The concept of the soul is richly described in the text of nearly every culture, present and past. Poets write of this mystical presence, the philosophical debate and discuss it. Does the soul exist, and if so is there any way to measure it?
In ancient texts the translation of spirit is breath. Reading back though many of the passages, this one change in translation can give new meaning those ancient teachings.
There is a practice is the shamanic world called soul retrieval. It is believed that in trauma the soul, or a portion of the soul, can become detached from the physical presence, perhaps as a means to protect the delicate being. This separation can lead to a feeling of detachment, sadness, and loss.
Why do we focus so strongly on the soul? Is it perhaps to find an identity that transcends the physical? Is it to retrieve a part of ourselves that our cultures encourage us to ignore? Maybe it is focusing on that part of us that lives beyond the clicking of the clock or beating of the heart.
"The soul is thyself; for thou knoest that which is different from soul and is perishable. But what is the soul? asked the king. The sage answered: He who dwells in the body, who heeds the body, and at whose departing the body suffers whilst he does not suffer, for uncertainty (such as the bodys) is not his - that is the soul. He delights in his beauty, he is immortal, fearless, and himself Creator. (Passage from The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, pg 176).
Time will not change our quest to see within our own souls. We may distract ourselves with the every-increasing pace of our world, but we cannot fill every moment of silence in our lives. The soul speaks in the space of silence, but its voice is unmistakably our own.
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