Love Your God: with Your Soul

Continuing into part 2 of this series on loving God, we approach the sometimes confusing part of the passage in which we are to love God with our soul. If you missed part 1, I encourage you to read it first.

A good preliminary issue to tackle is the elephant in the room: what is the soul? This is often the confusing part for those who would read Mark 12 and seek to obey. The Greek word used here that is interpreted as "soul" is transliterated as psuche (pronounced psoo-khay) which can also mean one's breath of life, vital force and a person's essence which is different from the body and preserved beyond death. Soul is simply a concise term to capture that idea.

I believe in a particular "theory of the soul" but there are many; for simplicity and efficiency sake, I'll be speaking from my own belief and not educating the reader on all the many theories. I do encourage you to go look some up, though, there are many. As I understand it, the soul is the biggest category one can use for a person's non-physical attributes. Within this broader category, we have subcategories which include the spirit, the mind, the heart, the memory, etc. In order to love God we must devote each of these categories in humble submission to the divine.

If I'm to love God with my soul, it means that I am to love him with all of the non-physical parts of me.

Well that seems pretty straight forward, but how do we actually DO that? Great question, thanks for asking!

In order to conform all of the metaphysical parts of my person to the submissive, loving servitude of Christ's example, I must begin by knowing myself a bit. If I don't know what my soul is like, I can't very well interact with it or bend it to my will (which, paradoxically, is located in the soul). In the west, we have far too often lost the art of meditation, introspection, self-evaluation beyond an online personality survey (which Disney Villain are you?) and so we end up walking around the earth like ghosts; we don't know our physical bodies much (unless you are in a health profession) and we don't know our non-physical bodies much (unless you are an exception to the norm, which is just as plausible as being a health professional; that is, it happens). So, first, get to know you, then follow Christ's example and teachings.

How do I get to know my soul?

I'm about to lose some people here...
The most effective way that I have found to encounter my metaphysical self is to still my physical self. This in and of itself is a feat to be mastered (and I have yet to master it), but it is well worth it for the pay off is enough quiet to accomplish an inner look at oneself. Contrary to popular belief, mediation is not historically a foreign practice to Christianity. In fact the ascetic and monastic traditions within Christianity are rich in theology and experience of the divine. It is incredibly worth a look at the Desert Mothers and Fathers as well as more popular mystics like St. Gregory Palamas or Bonaventure. So here is a quick how-to on Christian meditation. Be forewarned, this isn't nearly the only way and you likely won't get it perfect the first time (unless you're just a soul-ninja) as calming one's mind and body at the same time is a skill to be practiced.

• First, find a time to practice; I'm a morning person, so being up at 6 am with nothing to do for an hour and a half is great for me. My kids and wife (and even dog) are still sleeping and I have no obligations other than what I place on myself. You may be a night person or only have time on your lunch break. Like exercising your physical body, you must block out time intentionally to "take your soul out for a jog". Thankfully, you shouldn't need more than half an hour at most; even still, I would only attempt about 5-10 minutes in the beginning as that will be plenty difficult. Set a timer somewhere if you need to, but don't try for too long; acclimate. 
• Next, find a place that is appropriate to practice your meditation; I've found that too comfortable a spot isn't good because I just fall asleep and too uncomfortable a place is also distracting, though this may be ok as you become more proficient at mediation and are able to block out discomfort. You'll want to be seated, not laying, in a comfortable position in which you won't need to fidget too much.
•  Then pray; this is the easiest way to get out all the things that would likely have come up to distract you later anyway, so just pray that God grants you peace and help to discover who you are in him and how to grow in your soul. This will be the start of your practice.
• After that, I've found that what is called the "Centering Prayer" is most effective to begin to calm my mind. The Centering Prayer works like this: you pick a word (i.e. grace, peace, Jesus, love, hope, sacrifice, Father, Trinity, etc.) that will help you "center" your thoughts and focus. As you close your eyes and begin to think of nothing but that word, you are preparing to hear from God. This is not an emptying of your mind, but a focusing on the things of God. Here you will learn what occupies your mind (which is a part of your soul) as these are the things which will come to distract. Don't be discouraged or angry when other things come to mind; simply acknowledge them briefly and then use that word as a tether back to your center.
• Then, listen; look inside yourself and ask who you are. Ask God who you are meant to be. Don't think too hard, just be. Again, this isn't an erasing of yourself; just as a static body can be working very hard, so too can a still soul be active.
• When time is over or you feel you've heard/learned something new, pray again in gratitude for all that God gives.
• Finally, "wake up" the body again. Stretch, move, walk around; it is rare that the body is so still and the soul so active, and what goes on in your metaphysical person affects your physical deeply so be courteous to yourself.

Ok, that was a quick (very quick) instructional and it is not nearly all encompassing by any means; it is simply what has worked for me. Other ways of learning about yourself (if this suits you) is to write a "spiritual autobiography". For this, you only need to make a timeline with your birth at one end and today at the other, then go through and mark major life events and then go back one more time and try to discover what your spiritual life was like during the time between events (remember your spirit is the part of your soul which communes with God). One last way to learn about your soul is to read; read, read, read and see what you like, what interests you and what you believe and what you don't. Engaging your mind is part of this effort.

All in all, you must always remember that in each of these efforts to discover your metaphysical person, it is all for the purpose of loving God who doesn't want us to be strangers to ourselves. Learn who you are in the deepest parts of you; introspect and question. Only then can you begin to think, feel, know, believe, experience and love God with your soul.

Next time I will be writing on loving God with our minds; I hope you join me again.

peace,
C.M.