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spiritspirit  Brightly coloured spirit houses in Laos. These miniature temple-like structures are used to house spirits. Visitors leave offerings of flowers and incense to invoke their protection and goodwill. | Another word for soul; a ghost; in some faiths, a member of a superhuman order of beings unlimited by space and time. Good spirits are called angels; evil spirits are called demons. |
| Spirits, whether good or evil, have played a large part in popular belief and practice in many parts of the world. |
| Christian theologians have taught that human beings are an amalgam of body, soul, and spirit, the spirit being regarded as that part which is most open to divine influence, and which may survive death. Modern Christian thinkers have identified the human spirit with the person's inner psyche or true self. According to the Bible, God himself is spirit. In Christian theology, the third person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. In the charismatic movement, the Holy Spirit is invoked and people speak in tongues. |
| Spiritualists claim to communicate with the spirits of the dead. |
| In Chinese belief, both Buddhist and Taoist, the spirits of the dead, especially of ancestors, are present and active in the world of the living, and must be appeased and consulted. Islam teaches that there are three orders of created beings: angels, created from light; djinns, created from smokeless flame; and humans, created from clay. The first two are not strictly speaking spirits, but imperceptible beings. |
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