Soul Power Part 3
June 10, 2025
Soul Power Part 3
Even among spiritually oriented people, our individual souls are not a usual topic of discussion. But why wouldn’t they be, given that our souls are our deepest and everlasting identities? Maybe this is because there is no widespread agreement on what the soul is, no common language associated with it and no scientific measurement of its properties. It is much easier to discuss our outward personalities.
If spiritually oriented people are asked about the soul, everyone seems to have their own ideas. However, in my experience, I find that most spiritually oriented people seem to agree that the soul is the most essential part of our being. Without souls, we would only be the mental structure of our minds and personalities. We would have no spiritual depths, and if we believed in an afterlife, we could only hope that our egos and the mental structure of which they are a part, would survive death. (That’s a long shot.) Given these ideas, our soul seems to be the most essential part of ourselves. Yet we seem to know more about our personalities than our individual souls.
So, until we develop tools to measure the soul and a common language for speaking of it, we must consult scholarly research, theological studies and anecdotal testimonials, all of which are based on assumptions. So, let’s look at some crucial assumptions about the soul and maybe we can move toward a common language about it.
First, believing in the soul is to believe in the invisible, the transcendent and the immortal - the same properties of the Divine. Second, if we assume the soul comes from the Divine source, it follows that we have divine capacities and that our souls have more extraordinary powers than our personalities alone. Third, if we are created as aspects of the Divine, we must have specific qualities that express our divine aspects. Fourth, if we knew our specific soul qualities, we would know our “soulality" just as much, if not more, than our personality.
Nevertheless, our greatest focus is on our personalities because their observable and predictable patterns easily define who we are. But more than that, our egos control our personalities in the first half of life. So it is little wonder why we begin adulthood viewing our personality as synonymous with our identity.
Not knowing our soul, its power, capabilities, purpose and characteristics is like having a car with no owner’s manual, no knowledge of what fuel it takes, how to repair it or the purpose of its design. In this week’s Daily Reflections, we will reflect upon the characteristics of our individual souls.
Spiritual practice: When in your life were you most aware of your spiritual power? Can you access that level of power now? Why or why not?
Self-inquiry: What are three reasons why I would be content with not knowing my soul?
Dear God,
Please help us to know ourselves and to know you. Amen
