I’m a Soul, Man; I’m a Soul-Man

 The idea of ‘soul’ comes up frequently in my experience.  There is the concept, theologically and psychologically, of the person being composed of four parts - body, mind, spirit, and soul. It appears frequently in hymns.  One source on-line gives a count of the number of times soul occurs in the bible – 754 in the Old Testament and 102 in the New Testament.  Beyond that, there is the use in today’s culture. We have soul music and soul brothers and soul sisters.  I doubt that there is an accurate count of how many hymns speak of the soul.  Here is one of my favourite old hymns:

It Is Well With My Soul

   

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll,

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

 

Chorus

It is well (it is well)

With my soul (with my soul)

It is well, it is well with my soul.

 

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blessed assurance control;

That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate.

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

 

My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

 

From this hymn, we can see that if it is well with your soul, all is well with you.  However, if push comes to shove, do we have a firm foundation (to quote another hymn) what the soul actually is?

I have on my bookshelf, a few books that have references to ‘soul’ in the titles; Modern Man in Search of a Soul  by Carl Jung, Boundaries of the Soul by June Springer, Soul Making by Alan Jones.  It is interesting that , when I checked, none of them actually have a definition of soul.   Here is a sample of the quotes from the books which refer to the ‘soul’:

But spiritually the Western world is in a precarious situation-and the danger is greater the more we blind ourselves to the merciless truth and illusion about beauty of soul.  (Modern Man in Search of a Soul)

Besides, the task is not merely to restore what is lost.  In becoming  lost, the “soul” (I don’t know a better word for that central guiding aspect of the unconscious, the nature of which we have only a dim awareness) has ceased to be the connecting ribbon of a road between a man as he knows himself and the vast unknown and unknowable.  (Boundaries of the Soul)

The making of a soul is hard work, and yet it is also a free gift.  God’s wild card of unconditional love is secure and sure, but we are found or lost in our choosing.  (Soul Making)

I found it interesting that Soul Making had no entry for ‘soul’ in the index – an interesting oversight given the title (and theme) of the book.  I found a few quotes by Carl Jung which speak of soul (I’m sure there are many more).  Here is one that is revelatory of his view:

Being that has soul is a living being.  Soul is a living thing in man, that which lives of itself and causes life.  Therefore, God breathed into Adam a living breath, that he might live.  With her cunning play of illusions, the soul lures into life the intenseness of matter that does not want to live.  She makes us believe incredible things, that life may be lived.  She is full of snares and traps, in order that man should fall. Should reach the earth, entangle himself there, and stay caught, so that life should be lived;

Putting aside the non-inclusive language of these quotes , we can perhaps grasp that the meaning of soul is rather like water which is difficult to get hold of much less actually grasp.  It might be helpful to turn to an encyclopedic definition.  Here is one from The Encyclopedia Britannica which defines soul thus:

soul, in religion and philosophy, the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being, that which confers individuality and humanity, often considered to be synonymous with the mind or the self. In theology, the soul is further defined as that part of the individual which partakes of divinity and often is considered to survive the death of the body.

If I can attempt to summarize, soul is something which all people possess and which is essential to people and can be the part of us that guides us along the journey to becoming more fully human.  May you be blessed to be guided on that journey.