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

[peaceofpie.livejournal.com]

When I was a little kid, probably about 7, I had a really powerful image come to me which I've always associated with "soul". The image was of a cave in a volcanic rock, everything around it burnt to a crisp, except one tiny little stream of flaming lava dripping down into the cave. That tiny little stream of flaming lava -- still active, still burning -- amidst all the deadness and ruin around it, is the image that goes with "soul" for me. It's the part of anything that would still exist if all the other parts got destroyed.

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

First off, isn't that icon from Hedwig's "The Origin of Love?" That's an appropriate Platonic reference for this thread, and a great song on top of that.

I'm curious... the lava is what burned the cave in the first place, isn't it? Am I reading too much into the image to note that the vital energy is also destructive?

Regardless it is a compelling image and one that lends itself to deeper contemplation, it seems to me.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a quite powerful image!