Spirits of Flesh
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
The Name of God used in this verse from Numbers is El, and Elohai, and as we know El corresponds with Chesed (Mercy); the “spirit” within us, the soul within us, is the expression of the Mercy of God, and its true nature is divine, is godly, an emanation of Ruach Elohim, the Spirit of God. Elohai, like Eloah and Eloheynu, corresponds with Tiferet, or Rachamim, the Compassion of God, union of Mercy and Judgment. The “flesh,” the body, corresponds with Gevurah, Judgment, and when the spirit and flesh are joined there is the union of Mercy and Judgment, or Compassion; through the flesh, the body, the spirit, or soul, becomes realized and embodied, awakened in Ruach Elohim, the Spirit of God. This is the Compassion of God, the opportunity for spirits, souls, to awaken and return to God through their incarnations.
There is a dynamic tension, though, between the spirit and the flesh, or our intelligence and our bestial nature; in the unenlightened condition these are opposed to one another, and in conflict. It is the nature of our spirit, our soul, to seek God and to worship God, like the angels in heaven, worship is the natural state of our spirit or soul, but unlike the angels, we are also composed of flesh, and it is the nature of the flesh, the body, to seek physical pleasures and cleave to worldly things. In the unenlightened condition we are pulled in two different directions, or so it seems, and generally speaking, most often in the present human condition, it is the flesh, the body, and bestial nature that wins out, and the vast majority of us spend our lives in pursuit of the desires of the flesh, or worldly things.
What are we to do, understanding this division and conflict within us?
First, let us understand that the Creator has woven us in this way, a weave of spirit and flesh, heaven and earth, or Mercy and Judgment, and as such we are meant to unify the apparent two, or to realize their innate unity. If through all of our desires and activities we worship God and serve God, and we live the Life Divine, then our spiritual being, our soul, will be embodied and expressed through the flesh, and the flesh will be uplifted in this way.
There must be compassion for the flesh, and our spirit must lead the flesh in the paths of righteousness, so that with our flesh, our body and life, we can enact what is good and true; and all of the desires of the flesh, and all activities of life, must be integrated with our spirit, our soul, and become the expression of our spiritual being as we are in El, God.
One day the flesh will fall away and the spirit will return to God, but while we are in the flesh, in this body and life, and this world, the flesh is the vehicle through which we realize our spirit or soul, and realize our soul’s innate unity with God; understanding this, the flesh becomes a vehicle for returning to God.
What else are we to do, given that we are flesh and spirit in this world?
“O God, the God of all spirits of flesh…” Here is the answer! We remember the Holy One as we walk in this world, and we remember the oneness of the Spirit of God and the spirit, or soul, within us, and with our flesh we seek to embody and express the Spirit of God and our spirit, or soul, living in the material world as a spiritual being, aware that while we are in this world, ultimately we are not of this world, but we are of the spiritual world.
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