政治领域也是如此。肉身现实主义最负盛名的马基雅维利(Machiavelli)分析了古希腊的修昔底德(Thucydides)的《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》(History of the Peloponnesian War) 之后，以亚平宁半岛风云诡谲的纷争现实为背景，写出了传世的《君主论》(The Prince) 。他认为：
从心理学的角度，有一个哥们儿叫马斯洛(Maslow)的，弄出了一个需求模型(Hierarchy of Needs )。我直接wiki给你们看：
Physiological needs: food and water and sex.
Safety Needs: Security, Order, and Stability.”
Love and Belonging: ready to share themselves with others.
Esteem” level: individuals feel comfortable with what they have accomplished.
Need for Self-actualization: a state of harmony and understanding.
老版的GRE中有这样一道题目: Choice is an illusion. In reality, our lives are controlled by the society in which we live.
同意这道题目非常容易，讲肉身的必要性和局限性就好了。我们不能选择我们的出生，不能选择我们的性别，不能选择我们的家庭，不能选择我爸是李刚，就是因为出生前选了一个hard模式，所以我们降生于中国（但幸好没有选very hard，否则出生就思密达金胖子了），我们不能选择世俗对我们结婚生子的要求，最后连死亡也是没有办法选择的。这个大概就是卢梭(Rousseau)在《爱弥儿》(Eimile or Education)中所说的：人是生而自由的，但却无往不在枷锁之中(Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains)。
灵魂永远不会被囚禁，就像《肖申克的救赎》(The Shawshank Redemption)中Andy进入广播室，用椅子顶住门，开始播放女高音唱片，所有囚徒脸上洋溢的自由表情时那样。电影中有一句经典的台词：I have to remind myself that some birds weren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright.
舍生取义自古就有：苏格拉底(Socrates)获罪之后，其学生安排他逃走。苏格拉底目光如炬，淡定说, “I would rather die having spoken in my manner, than speak in your manner and live.” 清末谭嗣同有诗云：我自横刀向天笑，去留肝胆两昆仑。就连后来被唾弃的汪精卫，也在其年少时写过这样的话：引刀成一快，不负少年头。遂前去刺杀亲王。活着，那是肉身的问题；死，那是灵魂抬起了自己高傲的头颅。
无独有偶，奥斯卡王尔德(Oscar Wilde)说过：We are all in the gutters, but some of us are looking at the stars. （我们都生活在臭水沟里，但是当中的一些人还在仰望着星空）。王尔德因为同性恋被判入狱，但是铁栏怎么束缚他自由的心灵。现在回望，不禁唏嘘。那些所谓的正人君子早就湮没在历史的长河之中，但是王尔德那追求灵魂高贵的内心换来的是墓碑上从未消逝的朱唇印记。
滚石唱片世纪500金曲排名第一的是约翰列侬(John Lennon)的Imagine. 当中有句歌词非常给力：You may say I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and world will be as one.
米兰昆德拉(Milan Kundera)的大作《不能承受的生命之轻》(The Unbearable Lightness of Being)中有这样的桥段：一个囚徒被终身监禁，其妻子故亡。狱卒不忍其苦，遂赠于毒药一枚，劝其自杀。囚徒婉拒道：吾妻唯一活着的地方，便在我的记忆里。纵使两人阴阳永隔，但在灵魂上从未离开半步。爱情之伟大，不过如此。相反，爱情最大的悲剧如阿三诗人泰戈尔(Tagore)所写:
The longest distance in the world
not the distance between alive and dead
not the distance between east and west
just I am standing in front of you
yet you do not konw that I love you
When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look,
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled,
And paced upon the mountains overhead,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
还有加西亚马尔克斯所著的《霍乱时期的爱情》(Love in Time of Cholera)，书中以下的情节让我知道了爱情的力量是多么的潇洒而执着：
见到Fermina之后，他每天会写70多页的信，每天守在Fermina上学的路上，假装在读书。
在圣诞夜那天他第一次与Fermina如此的靠近，能闻到她的鼻息，那一夜，他盘桓在哥伦比亚的一个废城一夜，他湿润的眼眶告诉他自己Today is not the birth of Jesus but himself.
他会在夜晚Fermina的窗台下演奏一夜的Violin Concerto,即便是在内战最紧张的时刻。由于违反宵禁的原则，他被捕入狱，he is proud for been under arrest for falling in love
他的朋友是一个妓院的老鸨，但是他只会在这个妓院中阅读文学和情诗，一次又一次的想念的他的Fermina
Fermina的父亲威胁要杀掉他的时候，他说：shoot me, there is no greater glory than to die for love.
在Fermina被放逐的时候，他可以用电报不断联系他的爱人。
他会清楚的记得，他第一次和Fermina示爱的时间，51 years, nine months and 4 days
圣经里话也许从能够从宗教的角度告诉我们什么为灵魂，什么为爱，什么为执着：
Love is patient , love is kind. It does not envy it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preservers. Love never fails.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
JK Rowling，Harry Potter的作者，起初写书的动力来自于给生活在贫穷中孩子以童话的慰藉，不想这本书不仅给了自己孩子以灵魂上的快乐，更让经济持续低迷的英国充满了魔法的力量。在Hogwarts里，正义永远战胜邪恶，善良总能打败卑鄙，努力能够消除平庸，淡然总能赢得幸福。就如同程益中老师在南方报业将被整改的前夜所发表的讲话那样：没有熬不过的黑夜，没有等不来的黎明
讲到灵魂的末了，我总是记得当时在牛津听过的一个牧师和我说的话：if you don’t know what you are going to die for, you will never know what you are going to live for. 灵魂和肉身的关系莫过于此。