From a mindless “life force”, to a sentient being.

Have you ever heard of the mystical life force referred to as Ki, Chi or Qi in the Oriental cultures? This term is defined as the life force associated with breath. That is why you find so much of Chinese Medicine focussed on breathing, in an attempt to rekindle the life force.

In the Bible, the terms most often translated into “spirit” (and sometimes as “soul”) are [nephesh / r­­uach] (Hebrew – Old Testament) and [pneuma] (Greek – New Testament). In both cases they literally mean “wind” or “breath”. For instance when Jesus said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit [pneuma]” He literally said that He gave His breath back to God (Luk 23:46). As Adam became alive when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [nephesh] (Gen 2:7), so Jesus as a human being now died and his breath [pneuma] (i.e. His life) returned to God.

Throughout Scripture it is abundantly clear that this breath, or “spirit”, is considered the life force. This vital energy is lent to every living creature by God. It is not something that they possess innately, nor can they keep it indefinitely. God alone possess life intrinsically (1 Titus 6:16). And when a creature dies that life energy returns to God.

The Encyclopaedia of Taekwon-Do (a Korean martial art) makes an interesting distinction between Chi and Ki. According to Choi Hong-Hi, the author, Ki is the life force, while Chi is the mental aptitude that directs the Ki. “The Chi leads, the Ki follows.” Nowhere else have I found this interesting distinction, but it has proven to be valuable for me in trying to understand the Scriptural principle of the “spirit”.

The spirit is the breath or life-principle. It is similar to the idea of this impersonal Ki. But in combination with the body, when it becomes a living soul, this Ki acquires another level – a personal characteristic – i.e. Chi. “And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). These last two words “living soul [chay nephesh]” directly translated means “living breath”. The inanimate impersonal “breath” has now become an animate personal “breath”. The Ki is now possessed with a mental aptitude – it has become Chi.

Separated from the body this breath is only life energy – apart from God’s active emanation, it is mindless. However, once merged with the body, “formed…of the dust of the ground”, a wondrous thing occurs. A Divinely ordained synergy between body and life energy creates something marvellous – a psyche. Quickened by this breath, a lifeless body doesn’t merely become alive, it also becomes sentient. And the impersonal life energy becomes personal – mindful.

The complexity of the body itself, (the magnitude of the brain), dictates the degree of sentience. God designed the human body to be the most sentient of all living creatures. Sentient to such a degree that we even imitate something of the Divine: “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…” (Gen 1:26).