The SPIRITUAL Self

Objectives:
• Articulate the ways of finding meaning in life.
• Discuss the significance of the practice of religion in the spiritual life of
the person.
• Construct an essay indicating how he/she could personally and
concretelylive the great commandment of love.
The Concept of Spirituality
• Who we are at the core.
• Permanent than material and social self
• Man’s way of seeking as well as expressing the meaning and purpose of
his life.
• Speak of the quality of one’s relationships – with God, Self, Others,
institutions and God’s entire creation,, marked by respect, forgiveness,
generous service and prayer .
The Spirit and the Soul
• The spirit in Hebrew language is ruach or pneuma – means breath- the
breath of life.
• The spirit is described as the disposition of an individual, a person’s
habitual attitudes, as man’s supernatural power which comes from God.
• It is part of us through which all life and power of God flow.
• Life-giving part of man.
The Filipino for Spirit-
• Espirito or Espirito
• Visayan term; ginhawa, Tagalog hininga
• The concept of soul – non-physical aspect of a person.
• The complexity of human attributes that manifests as consciousness,
thought, feeling and will, regarded as distinct, from the physical body.
The Filipino Traditional Understanding of
the Soul
• Kaluluwa, kararwa, kakadduwa, all come from the root word duwa, which
means two. This is because the soul has two existences:- one physical that
is connected to the human body and its life, and the other spiritual where
it exists on its own.
• The Ilokano kakadduwa is further derived from kadduwa, meaning
companion” companion” or an inseparable partner, therefore an attached
companion of the living person.
• The doubling of “kad” intensifies the nature of companionship -
Cebuanos’
• Kaluha, Mindoro folks, karadwa or kalag. For the Kankanay;s of
Cordilllera, ab-abiik, is the term used for the spiritual self which is also
applicable for trees, stones, rivers, etc. which are also believed to have ab-
abiik.
• Ibanag- ikararua – which has the role of giving direction, and wholeness
to the man. The body can stay alive independently of the soul while the
soul itself, even when separate from the body, experiences material wants
and needs’
Loob and Personhood
• Loob is the inner self, we have the concept of loob and personhood.
• Loob is the inner core of one’s peronhood and where the true worth of the
person lies.
• It is what makes one what he is and who he is as a person. It is a term to
describe a person’s relationship with others. Contemporary psychology
has defined the person by his relationship with others and such is done by
describing what sort of loob he has as magandang loob…
Mercado (1994)
• A purified kalooban is supported by a prayer. This loob that has been
continually purified and strengthened acquires commitment to the cause
of the individual.
• This happens through forms of sacrifices which includes prayers,
abstinence from certain kinds of foods, or comforts and sexual abstinence.
Constant prayers and religious exercises are ways to purify the loob. One
of the most popular sacrifices done by some Filipino Catholic is the
penitensia during Good Friday.
God’s Kagandahang Loob
• The Filipino concept and value, kagandahang loob (kindness, generosity,
benevolence, helpfulness) can be a very appropriate description of who
Gos id for Filipinos. It conneotes that all is good in a person which is the
ideal among Filipinos. It is a quality of BEING which hs its own roots in
the very heart of a person and which is given expression in the totality of
one’s life of interrelationship.