What is the Spirit?

“The Spirit is the core of the human being from which arises the decision to decide or decay, to live or die, to overcome or knuckle under.”

This is the ‘spirit’ in spiritual care.  This is the generic trans-religious interpretation of the human being that, I believe, connects the work of all faiths in the world.  And that sounds so bland and boring.  See how the Spirit is illustrated in Staff Sergeant Paul Worley of the USMC, awarded the Silver Star in 2010.  While in combat…

Worley didn’t even realize he had been hit until he saw blood: A round had struck his thigh.  “I was so full of adrenaline, it really didn’t matter,” he said.  He pulled down his trousers, patched up the wound-dismissing the platoon corpsman to help the more seriously wounded-and continued to resupply his men’s waning supply of ammunition and direct their fire.  On the radio, a lieutenant relayed that higher command wanted him evacuated. 

“I told them fuck no, that I was busy.” 

I believe we were made this way, with a Spirit at our core that makes or breaks us.  As a Christian, I accept that this is in the image of God’s Holy Spirit, that part of my Lord that pushes me beyond myself.  That is the part of the man or the woman that the chaplain can work with.  It is the part of us that deals with the ultimate things of life, the universe, and everything.

 

I do not have the authority to edit the words of a hero.