The Flesh and the Spirit

I truly enjoyed reading the poetry of Anne Bradstreet this week and gaining some insight into her view of limited Puritan ideology. The poem entitled "The Flesh and the Spirit" presented two conflicting sides of the Puritan way of life. This poem tells of two twins, Flesh and Spirit. Flesh is consumed with the desire to acquire as many earthly approvals, material items, etc. as he possibly can. His focus is on the flesh and his hopes are superficial and will not continue beyond this world. Spirit demonstrates knowledge and understanding of hopes that will surpass all that is current and all that will die along with this world. His focus is truly on the "spirit." Because the Puritans believed that knowledge of the spirit would invite happiness in the flesh, their ways of living and ways of believing were slightly askew according to Bradstreet. With sort of a Joel Osteen take on living, the Puritans believed that if they pleased God then he would satisfy them materially. Superficial? I think so. Selfish? Slightly. Bradstreet was able to recognize this and her frustrations are expressed through verse here. Do these two twins present conflicting views and conflicting sides of ONE internal battle?