You’ve Got Soul

“You don’t have a soul.  You are a soul.  You have a body.”  CS Lewis

I saw this written on my horoscope one day (yes, fun to read whether you “believe” or not) and I loved the quote.  It’s all in the wording, isn’t it?

We tend to consider ourselves as having a soul, a conscience, an intangible self.  We talk about this soul as if it’s something we have inside ourselves.  But if we look at living, being alive, in its purest form, we are merely living in a vessel we call our bodies.  A mass of blood and skin and veins and organs, that we inhabit.  That which makes up the true self (our spiritual core, if you will) is that unseen personality which defines who we ultimately are.

We aren’t our bodies…our bodies don’t define the kind of people we are, the kind of emotions we feel, the kind of greatness we can achieve.  It is our spirits, our souls, that speak of who we are.  It’s the twinkle in someone’s eye that comes through the body from somewhere far greater.

The best evidence, in my opinion, that we aren’t our bodies is when we pass away.  A dear friend of mine died not too long ago and at his wake all I could think to myself was this wasn’t him.  This was his human form – his body which had ceased functioning on a biological level, but it wasn’t HIM.  It wasn’t who he was – it was his shell.  His soul was still present although I could not touch it.  We are always present, even in death.

Although it’s important to keep our bodies healthy – so we can enjoy our lives – we need to always remember it is our souls that need attention and care.  We need to remind ourselves that we are more than our physical appearance – way more.  That what we truly ARE is not bound by biology and genetics.

You are a soul.