The Origin of Man's Soul

The Works of Aristotle: My review

The article talks about the origin of man’s soul. It believes that man and his soul was a Divine workmanship created from dust but God-breathed so it had life.

            From this powerful truth we can faithfully believe that man is both an earthly creature and spiritual being. His system follows the physical laws of nature like what we observe in other forms of creature (for example our strong need for nurturance, our tendency to be aggressive when become frustrated, our territorial consciousness, aversion from deprivation and the natural process of wear-and-tear) –this is because we are earthly creature made from dust. However, we are also a spiritual being with its life came from the very breath of God. Therefore the spirit of God lives in each man. Not only his form His likeness but the goodness and all the potential of God’s spirit reside in every man’s heart. If this is what we remind ourselves every day we will have more respect in ourselves and in others, we will have faith in ourselves as much as we have faith in our Creator, we will also believe in other’s capacity for goodness. Man’s being an earthly creature and spiritual being makes him so complex in every aspect as manifested in all his activities, choices and decisions, values, needs and motivation.

            The articles said it so exquisitely that, “Now as for all other creatures, at His word they were made and had life, but the creature that God set over His works was His peculiar workmanship, formed by Him out of the dust of the earth, and He condescended to breathe into his nostrils the breath of life, which seems to denote both care and, if we may so term it, labor, used about man more than about all other living creatures..”. I really like to ponder on the idea that while everything else were created by His words, man was created using God’s hands, His touch with the pressure just right, and His precious breath the brings forth the wonders of His nature and potential.

            With all these realization, I can’t help but be reminded on the preaching of Pastor Ed Lapiz entitled God Knows; it is about how and why God knows us very intimately. Let me share to you some of its excerpts.

            “God knows man because He lives in man. Wala sya sa langit lang, nasa puso natin sya. Wala lamang sya sa mga ulap at malalayong planeta o bituin, nasa kaloob-looban sya n gating diwa. Genesis 2:7, God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. Ng nilikha ng Dyos ang tao, inihinga niya rito ang sarili nyang hininga. Higit pa sa katulad ng proseso ng CPR o mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Yung ibinigay nyang buhay sa atin nanggaling sa loob nya, hindi nya pinitas sa puno o sa ilog at ibinigay sa atin. Galing sa Kanya. Sumanib ang espiritu ng Dyos sa lupa at yung lupa na sinaniban ng kanyang espiritu, yun ang tao. May bahaging galling sa Dyos, may bahaging galling sa lupa. Mahiwaga. Makapangyarihan. Espesyal.”*

            I really cannot find the right organization of words to close this reflection because there is so much in it to ponder upon but a verse in the Bible expresses it so captivatingly how man is amazed by, though he may not perfectly understand God’s creation that lives in him: I PRAISE YOU BECAUSE I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE.

**photo credited to Monica Del Rosario and Marvin Tolentino