"Just as the union of body and soul gives life to the body, so does it wrap the soul in material substance, providing it with the powers of the physical body. This is not a one way process. The soul not only gives something to the body, vital force and life, it also gets something from the body, from the body's connection with matter and form, its physical capacities, its channels of perception, and its various links with both the material and the immaterial worlds. In this way, the soul is of course limited and restricted by the body; but it also draws on a new form of being, a different point of view. The contact and mutual attraction between body and soul creates a contingency, an unique situation, generating the human self, which is neither body nor soul but a merging of the two. This conjoined self can achieve great things, giving expression to the glory of the body in being raised from the inertness of matter and to the exhilaration of the soul's response to this mutual contact."
Adin Steinsaltz
The Thirteen Petalled Rose
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