Spirit and Matter

 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

From the mere outward appearance of things, using our five senses only, we might describe the difference between Spirit and Matter based on our observation that Spirit is living while Matter is non-living or dead. We might even think of non-living or dead as lack of growth and/or lack of activity. If we are still thinking like this, modern science tells us that we are very wrong.

We used to think that something was alive if we could observe its movement and growth. In the same way, we thought that something was dead if there was no observable movement and growth. However, science continues to teach us that this "outside only" distinction we make between Spirit and Matter entirely misses the point.

In fact, there is movement in everything around us. Negatively charged particles are moving around positively charged nuclei in the chairs we sit in, the rocks we lean on, and the metal in the cars we drive. So, how can we make the distinction between Spirit and Matter, when the issue of movement is completely off the table?

We are forced to find a new measuring stick, and that measuring stick is intelligence. Modern science takes the view that Spirit has intelligence while Matter does not. It is the level of intelligence that places the plant kingdom at a higher level of being than the mineral kingdom; the animal kingdom above that of the plant; and the human kingdom in a higher order of being than that of animals.

Intelligence is the capacity to think. So, we can say that the distinctive quality of Spirit is its Power of Thought, while the distinctive quality of Matter is its Form. Matter (Form) extends in space, but Spirit (Thought) does not extend in space. Matter (Form) is limited by certain boundaries of size, shape, and configuration. Spirit (Thought), however, neither extends in space nor has any limitations. 

Therefore, Matter (Form) is held captive in the space-time continuum while Spirit (Thought) is free and unlimited because it exists outside of the space-time continuum. Since Spirit (Thought) is not bound by extension in space, it is present in its totality everywhere at every point of space simultaneously.