In coming together to learn of spiritual things on Sundays, there is a natural assumption that we have a spirit or soul to take care of. Some may doubt that or more likely, live somewhere between doubt and certainty. It is often the catastrophic that propels us toward certainty. You have all heard of an S.O.S. call going out across the airwaves, which literally translated means Save Our Souls.

In calmer times the question of a spirit or soul might be less troublesome, but often it’s there in the background of our minds. About one hundred or so years ago a medical doctor tried to prove the existence of a soul scientifically by measuring the bodies of seven tuberculosis patients at the moment of death and in observing a drop in weight, concluded that the soul weighs 21 grams. I don’t think the study has been successfully replicated but it shows the extent of interest in discerning whether the soul exists. I’m not sure if we will ever be able to measure the soul using scientific instruments and perhaps it doesn’t matter as that is not the best proof anyway.

Is the soul real?

One obvious truth we can all agree on is that regardless of your religion, belief system, culture or ethnicity, all people have an inner world and an outer world. Your inner world consists of the many invisible things that make up “you” – your dreams and aspirations; your sensibilities, your thoughts and heart towards others. Your outer world seems so much more tangible and is made up of your body, academic and technical accomplishments – how many degrees and bits of paper you have, your career, home, and possessions.

Even though we hate to admit it, we have more faith in our outer world. We believe wholeheartedly that if we can just change our outer world, our inner world will improve.  Don’t tell me you have never been there! I know I have.  Regardless, that’s not the way it goes.  The reality is that our outer world is complex and larger than life when compared to the tiny voice of our inner world, but truly our inner world is master.

Who is in charge?

What is running your life at any given moment in time is your inner world. You may be familiar with the powerful words of “Invictus” by William Henley.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Under the most difficult of circumstances people have the ability to rise up and do incredible things, or alternatively, in the wrong situation, despite affluence and material well-being, have the life sucked out of them.

How’s your mind-body unity?

I was asked to take a poll the other day connected to an on-line class I am taking “Exploring the Divine Principle,” at the Unification Theological Seminary . I’m pretty fearless when it comes to taking polls but this one stumped me! I was asked to identify, by percent, how close I think I am to spiritual maturity or mind/body unity. Am I 20% there, 30%, 60%, 75%, or 90%? Take a minute and think about how you might answer that question. How on earth do you measure that? It’s like trying to weigh the soul.

It got me thinking. I wouldn’t have the audacity to say I was spiritually mature. Some people in the class scored themselves pretty low and consequently felt depressed. But I thought about it and realized it’s really an “amount of time” issue. I have had moments when I felt really connected to God, felt His incredible love for others and became, for a fleeting second, a channel for the love of the Universe. The moment quickly passed!

We see perfection or spiritual maturity as this incredibly high, high state that is unattainable except by Jesus or perhaps Buddha, or other well-known saints and sages. But once we stop being intimated by it, spiritual maturity is actually not so far away. It’s just that we are not very good at sustaining it over time.  For this reason, we have to care for our soul. The power of our inner world really determines whether we have the ability to love, to transcend difficulty, overcome adversity or alternatively meet defeat.

Practice makes perfect!

Last week we honored the life of Maya Angelou who graced this world with her love and strength in the face of adversity. Life taught her many lessons which she passed on through her writings. Wisdom is timeless and I have been the lucky recipient of a few of her pearls.

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

I know my soul or heart let me down a few times when I lost luggage! But at least I am reminded I don’t have to allow defeat to define me. The secret is to try again.

“I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same as making a “life.”

“I’ve found that whenever I decide something with an open heart; I usually make the right decision.”

What is running your inner life at any given moment in time? It’s not your external circumstances that govern your life, even though most of the time we act like that’s true….if I had more money, I had a better job… I lived somewhere else… I could be happy. It’s really your soul or inner most heart that creates your life. It’s the part of you that is connected to God; that knows your value; the part of you that can resonate with everyone and everything around you.

We have all seen people cave under difficult circumstances and have done it ourselves. Sometimes, a little understanding goes a long way to making you strong. I want to share with you some insights from Unification Thought which shed light on the soul so that we can protect it and nurture it into becoming the driving force of our lives.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Unification Thought refers to the soul as “heart” or the purest part of ourselves that is “God in us.” Knowing that, don’t ever let anyone belittle you!

Heart is the source of our motivation to seek joy through love. You’re designed for happiness! In that sense we can agree with the Declaration of Independence that affirms our right to the pursuit of happiness. Sometimes people quibble on this use of words in the document because government can’t ensure any individual’s happiness. Nevertheless, unwittingly it’s defending your inalienable right to pursue your original nature.

The motivation to seek joy through love is simple, beautiful and free from all the damaging things the world has done to us. It’s your most essential nature and needs to be cultivated so that it becomes so large in your life that it has the power to change your circumstances!

Taking care of “you”

Anything that you have has to be taken care of to function well. If you don’t take your car for regular tune-ups after a while it will breakdown. You might need an alignment or oil change. But in order to take care of your car you have to have some understanding of how a car works and how the parts function, otherwise you won’t pay attention to what is needed.

It’s ironic that we are more ignorant of the nature of our soul than our car, and yet the state of our soul is much more important. So, what is the soul and how does it work in conjunction with the other parts of ourselves?

In studying Unification Thought we see that our soul or heart is the center of who we are and manifests through our emotion, intellect and will. We often make the mistake of succumbing to one of these when it is out of balance and disconnected from heart, and end up getting pulled off course – remember the lost luggage?

Intellect

Our intellect was given to us to seek truth but if our intellect is disconnected from God’s heart which is manifested in our soul, and we use our intellect in purely self-centered ways we create hell, by any other name. I was reminded of this while watching the movie “God is not Dead.” The antagonist was an unhappy, resentful, incredibly intelligent professor who delighted in ridiculing any student who professed faith in God. His sharp intellect was utilized to slice and dice anyone who disagreed with him, and his life became hell. When our intellect is disconnected from heart, our judgment becomes faulty and we are no longer able to perceive truth.

Emotion

We were blessed with emotion so that we could be sensitive to beauty. Imagine a world where you could walk by an awe inspiring scene and feel nothing. That too would be hell. People who cut off from their feelings live in a desolate place. When your emotions aren’t connected to the “God in you” and instead become self-centered you are driven by feelings that are all over the place. We mistake these strong emotions as a true guide and follow them blindly wherever they lead. Your soul or heart isn’t your feelings but a deeper place that is the source of your desire for joy.

Will

Understanding our will is a challenge. The will is good with big decisions like should I move or not, or useful for a long term commitment to marry for instance. But when it comes to little things like overcoming bad habits it tends to fall short. Our will when connected and powered by our heart or soul allows us to manifest goodness in the world, but when will is separated from God’s heart it can be corrupted by selfishness, creating chaos and leaving destruction in its wake.

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t want to experience truth, beauty and goodness in their life. These are natural outcomes of an intellect, emotion and will, connected to heart. Perhaps some people are so hurt they don’t dare believe, but it is part of our original nature to long for truth, beauty and goodness.

At the crossroads of human and divine

The heart or soul is meant to be the defining quality of being human. People were created to be the “crown of creation,” We are unique in all of creation. We have consciousness, are self-aware, morally capable, creative, responsive and responsible. Only we have the capacity to consider the meaning and value of life, and connect to the bigger picture. Only we are compelled to ask, “What does it all mean?” Only we can pray and in that way establish a relationship with God. These capabilities of heart are a reflection of God. It puts human beings in the image of God.

 “Truly do I exist in all beings, but I am most manifest in man. The human heart is my favorite dwelling place” – Hinduism

It is our connection to God’s heart that empowers the human heart to function properly. It invigorates, refreshes, and makes possible our love for others in human relationships. Without resonance of heart with God, we are empty of love, and easily burned out. Our judgment becomes faulty – being connected to God isn’t just about love and emotion but how to live well.

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” – Mathew 5:48

Getting in sync with God

An unclouded heart is much more likely to be able to see as God sees which is at the core of our original nature. That’s who we truly are. Our soul or heart is the operating system of our life. The heart has the capacity to integrate all the different parts of you. It can get your emotion, intellect and will in sync with God so that you can lead a life of beauty, truth and goodness.

We are the only creation to have the capacity to be in full relationship with God because we resemble God. Our Heavenly Parent gave us:

• Emotion, to know God’s heart and share intimacy
• Intellect, to know God’s plans and ideas
• Will, to actualize God’s dreams in the world

If one of these things is off you need to pull it back into connection with your heart or soul so that it is connected to God.

To lose my soul means to lose my center which guides my life. It’s like trying to drive a car without a steering wheel.

It’s easy living in an affluent country like America to be convinced that you should have a perfect life. We desperately try to keep up the façade but then the kids start misbehaving or your perfect life unravels in front of your business associates and you scramble to keep it together with the help of a little too much alcohol or comfort food. We think the problem is the state of our bank account, our kid’s poor behavior or our bulging waistline, but the real problem is in our soul. Gaining the trappings of the outside world doesn’t help if the inner world is devoid or empty. The neglected soul doesn’t go away.

Starting a soul help movement

When things go wrong we turn to the myriads of self-help books that line the shelves of bookstores and libraries. I am an avid consumer of such books but they have a built-in limitation. They are about the self and not the soul. The problem is in the self, but the solution is in the soul. If you’re on empty, the self-help section will tell you to take care of yourself, believe in yourself,    love yourself, or express yourself. The trouble is the self stands alone. The soul reminds us that nothing was made for itself, or by itself. We were created for relationship and the most fundamental relationship we need is with God.

For this reason, the philosophy of living for the sake of others is at the heart of Rev Moon’s teachings. When we live for the sake of others we naturally come into harmony with the world around us and connect to God.

Living connected

We have an inner world or mind and an outer world or body. Our outer world is not bad or evil. We just need to bring these two parts of ourselves into the right relationship and that was what the poll I mentioned earlier was attempting to measure.

Our career is important but we need to figure out how it can express our soul or heart. Can we manifest truth, beauty and goodness in our work life? What would that look like? Can our intellect serve others or will we use it to destroy, like a hacker bent on creating chaos. Is our will a force of goodness in our lives? Are we behaving ethically in our business relationships and expressing our heart for others or are we dominated by money? Our lives hold limitless possibilities when were live based on heart. Don’t be afraid of your external circumstances; instead focus on developing a healthy soul that will carry you through life’s ups and downs.