SPIRIT, SOUL, BODY, SOUL SISTER, AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Many philosophers, theologists, and amateurs (like me) have written extensively about the definitions of spirit, soul, body, God, and religious or spiritual beliefs. I'm taking a shot at it because I want to clarify my own thinking, and I want how I feel to resonate with my sense of truth and my limited fund of such knowledge. These are my observations, and I share them for my own selfish reasons. In addition, because reading someone else's words can sometimes provide another perspective or matrix for thought generation, if these words help someone else to think differently (or the same), then good. I'm not looking for affirmation or an argument. This is primarily for my own mental and spiritual health, and my readers are certainly encouraged to do their own writing and thinking about these entities if they choose to do so.

Since I am the person I am and can be nothing other than who I am (like Popeye, I yam what I yam), I seek definitions, and perhaps others don’t find that necessary. My security and anxiety are both tied up in defining what is real/authentic and knowing where I stand in relation to it. I recognize that as my own personal proclivity. To deny that would be to deny who I am. I do not seek denial; I seek elegant refinement, and I seek to understand myself and others without the sabotaging overlay of unnecessary and unhelpful psychological machinations.

I believe the spirit is created by God (or however we wish to conceptualize the cosmic creative life force). I believe it remains in the realm of the original creation. Individual spirits may or may not exist; if so, then each individual spirit may be a tiny piece of God/creation, but whether individual or aggregate, I think the spirit is incorrupt, pure, constant, and whole. It may be the entire Divine Matrix for all I know, and the matrix could very well be indivisible instead of being split into as many tiny pieces or sparks as there are people, animals, or other living entities possessed of a spirit. I don't know, and there is no way to prove it that I can see. I would merely like to proceed on the assumption that all of us have a spirit.

Native Americans have long believed that all things created are imbued with spirit (including rocks, rivers, bears, eagles, trees, sky, earth, moon, stars, cockroaches, mice, soil, rutabagas, and even perhaps Donald Trump). I'm fine with that. The Divine Matrix could be merely a unified energetic field. It doesn't have to be anything solid like a huge VW bus, for example. Or it could be a VW bus. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our puny philosophies, Horatio.

I know without a doubt that the body is the physical form that we, as human beings, occupy during our brief stay on and in this earthly sphere. The body comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, heights, weights, ages, and degrees of usefulness and what we call health. I believe the soul is the link between the body and the spirit. If the spirit is the hard drive, then the soul is the software, and the body is the shell which the soul inhabits (invisible to anatomists) and goes along for the ride. The soul is about managing experiences and purifying the dross, drivel, and detritus of our lives so that our bodies and physical minds can dissolve themselves, discard themselves, or surrender themselves (whatever concept works for each of us) and eventually be transubstantiated into pure spirit. The point of earthly existence, in my opinion, is to have, ingest, digest, evaluate, and ruminate on experiences.  Experiencing experiences, if you will allow my redundancy, is what we do here on earth. It might be what we do everywhere we exist on planes yet unknown to me personally, but it is for certain that life here on earth is made up of experiences. There are all kinds of coping mechanisms our puny minds have developed to mitigate, avoid, enjoy, or enhance experiences. Those range all the way from alcohol to cocaine to food to depression, anxiety, sex, marriage, anger, hate, love, catatonia, denial, psychoses, neuroses, work, education, a list too numerous to mention. It is through experiences while in our human bodies (with our human minds interpreting these experiences) that our souls are able to reflect to us the ideal spiritual state while managing our temporal data-gathering. The soul has a fuck-ton of work to do, and we often don't help it much by being so caught up in our mental states of unease or preoccupation and not embracing the raw experiences themselves.

Anxiety and depression are two mental states that serve to protect us from fears of the unknown, and we sometimes feel the need to wrap a shroud around us that we mistakenly think is going to somehow keep us from harm (or sometimes even just a good experience). Many times, what we think is going to harm or kill us is based in the acronym FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real). We often fear things that are ultimately good for us, and fear is a powerful motivator for avoidance and denial. Fear is also a powerful motivator to change our minds. I realize that the adrenaline-based "fight or flight" reaction was given to us physiologically in order to ensure our survival as an individual person and as a species. The problem comes from not being able to override the fight or flight response when such a macro-reaction is not necessary. When one needs to run away or stand and fight, there should be a damn good reason to do so. Running away, not literally but as an abstract concept, often comes in the form of denial, anxiety, or depression. If a blood-thirsty bear is actually chasing you, running away is often a way to deal with that (although in the case of bears, running away just makes it worse). If that bear is metaphorical, then running away is denial because we don't want to face the problem or issue. Standing and fighting is another way to deal with experiences, but in so doing, we had better be prepared to meet the challenge with resources that are equivalent to the circumstance; if not, we won't fare well if we are bringing a Q-tip to a gun fight. I believe that every one of our experiences (good, bad, or neutral) is an opportunity for growth, redemption, and self-actualization.

When considering our earthly experiences, there are many challenges that can be pot holes, speed bumps, road blocks, and cement walls if we let them. These are the things that are generated by our psychoemotional selves, our ego selves, and they will do their best to get in the way of our soul growth by being persistent and frequent if we let them take over our processes and corrupt our software. These are doubt, fear, anxiety, depression, despair, and other rotating risk assessments put there by our overthinking minds or others’ opinions. Letting go of these psychoemotional devices very often feels like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute, but sometimes that is precisely what is required in order to get over ourselves. The more psychology we let stand in the way of the soul purification of our experiences, the more we have to repeat the same lessons over and over until they finally make an impact. I think that might be what reincarnation is for, to find our way through our self-created karmic jungle until we see the light. Karma, as you may know, was invented so God wouldn't have to keep track of every little thing.

Have you met a soul sister in this life? Or any life? Humans in their soul work can allow another to attain self-actualization, our primary goal in living life on this earth. Sometimes a human being must wait a lifetime to find a soul sister. Once found and joyfully recognized as such, I believe it is wise to hold to that soul sister with both hands. Like art itself, the rarity of a soul sister is what makes knowing one so inexplicably valuable. The soul is the vehicle that acts as a reflection of the pure spirit and is the liaison between our divinity with God and our human existence. Our souls have the job of purifying our earthly existence, and soul sisters can do that for one another.

Don’t you sometimes ache for a safe space to be who you are at the moment without playing a role (label)? To be in that safe space without being judged. To be in that safe space without being criticized. To be in that safe space to be heard and listened to with loving attention and concern. To be in that safe space and be allowed to tell the truth about everything, anything. To be in that safe space and be silent and still and know you are loved for that state of being. To be in that safe space and listen to another without having expectations thrust upon each other to respond in a certain way. This is what soul sisters do. What a relief to find one. Love can be and often is unrequited, yes. I know that well from my own experience. Soul sisterhood is, by nature, requited. There is no failure possible. God did not program failure into souls and the work they must do to be reunited with our original spirit.

A wise philosopher once said that union differentiates. When two souls (twin souls who made a pact in another life) come together, they give to each other the means to differentiate and reflect each other’s divine wholeness. We are each a divine spark, and our souls thirst for the time when we are a healed spark within ourselves, purified and incorrupt and achieving of our divine potential, so that we may once again become part of the Divine Matrix, the life energy that created and continues to create the cosmos (all that exists, the Tao). With the soul sister, there are no roles to play, no labels to fulfill, no expectations to meet, no guilt to feel or to act on, no resistance to hold up, and no stance to defend. There is nothing that has to be done except to be, to love, to embrace, and to let the tender green shoots grow in peace and loving calmness. It is not yet another job. Instead, it is a joy, like learning to walk or read (only more important).

Soul sisters have only to let whatever happens flow like an ever-changing river. It is the act of beholding another in love and safety that brings our scattered, uneasy soul parts back to us. That is our redemption. This begs for unconditional love.

Humans are capable of unconditional love but don't always allow it in their relationships. Most mothers (and fathers) feel unconditional love for their new-born babies (I hope they do). Friends often do feel unconditional love for their friends. Buddhists, ascetics, and other contemplatives strive for unconditional love. Jesus, I'm sure, was nothing but unconditional love. Love demands attention, observation, and deep-soul analysis. Unrequited love is a bore, it's true, but requited love is not the same as unconditional love. There are many questions one need ask oneself to determine if unconditional love is achievable. It is a hard task to take the "conditions" out of love. It is easier when one feels a soul connection with another human being and the joy of that connection is the unmitigated experience of loving and helping another human being without conditions. Unconditional love throws constancy into the face of fear, commitment into the face of abandonment, and loyalty into the face of betrayal. It takes some guts to demand that of ourselves, but the reward is stellar. It is the pinnacle of our highest good and the mountaintop on which we may stand to declare "All is well with my soul."