His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about the various potentials that God placed in the human being: the mind, the spirit, the soul, the conscience, the will, the senses, and the talents. He explains that humanity has not yet reached the depths of these capacities, and that they can grow greatly when developed in the right way.

🔹 First: The mind as a wondrous power

• The mind can create, invent, and progress in amazing ways, and it is created by God.

• A person can develop the mind through thinking, training, research, analysis, and not allowing it to be idle.

• The mind is influenced by environment, readings, friends, and loyalties, and may deviate if it submits to emotion, desire, or agitation.

🔹 Second: The spirit and soul and their growth

• The spirit has wondrous capacities that many do not realize, and it grows through spiritual exercises.

• The soul carries emotions and instincts and must be disciplined to move in the right direction.

• Emotions, if not controlled, may cause a person to lose balance and peace.

🔹 Third: The conscience and the will

• The conscience may change color and be influenced by knowledge, ignorance, or habits; therefore it must be “good” and sound.

• The will is developed through fasting and spiritual striving so that a person leads himself and is not led.

🔹 Fourth: Controlling the inner powers

• A healthy person is one whose powers work together without inner conflict.

• One must control thought, senses, speech, and emotions.

• The wise person looks at matters from every direction and has far-sightedness and sound judgment.

🔹 Spiritual conclusion from a Coptic Orthodox perspective

• God gave the human being great potentials, and it is the human’s responsibility to develop and purify them according to God’s will.

• A strong personality is one that controls itself and balances mind, spirit, and soul under the work of grace.

• True growth is not in outer appearance but in inner thought, conscience, and spirit.

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