The Chart of Elements : Soul
A year ago, I wrote a series of posts called The Chart of Elements. I am repeating them now, for your consideration.
Back before we knew better, or perhaps when we knew better, the essentials to humanity were laid like stepping stones . Before us, at birth, each pebble we stepped upon represented an element essential to our existence, as people, as community members, as beings who walked this earth.
We are still armed with inherent knowledge of these key elements, these things that make us wholly flawed, wholly beautiful, wholly terrible creatures with unlimited potential.
The first of these elements is the Soul.
What separates us from our shell is the sense of knowing. We are aware, enchanted and inextricably linked with the Soul. But how is it defined? Few words were handed down about the Soul and its essence. But they are simple, complete and unmistakable.
Soul is the connection. Soul is acknowledgment and acceptance as the self, and of others as beings with spirit and light. Soul is where all things that make life livable ,reside. Spirit, Wisdom, Passion, Compassion, Joy, Humor, Faith, Practicality, Serenity and Love all belong to the Soul.
Soul is necessary to a fulfilled life. Those who accept the song of their Soul are those who accept what it is to be human, and truly connect with life in the way that it is supposed to be lived.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
You smart, wise girl.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Jennifer took my line. I’ll add triumphant.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
i just read recently (was it here?) that CS Lewis said that we are not bodies that have a soul, but souls that have a body. I loved that.
May 25th, 2008 at 1:39 am
I don’t know if I know my soul. If you have one… should you know it when you come across it? Or is it just for others to recognise the soul of someone else?
Sincere question.
May 25th, 2008 at 4:49 am
Thank you for reposting!
May 25th, 2008 at 5:30 am
It’s Sunday, and you’ve got me thinking all philosophically. Thanks!
Nutty’s question is a good one. I’ve pondered this for some time . . . for our soul seems to be the one thing that others find truly authentic when we interact. More than our bodies or bank accounts or BMWs. When someone dies, it is our memory of their soul, that imprint upon our mind made through contact and revelation, that lingers . . . almost takes on a life of its own, as though we carry a portion of their soul with us, keeping it alive even as the body has gone to dust.
I’m not so sure there is a supernatural nature to the soul, other than what we implant upon it. But there is definitely a spiritual nature, where spiritual is loosely defined and consistently changing.
Just my ramblings on this early morning – pre-Coffee.
For some “fun” reading about the soul/mind and our constant desire to find it and connect to it, both our own and the sould of others, check out Douglas Hofstadter’s “I Am A Strange Loop.”
Happy picnicing!
Brian
May 25th, 2008 at 7:41 am
My soul would love to flutter along yours for a journey across a sun filled meadow and into a silver moonlit pool.
May 25th, 2008 at 8:55 am
i remember these so vividly.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
beautiful.
May 25th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
thank farging goodness and grape trees we have a soul…otherwise we’d be living in a world like a huge office space. We’d eat from the internet and fornicate like Xerox machines.
May 26th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I hear a melody in the distance…now to find the path that leads me there.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:23 am
This take me back to my days of being a philosophy major…nicely done, flutter.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
oh man, how i love you. are these the same as you posted once before?
off to catch up on your other post that i have missed.
i’ve missed you, too, sweets.
xoxo
May 27th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
This is a hard one for me because as a non~religious person, I have a hard time defining “soul”. I think you did a great job and I enjoyed reading these!
Hope you are well…
May 28th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Lovely. I wish I was more in touch with my own soul.