From my perspective, none of us can know things related to “soul” for sure. I fully appreciate that there are many religions, spiritual organizations, gurus, and other types of guides claiming to know and proclaiming their perspective of truth with a capital “T”.  There are some common themes among them which suggests the possibility of a larger Truth. But I don’t believe any of us can claim the Truth when it comes to “soul”. Rather, our small “t” truth is based on what we have been exposed to (including those common themes), our lived experience, and the SEARCHING we have personally done to recognize and know our own souls.

The recognition of soul within each of us is what matters. We may define and relate to it very differently, but that’s okay.

There is a place at the centre of the differences.

For me, “soul” is our essence and highest possible consciousness. It is the part of us that exists beyond the physical body and brain. It is present. It is calm. It is wise. It is whole. It is connected. It is enlightened. It is clarity and seeing beyond. It is creative. It is courageous. It is expansive and unbounded. It provides meaning and is gripped with ultimate concern. It is trusting and faithful. It is considered. It is virtuous. It is accountable to all for all. It is the I AM. 

It is also continually trying to catalyze us (if we’re listening). It is urging and encouraging our process of evolving and magnifying its animation through our physical limitations as humans. It pulls us toward itself and toward increasingly aligning and transcending our personalities and simultaneously embodying our souls and their expression into the human form of our physical lives. Some may say it orchestrates our change at times. Hence the name “SOULCHANGE”. 

I don’t differentiate “soul” from “spirit”, although many religions, such as Christianity make the distinction. Whether or not they are separate and/or how they may interact is not something I think any of us can know for sure. 

I don’t limit “soul” as being related to recognizing a God/Divine/Higher Power/Creator or as having a relationship with the same. I think people can be soul led and engage with the sacred with and without such a relationship, although for many, interaction and devotion within such a relationship is a significant part of the express their spirituality.   

I don’t necessarily agree that the soul can be fragmented, even though I know there are some who believe that it does in response to severe trauma. It’s possible this difference of perspective is more about semantics. I think the soul is core and cannot be destroyed or harmed. I do think it can be significantly, if not entirely clouded over or pushed aside by such things as significant trauma, and personality disorders like narcissism and antisocial disorder. In these cases, it does not seem to me that the soul has fragmented, it is that it has been both crowded out by the shadows of survival and ego as well as undernourished and underdeveloped as a result of the same. In my opinion, if anything fragments in response to significant trauma, it is the personality, not the soul. 

Spirituality is the journey of our human personality in relationship to our soul; coming to know it, relate to it, and embody it. It is potentially multi-influencing, multi-directional, and multi-dimensional depending on our engagement with it. While that journey is often depicted in stages, I don’t think it’s nearly that linear. MacDonald (2000) analyzed a number of spirituality measures based on varying underlying concepts of spirituality and found that it was or could include cognitive, experiential/phenomenological, existential well-being, paranormal beliefs, and religiousness, as well as self-expansiveness. 

There are many differing views of soul, what it is, and how it fits with different world views and various religious beliefs. I don’t think there is one right set of beliefs or way of seeing or doing things. I think based on the aspects of consciousness that some sets of beliefs and ways of seeing and doing things are more conscious than others, whether that is at the level of a particular organized religion or an individual’s beliefs and practices. I also think each of us has to sort out the understanding that aligns for us and be willing to change it as we evolve.