I had never really found a distinction between soul and spirit that made sense to me, but while communing with my soulmate one appeared. This is just our view, and may seem like mere semantics to some, yet may help others heal and grow and learn to love. Regardless of how we label these ideas, putting their dynamics into practice could change our lives. And now let’s turn to the joyous process of translating our inspiration into words!
Soul and Spirit
Our spirit is that part of the soul that interacts with our physical form. It travels from the soul to the body across energy strands transmitting life force energy received through our astral body. Imagine yourself in the center of a three dimensional web of energy, like an etheric spiderweb, extending outward from your core connecting you with all people, places, and things in the universe. It is across these etheric energy strands that we receive astral energy, share the awareness of information through intuition, and sense psychic phenomena like words, images, feelings, and movement. Things like mother’s intuition and the non-coincidental, paralleling themes of a soulmate connection are examples of such phenomena. The conscious vibrating light of our spirit travels from our soul to our body across this universal ethernet.
Our spirit could also be likened to light shining across fiberoptic strands from the core light of the soul. Its light reaches our physical form by being transmitted from the soul’s light, across these etheric filaments, to the astral body, where it shines within and around us. The astral body consists of the pranic, mental, and intellectual sheaths. So when our spirit enters the astral body, it interacts with our energy system, thought, and emotion; bringing the awareness of our soul into human consciousness. We become conscious of our spirit when focusing on its subtle presence while silencing our egoic mind and blaring human senses.
Our soul, on the other hand, derives from, and is an outgrowth of universal consciousness. Like a wave on the ocean, it is both separate from and one with the universe. Our soul has its own identities, history, and consciousness; and through its connection with the universe, access to the vastness of all things. The conscious infinite light of the universe shines in the soul, and our spirit brings this divine light into our human existence. It is always there, but extremely subtle compared to the screaming mind and blaring human senses. It carries with it the truth of who we are — our true nature — which may go undiscovered due to our confusion regarding what the mind really is and our focus on human senses rather than subtle spiritual things.
Many confuse their mind with their identity, and so spend their lives under the control of their ego. They may never learn that their mind is only a tool, like a computer, that is intended to help us process information and communicate, and then be turned off. When we turn it off, and focus beyond our senses, we will find our spirit eagerly waiting for us there — waiting for us to become aware of it — waiting for us to focus on its truth and by doing so discover who we really are. We are not our mind, or our mind’s interpretation of sensory information. We are our spirit, and the soul it derives from. This is our true nature. This is our true self. This is who we really are.
Sadly, some go their entire lives, or many lifetimes, without discovering or actualizing this simple truth. Practices like yoga, meditation, or journaling can help with the discovery and development of this awareness. Intensely focusing our belief-based attention on spiritual things like compassion, acceptance, non-attachment, and non-judgement can also help us find and grow these flowers of consciousness. Sharing the love of a heart-centered relationship can elevate both partners higher into the truth of who they are. Some may prefer the guidance of a spiritual teacher. Anything that elevates consciousness, raises our vibration, or brings us more fully into the light of truth will help us recognize our spirit and become it more fully.
When we discover this light, and allow it to shine through our human consciousness into the world around us; we will be living in our true nature, and lighting the way for others to learn to do it too.
Insanity And The Human Mind
One form of insanity occurs when we give our mind power over our spirit, allowing it to create various forms of illusion to replace the truth, and believing in this illusion as truth. When our consciousness is determined by our mind, we are out of touch with our spirit (our true nature), and because of this our soul as well. Since we, under this condition, are disconnected from our soul, we are also out of touch with universal consciousness itself — the source of all things real, truthful, and relevant. When disconnected from the universe, everything we think, feel, and believe is the result of what we create in our mind — nothing more. Now that’s an eye-opening proposition (hopefully our third eye)! Do we want our mind fabricating things to support our choices so we can be more comfortable within it, or do we want to leave this illusion of comfort and plunge into the divine sea of truth? Living in the illusion of our mind is living out of touch with reality.
The problem with the “comfort” the mind generates is that it’s fake, so its illusion only lasts a little while — like a drug — and then the truth will start flickering through again and we have to create another fictional story in order to once again become comfortable. So we end up spending most of our time and energy telling lies to ourselves and others so we can be more comfortable avoiding the truth. What kind of life is that, really?
It is a life filled with what is traditionally referred to as mental illness. Variations on a stress, depression or anxiety theme play out through peoples’ lives, while they frantically scramble, like exposed rats, from the light of truth. For instance, instead of being able to respond to a trauma with acceptance and growth, they would probably develop anxiety and a conditioned belief that the trauma will repeat itself (post-traumatic stress disorder). Living in the truth of our spirit prevents the mind from being able to create illness in our lives.
Truth, from a spiritual perspective, is safe, but not always comfortable. It requires no illusion, fiction, or deception to maintain itself, allowing it to exist with naturalness and simplicity. Truth is not about comfort, it is about truth. So it can be pleasurable or painful, comfortable or uncomfortable, inspirational or heart-breaking; but it is needed to live in spirit, be who we really are, and share real love. It is needed to heal, to grow, to understand.
The conscious infinite light of the universe shines in the soul, and our spirit brings this divine light into our human existence. When we discover this light, and allow it to shine through our human consciousness into the world around us; we will be living in our true nature, and lighting the way for others to learn to do it too.
Did you find this post helpful? What are the things that help you stay more connected with your spirit? What would you add to this post to make it more useful for others?
Photo credit: Nicola Jones
So my way of connecting with my spirit and continuing to do so is this:
I 100% believe diet and exercise are integral to the process of realizing who you are and are a very large part of it. Meditation and yoga are great as well. Exercising is so important for stress relief, clearing our minds, memory, thinking and concentration. I believe that you can get through tough times in the same way you get through a tough workout….but maybe that’s just me. Journaling helps if you have the time and patience but I do not so I mentally keep record. (Writing it down would be better though) I have come to truly believe that changing the way I think has helped me tremendously.
For instance, if something bad or unplanned happens, as you already said in your article, you have to force yourself to use it as a learning tool and/or find the positives in the outcome. Not everything that’s “bad/negative” to the human mind is necessarily bad/negative. We just tend to look at it that way because it didn’t happen to align with what we thought should have happened.
I don’t try to figure out why things happen the way they do but I do remind myself that when things happen in a way I wasn’t prepared for, that it’s part of the overall plan of my life.
Also I definitely care less and less of what others think and I don’t let anyone make me feel guilty for what I think or for decisions I make. Including a husband or kids. I do what I feel is right no matter what…even if I might be wrong. (At least I try to).
I make time for myself and for silence. There is waaaaay too much noise in the world and in our heads trying to sway our minds one way or the other. All the noise is too much so I find a way to clear out the noise. That might even mean telling someone that wants to talk when I feel burdened already that I just can’t talk right now, my day is done. I do the same thing when someone wants to argue with me. I just stop the conversation and say “perhaps we should give our thoughts a rest so we don’t continue with an unproductive or hurtful conversation.”
I just feel we should listen to ourselves more…our bodies, our mind and also nature.
Which brings me to my next point. I make sure that I am in nature in some way every day. I walk outside and listen to the bees buzzing or touch a tree or flower, pick up some dirt and smell it and feel it in my hand. Take a picture of something beautiful, sing a song with the birds….anything works.
I verbally recite positive affirmations to myself daily, whether it be a goal or for self esteem…anything. Then I try and force my brain to believe what I said and more often than not it is so very helpful when getting through the day.
In my faults I find strength and I also try and remember that my “faults” are not actually faults or even bad for that matter, they are who I am. So when I start to feel down on myself I try and remember that my “faults or weaknesses” are not that at all but strengths that can be used in certain situations to promote a positive outcome.
As you know I have always dealt with depression but I can’t remember the last time I felt that low. It’s been a long time. I have learned to accept who I am and I just go with it. No one is like me and I am not like anyone else and it’s perfect that way. I’ve come to realize that I am very sensitive and my emotions are strong and the more accepting of that the better person I am.
I think I’m just rambling on and on now….lol.
But you get the idea. So in summary, I stay connected with my spirit through diet, exercise, self acceptance, acceptance of outcomes that occur in life and in situations, or the understanding that everything happens exactly as it was designed to and although I won’t or can’t always know the reasons, it doesn’t matter because it’s going to happen that way.
Oh and music and quiet brain time….turn the damn brain off sometimes and just listen, smell, feel and taste the world we were placed in. It’s beautiful, majestic, magical and amazing when you just stop and literally smell the flowers❤️
Anyway I could write a damn book if I keep going but that’s the jist of it.