Soul

[da]

What's the word "soul" mean to you? What associations does it bring up? Is the word fraught with baggage... smelling partly of brimstone? Does it have deep connection for you? Is it ineffable and abstract? Is it like a Platonic ideal of a thing, not to be pinned down? Is it boring? Is it a handy fiction?

I'd love to have a conversation about that, to the extent we can in an online journal. Anonymous comments are fine. My hope is to have common referents to continue in another post.

I invite you to make your first comment here, that is to say without reading the previous comments before-hand. Of course feel free to read other comments too, and discuss with others, but after your first comment. :) Thanks!

[Edit to add:

I can say: the breadth of peoples' responses is pretty darn cool.

So, I suggested a dialogue. What now?

It would be one thing if we were in the same room, and could look at each other and be clear that we're going to treat this with the respect it deserved. In that situation, I would say we could just ask each other open, honest questions; questions that don't try to convince the other of our own understanding; but help the other person to articulate their truth for us. And take it from there.

We could try something like that. I'd participate. Why don't we try that?

It might go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: you're welcome to not reply to someone's question, or to reply telling them you won't reply (and that's final; challenges are not OK).

]

Comments

[sqrt-joy.livejournal.com]

Even as some one who does not subscribe to a faith, I think the soul exists. The soul is that part of a person, of a project, that exists outside of the physicality of the world. It is what is greater than the sum of our parts. To me, the soul is innately good, innately loving, innately integrous. This means that the soul isn't what would be considered thoughts and desires, because people do innately bad, uncaring, and unprincipled acts. To me, the soul is quiet and peaceful. The lyrics : "inside ourselves / A hidden sun that burns and burns But never does any harm to anyone" is close to what I'm trying to get at.

That was very hand-wavy, sorry.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You might not be surprised but lots of what you said resonates with me too. And I will look up those lyrics.

I'm replying to everybody with the following: I added a bit to the post, with thoughts about how this might be a conversation with open, honest questions; and also that nobody feels attacked for their beliefs. So please check the post before commenting; I might need to add to it again as we go on. And you're welcome to comment with open, honest questions.

[peaceofpie.livejournal.com]

I like your response, and I am curious what you mean by "hand-wavy".

[sqrt-joy.livejournal.com]

Oh, just that my response isn't very specific. I felt like I was talking around the topics and didn't have the correct words for it.

But thank you. :)

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your comments on my stuff.

I'm curious about how what we do relates to our souls. If the soul is innately good, when people perform bad, uncaring, and unprincipled acts is that them losing touch with their soul?

What I'm getting at is this: is it possible to be more or less connected with that inner goodness, and if so, can what we do move us closer or further?

[sqrt-joy.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's pretty much my belief. People are more or less connected with their soul and such connection has a direct relationship with the quality of their actions. Unfortunately, I feel that some people have trained themselves very well to be content while being disconnected with their soul - and I often fear that strict ideologies whether political or religious can be used in such training.

I spent a lot of time thinking about your last question. I feel closer to my soul when I do good things, so I think, for me, good works has something to do with it. But I think that quiet reflection is also extremely important. I really feel the soul is quiet and too much noise can drown it out. To hear it and feel it, one has to be listening very hard. That doesn't require quietness for everyone, but it increasingly does for me.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear about the spiritual path that brought you to these beliefs.

You and ng_nighthawk have given me the name for my followup post: "On approaching the soul." These questions are exactly where I was, when I became convinced I should make this post.

For now, I hope to add a bit to ng_nighthawk's comment, if I have oomph.

[Edit to add: I guess I had oomph. You might want to follow up reading my thread with him, if you haven't yet. (all these comments! Yikes!)

http://da-lj.livejournal.com/353791.html?thread=1629183#t1629183
]

[sqrt-joy.livejournal.com]

That's a long story. I'll send it to you in an e-mail because it's a little too personal for this page.

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the response--as I told da_lj I think of the soul as a conduit to what is good rather than good in itself, but setting aside that technicality I think we'd find ourselves in agreement on much of the practice you describe. I used to have a contemplative practice I found very useful. Then I had kids. Which makes the contemplative practice both more necessary and more difficult... c'est la vie, right?

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

What Joy says is in accord with what I would say, and you and sqrt_joy have given me the name for my followup post: "On approaching the soul." These questions are exactly where I was, when I became convinced I should make this post.

...And I have some questions from you to answer, above. ;)