Modern spirituality loves to treat the soul like a Dropbox folder—preloaded, waiting in the cloud. But the wisdom traditions say otherwise: you don’t start with a soul, you make one. This essay explores why the soul is less like storage and more like alchemy—the residue of a life distilled through presence, choice, and surrender.
I think at sometimes in our journey, our ego can't stand the thought of what a soul really is. Thus it starts trying to curate our changing idea of a soul. And like you say, it all falls short or hinders. Enjoying this thread of soul building. Thank you.
Celia, that’s beautifully said. Ego wants the soul to be an accessory, something it can polish and pose with. But soul is more like scar tissue turned into stained glass. It comes from being broken open and refusing to stay shattered.
This has me all over the place (an observation, not a judgement)- just like itz predecessor did. And that is still in my face every day, which i am very grateful for - i need it a bit desperately (not trying to be a drama queen, my truth just sometimes is). First - i have never used a Dropbox folder. No idea what it is but i can guess & will probably be wrong lol. I shouldn’t blame my age, there are plenty of 70 year olds who probably use them all the time, but I’m the self-proclaimed tech “ijit” who never had a job working on a computer & never explored Dropbox, just saw it as an app & have no idea what it does, why itz there, etc.
so started off laffing which feeds me good energy to explore more.
For me at least making a soul is quite the adventure. I have been making homemade sourdough bread from a living sourdough “starter” that i got in 1989 every week ever since then - itz one of my grown kids at this point. I SO loved the bread analogy, superb analogy.
(My other kid is a kombucha mushroom that I’ve been brewing with since 1991 - yep my homegrown hippy ways showing thru)
Still working on remorse - the shell’s been cracking in the past month since you wrote about making a soul.. ..i have lived my whole life slipping into & living more IN autopilot than OUT of it.. & you lit the spark so Presence could show up.
An unexpected benefit of having surgery has been being more bed-bound & physicially still.
Benefit?
Well I’ve had time to stay available the past 2 months more than I usually would. Less auto-pilot, more of this “original divine technology” of Presence that feels so much more relatable than Dropbox folders. Even when my present moment SUCKS, for the first time I find myself being IN it more than ignoring it or denying it or abandoning it.
AA taught me to clean up the wreckage of my past & focus on NOW. Easier said than done for this human trying to grow a soul. My future is in limbo. Which means fertile ground for doing what never came naturally, the classic Ram Dass BE HERE NOW. Try focusing on a future that holds no plans because every day you never know what the meat suit you’re inhabiting will allow you to do ….kinda forces that live in the present moment thing. A gift?
I’m still tasting the 3 flavors of attention & am giddy about the views on the soul from other traditions - some will ring a bell & I’ll remember, some will be brand new treats.
Even though I’m not finished reading it (i can’t read this subject matter fast or it won’t sink in/assimilate/become part of me, i have to pause & ponder & meditate on it & sleep on it & wait until it feels absorbed) i needed to throw you thru a meandering stream-of-consciousness THANK YOU while in the middle of the experience. If it tortured you, I trust you’re a speed reader & can live thru the hell of it. Knowing you’re helping me grow a soul should take away the pain 💝🙏
You’ve been here this whole time?! I have to type your username in and search for you once in awhile just to find any of your writings. Kind of strange. But glad you’re here and… you doing ok?
I appreciate how you framed remorse not as condemnation but as a doorway. That reframing feels both bracing and hopeful...naming the sting as medicine rather than punishment. It’s a much-needed counter to the self-optimization culture you critique so well.
"It is the distilled meaning of a life surrendered." Hit me like a sack of truth should. Hard and below the belt enough to humble me. I talk about 'my everlasting soul' a lot...this is what I mean. It's me. I'm the soul and none of this is everlasting as we know it. We're distilling the essence of this place in time. I enjoyed this piece very much - and learned something, too.
I think at sometimes in our journey, our ego can't stand the thought of what a soul really is. Thus it starts trying to curate our changing idea of a soul. And like you say, it all falls short or hinders. Enjoying this thread of soul building. Thank you.
Celia, that’s beautifully said. Ego wants the soul to be an accessory, something it can polish and pose with. But soul is more like scar tissue turned into stained glass. It comes from being broken open and refusing to stay shattered.
This has me all over the place (an observation, not a judgement)- just like itz predecessor did. And that is still in my face every day, which i am very grateful for - i need it a bit desperately (not trying to be a drama queen, my truth just sometimes is). First - i have never used a Dropbox folder. No idea what it is but i can guess & will probably be wrong lol. I shouldn’t blame my age, there are plenty of 70 year olds who probably use them all the time, but I’m the self-proclaimed tech “ijit” who never had a job working on a computer & never explored Dropbox, just saw it as an app & have no idea what it does, why itz there, etc.
so started off laffing which feeds me good energy to explore more.
For me at least making a soul is quite the adventure. I have been making homemade sourdough bread from a living sourdough “starter” that i got in 1989 every week ever since then - itz one of my grown kids at this point. I SO loved the bread analogy, superb analogy.
(My other kid is a kombucha mushroom that I’ve been brewing with since 1991 - yep my homegrown hippy ways showing thru)
Still working on remorse - the shell’s been cracking in the past month since you wrote about making a soul.. ..i have lived my whole life slipping into & living more IN autopilot than OUT of it.. & you lit the spark so Presence could show up.
An unexpected benefit of having surgery has been being more bed-bound & physicially still.
Benefit?
Well I’ve had time to stay available the past 2 months more than I usually would. Less auto-pilot, more of this “original divine technology” of Presence that feels so much more relatable than Dropbox folders. Even when my present moment SUCKS, for the first time I find myself being IN it more than ignoring it or denying it or abandoning it.
AA taught me to clean up the wreckage of my past & focus on NOW. Easier said than done for this human trying to grow a soul. My future is in limbo. Which means fertile ground for doing what never came naturally, the classic Ram Dass BE HERE NOW. Try focusing on a future that holds no plans because every day you never know what the meat suit you’re inhabiting will allow you to do ….kinda forces that live in the present moment thing. A gift?
I’m still tasting the 3 flavors of attention & am giddy about the views on the soul from other traditions - some will ring a bell & I’ll remember, some will be brand new treats.
Even though I’m not finished reading it (i can’t read this subject matter fast or it won’t sink in/assimilate/become part of me, i have to pause & ponder & meditate on it & sleep on it & wait until it feels absorbed) i needed to throw you thru a meandering stream-of-consciousness THANK YOU while in the middle of the experience. If it tortured you, I trust you’re a speed reader & can live thru the hell of it. Knowing you’re helping me grow a soul should take away the pain 💝🙏
You’ve been here this whole time?! I have to type your username in and search for you once in awhile just to find any of your writings. Kind of strange. But glad you’re here and… you doing ok?
I appreciate how you framed remorse not as condemnation but as a doorway. That reframing feels both bracing and hopeful...naming the sting as medicine rather than punishment. It’s a much-needed counter to the self-optimization culture you critique so well.
"It is the distilled meaning of a life surrendered." Hit me like a sack of truth should. Hard and below the belt enough to humble me. I talk about 'my everlasting soul' a lot...this is what I mean. It's me. I'm the soul and none of this is everlasting as we know it. We're distilling the essence of this place in time. I enjoyed this piece very much - and learned something, too.