Soul

The notion of soul is often evoked in discussions of spirituality. A stirring piece of music or an exceptional artwork can “touch one's soul” with the sense that an unmistakably spiritual experience has taken place. While soul is commonly called upon in spiritual discussions, there are few clear-cut distinctions concerning its meaning. The word soul has been religionized in Western culture, and most people associate the soul with theology and religion. In this common usage, soul is often a noun. It is something one has, or a quality one possesses. Soul is the seat of consciousness and awareness, which moves through this life and into the next, whether that is another life, heaven, or oblivion, relatively intact.

Soul has not always been viewed in this way. By contrast, the ancient Greek word for soul, psyche, referred to the deepest passions of the human being. The English word soul derives from the Old English sawol and the Anglo-Saxon sawal, words that have to do with breath or life force. Therefore, another way of thinking about soul refers to a human and universal way that we view the world. We experience life through its mythological and metaphorical lens.

Since Descartes set forth the maxim “I think, therefore I am” more than 300 years ago, Western society has elevated rational thought and paid little attention to the soul. But to understand the soul, we have to seek soul out personally and experientially. Soul can be felt when moved by a poem, stirred by music, or touched by a ceremony or symbol. Soul is the deep, empathic resonance that vibrates within us at such moments. The catch of the breath, the lump in the throat, or the tears in the eyes are signs of the soul's presence. Thus the soul can be felt, touched, and known, but it forever resists a Western need for abstract, operational definitions.

Spirit and soul are sometimes seen as being at odds. Spirit is associated with the soaring, limitless experience of heights and expansiveness. It is impersonal and timeless, concerned with the afterlife, cosmic issues, idealistic values and hopes, and universal truths. Soul, on the other hand, is about depth. It is the wondrous approach to daily life that involves us in history and cannot be separated from the body, family, immediate context or mortality. Spirit and soul cannot exist without each other. They are two sides to the same coin of human experience. Most important is a critical view that does not elevate one over the other.