Aren't I the only one here? What's this business about me, a soul and all this spirituality stuff?
There's a lot of talk about soul (not the music kind). The buzz was even captured by Disney's just-released blockbuster.
So, do you feel a little out of this whole loop? Defining the indefinable is a familiar challenge (it's hard enough to think about God, right?).
Judaism has so many beautiful teachings about the soul, so let's examine one small way of understanding our soul.
Is the you that is reading this the inner you? How do you become aware of your own actions? Do you rethink things, mull them over in you mind? Do you replay events over and over? Who is the "you" that is doing this? Well, it actually depends. We know there are several voices in our head....and it takes time to gain a refined ability to figure out who's talking. There's the ego, the body, the mind---all competing for a ticket to be in the front seat of your show.
Not to mention the poor little soul struggling to get its' own voice heard. What a cacophony.
Our egos are talking to us all the time, wanting to pretend that they are our voice. Know how you can tell? The ego's voice is not actually very nice, it's the one saying things like: "You're an imposter", "You got to be kidding me, you think that you can do that?" "I want this thing...NOW", "I need to stay in bed..." and a lot of other unsavory tidbits.
That voice is the cruel judge, the procrastinator, the incessant advice-giver, the one who lives in fear, the snide critic, the self-centered egotist, and any other image that you can conjure up that works for you. Identifying the voice as one that speaks out of Fear not Love will help.
In time, you'll get to recognize these uninvited intrusive guests, which is the first step in muzzling them (notice I didn't use the word silence...it's likely that won't happen).
Ultimately, you don't have a soul, you are a soul. Your soul knows what is authentically true about you, but over time, as you can imagine, that voice gets hidden under a lot of other, well, garbage. Some spiritual teachers are more delicate...saying that 'spiritual veils' cover the purest part of ourselves, which is our soul.
One tool to be able to discern your authentic voice is to try out Rabbi Manis Friedman's recommendation which makes things far more simpler. Just think of your soul as having two aspects which can serve as a more trusted guide.
Is your voice telling you to be Selfless or Selfish?
When you spend a little bit of time quieting down the noise, and start listening to the voice that needs your help, the selfless one, you should gain better footing.
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