That there are things material and spiritual is as old in human thinking as there have been humanoids who could think. While I can’t be certain, I don’t believe things spiritual were understood in the sort of woozy way it is today. From what I can gather from the secular spiritual people I know, they have inconsistent, highly individualized mutant versions of something between Plato and Hogwarts.
The bible is chock full of spirits and spiritual beings. In any case, what is spiritual is popularly understood as non-material, without substance. Jewish and Christian understanding goes in another direction. God is defined as pure spirit in whom and through whom all that is was created, whether seen or unseen. We believe the Holy Spirit is a way of understanding how God is active in our lives.
Early heresies tried to explain material as corrupt and bad, while spirit was incorruptible and good. Some even proposed two Gods, one spiritual and good, the other the creator of an inferior, corrupt material world. Those understandings are still with us. To be materialistic is almost synonymous with with egoistic greed. To be spiritual is to be someone above the rank disorder of the material world. It is a profound misunderstanding of inseparable connection between material and spiritual reality
We know that what is spiritual is substantial. It has substance, perhaps not like the substance of our earthly experience, but substance just the same. What of God is spiritual coexists with what is material in the universe. Remember when Jesus entered a closed and shuttered room to greet his disciples late on Easter Day? The doors and walls could not keep him out because he was more real than and with greater substance than wall or doors.
Jesus demonstrated that in God what is spiritual and what is material are not opposites but elements in creation. Like a hand moving through air, he entered the room. That is the substance of spirit. Because God is the source of all that is, whether seen or unseen, everything has some element of spirit in it. If God is pure love, pure goodness, then what is spiritual that comes from God is also good and loving. If that can sometimes take the form of angels, and I believe it can, then they too are made present to us for our own good.
So what about all the evil spirits recorded in scripture? Don’t get too hung up on the devil and fallen angels. Satan is not the devil in the Hebrew Scriptures; he is more of the professor Snipe of heaven whose assignment is to report wrong doing to God. The evil devil and fallen angels do play a prominent role in the apocalyptic part of Christian scripture and have been a huge hit in Christian mythology ever since. I’m pretty sure they were meant to be understood metaphorically, not literally, which means they have important lessons to teach and we should take them seriously, not literally.
The source and reality of evil spirits is something else. A good many of them we now recognize as ordinary diseases well known to medical science. But that’s been true only for a few hundred years. Before that they were a mystery and mysteries were often explained away as spiritual in some way. If there are real evil spirits, where do they come from?
I think they come from us. We create them. They come from what we have done and not done, whether intentional or not. Most of you have heard of the Butterfly Effect where it is said that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon can lead to a thunderstorm in Seattle. Our words and deeds are like that. They have ripple effects that have influence for good or ill far beyond our time and place. Words and deeds that cause injury, destruction and death ripple out from the billions of people now alive, and the still rippling effects of past generations to create a storm of evil waves and wind that only Jesus can calm. Each of us has experienced its substantial reality when we have been in hostile work environments where the spirit of the place is filled with fear, anxiety and depression. Consider such a minor example in the face of the greater evils of war, civil disorder, and blatant acts of criminality. Hitler and Stalin may be long dead but the evil spirits they unleashed are still with us. In more ordinary ways, every cruel word, nasty bit of gossip, and slightly malicious deed nourishes the spirit of evil that encompasses humanity.
It sounds bleak, and we cannot undo the spiritual evil we have created by ourselves. . But we are not without hope and the ability to make things better. We also create good spirits. They can’t take the form of Jesus entering a closed room, nor are they like the godly spiritual presence that surrounds us at every moment. But they do have a degree of substance and can last for a very long time. Paul said Christians must put on spiritual armor of belief and trust in Jesus as the one who can and has defeated the evil of our own creation. We may not have stopped creating spiritual evil, but in following Jesus we can and do create some of the spiritual substance that is the kingdom of God right here, right now. It is the power of Christ working in us and through us.
The truly spiritual person is one open to receiving the substantial presence of God’s Holy Spirit working in them, with them, for them and through them. It’s something even the most spiritual can do only imperfectly and not always. The rest of us are way behind, but it is enough. By following in the way of Jesus, Christian spirituality will always be turned away from self and toward the well being of others and the communities in which they live, no matter where or under what conditions. Spirituality that seeks an inner, private connection with nature unique to one’s self is a romantic chimera, and no more than that. It has no spiritual substance.
Lest this sound all too complicated to live into, consider Paul’s admonition to the Romans for how to live ordinary lives in ordinary ways as material beings of spiritual substance:
Romans 12:…9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.[e] 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;[f] do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God;[g] for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ 20 No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Very thought provoking and, as always, thank you!