What is soul? How can you benefit from connecting with soul? It has become a catchy buzzword used to describe a cultural phenomenon that seems to embody the emerging zeitgeist of our everyday consciousness. Is this beautiful, wild, and untamed concept in threat of becoming an endangered species, a psychic remnant like the Renaissance, Rock ‘n Roll, or ‘Peace and Love’? It’s becoming as common as ice cream and apple pie, but do we really understand it? What is soul?
I certainly don’t pretend to know the answer, but I feel compelled to explore further, if not to share, then to at least satisfy my own hungering curiosity for truth. What I learned in studying the fields of psychology, mythology, human potential development, and spirituality, is that soul is within all of us and accessible to all.
The soul is a bridge or umbilical chord between the human machine and Spirit. And the Spirit is eternity immortal. It will never die, because it was never born. It was, is, and always will be. When we tap into our soul, we tap into that great vastness, that inanimate force which animates all matter. It is a liberating force that frees us from our limited concept of self to experience limitless potential.
The anatomy of the soul consists of our thoughts, emotions, desires, and fears. It is a heightened state of consciousness and alertness: a high degree of awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, desires, and fears. A dimmed state of consciousness is a soul extinguished. A high degree of consciousness and awareness is a soul awakened.
Self knowledge then is the key to awakening and opening the soul. It is a state of wanting to know. Excellence is knowledge plus knowledge plus knowledge. Mediocrity is limited knowledge.
Why are quality actors, executives, artists, trainers, employers, and employees so hard to find? Why is there so much mediocrity in the world? Because, in general, we are selfish and arrogant as a human species. We think we know it all, but in reality we know nothing! We are a speck of dust in the cosmos, not even a tiny grain of sand, little insects crawling around on a tiny blue planet, among billions and billions and billions of other planets. Yet we are so proud and arrogant we think that we are the only intelligent species and that the universe revolves around us.
If we are so intelligent, why is there war, violence, pain, starvation, global catastrophes, and so much human suffering? Arrogance is that hard shell that turns our hearts and souls to stone. Only by being humble can we begin to know. When we abandon ego and acknowledge we know very little, only then do we seek to know.
Humility is such an important virtue that one of the wisest men the world has ever known, Benjamin Franklin, added it to his list of thirteen virtues, each of which he made a conscious effort to put into practice every week owing much of his success and happiness to. As a respected scientist, who invented the Franklin stove, bifocal eyeglasses, and the lightning rod, an able statesman and accomplished diplomat, a prosperous printer, publisher, and businessman, a prolific writer and philosopher, and a founding father of the United States of America, I would say Mr. Franklin’s life was the very epitome of success! Humility allows us to plainly see and admit our weaknesses so we can improve. Humility awakens the soul.
To become a leader you must know yourself: where you begin and end and beyond. For a pseudo leader ignores their potential, while a true leader knows their potential. Be hungry and thirsty for knowledge twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Pay attention to your thoughts and emotions. Explore your fears and desires. Write down your dreams and goals, your strengths and weaknesses. Only then can you begin to grow in every area of your life. Do as the Greeks once knew and advised, “Know thyself, and you will know the gods and the universe!”
Author Resource:-
Sharif Khan (http://www.herosoul.com; sharif@herosoul.com) is a freelance writer, inspirational keynote speaker, consultant, and author of "Psychology of the Hero Soul," an inspirational leadership book on awakening the hero within. (As mentioned in USA Today, Reader's Digest, and the Toronto Sun).
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