Quote:
|
Originally Posted by davem
But you're still defining 'miracles' as things which are inexplicable in terms of natural law, when we haven't actually set the parameters of natural law. Where, exactly, are you setting the dividing line between natural & supernatural - & what's your justification for setting it there as opposed to elsewhere?
Now, if you were saying that the fact that there is something rather than nothing is a 'miracle', that the sun shines on the grass, & every blade is both similar to & unique from every other, that there are sunsets & mountains, that I can experience all of those things - that all those things are 'miracles' (even the fact that there are natural laws which apply in every part of the Universe) I'd struggle to argue with the point, but to say that 'X' can't be explained by current scientific thinking, therefore it (& it alone) is a 'miracle' seems a bit limiting. The whole thing is a miracle, not just the bits we can't explain - what you're calling a 'miracle' I'd just call inexplicable.
|
Okay, I agree with what I've bolded above. Still, there are distinctions that can be made and have been since at least the first century of the modern era; namely, between body, soul, and spirit. The three cannot in reality be disentangled from each other save by death (an ultimately unnatural event according to my beliefs). However, we're capable of distinguishing from them by their character. Body is matter which I really need not explain any more than that, I hope. Soul is mind, will, emotions, and all that which is part and parcel of the psyche. Spirit is that part of reality that is hardest to define, describe, explain, et cetera.
Spirit seems to be most easily described by means of metaphor and story. Thus, I point out a few primary instances of spirit from Tolkien: (1) Tom Bombadil and the Barrowdowns incident; (2) Weathertop; (3) the Bridge of Khazad-dum; (4) Frodo atop the Hill of Seeing.
There are other examples of spirit but they bear a greater admixture of psyche: (1) the Noldoran Elves in the Shire; (2) the flight at the Fords of Bruinen; (3) the mirror of Galadriel; (4) Shelob's lair; (5) Sam appearing as an Elf to the Orcs; (6) the struggle for the Ring at Mount Doom.
Read these passages with the idea of Spirit in mind as opposed to Soul, and perhaps you will perceive what I'm trying to convey.