Anima, Animus, Spiritus

     The ancient Greek church fathers had a three-fold concept of the mind of man.  First, there was the Anima or psyche.  The core animal-like and reactive Anima soul was at the basis of our being.  It responds automatically to the world around us.  On top of this, or rather, in the middle of this, is the Animus.  It is the higher mind - conscious, reasoning, and active.  It doesn't necessary govern over the Anima, but rather communicates with it.  At one time we can be controlled by the Anima or Animus. But, according to the Greek Fathers, the true state of man is a higher third principle - the Spiritus. This is the part of man that communes with God, and communes with himself - his true self. Communing with God unites all these three parts of ourselves, so that we can be one whole being. 

     What does it look like if we are not an integrated whole?  What does it look like to not accept communion with God?  We are fractured.  Living out of the Anima or Animus.  A slave to the impulses of the animal self, or equally a slave to logic and reason.  A slave because we believe there is nothing outside the physical, experiential world that meets our senses. Logic and reason have their place, but they were not meant to completely govern our lives.  Then how would we experience true pleasure or joy in the world dripping with spiritual beauty around us? 

     Is the experience of a sunset on a late winter evening the realm of the Animus?  No. If I sit with it, I drink in the beauty and turn my attention to the settling stars, it causes me to question: am I alone?  Is there something greater or at least beings equal to man out there among the stars?  Is there a greater spirit governing the passing of the day into night?  How do I feel right now, in my soul? That is the place of the Spiritus.  Every man man and woman has the capacity to live out of Spiritus at times during their days.  Experiencing the spiritual realm that invades every day life at every moment, if we stop to drink it in.

     But it is God that unites these three states of man.  This wholeness is found in communing with him. And as we grow, I feel, we are traveling on a path to integration. Integration of all of our fractured parts, so we can become a whole, singular spiritual being. United, not rejecting the Anima or Animus or Spiritus, but rather living our of the sum total of these parts.  Available to live life on all levels.

     How do we become like this, how do we become unified?  I think it is out of the constant practice of noticing the spiritual around us.  This leads us to communing with God, I believe, sooner or later. And what does that look like?  For me, it is a regular practice of praying and meditating, reading scripture, and experiencing the beauty in the world around me.  And not just experiencing it blindly, but seeing God in it.  When I go to the woods with my dog, I listen to the sounds and take in the sights and smells.  But always, eventually, it comes back to God.  I am thankful that he made all of this for me, for us.  I am thankful that I can experience it with all of my senses.  The senses we know of, and the ones yet to be quantified. And I am thankful for Him.  Growing me, shaping me, unifying me in all those little minutes that pass during the day.