The sacredness of soul

'Everything is essentially an utterance of the divine, a sacred sounding, each creature and life-form a unique and unrepeatable expression of the One.'

Philip Newell

When we call something sacred, we are holding it in the highest esteem. We are honouring it as something that is worthy of being approached with awe and reverence. The word 'sacred' has come to be seen as a religious term as indeed it is when we speak of the sacredness of the More or of sacred writings, music or rituals. But the sacred is not confined within the walls of religion. Outside of those walls, we often speak of sacred spaces, mysteries, moments or encounters that we experience as spiritual though they may have little or no connection with religion. For instance, a friend of mine once told me of a particularly meaningful encounter she had with her therapist. She talked of experiencing a few moments that 'felt really sacred'. Though the focus of their dialogue at the time was not in any way religious, it was, she said, 'a deeply spiritual thing'. What she and her therapist experienced, I think, was a profound soul-to-soul connection.

Soul is the essence of our being and it is sacred. One of the key elements that draws me to the wisdom of the ancient Christian tradition of Celtic spirituality is its recognition of the essential sacredness of the soul. Celtic wisdom teaches us that the More flows through everything that exists. This sacred flow is, it says, at the heart of everything that has being. It is the essence of all life. What is innermost within us is of the More as each one of us is a unique expression of its nature. All of the major world religions view human nature in a similarly positive light. None of them see it as inherently bad or sinful. All of them speak of our innermost self as divine in nature. Buddhists call it ‘the Buddha nature’, Hindus call it ‘the atman’, Jains call it 'the jiva', Muslims call it ‘the fitrah’ and Christians call it the soul. Our worth and dignity, they say, derives from our embodiment of the More.

Humanistic philosophy also affirms the inherent worth and dignity of human beings. As a result of his many years of experience as a person-centred therapist, Carl Rogers came to believe that the innermost core of our being is essentially positive, constructive and trustworthy in nature. ‘I do not discover man to be well characterised in his basic nature by such terms as fundamentally hostile, antisocial, destructive, evil,’ he wrote.  He did not, however, see people as perfect. Neither was he arguing that our behaviour is always rational, socialised and constructive. Indeed, it disturbed him to be thought of as an optimist in this regard and he emphasised that his was not, ‘a Pollyanna view of human nature’. At times, he struggled to hold the tension between his recognition that all of us are capable of destructive behaviour and his conviction that human nature is positive at the core.  

Some will see this positive view of human nature as an unrealistically optimistic and naïve one which underestimates its darker side. Instead of using words like ‘positive’ and ‘trustworthy’, they would be more likely to describe human nature as intrinsically flawed, depraved, corrupt, perverted or degenerate. This is a view of human nature that is in part based on a particular strand of Christian teaching. It is called the doctrine of original sin and it was developed in the 5th century CE by a theologian called Augustine. Tragically, it is still prominent within many Christian fundamentalist and conservative evangelical traditions over two thousand years later. 

I do not believe that this teaching reflects the truth about our human nature. I am well aware of the destructiveness of some human behaviour but like Rogers, have sought to hold this awareness in tension with what I have learnt about the essence of our humanity from my deepest encounters with others, both as a therapist and teacher and in my personal life. Like him, I too struggle to make sense of aspects of human behaviour which I find profoundly shocking and at times, I share his uncertainty that the answer I have to the problem of evil is an adequate one. And yet, I remain convinced that Rogers was right.

I believe that our capacity for destructive behaviour flows from the depths of our human brokenness and woundedness, from the damage we sustain at the hands of the societies in which we live and of those who are meant to love and care for us. The behaviour of men like Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein becomes comprehensible, though never excusable, when we learn of the rejection, abandonment and abuse they experienced at the hands of their care-takers in early life.  It is when we are wounded and hurting, when we are lost and broken that we sometimes lash out at ourselves, others and life. The wounding we have suffered also disconnects us from that which is deepest within us. It distorts our perception of ourselves, others and the world in which we live and, in an effort to survive, causes us to behave in ways that inflict further damage, both on ourselves and others. This is the tragedy of human existence.

And yet at the same time, we are capable at our best of doing much that is good. Any philosophy of human nature must also grapple with its positive side. It has to be able to account not only for Auschwitz, the Rwandan genocide and the Killing Fields of Cambodia, but also for the countless acts of honour, integrity, altruism, generosity, self–sacrifice, compassion and loving tenderness of which human beings – and not only religious human beings – are capable. It also has to account for the longing to do what is good, to be ‘a better person’ that most if not all of us will have experienced. This is an inner struggle with which I can readily identify and for me, it speaks more of a woundedness or brokenness within ourselves rather than a deliberate and willful intention or decision to commit evil, knowing it to be evil. 

As a therapist, I am deeply troubled by the damage such teachings as the doctrine of original sin have done to so many over the centuries. When we are given to believe that we are by nature corrupt and sinful, we lose any sense of our own value and worth. We become unhealthily obsessed with our sinfulness, we live in fear of judgement and we struggle to hold onto the hope of being able to redeem ourselves, of becoming acceptable to ourselves and others. Thankfully, progressive Christianity has turned its back on such doctrines. It has come to see them as toxic and judgmental and as having deeply wounded our humanity. And it has found its way back to older teachings which reflect a much more positive view of our humanity.

I believe that each of us carries within our soul a spark of the More, that our humanity and our divinity are closely interwoven and that what is deepest in us – the soul – is profoundly sacred. The human soul is not forever mired in sin. We have not been banished for our sinfulness. We are not irrevocably alienated from the source and ground of our being for it is already within us. The truth is that it is the soul that gives us worth and dignity. And it is this deeper self within us that is most sacred and most fully human.   

©Copyright Kaitlyn Steele 2024

Kaitlyn Steele

www.insearchofsoul.co.uk

kaitlynsteele16@gmail.com