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love
November 2007 
Soul: The Sacred Link Between the Personal and the Universal
Posted on Feb 5th, 2007
by 
Beth
Beth
When I read the following excerpt from John Welwood's amazing book "Love and Awakening," I was brought to tears by the feeling of deep, resonant truth that arose within me. I'm sharing these words in the hopes that they may similarly touch some of you.
"A soul connection is a resonance between two people who respond to the essential beauty of each other's individual natures, behind their facades, and who connect on this deeper level. This kind of mutual recognition provides the catalyst for a potent alchemy. It is a sacred alliance whose purpose is to help both partners discover and realize their deepest potentials. While a heart connection lets us appreciate those we love just as they are, a soul connection opens up a further dimension -- seeing and loving them for who they could be, and for who we could become under their influence. This means recognizing that we both have an important part to play in helping each other become more fully who we are....A soul connection not only inspires us to expand, but also forces us to confront whatever stands in the way of that expansion....
...While our soul unfolds and reveals itself in uniquely personal ways, its roots extend much deeper than the personal realm. Like a separate drop of water with an innate tendency to find its way back to the ocean that is its source, soul contains a longing to connect with our home-ground, to realize our deeper essence as pure, open presence. Yet soul also contains a yearning to embody our larger nature in this world, to know ourselves in this human form. Thus soul is an intermediate principle or bridge, which allows a living integration between the two sides of our nature: the individual and the universal, the embodied realm of personal experience and the formless presence of pure being, pure spirit.
The experience of soul always contains this double yearning: to feel the meaning and beauty of our individual life, and to connect with the larger, universal currents of life flowing through us. As Rumi describes this two-way flow: 'Do not think that the drop only becomes the ocean. So too the ocean becomes the drop.' If soul could describe itself, it would no doubt use words like those of Yunus Emre, another Sufi poet: 'I am the drop that contains the sea. How beautiful to be an ocean hidden within an infinite drop.'
Our great challenge as human beings is to live fully in both these worlds. We are not just this body/mind organism; we are also a being/awareness/presence much larger than our particular shape and form. Nor are we just this larger, formless being; we are also incarnate as this individual.....As a bridge between these two realms, soul makes itself felt through inner pulls and promptings, like a magnetic compass needle pointing the way, or a dowsing rod leading to water. When we become submerged in our ego-trance, it calls us to wake up; and if we try to float above this life, it calls us back to earth....
...While our absolute nature, as pure being or open presence, is timeless and changeless,....our soul evolves and deepens through cultivating and embodying the seed potentials -- for courage, strength, generosity, humor, tenderness, wisdom -- contained in this larger nature. The essence of spiritual work is to realize and continually reorient ourselves toward our being, our absolute nature; and this is what leads to ultimate freedom. Yet spiritual realizations often remain compartmentalized, apart from everyday life, or become used as a rationale for living in an impersonal or soulless way. That is why, if we are to live our realizations and bring them into this world, we also need to work on the vessel of spirit -- our embodied humanity. Soulwork is the forging of this vessel......If spiritual work brings freedom, soulwork brings integration. Both are necessary for a complete human life."
-- John Welwood, "Love & Awakening" (pp. 50-53)
"A soul connection is a resonance between two people who respond to the essential beauty of each other's individual natures, behind their facades, and who connect on this deeper level. This kind of mutual recognition provides the catalyst for a potent alchemy. It is a sacred alliance whose purpose is to help both partners discover and realize their deepest potentials. While a heart connection lets us appreciate those we love just as they are, a soul connection opens up a further dimension -- seeing and loving them for who they could be, and for who we could become under their influence. This means recognizing that we both have an important part to play in helping each other become more fully who we are....A soul connection not only inspires us to expand, but also forces us to confront whatever stands in the way of that expansion....
...While our soul unfolds and reveals itself in uniquely personal ways, its roots extend much deeper than the personal realm. Like a separate drop of water with an innate tendency to find its way back to the ocean that is its source, soul contains a longing to connect with our home-ground, to realize our deeper essence as pure, open presence. Yet soul also contains a yearning to embody our larger nature in this world, to know ourselves in this human form. Thus soul is an intermediate principle or bridge, which allows a living integration between the two sides of our nature: the individual and the universal, the embodied realm of personal experience and the formless presence of pure being, pure spirit.
The experience of soul always contains this double yearning: to feel the meaning and beauty of our individual life, and to connect with the larger, universal currents of life flowing through us. As Rumi describes this two-way flow: 'Do not think that the drop only becomes the ocean. So too the ocean becomes the drop.' If soul could describe itself, it would no doubt use words like those of Yunus Emre, another Sufi poet: 'I am the drop that contains the sea. How beautiful to be an ocean hidden within an infinite drop.'
Our great challenge as human beings is to live fully in both these worlds. We are not just this body/mind organism; we are also a being/awareness/presence much larger than our particular shape and form. Nor are we just this larger, formless being; we are also incarnate as this individual.....As a bridge between these two realms, soul makes itself felt through inner pulls and promptings, like a magnetic compass needle pointing the way, or a dowsing rod leading to water. When we become submerged in our ego-trance, it calls us to wake up; and if we try to float above this life, it calls us back to earth....
...While our absolute nature, as pure being or open presence, is timeless and changeless,....our soul evolves and deepens through cultivating and embodying the seed potentials -- for courage, strength, generosity, humor, tenderness, wisdom -- contained in this larger nature. The essence of spiritual work is to realize and continually reorient ourselves toward our being, our absolute nature; and this is what leads to ultimate freedom. Yet spiritual realizations often remain compartmentalized, apart from everyday life, or become used as a rationale for living in an impersonal or soulless way. That is why, if we are to live our realizations and bring them into this world, we also need to work on the vessel of spirit -- our embodied humanity. Soulwork is the forging of this vessel......If spiritual work brings freedom, soulwork brings integration. Both are necessary for a complete human life."
-- John Welwood, "Love & Awakening" (pp. 50-53)
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