We can best use Spirit as a synonym of Life, on association with the human qualities of being spirited or enthusiastic, from Greek enthousiazein ‘be possessed or inspired by a god’, which we know today as God.
Etymologically, Spirit derives from a PIE root ‘to breathe’. Anyone who has been close to someone as they die peacefully can see this connection. The breath slowly, slowly disappears as life-giving Spirit drops away.
