Recently, a friend of mine sent a text and asked,
“… you have written so much about philosophical and behavioral topics. I am interested in reaching a conclusion on a term (yes, I know this is an odd request)
Soul.
Some people seem to have a lot of it – others not so much. What is it?
What does having soul mean? Do activities have soul?
Are there better words that encapsulate the meaning?”
- Asked by a highly intelligent, successful friend of mine in his 60s who has given me permission to share his text verbatim… but not his name…
So, I’m gonna call him Mr. D.
I thought these were excellent questions and felt they deserved a hugely respectful approach.
I actually think the question of “What is Soul?” is too big to fully answer.
What I will do here is offer a few observations based on my understanding of life force energy and the management of it.
At the core of everything is LIFE FORCE ENERGY.
Everyone has it.
As a naturally created human being, then your life force is the Divine level connection all human beings have. You have Divine energy running through you.
It’s vital that I establish the importance of this Divine life force energy before attempting to give some type of perspective on “soul”.
Because….
Life force energy is Everything.
So now , I will attempt to answer Mr. D’s questions in succession.
#1. WHAT IS SOUL?
(Some people seem to have a lot of it – others not so much. What is it? )
Within the context of my friend’s query I believe we need to make a distinction between soul and spirit.
I believe these terms carry dramatic and distinct differences, yet are interconnected.
Perhaps strangely, I’m going to introduce here — the Christian notion of ‘spirit’.
The Bible describes humans as composed of three parts: the Holy Trinity which is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit/Ghost.
As well, many religions view spirits as animating forces in all things, with human souls potentially journeying to our Divine Creatorafter death.
So, in my understanding of life force energy — the spirit is our personality, our psychological self, our emotions, will, our immediate thought processes and actions. It is of the present. Of the NOW.
Where as our souls are the part that is the Divinely aligned.
It’s the transcendent core. The part of us that is connected to past lives, karma and the bigger side of human existence. It encompasses all of the individual.
Yet, soul and spirit are unavoidably interconnected.
#2. WHAT DOES HAVING SOUL MEAN?
Now, I tend to lump together and deal with soul/spirit energy as Divine life force energy.
We’ve all had the experience of not feeling 100%.
Whether through illness or being very tired – we don’t feel like ourselves. Our personalities get dull. Our interest level wanes. The impulse to initiate evaporates.
So, then, having ‘soul’ is having a lot of life force energy. It’s that spring in your step. That easy laugh that suggests nothing is a big deal or a burden. It’s being bright, happy, focused, engaged with life and other people.
#3 DO ACTIVITIES HAVE SOUL?
I will have to say YES to this.
I also think all living or natural things have a soul or spirit too. Such as rocks, mountains, rivers, creeks, trees, flowers, wind, etc.
This is known as ‘animism’ and is a popular concept in places like Japan.
I believe activities have a ‘soul’ since the engagement in activities can be felt and experienced by the person.
For example, sports.
Different sports have a different life energy running through them. Different types of people are attracted to watching and participating in different types of sports.
This can be said of any activity.
Since all activities have human engagement, it stands to reason that life force energy is infused into that activity.
It’s also reasonable to assume there is a time continuum within all activities. Otherwise, there would not be a history to engaging in activities such as a sport.
And finally….
#4 ARE THERE BETTER WORDS THAT ENCAPSULATE THE MEANING OF ‘SOUL’?
Not really.
The word soul is a pretty great term that sums up a tremendous amount of information in one word.
I’ll wrap up by saying this…
When I started this article I assumed my friend had asked at some point — how does someone get more soul?
When I re-read what he actually wrote, he hadn’t asked anything like that.
Mr. D asked for a definition. That’s it.
I find it interesting that my mind assumed he would want to know how to get more life force energy.
I also find it interesting that he assumed he already knew how to get it!
Yet, he felt he could determine who had it and who didn’t when he wrote, “Some people seem to have a lot of it – others not so much.”
He also never asks WHY. ←- which is a very “artsy” viewpoint. (That’s a whole ‘nother article)
So essentially, Mr. D is asking for a parsing of data.
He’s asking ‘what’ questions and for definitions — not motivation or intent.
Personally, I find this interesting and extremely revealing.
So I’ll end it there without an attempt to describe how to get more ‘soul’ — because it’s not what I was asked.
Thanks for reading/listening. I wish you a very prosperous day. Renee
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