Soul Journey
By Linda Mason Hunter
© Linda Mason Hunter, 2004; May not be reprinted without written permission from the author.

“The soul is here for its own joy.”
       --Rumi
 

Since humankind first put words to thought we have questioned the meaning of the universe. “Why am I here?” “What is the point of this earthly journey?” “Is there life after death?”

In asking these ineffable questions we come face-to-face with The Great Mystery, for no one has absolute answers. Therein lies the irony of human existence—in order to know unequivocally the physical body first must die. Once dead we cannot inform the living. The fact that life protects its great mysteries suggests that there are some things humans are not meant to understand, for complete understanding would void our lives of one of its most critical components: Mystery. Without mystery there is no hope, no imagination.

Brilliant minds have pondered these questions through the ages--in holy books, ancient texts, classic literature, great poetry. An important bit of wisdom emerging from these volumes is that the mind, the heart, and the soul form a mutually interactive ensemble. Each must be fully awake and in balance in order to live in the clarity and lightness we attribute to lasting happiness. To achieve such a state mind, heart, and soul must communicate with each other. The language they use, according to ancient Greeks, is passion.

Here’s how the dialogue usually works. Soul, the deep source of our being, is fed by heart’s joy and also by its grieving. Over time, and in the presence of an aware non-judging mind, grief and joy nurture the soul enrichening, deepening, broadening it, allowing it to gather within itself a kind of wisdom which lightens the heart. Eventually the dialogue transforms our consciousness, allowing us to achieve a clarity necessary for true freedom—freedom from our fears, our cravings, our aversions. Pilgrims call this enlightenment.

Mind, Body, Soul
In his book A Field Guide to the Soul, author James Thornton delineates the difference between mind, body, and soul.

“The wedding in human beings of the purely material body and the purely spiritual soul produces the mixed realm of our experience that we call the psyche,” he writes.  The mind (psyche) is “where we ordinarily locate ourselves. It is what we talk about when we tell stories, what we investigate with our therapists, and where we have dreams. It is also where we have our wounds. It is what most of contemporary psychology is concerned with.”

The soul, on the other hand, is what Buddhist psychologists call the True Self. Though words fail us when discussing such esoterica, Thornton labels the soul as  “the Source of All Being localized in space and time…It supports our life, carries our life, is the essence of life itself...It knows the sacred in everything, for it never loses its perspective.”

While the psyche is full of shadows, the soul knows no difficulties. We cannot take care of it. It takes care of us. But to experience the soul’s “spacious view, its serenity, its access to bliss…” we need first to heal the wounds of the psyche (explore the shadows, face down our demons), and we must open the heart (forgive cruelties, forgive and accept ourselves), then allow compassion to enter our daily lives. It can be a long and treacherous journey, but that’s what we’re put on this planet to do. That’s how the soul evolves.

Such sacred principles as love, generosity, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, responsibility, harmony are encoded in cellular memory. We need only awaken to their power and cultivate their practice. The unifying characteristic of all these qualities is compassion--concern for others’ well being. That is the way to a joyful heart.

In his new book Ethics for the New Millennium, His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama, spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan Buddhist community writes, “Only when we realize that our every act has a universal dimension and cultivate compassion will we reach inner peace.”

In order to cultivate the innate compassion that is part of every human being, we must first awaken our hearts which, out of fear and confusion, we often purposefully close. Only a tender and open heart is capable of compassion. Nourished by a wise compassionate heart, the mind becomes free and serene  liberating the soul to awaken to its own true nature.

Despite our wealth and technological advancements we in the United States often seek the quickest path to self-gratification, not realizing that fulfilling only the senses does not lead to happiness. We’re taught to cut off experiencing our griefs, burying emotions so deep we cannot access them. If not consciously processed these repressed feelings fester, limiting our growth, fostering violence, often making us physically ill.

A joyful heart is connected with feeling. We must let ourselves be touched, feel our grief, live as Camus advised “to the point of tears,” deeply and fully experiencing our feelings. The more we experience our feelings, the more we can be truly ourselves and thrive in the joy of being alive.

First order of business in any practice is to still the noise of the mind. “When the mind knows inner silence, it can stop its struggles and turn its attention to appreciation, which is the source of all understanding. It is then the heart can open,” writes James Thornton in The Field Guide to the Soul.

Next, we must encourage the heart to open and not be afraid. Along the way we learn to trust the process, have faith in the knowledge that we will be alright. When we finally adopt the soul’s perspective, we experience a flowing, integral, multidimensional life, begin to appreciate who we really are, and exist in a perpetual state of wonder.

During your practice it’s important to be present, to be mindful, to be fully  awake. Work to untangle your mind letting go of judgment and anxiety about no perfection. Be still in your heart. That may sound heavy, but it’s not. It’s a way of letting heaviness go.

1.      Make no comparisons.

2.      Make no judgments.

3.      Relinquish the need to understand.
 

Full shelter takes its cue from the German concept of baubiologie (building biology) which strives to bring humanity into harmony with the natural environment. Baubiologists view humans, their clothing, and their dwellings as one living system, comparable to layers to skin.  Our clothes make up our second skin; the structures we reside in the third.

To achieve full shelter that third skin must focus less on packaging and more on substance. What good are creature comforts if you have trouble sleeping at night or are always looking for an excuse to be outside? What good is it if everything works efficiently, all colors match, and the place is luxuriously furnished if the house has no soul? A house with no soul cannot give comfort to yours.

It is important to house your soul (that inner essence of being that has lived for hundreds and hundreds of karma) in a skin that speaks to the latest version of who you are, who you don't need to be anymore, and who you can be next--and to always honor and be mindful in the present of who you are today. Your surroundings should reflect your values, what you stand for, what you believe is important, that you choose to be true to yourself rather than float through life as a meaningless dot.

You can’t buy soul at Target or Home Depot. Martha Stewart can’t prescribe it for you. Soul comes within. It’s your essence of being, what connects you to the universal web.

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