Recently came across Cantalamessa's The Mystery of Pentecost. Too often we might think of St. Paul's message of "flesh" versus "spirit" as literally carnality vesus reason. But Cantalamessa points out that sexual intimacy can be spiritual (within the bonds of marriage) and deep philosophical thoughts can be of the flesh (if they lead us away from God).
Too often I tend to merely think of the difference between the two as anything pleasant versus anything unpleasant, but that assumes that God's will and ours are always naturally opposed. Very helpful to me is to simply recognize the difference as one between instinct and reason. My instinct is to sin, but reason tells me that the bible says not to.
Cantalamessa writes that the biblical opposition between flesh & Spirit is not only between instinct and reason or between body and soul but also the "more radical opposition between nature and grace, the human and the divine, egoism and love":
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