My Nature

Subtler State Existence Changes

We must go beyond the constant clamor of ego, beyond the tools of logic and reason, to the still, calm place within us: the realm of the soul.

As they make their way through life, most people spend very little time thinking about their soul. Pollsters find that a large majority of the population believe they have a soul.

It comes packaged with an entire set of beliefs about God, heaven and hell, salvation, and so on. But dealing with the practicalities of life occupies everyone’s time. The soul, we assume, can wait until we die, and that’s a time almost everyone prefers not to think about at all.

In order for the soul to be relevant here and now, it would have to be of some practical use. Is it? This is quite a deep question, needless to say. Anything the soul might be good for (besides going to heaven) can be achieved in other ways. To be happy, successful, creative, well-adjusted, content, optimistic, loving, or in any desirable state, you will find people who never take their souls into consideration. Yet this may be a case where appearances are deceiving.

The reason that the soul doesn’t seem to be useful is that it is impossible to see, feel, or even locate. There are countless spiritual teachings about the soul entering the body at birth and leaving it at death, but this event isn’t visible. More to the point, babies can’t tell us what happens at birth, and the departed, if they do communicate with the living, tell many varied and contradictory stories. I think it’s more productive to eliminate the concept of “having” a soul, and at the same time disposing of the fear that we might “lose” our soul. There’s an entirely different way of looking at the situation.

Consider that the soul is actually the essence of who you are. This is a fairly familiar notion. In many spiritual traditions, the body is grosser than the soul. It masks a subtler state of existence, and in that subtler state existence changes.

Among the changes are the following:

You see reality more clearly.

You realize who you actually are.

You understand how life works and what it means.

You lose the fear of death.

You experience the divine.

On the journey you test, day by day, if you can experience what the soul promises to deliver. Although generally labeled as a spiritual journey, there is no need for any label. You are going into your awareness like an explorer, knowing that everything worth finding is available in consciousness.