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Spirituality 101--what is the soul?
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How is your soul in this very moment? Would you know? Have you ever seen it? Have you ever touched it? What does a soul look like?
Every religion has its creation myths and those in the Abrahamic traditions, or desert religions consistently present God as a stranger and human beings as alienated from the Source. 
The mystics, those who have experienced an ecstatic spiritual connection with the Source, God, or whatever you want to call this Ultimate Reality, offer a different version of reality. They say that we are never separated from God, the chasm is entirely in our minds.
The contemporary mystic Sant Rajinder Singh reinforces the message of the sages throughout the ages, “Within us lies the unlimited power and energy of the soul. Tapping into it can enrich and transform us. Its rich qualities include fearlessness, immortality, connectedness, unconditional love and bliss.”
What is the soul?
Books for and about the soul are bestsellers.After publishing the first four volumes of Chicken Soup for the Soul, the authors diversified. “Chicken Soup” became a chicken coop. By 2006 over 100 versions of “Chicken Soup For The Soul” had been published. There was Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul, for the golfer’s soul, the girlfriend’s soul, and more and more.
How many different kinds of souls are there?
The purpose of spirituality is to connect us to our true essence, the true self—the soul.
In every religious tradition and throughout time the mystics say the “the soul of life” is not a multiplicity but a unity.
The soul represents our core, our essence, our true self.But are we simply making this up?Is the soul a figment of our imagination? I know of no one capable of producing evidence to verify its existence.The soul cannot be seen under a microscope or detected by a CT scan.
Whatever the soul is or isn’t, most would agree that it is not a physical or material “thing” capable of being held or grasped. Its mass cannot be weighed or quantified. Its existence cannot be proven or refuted by logic or reason. We know the soul intuitively by encountering it. The soul is spirit. It is ethereal.
As a minister, I have sat with many people who have died. Several moments after they have taken their last breath, I often find myself staring at the lifeless body asking, “Where did you go?” A living, breathing human being can seem larger than life.A dead body appears to be smaller, a hollow shell. The vitality of being alive gives the body a larger presence.
The soul is who we are and how we are connected to life.It is the source of our deepest yearnings and the promise of our greatest fulfillment. Itis the key that can open us to life’s greater mystery and meaning.When this life force withdraws, the cadaver shrinks andappears smaller.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Within us is the soul of the whole, the wise silence, the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal One. When it breaks through our intellect, it is genius; when it breaks through our will, it is virtue; when it flows through our affections, it is love.”
No matter how low we drop, eventually we will rise up. No matter how much pain we have, we will get through it. No matter how bad it gets, the soul is eternally resilient. The soul, the Spirit, is immutable and indestructible because the center of the soul is God, and God is love—or more precisely put, the soul is pure love—it is God within us, waiting to be born.
Perhaps you too have experienced this Truth: love is stronger even than death. This, I believe, is the soul’s quiet voice speaking to and through us.
Part two: Spirituality 101--soul liberty
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