Part 2 of 4 - 

The Physical Body Is a Dead End

 

Everyone is aware of his own body. It is tangible, temporal, and lends itself to scientific investigation. If you ask a chemist, What is man? he might produce an analytical chart and point out to you conclusively that man is so much water, nitrogen, carbon, and various other elements. Yet he would have been referring to only the physical part of mans being, thus in nature he appears to be identical to the elements of the earth. Genesis 2:7a the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground …

Since the beginning of history, man has sought to be free from the imprisonment of his body to touch that deep inner longing. He has tried to find new ways of pleasing his physical senses, even now with the virtual electronic world; yet only to find that nothing really satisfies that hunger deep within. Physical pleasure is so fleeting. Although man has managed to prolong his biological life, still every man comes to the point where he has to admit that the body is a literal dead end in itself.

What About the Metaphysical The Unseen Non-Physical Soul of Man?

If you were to ask the psychologist about man, he might say that besides a body, you have a more inward, hidden composition. You have a mind - a consciousness, a thinking organ; we also have emotions the faculty of inner sense of feeling capable of loving, hating, being depressed, and elated. He might also point out that you have a will, a faculty for choosing, making decisions.

The psychologist would in this manner show that you are not a mere physical being, but a psychological being as well. In short you are a living, thinking, feeling, willing entity not mere animated dust, but a real live person; with each person seeming to have a unique and distinctive personality. This, he would say, is you. Your real self, he would explain, is your inner-self, your psychological self, while your body is just the outward shell of your being. Scripture confirms this about the soul of man. 1 Cor. 15:45s …The first man Adam was made a living soul; … Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

According to the meaning of the word, this psychological part is the soul of man. Psyche comes from the Greek word psuche, translated in the Bible as soul. Psychology is the study of the soul. Each individual has unique faculties of the soul; the mind, emotions and will, comprising the inward person, their personality.

The last two centuries of human history have seen the spectacular rise of the souls powers. The great minds of men have contributed an abundance of thought and discovery. The great minds and wills of men have produced an abundance of decisive action in government and culture. Without doubt the soul has soared to its zenith in recent history yet in spite of mans great accomplishments, the sense of inner emptiness remains.

We can conquer the moon, work with nanotechnology, and investigate the genome of man, but still, deep within our self, there remains some uncharted territory. Yet, mans soul is inadequate; his highest thoughts are soon forgotten, his deepest emotions quickly fade, his most adamant determination of will falters. Within the soul of man, the search for a key to man ends in frustration.

In order to fathom The Mystery of Man, we must go beyond the physical realm, and go beyond the psychological realm, to find the missing key to man.