What is the Source of Our Humanity?



A revelation.
A psychological truth.
Take it — or leave it.
This may be hard to swallow.
You are more than your body.

The skin as body.
Does not suffice for psyche.
Which is much deeper.
We elevate the body.
As if it were our own soul.

You are not your skin.
And you are not your body.
Those are surfaces.
That clothe your true Inner Self.
The Self that’s made of spirit.

Much more than matter.
Much more than epidermis.
You are a spirit.
Beyond your physical self.
At the core of your being.

The unborn offspring.
Eight weeks after conception.
We call a foetus.
Has a developing mind.
That’s truly made of spirit.

The child as foetus.
A soul within a body.
Is much more than flesh.
Is also made of spirit.
A living soul — with heartbeat.

Flesh has beginning.
Like all things that are matter.
And flesh has ending.
But spirit has no ending.
Enduring beyond matter.

We are not mere flesh.
Made of ashes and of dust.
We are a spirit.
That governs all our thinking.
Both conscious and unconscious.


Governing our flesh.
The spirit reigns supreme.
It is our psyche.
Not the body — with ego.
But the spirit — our center.

The body will rot.
For that is its destiny.
Beyond our control.
But spirit is enduring.
Source of our humanity.

About this poem

What is the source of our humanity? Is it our flesh, our body, which is mere matter and does not last; or is it our spirit which dwells within us, which animates and elevates us to higher ethical causes as human beings called Homo Sapiens?

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Written on May 03, 2022

Submitted by karlcfolkes on May 03, 2022

Modified on March 16, 2023

1:26 min read
531

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXXBC CCDCE XCFGH DIHGJ JAFXH FCKHX JDJJD KXHJI KXCBD XCEJC
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,248
Words 287
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Karl Constantine FOLKES

Retired educator of Jamaican ancestry with a lifelong interest in composing poetry dealing particularly with the metaphysics of self-reflection; completed a dissertation in Children’s Literature in 1991 at New York University entitled: An Analysis of Wilhelm Grimm’s “Dear Mili” Employing Von Franzian Methodological Processes of Analytical Psychology. The subject of the dissertation concerned the process of Individuation. more…

All Karl Constantine FOLKES poems | Karl Constantine FOLKES Books

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1 Comment
  • teril
    "Those are surfaces that clothe your true inner self." Thank you for the reminder! Important.
    LikeReply1 year ago

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"What is the Source of Our Humanity?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/125954/what-is-the-source-of-our-humanity?>.

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