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5. The Spirit of Man - We are More Than Just Matter

Humans have a number of abilities that cannot be explained by "chemistry" alone. There is something in humans that goes beyond matter. We can only answer the initial question of where disease comes from if we find this component. As just shown, as a purely material element, the brain itself cannot think independently. The brain cannot be the origin of thoughts. Although it is absolutely necessary for thinking, it cannot think independently.

But what then is the origin of thought? All I could find was that humans and animals must have a spirit. A spirit is invisible and cannot be physically detected directly, but there is still comprehensible evidence that proves its existence.

Evidence for the existence of an immaterial spirit:

1. The spiritual needs of humans and animals

There is a whole range of spiritual needs that can be observed in both humans and animals: freedom, security, curiosity or knowledge and many others. The spiritual needs of humans undoubtedly go far beyond those of animals, for example in terms of justice, truth, responsibility, morality, appreciation, etc. However, the list of human spiritual needs is not really exhaustive. What they have in common is that they are all non-chemical in nature; there is no "freedom" as a dose in tablet form.

Needs as such must be requested by an entity. Where this entity does not exist, the need is also meaningless because it is not necessary. There is an entity in man that demands spiritual needs, but what is it? What or who in man wants freedom? Do our brain cells crave these spiritual needs? Or is it the heart, the liver or the stomach? Could it be, for example, that the brain cells need understanding from other people in order to function? Does a cell protest and get upset when an injustice is done to itself or to another person?

It is obvious to our reason that this is not the case. So there must be something in humans and also in animals that demands spiritual things. Something that can distinguish between truth and lies, justice and injustice, security and insecurity. Something that can separate a loving act from unkindness. Humans are obviously capable of this. Where does this ability come from? I had no other explanation than to accept that human beings must be more than just matter. The existence of a spiritual entity cannot be dismissed out of hand. And since we all already know the term for it, we therefore have a spirit.

2. The dependence of the body on the spirit

Our body, consisting of chemistry, has physical needs similar to a plant, which it cannot fulfill itself. Just as a plant is dependent on water being made available to it by nature or humans so that it can absorb it, our body is also dependent on the spirit to satisfy its physical needs. The body therefore signals its needs through hunger and thirst, shivering and sweating. In this way, the body shows the spirit what it lacks or has too much of. The body cannot fetch food and water for itself. Only the spirit can supply the body with food, water, oxygen, etc. The body then absorbs these substances and processes them, but it cannot "procure" them for itself. It is the spirit that controls the body. It is only through this that a person can move, even if they only go to the fridge or tap.

Without a spirit, the body would not be able to take care of itself. This is why the body sends a signal to the spirit to remedy a deficiency. Hunger emanates from the cells, but a cell cannot sense hunger itself. Hunger is therefore not a signal from one cell to another, but from the cells (matter) to the spirit. And this can then fulfill the body's need - or refuse to do so. This leads us to the third proof that we must have a spirit.

3. The primacy of the spirit and its needs over physical needs

In a case of conflict in the life of a person who has to decide between "love" (as a term for spiritual needs) and life, love is more important than life. I have observed this order of priority time and again. There are many married couples where both partners wish to die before the other because they don't want to live alone. One elderly patient told me that he was prepared for the fact that if his wife died, he would die right after her. In the case of a young man, it was tragic when his girlfriend ended their relationship. He couldn't bear the situation, got his father's gun, invited the girl on a joyride and shot her and then himself.

I have noticed very clearly that my patients prioritize their spiritual needs over their physical needs. We also see this in everyday life, where people give up food, sleep and rest just to pursue their spiritual desires. Not much consideration is given to physical needs during adolescence when satisfying one's spiritual needs at a party is more important than life itself.

Without exception, everyone would be dissatisfied to merely exist. I have often asked my patients: "Would you be satisfied if you were just living?" No one answers that life alone would be enough for them. Everyone has something that drives them, that gives their life meaning, without which they would not be satisfied. I have observed that it is the (supposed) loss of meaning in life that leads to mental stress and then manifests itself as illness in the body. The illness is not the result of a person fighting for their "life". Rather, the illness is the result of a person not being able to fulfill or having lost the "meaning" of their life.

Addiction is also about fulfilling meaning, not about life itself. And since the spiritual need for meaning is becoming ever greater, we see many addicted people. Meaning always comes before life, which proves that the spirit is above the body and that people would rather give up their lives than not fulfill their meaning.

This means that Maslow's pyramid is constructed the wrong way around. It has physical needs on the first layer of the pyramid.1 The reality of human life shows that the human pyramid of needs is actually filled primarily with spiritual needs and only secondarily with physical needs. Yes, we need both, we have physical and spiritual needs. Nevertheless, the spiritual needs are more important than the physical needs of the body.

So what exactly is it that makes people capable of valuing the meaning of life higher than life itself? Who is the guiding force in people? Is it the brain - i.e. the body - or the spirit?

4. The capabilities of the spirit exceed those of the body

The body communicates with the spirit by sending it feelings and emotions, and also via the nerves. These describe a desire of the body. Does the spirit have to respond to the body's desire or can it refuse? Experience shows us that if the spirit does not want to do something, no matter how many urgent signals the body sends, its need will still not be satisfied. The spirit is an entity that cannot be forced to act.

I was able to find out three things about the spirit from its functions.

  1. A spirit is a closed system and cannot be controlled from the outside. A spirit can be influenced from the outside, but only it determines whether it accepts this influence or not.
  2. A spirit can only control itself and it does so from within.
  3. A spirit is always active, i.e. passivity does not exist in the spirit.

The ability to make decisions is probably the most important difference between a physical and a spiritual element. The physical element cannot say "no", it obeys orders that come from outside. A piece of wood cannot defend itself when someone is working on it. The body can only react and metabolize chemistry. It reacts according to the commands it receives. A spirit does not take orders, but acts independently.

The abilities of a spirit are therefore

  1. for their own action (can act on their own initiative, come up with an idea, etc.)
  2. the refusal to react to an external stimulus (a "no")

and cannot be found in the material.

A spirit, too, must first process information in order to do anything. But it acts on its own and reacts when it wants to, or it does not react and refuses the external impulse. That is why the spirit cannot be equal to matter. Because it is superior to matter, a spirit cannot arise from matter either.

When the body demands its food, the spirit can follow this desire. However, the spirit can also freely decide to go without food, contrary to an urgent signal from the body. This is why a person can go on a life-threatening hunger strike if it fulfills a higher spiritual need.

All this shows that matter influences the spirit, but cannot control it. It can hinder the spirit by causing discomfort and pain as a reaction to the spirit. However, physical reactions cannot force the spirit to obey the body (matter).

This makes it clear that the spirit is not an element that can be commanded, as is the case with matter. As the spirit controls itself from within, it must check the information offered to it to see whether it meets its spiritual needs. If it is offered something that meets its needs, it accepts it and acts accordingly. If it does not, he does not act in accordance with what someone offers him. He therefore has a clear "no" as an option for action, which is not found in matter.

The ultimate goal of torture is also to reach the spirit through the body. The body is damaged or destroyed, which the spirit has to feel and endure. But even this process cannot force the spirit to act. Many people who have been tortured have never given in, no matter how great the torture. This is further proof that there must be two entities in man.

5. The control of the body by the thoughts of the spirit

Decisions made are commands for the brain, not signals or requests. The body as a physical element must react to its outside world. It has no choice. The movements of the hands are nothing more than impulses, commands from the spirit that the body carries out. The body cannot say "no" to this.

Using the example of a panic attack, we can look at the interaction between these two entities. The human spirit interprets a situation as a life-threatening danger, a second of fright causes the body to chemically release a series of hormones in milliseconds that change the metabolism of the whole body. Does the body have a choice? No, it has to react in the way it is pre-set to. Even if the panic is based on a delusion, the physical reaction is the same. Sometimes you dream something bad and then wake up relieved and say to yourself: "It was only a dream!" Regardless of this, the physical reaction is still there. This also applies to the panic that you voluntarily create for yourself by watching certain films.

In order for the spirit to control the body through thoughts2, it must, according to natural law, provide the body with physical impulses. Without this, it could not set the body in motion. We have seen that our brain works with an electric current. And these impulses have to come from somewhere. The brain cannot give them to itself. This is shown by the difference between a living and a dead person. What is missing in the brain of a dead person? It is the electric current! Why is it missing now? How does the electricity get into the cerebral cortex in the first place? Who generates the electrical impulse in the brain?

As matter, the brain is not capable of generating the electrical impulse that drives it.3 If it were capable of providing itself with the means by which it is driven, it would be a perpetual motion machine. However, this would abolish the basic law of dependence and the principle of the channel. The brain would function differently - not only than all other human organs, but also differently than all observable elements in the universe.

It is the spirit that triggers the electrical current impulse through thoughts and decisions. The spirit keeps the brain "in motion", so to speak. These currents can be measured. They are nothing other than the activity of the spirit on the brain. The brain itself cannot generate electrical impulses, as can be seen in dead people. According to the law of nature, the dead person thus proves that the living person must have a spirit.

The evidence for the existence of a spirit can be summarized as follows:

Without the spirit, we as humans would have

  • no mental activity
  • no spiritual needs
  • no sensory perceptions (feel, see, smell, taste, hear)
  • no thoughts
  • no ratings (choice between Yes or No)
  • no responsibility
  • no morals
  • no spirituality
  • no possibility of moving the body.

A body without a spirit is therefore dead. So the question inevitably arises: if matter cannot produce it, where does the spirit come from?

  1. Maslow, A. H. (1943): A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review. 50 (4), S. 370-396. ↩

  2. The respiratory function is also controlled by a chemical process in the presence of the spirit. This chemical process only runs for as long as the spirit controls it, but how it is to function is not a decision of the spirit. Unlike the decision about food intake, breathing can be impressively trained, but it cannot be consciously stopped permanently. Therefore, control does not only mean giving the body commands, but also maintaining the processes defined in the body within a defined framework. ↩

  3. It is about complex control impulses that run through the entire body from the cerebral cortex, not about the supply of energy to the brain by the body itself. ↩