What is a Soul? (and Can it Die, Escape, or Break?)
Article by Aletheia Luna from Loner Wolf
Copyright © 2012 - 2022 LonerWolf.com.
Understanding the nature of the soul is perhaps one of the most fundamental and essential tasks on the spiritual path.
Without knowing what the soul is and how it relates to our life here on earth, we can easily get lost, confused, and stranded.
Below we explore this mysterious force, how to get in touch with it, how to distinguish it from spirit, and more.
What is a Soul?
What is a soul? To put it in a nutshell, your soul is the immaterial essence and totality of who you are at a core level – it is your True Nature.
As all of life at its core level is energy, a soul is the whole of this energy; a unique expression of the Divine which we call Spirit. Indeed, your soul can be thought of as Spirit embodied.
As the force that animates, moves, and even speaks to us, our souls are said to be the source of our intuition and higher knowing.
As psychologist and shamanic teacher, Christa Mackinnon writes,
… it is our soul that provides us with a kind of inner voice, a moral compass and direction. It is our soul that we hear as this ‘little voice inside’ reminding us that there is more we can become, and it is our soul that suffers when we don’t nourish it by integrating a spiritual component into our lives and striving to give our lives meaning and purpose.
The precise origin of the word ‘soul’ is unknown, however, it derives from a variety of words from Old English (sāwl, sāwol), Dutch (ziel), German (seele), and Old Norse (sál) languages.
Can Your Soul Disappear or Die?
Probably one of the biggest questions that we’re left to try and figure out as humans is whether the soul can die, become lost, or disappear. It’s a scary thought! So let’s address the elephant in the room right away.
So can your soul die?
In short, the answer is no, your soul can’t die (thankfully!). It can transform and merge back with spirit, but it cannot die.
As the ancient sacred Indian text known as the Bhagavad Gita writes:
The soul is never touched; it is immutable, all-pervading, calm, unshakable; its existence is eternal.
This mirrors the first law of thermodynamics which states that energy can transform from one state to another, but it can neither be created nor destroyed.
The same can be said for your soul, as your soul is energy: the life force energy. Therefore, it can never die, only change form.
How’s that for mind-blowing? This realization can change the whole way you approach death!