The greatest power in the realm and range of human existence is
spirit,—the divine breath which animates and pervades all things. It is
manifested throughout creation in different degrees or kingdoms. In the
vegetable kingdom it is the spirit augmentative or power of growth, the
animus of life and development in plants, trees and organisms of the
floral world. In this degree of its manifestation, spirit is unconscious
of the powers which qualify the kingdom of the animal. The distinctive
virtue or plus of the animal is sense perception; it sees, hears, smells,
tastes and feels but is incapable in turn, of conscious ideation or
reflection which characterize and differentiate the human kingdom. The
animal neither exercises nor apprehends this distinctive human power and
gift. From the visible it cannot draw conclusions regarding the invisible
whereas the human mind from visible and known premises attains knowledge
of the unknown and invisible. For instance, Christopher Columbus from
information based upon known and provable facts drew conclusions which led
him unerringly across the vast ocean to the unknown continent of America.
Such power of accomplishment is beyond the range of animal intelligence.
Therefore this power is a distinctive attribute of the human spirit and
kingdom. The animal spirit cannot penetrate and discover the mysteries of
things. It is a captive of the senses. No amount of teaching, for
instance, would enable it to grasp the fact that the sun is stationary and
the earth moves around it. Likewise the human spirit has its limitations.
It cannot comprehend the phenomena of the kingdom transcending the human
station, for it is a captive of powers and life forces which have their
operation upon its own plane of existence and it cannot go beyond that
boundary.
There is however another spirit which may be termed the divine, to which
Jesus Christ refers when He declares that man must be born of its
quickening and baptized with its living fire. Souls deprived of that
spirit are accounted as dead, though they are possessed of the human
spirit. His Holiness Jesus Christ has pronounced them dead inasmuch as
they have no portion of the divine spirit. He says: “Let the dead bury
their dead.” In another instance He declares: “That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” By this
He means that souls though alive in the human kingdom are nevertheless
dead if devoid of this particular spirit of divine quickening. They have
not partaken of the divine life of the higher kingdom; for the soul which
partakes of the power of the divine spirit is verily living.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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