In search of soul

In search of soul  

And you? When will you begin that

 long journey into yourself?

                                      Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi

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​​​At some point in our lives, we will hear the call to embark on the most important journey we will ever make. The 13th century Sufi mystic, Rumi called it ‘that long journey into yourself’. The humanistic psychologist, Carl Rogers called it the journey of 'becoming a person'. I call it the soul journey.

It is undeniably a spiritual journey though we may not recognise it as such. When we speak of the spiritual journey, almost always what we are referring to is our pursuit of the mysterious dimension of reality that the philosopher, William James called 'the more'. For we have forgotten that it is a journey not only into the sacred mystery that is the More, but also into the sacred mystery of our own inner being. It is, in a sense, our search for ‘the more’ within ourselves.

Though we may hear the call of the soul at any time in our adult lives, it often comes in midlife. Even when life seems good, we may come to the realisation that there is something missing, that we are hungry for something more, something deeper, that we are living a life that is too small. We may find ourselves troubled by an unsettling inner restlessness, a desire for change, a deep yearning without knowing precisely what it is we are longing for. Or we may be faced with one of those experiences in life which force us to confront the darker realities of loss, pain and suffering – a major set-back, a serious illness, a significant loss that shocks us to the core and brings us to our knees.

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The soul journey is a journey into the landscape of our inner being. It is a long, slow process of transformation that changes us from the inside out. It asks nothing less than that we dive deep down inside ourselves to find the inner treasure that lies at the very core of our being. The journey is not always an easy one. It is not without effort, not without darkness, pain and loss. But the further along the path we travel, the more we become aware that something within us is changing, that a quiet revolution is slowly taking place. The change is radical. It touches every aspect of our being and penetrates to the very core of it. It strips away that which is false to allow that which is real and true to emerge. It makes us aware of that which limits or constricts us so that we might fully embrace our freedom.

If we give ourselves unreservedly to it, this quiet revolution will transform us from the inside out. And it brings with it a deep-rootedness, a strong sense of 'at homeness' and an inner reservoir of peace, joy and hope. For the soul is our best self. It is the self we long to be, the self we are meant to be. It is our intuitive, creative and most deeply loving self. It is our deepest, truest and most fully human self. It is our sacred, spiritual self and it is beyond beautiful. It is the self that has been calling us home from the day we were born.                                                                                             ​