As enfleshed spirits or spiritualized bodies, human beings are unique. The first man, Adam, discovered the radical differences between himself and the rest of creation. Adam realized that, as an enfleshed person, he was unique. In the account of creation found in the second chapter of Genesis, God creates Adam first and then asks him to name the animals. In the process of naming the animals, Adam experiences an extreme loneliness as he discovers that no other human being exists. Since Adam was made in the image of God, he had a need to act as God acts—i.e., to love as God loves. Since his body was made to express his person, he longed, as we all do, to express love in and through his body. However, love is a mutual self-gift. Since Adam was alone, he could not receive the self-gift of another bodied person. Further, since he was alone, he could not give himself in and through his body to another bodied person. Adam experienced loneliness because there could not be a mutual exchange of love with another bodied person. God permitted Adam to suffer loneliness so that through this experience he would discover that the bodies of the animals were different from his own body. Adam saw that no body other than his own could express a person. In and through his loneliness, Adam discovered himself as an enfleshed spirit, as a person whose body was created to express his person. He discovered that, as a spiritualized body, he was unique.
Living among as many people as we do today, it is almost impossible for us to experience the kind of loneliness Adam felt. However, just as Adam came to realize that he was unique because his body could express his person, so it is important for all of us to appreciate our own uniqueness as enfleshed spirits.