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).

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Comments

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

A few that come to mind are...

* gradually claiming the worth of my own soul; observing that some of my behaviour was based around denying my own inherent worth, in contrast with the (more obvious) worth of those around me. This denial might make sense if I believed I was inherently sinful, which I didn't, but somehow that value-judgement stuck. (One could articulate this in ways that are purely about innate self-worth, but for me, the most compelling counter to the "innate sinfulness" argument seems to involve innate connection to a Creator.)

* my soul singing. There is something in me that does sing, which I've felt since I was a kid (I particularly remember watching the stars on my parents' farm), and along with feeling in unity with creation, it feels compelled to sing as well.

* a really scary invitation for an introvert: to connect with any other person soul-to-soul. Acknowledging our common humanity and treating them decently is usually as close as I get. But there's the potential, which I have occasionally experienced, for one-on-one or one-to-many connection with people I don't already know, that feels like the "resonance" I talked about; and it has both felt scary and very appropriate.

* a challenge: against taking the easy way out and objectifying someone in order to justify my frustration with them. Denying their innate worth is ever the more difficult if I believe in a bit of Creator within them... no matter who they are.

Thanks for that delightful, wonderful question.

[dpolicar]

You're welcome. Thanks for the answer.