Soul and Spirit

For many the soul is the very essence of our very being. It is what animates a body and gives it life (personality, breath, heart beat, etc). It is said the soul is created from the energy of the divine and that each individuals soul is but a mere fragment of what it truly has the potential of becoming. What it can become is dependent upon the individuals growth (spiritual, learning, etc). The soul is given many names to describe the idea of the 'essence of life' such as 'Chi,' 'Ki,' and many others.

For myself for the longest time soul and spirit were interchangeable terms for me. They meant the same thing but possibly a slightly different concept or aspect of the other, however still the same, very entwined.

It wasn't until some recent life changing events in my life made me question whether or not 'Soul' and 'Spirit' were one in the same. Someone spoke to me and said, "What your soul want and your spirit wants are different things. You have to look deep within to know what your spirit wants". This just confused me of course considering I've been a firm and long time believer in the concept of 'Spirit' and 'Soul' being one in the same just another name.

So here I pose the question to all here, is 'Soul' and/or 'Spirit' truly one and the same to you? Or are they two completely different things all together just fairly closely related in nature?

That is a really great question. I had always thought of the two as being interchangable as well. However, when I think of them as seperate things, or rather as seperate parts of myself, it makes some sense but still leaves me at a bit of a loss...

When I think of the Soul, I see it as the part of you that won't die, that has been at the center of who you are in each of your lives. When I think Spirit, I think of the same thing, unless it can be used to refrence the changes your soul undertakes as it passes through life and time to knowledge and expierence.

After all, there is spiritual awarness, spiritual awakenig, and soul searching. Ddoes it mean they are the same or different? I have no clue, but definitly food for thought... Because I've never thought about the soul or spirit as two seperate things I'm curious to hear others thoughts on this as well.