the city." Another aspect of these words is based upon religious views and actions.

In Christian belief, the soul is based upon the Old Testament and New Testament. Even with such views as if a soul does well, they will reach the clouds of heaven's gates. If a soul is purely evil and has malicious thoughts and actions, it will plunge down to the base of the Earth, in Hell's crevice. What is the difference between soul and spirit in religious belief of today? None. They are both the same definition, with a different word.

But what about in a non religious focus? The soul is what embodies your being, your motivations, your defining characteristics. Basically the soul is mostly you, inside your shell. Once we pass away, where do our souls truly head toward? No one knows the facts about this. And what of our spirit? Spirit is not much more of an entity than it is of a word speaking of a being. "This person has a lot of spunk and spirit." Spirit can be defined as "will power", "strength", "guts", and "courage". In a literally sense, its common use is for adventures holding a lot of "spirit".

Spirit could mean a lost soul for some people, but then doesn't soul lose it's meaning as well? If you look at these two words and their defining points, they can be one or the other, its just that spirit can hold much more definitions than the term soul.

Learn more about this author, Annalyn Andriyenko.
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