And What of the Soul?

I am not a very thoughtful person; I say this to my shame, it's not a boast. I also am not thoughtless; I typically go about my business not really concerning myself with what others do, or analyzing why they do it. While this has its benefits, such as keeping me from being offended, it doesn't really help me become better in relation to my neighbor; and Jesus said I should love my neighbor. So I have been working on changing that, among many others, aspect of my life.

A habit that has helped me change came in the form of a question that I now ask myself routinely.

"What is that doing to his/her soul?"

The soul, according to Oswald Chambers, is "the expression of man's personal spirit in his body." Dallas Willard says soul is analogous to a computer at the center of a computerized production system. When the soul is right the production runs as it was intended to run. When the soul is "off" production is affected.

So when I ask myself, "What is that doing to his/her soul?" It is a question that forces me to consider the humanity and reason of a person, and how a specific action may help strengthen or weaken their destiny. The question forces me to go beyond the surface of what is seen, and look to the unseen where personality really is. 

Take, for example, Kim Kardashian. A while back it was said that she nearly "broke the internet" when naked pictures of her were posted. Well people jumped to condemnation while others jumped to her defense; many, I presume, just looked... when no one else was looking, of course.

Now let's apply the question to this situation. What does being known and acknowledged solely for your physical features do to the soul of a person? Is her worth really to be located in the size of her butt? If she accepts this as true, and the public confirms it, what happens to her (and our) soul? Certainly if we think about it for just a moment we might see that she is not to be condemned if this is where she places her worth, but pitied. The same is true of those who might objectify or condemn her; those actions, too, cause the soul to shrink rather than flourish. How, then, might asking the question change our perception of her and those who condemn/objectify her? More on this later.

Another example is a bumper sticker I saw the other day. 

It is easy to either agree, disagree, laugh, or shake your head in disgust, at a person who would overtly display their contempt for the president on the back of their vehicle; and it is contempt. You might even decide to have nothing to do with them, or embrace them, on the basis of their contempt. But apply the question, "What does contempt do to a person's soul?"

When this question is pondered we might realize that although the bumper sticker was directing vitriol and scorn towards the president, the real damage was self inflicted. Nothing shrivels the soul like hatred towards another human that was created in God's image. This is why Jesus says we should quickly reconcile with a brother or sister who is angry with us (Matt 5:23-24); not because we don't want them to be mad, but because of what unresolved anger might do to their soul.

This question also convicts me in my relation to others. As I mentioned above, I am not a very thoughtful person, I am typically neutral in many situations. This was not the case growing up. In fact, I can remember someone telling me some time ago, "you're just a bad guy." Such a comment arises from harm done to the soul. Harm done by me. At the time I didn't realize it. But now I am starting to see just how harmful or helpful daily interactions can be in establishing or ruining the soul of a person.

How does the way I treat my family impact their souls? What of my friends? What of the people I disagree with? What of those I dislike because of what they do?

I cannot ask this question without my little grinch heart starting to beat with more love for those I know, and love (or pity) for those whom I don't know. If love is too strong a word substitute it with benevolence. For this is exactly what happens, I think; I begin to will the good of the person in consideration. It forces me to consider how utterly worthy each person is, and the potential they have. 

Dallas Willard is once again helpful when he says "You [humans] are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe." This being the case, I now realize that my small interactions with people help them, or are a stumbling block, to that end.

CS Lewis probably summarizes this idea best in his sermon The Weight of Glory.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

And so I have let that question become somewhat of a discipline for me. I try to ask it, and then let it shape the way I interact with people. Perhaps you can try it on for size. See what it does to your perception of, and interactions with, people.