I’m into the belief that Spirit is Soul. A quick peep behind the doors of any emergency room will confirm that we, humans, brain cells and enzymes notwithstanding, are but bones, flesh and fluids. Of course, we are animated by our soul! Our humanity comes from her. That works for me.
The nice thing about souls is that they are neither vengeful nor benevolent – in varying degree, these are the alleged attributes of people and gods. We know humans are flawed but gods don’t cut it for me, either. I simply don’t understand the idea of anthropomorphic gods with demands, moods and foibles that religious humans have inflicted upon them.
The concept of an avenging father, of a forgiving father or that of a lord that speaketh to me and will asketh me questions as I stand heart-in-mouth at the Pearly Gates, simply fails to resonate in me. Actually, now that I think of it, who knows how ‘things’ would have turned out differently if the words of Jesus had not been taken so literally when he spoke of his father in heaven, most likely to tap a familiar chord within the hearts of his listeners.
Though through birth and circumstances, I could claim Catholicism as well as Judaism as my religious heritage, I have never practised any form of religion – not even an alternative one.
Basically, my spiritual belief is focused around our soul, an intrinsic part of us, an active energy that resides in the middle of our chest. And, of course, I believe in the nameless, inexplicable, unprovable but overarching power of the Cosmos.
It is only through a connection to Soul, cosmic/divine energy that is always pure and constant that, I believe, we can attempt to edit some of the karma that is ours to amend in this lifetime. It is through a genuine connection to our soul that we can soften the rub of our ordinary, daily life. For religious folks, an evolving connection to Soul would complement the relationship they already have with their god, but matters of the soul can stand alone, free of any rituals, religious or otherwise.
Having said that, seeing as our karma is partly inherited from our soul’s prior incarnations and partly constructed by ourselves, the same goes for our ego. Thus it will take many more lifetimes before our subsequent incarnations can rectify the deficit or at least tilt the balance the other way by a degree or two, as they go on creating and amending our collective karma, theirs and ours, going back to the Dawn of Time – just as we, here and now, are expected to begin doing on a daily basis.
It is through a soulful link to our spirit and through the underlying principle that, though each challenge comes uninvited and is always most inopportune, we need to ‘actively’ accept all our disappointments and setbacks with an open heart. Accepting under duress and acquiring a ‘poor me’ victim status are not viable options. It doesn’t score us any points but this resentful passivity does make us sick. It forces us to make mistakes – sometimes irreparable ones.
The bottom line is that we need to accept emotionally difficult situations as readily as we always accept our moments of joy and pleasure without asking, “Why me? What have I done to deserve this?”
What about people who’ve given up on empathy, on caring? Psychpaths and the like? Don’t you think the label ‘lost soul’ might be applicable? I’m not implying that there might not be a possibility of redemption, just that something near miracle like is necessary for such people to turn around.
In my belief system, there are no such things as dark, sick – or bad souls. Souls are divine energy and by definition they cannot be anything but pure. Period.
When it comes to the millions of *horrid* people who have lived on this planet since the Dawn of Time – and still do- from murderers, to abusive parents, to army personnel, dictators, depraved human beings, just to list a few, it’s not their soul that has lead them to commit their crime[s] but their out-of-control ego – specifically, the low end of their ego.
I can’t even begin to condense meaningfully such an important element of spirituality in this post, but I have already written at length about Soul and Ego, positioning soul at the high end of ego.
It is from there, from our soul, that our more noble moments get triggered – when our mind and heart are clear enough to feel such opportunities.
At the other end of ego are the impulses that play with our mind and tempt us with selfish kneejerks, quick satisfaction, greed, action/reactions in response to a terrible void within and, yes, some impulses are, in certain individuals, very dark, indeed.
The shift of awareness needed for such people to turn themselves around is indeed in the order of a miracle. But in varying degree, for them as it is for us, it’s all about WANTING to understand our M.O. and WANTING to no longer indulge that craving.
Then, it’s about WANTING to establish a connection with Soul [or with a god]
For those who believe neither in a god nor in their soul, the miracle motivation still is the same.
Put simply, they need to WANT to make amends, here and now – in this lifetime.
But around all of this, let’s not forget the all-pervasive and utmost important notion of Karma that, too, comes to us, through Soul and energy field, from millions of years back.
This accumulated karma [as well as the karma we have generated in our lifetime] affects the ‘perpetrator’ as well as the ‘victim’ – every perpetrator and every victim, regardless of the degree and quality of the offence.
The bottom line is that none of this makes any sense if we are not ready to accept that we are ALL ancient souls, souls in disguise, alive and well in the body-suit that makes up our persona.
On the topic of murderers and serial killers, I have thought about writing an article on Soul and the Killer, knowing that, for me, the title could never be anything like The Killing Soul.
Thing is, even if on the topic of spirituality, I really don’t like to spend any length of time dealing with situations that are intrinsically seeped in negative energies. Still, if it’s for the good cause, I might have a go at it over the Easter holidays ahead
“In my belief system, there are no such things as dark, sick – or bad souls. Souls are divine energy and by definition they cannot be anything but pure. Period.”
100% agree with C.C.Saint Clair