The essence of life lies in the consciousness, not the body.
It is undoubtedly fair to say that if I had no bones, muscles and other things of that sort, then I would not be able to do what I consider just, but it would be completely wrong to say that the cause of what I do are my bones and muscles rather than my love for the good. To say this means to be unable to distinguish the cause from what is inextricably linked with it. The majority of people, groping as if in the dark, are doing just this and identifying as the cause that which merely accompanies the cause.
— Socrates
To explain human life not by the force of the spirit, but by material force, or even a combined action of these two forces, since spiritual life cannot manifest without the support of the body (by means of food, drink and air), would be just as wrong as to explain the movements of a steam locomotive not by the pressure of the stream, but by the movements of the valve that lets the steam pass into the cylinder at regular intervals.
It is true that steam would not be able to pass from the boiler into the cylinder at the right time if there was no valve to manage this. But the valve itself would not move if its movement was not transmitted to it by the leading axle that rotates as a result of the pressure of that same steam.
Such is the seemingly bewitched circle in which people who have superficial discussions about the soul and the body often find themselves in. Very often people either see no way out of this seemingly bewitched circle, or they fall into dualism, or even recognize the material world as the sole foundation of life.
— Fyodor Strakhov
The divine dwells in us and is constantly striving towards its source.
— Seneca
True rational life consists in recognizing the spiritual, causeless source as the cause of your actions, and using this source to guide your actions.
Those who do not recognize their spiritual source rely on physical causation to guide their actions, something that is so complicated that it will never be possible for us to fully comprehend it, since every consequence is a consequence of a consequence.
And that is why such people can never have a firm foundation for their actions.
What I call the soul in a human being is that source which has a life of its own and which rouses a human being to a conscious life.
— Marcus Aurelius
Having grasped the impermanence of creation, you will see the eternally immutable.
— The Dhammapada
The soul is invisible, but it alone can see.
— The Talmud
A human being lives by reason. Never ascribe the properties of life to the body—a vessel that contains this inner force. The whole of the human shell is animated by this force of reason alone; without it, it is a shuttle without a weaver, a quill without a scribe.
— Marcus Aurelius
The spiritual guides the corporeal, not vice versa. And therefore, if a human being wants to change his condition, he must work on himself in the spiritual sphere, not the corporeal one.
