The whole idea

At school, most of us study the geography of landscapes, maps and territories. But we don’t learn an internal geography. We don’t discuss what it is to be human and how to negotiate our own internal terrain. We aren’t shown maps for being human. Without a good map, we risk getting lost in dark territory or ending up on a one-way street. When we know where we are, we can get on with the adventure of exploring the territory.

There are lots of different maps of the human being, each with its own perspective. There are spiritual maps, soul maps and materialist maps. We get certain directions for how to lead our lives depending on which map we refer to. Each map is useful for the particular type of terrain it describes.

The spiritual map seems like it has been drawn from somewhere in outer space looking down at humans on planet earth. Details of the landscape are not important. It is concerned with the big picture. It is concerned with how the map of the earth connects with maps of ‘higher’ realms.

The materialists on the other hand live in a flat landscape. There is nothing otherworldly about their perspective. Action in the world is all that counts. On these maps, detailed descriptions of landmark achievements and acquisitions are considered important.

Those who deal with the soul, such as psychologists, are fascinated with detailed descriptions of small pieces of landscape. Places of interest include states such as anxiety and depression, happiness and wellbeing. Their maps can tell us how to move from one space to another.

A comprehensive map would put all these perspectives together. This map would give us a helpful guide for living a balanced life. It would take some of the confusion out of navigating uncharted territories. The spiritual, soul and materialist maps each focus on a particular zone within the human being. The spiritual maps the human spirit, the soul one maps the human soul and the material maps the human self. The human self is also referred to as the personality or ego.

The art is in using the appropriate map for the corresponding aspect of life. For example, you wouldn’t use a philosophical treatise on human ethics to help you repair your car. Similarly, we run into difficulty if we use spiritual instructions for navigating day-to-day material life. And spiritual instructions may not tell us how to deal with soul matters such as grief, relationships and creative expression.

Conversely, material concepts will not shed much light on the spiritual realm. And while learning something like how to manage investments may be good for the survival of the self, it will not be enough to satisfy the growth of the soul.

We also need to get clear about the difference between spirit, soul and the self. The words “spirit”, “soul” and “self” all refer to different aspects of the human being and a fair bit of confusion exists about which is which. To lead a balanced life, it’s beneficial to attend to each of these aspects of our being.

Spirit refers to the aspect of us that is eternal and unchanging. It’s like our own individual spark of creativity, light and love. It is a spark of the infinite, of the source of all that is. It underpins existence but has no form. Words used to describe this realm include unity, peace, truth and holiness.

The self is our particular identity that shows up through our actions in the world and interactions with others. It is our personality. It is our individual ego. It shows up via such characteristics as introversion or extroversion, whether we like sciences or arts, thrill-seeking action or quiet endeavour.

The soul has individual characteristics. It’s like our particular individual essence that surrounds the spiritual spark. Each soul will have particular things that inspire it and give it meaning. Each soul has particular strengths and talents as well as areas of challenge.

The soul is like an intermediary between the spirit and the self. It carries the spark of the spirit into the material world. The soul incarnates into a self that has its own particular genetic and psychological configuration. The soul’s task is to bring spiritual characteristics such as peace, love, truth and beauty into the body-self it inhabits. Each soul will have its own idiosyncratic way of doing this and each soul will be concerned with some aspects of spirit more than others. For example, an artist may work with beauty, a mother with love, a scientist with truth, a monk with peace.

At the level of spirit, there’s a few basic characteristics. We don’t have a lot of language to describe this indescribable level, but words such as emptiness, holiness, radiance and love point to the nature of this spiritual reality. These particular qualities of spirit then ray out and are expressed differently as they become expressed via the soul through the personality.

For example, someone who experiences the unity and interconnectedness of life at the level of spirit begins to understand we are all one. At the level of soul, this may be experienced as love and compassion for all beings. A responsibility for contributing to the wellbeing of others may then arise within the soul. As the soul then works on the self, this love and responsibility may be expressed in many ways such as through empathy, kindness, co-operation or loyalty. What starts as a pure truth at the level of spirit may actually be expressed and experienced a variety of ways once the individual self acts it out.

Levels of being

The territories of spirit, soul and self are each accessed via different approaches. Spirit can be accessed via meditation, contemplation and prayer. Soul is accessed via creativity, therapy, dreams, rituals and relationships. The self is accessed via work, family and social life.

These three areas of our being often get mixed up because the terms get interchanged. People may talk of self-expression but do they mean the materialistic self is expressing the soul self or the “higher” spiritual self? If a person is described as soulful, are they expressing impersonal spirituality via a meditative path or are they expressing individual soul via a creative path or perhaps a narcissistic self via a self-indulgent path?

Trouble also starts when one person diminishes another’s path. The monk meditating in the ashram may criticise an industrialist for not bringing enough peace and spiritual wisdom to the world. The therapist may criticise the monk for not bringing enough soulfulness and soul-healing to the world. The industrialist may criticise both the monk and the therapist for not bringing enough practical support to the suffering of others. In reality, each may be expressing love in their own particular domain. Each may be adding to peace and beauty in the world.

Neither monks, therapists nor industrialists are more virtuous in and of themselves. It’s the degree to which the soul manages to transform the monk, the therapist or the industrialist’s self so that more and more spirit is bought into the individual life expression.

Risks and benefits

Spirituality

Some spiritual people may meditate for hours or attend regular silent retreats. This may give them access to spiritual experiences such as stillness and peace. They may also understand wisdom such as: “Everything is connected; all is one.” Spiritual experience can therefore be inspiring and illuminating.

The risk with spiritual practice is it can lead to a spiritual arrogance whereby people believe that attaining spiritual wisdom means they have done all the work. I have come across spiritual groups who think therapy is bad because it takes the focus off the spiritual life. They proudly claim they have never done the soul work that therapy involves. In reality, spiritual wisdom has two other levels to translate through. At the soul level, there is work to be done in clearing out issues and unconscious material that might block the flow of spirit. Then the soul has to translate these impulses into action in the world via the self. Without this translation process, people ignore their unconscious motivations and may unwittingly cause harm despite their high spiritual intentions.

For example, a person may begin to understand the spiritual truth of eternity. They may experience this while meditating. They may realise eternity is not about a very, very long time but is instead about being in the present moment always; that there is only the present moment. The risk for people is that if they have accessed this understanding via meditation, they may then believe something like, “Well, if meditation gives me access to this state, I must meditate all the time. Maybe I should join an ashram or something.” The soul will not necessarily find this enough, though, because it looks at the personality self and says, “Yes, but as soon as I get up off the meditation cushion and go out into the world, my old neuroses come straight back up.”

The soul wants to bring spiritual awareness into the personality self. This might mean dealing with emotional issues such as anger, since anger throws us out of the present moment into the past. Or we may have to learn to manage anxiety since it keeps us out of eternity and in the future instead. It’s as if the soul says, “As my personality self walks around in the world, can I still maintain the spiritual understandings? Can I have them while I drive my car, while I work, while I relate to others? What parts of my unconscious still block my attaining spiritual understandings moment to moment? Let’s find them and clean them up. And does my work in the world contribute to the expression of my spiritual understandings? If not, let’s refine it.” The soul brings the spirit into the self; into the intellect, into the emotions and into the body.

Another risk of spiritual practice is it can encourage people to separate from the world. This can breed a spiritual superiority. I know a client who realised she actually became pretty unbearable when she was at her most “spiritual”. She noticed this superior air kept her separate from other people. Fortunately, she was able to see the irony of feeling separate when the teaching was that “all is one”.

Many clients have reported their spiritual community is rife with power issues, gossip and competition. This is never addressed, though, because the community is focused at the level of spirit. It ignores the other levels. Bad behaviour goes unaddressed. This can be quite dangerous, especially when there is a single leader of a community. When behaviour is not subject to the scrutiny of a soul level, all sorts of dysfunction can thrive. At its worst, it leads to sexual, substance and financial abuse. At its worst, it leads to things such as the Jonestown massacre.