The Body, Mind and Soul: A Brief Introduction

If you are reading this, you are probably curious why a nurse would include the soul in a blog about health. As a nurse and a person of faith, I believe every person has a soul. I also believe that it affects our lives and our health. 

You may not believe the same thing I believe in. You may believe strictly in a physical world, where once we die we are no more. You may believe in a universal consciousness that we all join upon death. Or, your belief may lie somewhere in between. Don’t let our disparate beliefs keep you from reading further. 

Whatever you believe about the soul and the afterlife, there is something more to us than what we currently know. It may just be because our world is so complex and interconnected, we just don’t have the ability or knowledge to understand it yet. It may be that there is more to this universe than will ever be explained by science. Whatever it is, I will do my best to help you understand it and guide you to apply it to your own faith and physical health.  

While life, and medicine, would be easier if each section of the body was able to be treated separately, that is not how our bodies work. Every part of our body is essential for its proper functioning and anything that affects one part will affect every other part. 

Traditional, western medicine focuses almost solely on the physical body. Even just focusing on the body as an area of study is complex. Each part of the body interconnects with all the others. We cannot just treat one section of the body and not consider the effects on other parts. The more we study our physical bodies, the more complex and intricate we realize it is.  

Each person’s genetics and epigenetics contribute to how their body performs. So, not only are physical bodies complicated and complex, but each person’s body is different from other people’s. Thankfully, they are alike enough to make fairly standardized treatments with maybe some modifications. 

Also added to the mix are many other things to consider. Including: 

• Current living situation
• Past living situations
• Availity of basic needs
• Past Availity of basic needs
• Current access to healthcare
• Past access to healthcare

Add into this mix the mind. The mind, or brain, is where we interpret our world. All our experiences and memories are stored there. It is also where a lot of our body functions are controlled. It has great power over our bodies and mental health. 

It is my personal belief that there is a third aspect involved in our bodies and mind – The Soul. I believe in the Soul because God tells me I have one. In the first two chapters of Genesis, we see God creating humankind and breathing the breath of life, the soul, into them. 

We are later told in the book Mark wrote to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. 

In various scriptures, we see that our current, physical bodies will die and our souls will live forever. We are also told that those souls after death, which I believe will have a perfect physical body then, retain our memories and personalities. 

How the soul, body and mind interact is currently unknown. At this time, we are unable to see or touch the soul. We cannot measure it or test it scientifically. This does not make it any less real, just that we have not yet developed the science needed to study it. 

Journey with me in the blog as I look at both possible physical evidence, anecdotal evidence, and my personal beliefs. I don’t want to focus solely on the non-tangible part of health, so I will also be posting information on health conditions. This information will be a little different than what you might find on a purely informational healthcare content website. I want to dig a little deeper into the faith and belief aspect of certain health conditions, remaining healthy, and how to broach the subject of your desire to treat your health through your faith with your healthcare practitioners.