“Do we have a soul?”
Someone once asked me this. Yes, we do. It's a tricky thing, so here's the long answer:
Words, ideas, concepts … who knows what he means and I mean by a soul? Ideas like this have so much personal and cultural baggage, it’s hard to untangle. But! One great part of being human is deciding what you’re going to decide as your truth.
You get to choose. Which is pretty cool when you realise that you decide how you see yourself, your soul, the world, life itself. You get to define it as you wish. You get to pick which glasses you see through.
Choose carefully, and consciously, because this will determine your reality. Hence Buddha and his line, "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world."
But the True truth, beyond the definition that you might put on top, is wrapped around what you might call soul, spirit, essence, being, or presence of a person.
So much can be taken away from you physically, say your kidney, your legs, your sight or hearing, and yet the fundamental nature of ‘You’ remains. Emotions constantly change, definitions, life roles, experiences, loves … these do too. To everything there is a season.
The One Constant
Except for one part that doesn’t change. The one part that is constant and remains pure, undegradable, always. And it's fascinating that the world’s greatest wisdom traditions all describe this in a very similar way:
The Bible: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”.
The Quran: “We are closer than the jugular vein".
The Vedas: “You are That”.
The Sufis (courtesy of Rumi): "You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop".
And finally, cos it’s a beauty, The Tao: “Simply see that you are at the centre of the universe, and accept all things and beings as parts of your infinite body. When you perceive that an act done to another is done to yourself, you have understood the great truth".
Understand the Tao or not, but do explore this –
The thing you’re looking for – whatever your ambition or philosophy or spiritual bent – is already within you, closer than your next breath. In fact, you are that thing, and so is your neighbour (love your neighbour).
So, Why Do We Need a Practice?
If you’re honest you’ll already know the answer. You’ve forgotten.
A nice idea to entertain, “I am already what I’m looking for”; it’s completely another to be, all day and all night. It’s one thing to think about chocolate; it’s a whole new universe to chomp on it.
I see the world’s spiritual texts as great guide books to living the best life possible. They’re not completely uncorrupted, but clues and metaphors remain. But when these collections of wisdom say the same thing, it’s worth paying attention.
They won’t give you the tools to remember, more a description of a life that does remember. That’s what something like Ascension offers: the vehicles to return you, the tuning forks to align you with whatever you choose to call “that place” within.
And it’s not just about spiritual enlightenment and remembering, but what you do with that in terms of real life.
I think psychology is catching up over the last 70 years. So often a spiritual truth is mirrored in modern discovery. Especially in the field of sports/peak performance psychology, (where I’m paying attention), I think there are a great many parallels. Maybe that will be a great idea for a book (let me know if it already exists).
But my point is living a deeper spiritual truth, an experience of being (again – in whatever way you want to relate to that), leads to so much more Life (in whatever way you want to make of it).
Practicing something that means you can remember who you are means you can access parts of you that are profoundly wise and Good. Magic happens here.
We so often put doing first, ahead of our soul, our presence, our very being. I say we flip that around. Prioritise soul, and watch it enable and inform every single thing you do.
Give it a shot.
You’ve probably tried one way for so long. Why not experiment with something that’s been written about the world over, throughout time?
As the Tibetan Buddhist yogi Milarepa once said, 900 years ago: “The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.”
Meditation, Ascension, prayer … whatever your thing, give it a fair shot. There's a reason these have stuck around for millennia. Start today.
I’d love to hear how you get on.
Go well!
Arjuna
PS.
Alrighty – this is the bit where I “sell” Ascension, saying how it’s changed my life, and it’ll change yours should you give it a chance.
It is an incredible tool for getting more out of life, whatever your flavour. There’s two more weekend courses this year left (17-19 October and 21-23 November, starting 7pm Friday. Repeat for free forever!).
But if a group setting isn't your thing, that's okay.
I also have a few slots open at the moment for one-on-one mentoring. Whether you just need a single chat or something more long-term, you'll know what's right.
Ready to take a deeper dive? Just drop me a line to chat about the details.