The Resilient Spirit

What is a spirit, and what makes it resilient? Ask yourself before diving further in here; given your current understanding of what a spirit is, what does resilience look like from that perspective? And what benefits can be gleaned from having a resilient spirit?

Let’s table some functional definitions in hopes of arriving at the same general consensus from which we can hopefully draw some useful advice.

The spirit is far more knowable in experience than it is objectively as far as I can tell. If you were to ask a robot if there was a spirit within human consciousness, or perhaps if there was a component of human consciousness that was not derived from the electrophysiological changes occurring in the brain, I would be confident in suggesting that the robot would say “no”.

And although I wouldn’t go to my grave debating that perspective, I might hold the existence of a spirit more as a personal truth; something derived from my own experience that I perceive as something coming from somewhere outside of my normal waking consciousness.

But for simplicity’s sake, let’s all agree to disagree and use a relatively secular definition that sounds something like Spirit is the component of human consciousness that remains relatively unprovoked in response to subjectively distressing, or euphoric events. It is completely unperturbed by otherwise “human” trifles, spending its time in pure observation. It may also be the home from which our deepest desire to actualize bursts forth; like a carrot on a stick, the spirit teases our human mind towards some form of self-actualization.

And how might a resilient spirit benefit us, let alone exist?

If we fall back onto the definition of resilience that we’ve worked with since the beginning of this resilience series, you might recall that “resilience is the ability to endure adversity, and to positively adapt”. With this definition in mind, I feel bold enough to assert that the spirit possesses the truest form of resilience, without the need to “train” it. It arrives in us fully formed and functional. Following our definition of the spirit, its nature of being unperturbed and in a constant state of nothing but pure observation demonstrates a strain of resilience that is nearly impossible to achieve from the human mind that most of us work with - but not entirely impossible. I think that’s one of the primary purposes of the existence of a spirit, it is the carrot for us to strive for. Its footprints give us a sense of “with enough work and focus, this is possible for me too”.

So what about the spirit makes it intrinsically resilient? It’s very definition. The spirit remains unperturbed by human struggle and rejoice, in a constant state of observation. It has no preference system, it is always in a state of content observation. So what actually makes it resilient?

Well, what makes something adverse? Our experience, or more specifically, our negative experience of some event or outcome. The only reason we view something as adverse is that it affects us negatively in some way. It’s hard to be affected negatively from the perspective of a spirit because if you remain unperturbed by human struggle… you can’t be affected.

So that’s the first part of the definition of resilience; the second component being “positively adapt in some way”.

If a spirit remains completely undisturbed by life’s troubles and celebrations, how could it positively adapt? What is there to adapt to? This might be insufficient for some of you, but I believe the primary nature of the spirit removes the need to positively adapt. If nothing is “getting” to you, if nothing bothers you, what is there to positively adapt to? What exactly would you need to be attempting to put a positive spin on?

So how could this possibly relate to human life, let alone give us a sense of resilience?

Resting in the idea that a spirit exists - that’s how. Knowing, that in some deep part of yourself, exists an element that is still very much you that manages to maintain perfect balance and semblance, despite the storm that may be experienced within the rest of the individual.

Like a sort of untippable ship that can brave and handle the most terrific and powerful storms. The crew may be in complete chaos tying down the tables and all the equipment on board, yet the ship itself remains completely unbothered because it knows that it will never tip. That’s the spirit. The part of you that rests in knowing that it will always be safe, no matter what happens.

After all, isn’t this what resilience is all about? Creating and orienting towards genuine feelings of safety and confidence that you will always be safe, and despite the storms happening in the mind, the spirit is there, quietly in the background, letting you feel it all. And when you need it to, it’s there to give you a sense of refuge from it all.