The Quest for Soul

Sometimes we use words, much too liberally, without regard for their real meanings. The problem is that people understand certain words differently, words like freedom or morals or justice, perhaps the words that philosophers scratch their heads over. So consequently we often don’t communicate well. One word that I find bandied about much too often is  “soul”. What is it?  For our own well-being, I think it’s important to understand the nature of soul, however I find the subject so intangible that it compels my inquisitive mind to explore its mystery. From my viewpoint, I think that a deeper understanding of soul not only plays an important role in our lives spiritually but also the way our mind and body heals.

From a spiritual standpoint, Jewish literature is lavish with references concerning the soul, but is sparse in explanations. The most common mention of soul is its three levels: nefesh-the basic soul; ruach-the breath and neshama-the higher soul. This tripartite soul is believed to generate every possible function of human life; the soul rules our lives. In some sense, we can equate the soul with the life force, the spark of the Divine; without it life ceases to exist. Soul is that part of each human being that’s believed to depart from the body upon death.

The Kabbalah portrays the soul by way of the mystical diagram of the Tree of Life. The perfected energetic thread that runs though the Tree operates in agreement with the Torah. Jewish mysticism also thinks of the soul as a particle or fragment of Divine consciousness. They say the soul can be compared to a fully-blossomed deciduous tree whose main trunk is the Divine consciousness and the leaves on the end of each branch is each individual person; and the branch connecting the person to the trunk is the soul. Each person’s spiritual aim, according to Jewish standards, is to align his or her own personal energy with that of the Torah. Our souls absorb Torah energy by studying the stories of the personalities and events in the text.

How does Jewish tradition relate to the soul? Participation in the major themes of the Torah attends to the soul.  The Exodus from Egypt redeems our souls from the bondage of complacency.  Acts of T’shuvah return our souls to its Source, and Shabbat refreshes our souls by its weekly visit to Paradise.  The festivals and holidays verify that soul moves cyclically following the course of the sun, the seasons, the year, and the cycles of the day and week, not like the body which operates in the realm of time and space. The military skirmishes recounted in the Book of Numbers attest to the battle the soul wages against its enemies—greed, avarice, lust or gluttony. It is a war to restore the soul’s original balance in order to qualify for entrance into the Promised Land. The soul is more concerned with the past (history) than with the present or future. The Torah tells about the passage of time our patriarchal and matriarchal ancestors and what happened throughout the history of the nation. The soul is also concerned with the origins of cultural norms—where people came from and why they do what they do, and to understand God’s role in developing the way people live. Torah is the collective story of each soul.

But just as soul affects us spiritually, soul can also determine how we heal our pain and suffering.  The entire person is a reflection his soul.  It is said that the eyes are the windows of the soul.  In fact, when we look into someone’s eyes or observe his physical, emotional and mental features, we’re actually viewing his or her soul. We could also consider the soul as an aggregate of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energies. These energies are the essential ingredients that healing depends upon.

Health is a reflection of a pure, balanced soul. The soul, as a spark of the Divine, requires balance to maintain health. A soul can get sick.  A disruption of the free-flowing spiritual energy that exists in the soul can reveal itself as impaired health or behavior. Prayer, Psalms and the rest of Jewish tradition were originally conceived to help restore the balance of the soul. When we feel resentful, powerless, unbending, rigid, fearful stingy, hurt, intolerant, skeptical, untrusting, even sick, we must accept that our soul is energetically out of balance. Like the tree and like all living matter, a soul seeks equilibrium.

Many psychologists believe that the soul is the antithesis of the ego—which believes in its own existence as the center of the universe.  The soul seeks meaning and purpose, and connection to its source—without it the soul suffers from loneliness, grief, longing for the Divine. The ego mind is attracted to the external world, while the soul is torn between its opposites—a connection to the Divine and the heartfelt pleasures of the everyday world—good friends, good music, good literature, even good food. Restoring the balance of soul can compare to nurturing your inner child, working through imagery, visualizations and imagination—the language of the soul—to balance and permit our shortcomings to find wholeness once more. When our soul is happy, we’re happy. When our soul is sad, we’re sad. It’s no wonder so many soul-satisfying books are appearing bearing such titles as “A Handbook for the Soul”, “Soul Stories” and, now, at last  “Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul.

As we have seen there are many facets to the soul. Writing about it is not an easy task. In many ways, it’s like writing about how air travels through cheesecloth—it’s real, to be sure, but impossible to hold. If more people would become more aware, as their souls reveal its messages—its joys and its sufferings, perhaps my quest will have served its purpose.