It has been said that our soul exists before we are born, and will continue to exist after we die.
The soul is an elusive concept, yet every culture recognizes a spiritual part of us that is separate from the physical body, and way beyond the mind. Stone carvings from Ancient Greece depict souls leaving the body.
When we get in touch with the everlasting part of our inner self, through meditation or quiet reflection, we feel joy, that is unaffected by outside circumstances. Our soul tells us everything about us, if we LISTEN. The soul is a great teacher.
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
― Rumi
When I was young, the religion I was brought up with, taught me to pray for souls, but didn’t teach me what a soul was. I later learned that a soul is a spiritual, rather than merely a religious concept – even some atheists believe they have a soul.
It is the ageless, timeless, part of us, that animates our bodies and minds.
It feels like the souls of the people and animals that I know don’t die; they move to another room that I can’t access. They continue to live in my heart rather than my memory. Their image is fresh, and evolving, as if I am experiencing their presence with my senses.
While the body and mind age, the soul is ever new. We don’t have a soul, we ARE souls. The soul is bigger than our biological parts or our physical form, and is filled with lofty and utopian ideas that are so pure and loving, they are not of this world.
The soul is the force within that connects us to others, nurtures, heals, protects, teaches, forgives, uplifts, motivates, enlightens and loves.
photo credit: David Paul Ohmer via photopin cc