Soul

Thursday, 22 July 2010 12:00 am
da: (grey)
[personal profile] 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).

]

Date: Friday, 23 July 2010 01:34 pm (UTC)
dpolicar: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dpolicar
There's a similar lexical thing in Hebrew. Most famously, the beginning of Genesis talks about "ruach adonoi," which is varyingly translated as "the spirit of god" and "the breath of god"; more generally, "ruach" has both of these meanings.

Date: Friday, 23 July 2010 05:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] songquake.livejournal.com
Right! I'd totally forgotten about that!

Pretty embarrassing, since I took Hebrew when in seminary; all I can say for myself is that I was more concerned with language than theology for that course. Then again, the bit with the Latin stuck because of Allen Ginsberg (I write poetry because the word inspiration comes from spiritus, breath, I want to breathe freely).

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