There is a powerful comparison between the muscles of the body and the muscles of the soul - except the soul is an exponent more complex.
In the U.S. Army, they say there are these dimensions of physical fitness:
- Muscular Strength
- Muscular Endurance
- Cardio-resperatory Endurance
- Body Composition
- Flexibility
I would add "Coordination".
But, if there are about 6 dimensions of physical fitness, there are 36+ of soulish fitness. Examples:
- Short-term Patience
- Long-term Patience
- Forgiveness Depth
- Forgiveness Speed
- Short-term recall
- Remembering something like a password...
- Remembering names
- Pronouncing words correctly
- ...many more.
Brother Luke pointed out to me that it is hard to learn to use new muscles (such as pronouncing a letter like the "Ayin", or wiggling one's ears). It should be clear that it is hard to learn to use new "muscles of the soul".
Can we extend the description to include the spirit?
What dimensions would be on what side of the soul/spirit split?