And what of the Soul?

Photo Credit: Jurgen Mangelsdorf via Compfight cc

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an Hour

William Blake

Our Universe is 14 billion years old and within the visible part there are 140 billion galaxies. Our own little planet arrived on the scene 4.5 billion years ago and then about 4 billion years ago a miracle happened.


It has taken a long time, but for the last 100,000 years our own particular species has been wandering the Earth and at the last count there are over 7 billion of us alive.

Each of us starts our life journey when a single cell splits into two and by the time we are born we have reached 140 trillion cells. Remarkably, every single cell carries a complete blue print of exactly who and what we are.

Our experience of life comes through five senses which allow us to see the reds and golds of Autumn, to hear a little robin singing as night turns to dawn, to feel the caress of a cool summer breeze on our cheek, to taste chocolate and mint in a peppermint cream, and to smell the smoke and sweetness of a turf fire.

Our greatest gift is consciousness, our thoughts and thinking, and it is through our mind that we experience the world. Yet anyone who has watched their thoughts for more than a few minutes will know that they are fleeting and chaotic.

But it is our emotions that give our life color and intensity, and as I read the stories of my fellow bloggers I begin to understand quite how intense those emotions are; despair and grief, love and laughter.

10,000 years ago at the dawn of civilization our ancestors must have been very similar to us in their thoughts and their emotions and how they experienced the world. It is astonishing that the great works of philosophy and religion appeared around the world 3,000 years ago, long before the internet and WordPress.

And yet do we not still struggle with the same challenges and mysteries?

The same emotions that make us feel so alive can also leave us feeling powerless when suffering arrives. Our thoughts and feelings can become so overwhelming, and yet we bottle them up and feel isolated in a society that values silence and secrets.

If we consider the fragility of our mortality can we ever comprehend eternity?

How do we begin to understand where this complex and vibrant world came from?

Do we pause to think about the complexity of our bodies and the vastness of the Universe?

Is there a God? Did any of our religions get it right? Does it matter? Does it change anything?

And what of the soul?

Does it exist?

And if it does, then far more importantly, how do we nourish it?

And what of the Soul?