The image of a broken soul has been a powerful one for me. Having just commented on it, I cannot leave it alone. I have more thoughts about a theme that I think is quite important in the spiritual realm. Oddly enough, I believe a broken soul is why so little is done spiritually in some folks’ lives. And on the other hand, a broken soul is sometimes the driver of so much spiritual activity and growth for other folks.
Let’s approach this from two directions. As usual, language helps me think about the process. I realize a broken soul happens in both an active way and a passive way. When I ponder a broken soul from the active sense, I mean I do it to myself. I “break” my soul. I smile or shudder (both are appropriate!) because I have done this to myself so many times.
There are countless ways to “break” our souls, but the end result is the same: a broken soul. It might be important to define what I mean by soul. The best way I get into a definition is to acknowledge that I do not think I “have” a soul so much as I “am” a soul. The soul is the essence of me…the essence of you. Our souls have a commonality in the sense that we are both human. I am male and you might be female, but we are both humans. Our souls have some distinctiveness, if not uniqueness, in the sense that I “am” a different person than you are. My soul is expressed---lived and acted out---differently than you do your soul.
So soul is a quality, an aspect, a way of living. Soulful is authentic. When I am inauthentic, I am not soulful. For me soul is also relational. Soul is how I am connected and related to God the Spirit. As Genesis tells us, we are created with choice. I can always say “No.” I can break relationship and substitute my own ego in the middle instead of the Spirit. I can become egocentric. No egocentric person is soulful. In this sense, a broken soul is a displaced soul…displacing our spiritual center with some other, lesser center (“centric”).
So many of my choices have displaced the Spirit. In every way I break my soul. Often I am blinded to the fact that I am a displaced soul because it was of my own choosing. I am busy chasing my own idol. But idolatry is always an empty pursuit…doomed to failure and condemned to brokenness.
The other way I come to have a broken soul is the passive way. In this case, someone or something else does it to me. Someone “breaks” my soul. Usually, I did not ask for it and I did not want it. But it happens. She broke my soul. He tore me to pieces. The line goes variously, but the effect is the same: a broken soul.
The good news is there is healing. The one thing I can count on is the Spirit is always a healer and never the hurter. And the Healer is always ready and willing. Of course, that sounds all-too-easy, if not magical. And no sane person thinks about the Divine Healer in this fashion.
We have to remember the nature of most healing processes. They are processes, not immediate miracles---even when God is involved.
If we are broken---regardless of whether I did it to myself or you did it to me---healing will come and it typically takes time. This is where spirituality comes into the picture. Maybe we can equate much of the spiritual journey to a healing journey. Often our journeys begin in misery and can end in majesty.
If the journey begins in brokenness, then it is miserable. The good news is healing is majestic!
Let’s approach this from two directions. As usual, language helps me think about the process. I realize a broken soul happens in both an active way and a passive way. When I ponder a broken soul from the active sense, I mean I do it to myself. I “break” my soul. I smile or shudder (both are appropriate!) because I have done this to myself so many times.
There are countless ways to “break” our souls, but the end result is the same: a broken soul. It might be important to define what I mean by soul. The best way I get into a definition is to acknowledge that I do not think I “have” a soul so much as I “am” a soul. The soul is the essence of me…the essence of you. Our souls have a commonality in the sense that we are both human. I am male and you might be female, but we are both humans. Our souls have some distinctiveness, if not uniqueness, in the sense that I “am” a different person than you are. My soul is expressed---lived and acted out---differently than you do your soul.
So soul is a quality, an aspect, a way of living. Soulful is authentic. When I am inauthentic, I am not soulful. For me soul is also relational. Soul is how I am connected and related to God the Spirit. As Genesis tells us, we are created with choice. I can always say “No.” I can break relationship and substitute my own ego in the middle instead of the Spirit. I can become egocentric. No egocentric person is soulful. In this sense, a broken soul is a displaced soul…displacing our spiritual center with some other, lesser center (“centric”).
So many of my choices have displaced the Spirit. In every way I break my soul. Often I am blinded to the fact that I am a displaced soul because it was of my own choosing. I am busy chasing my own idol. But idolatry is always an empty pursuit…doomed to failure and condemned to brokenness.
The other way I come to have a broken soul is the passive way. In this case, someone or something else does it to me. Someone “breaks” my soul. Usually, I did not ask for it and I did not want it. But it happens. She broke my soul. He tore me to pieces. The line goes variously, but the effect is the same: a broken soul.
The good news is there is healing. The one thing I can count on is the Spirit is always a healer and never the hurter. And the Healer is always ready and willing. Of course, that sounds all-too-easy, if not magical. And no sane person thinks about the Divine Healer in this fashion.
We have to remember the nature of most healing processes. They are processes, not immediate miracles---even when God is involved.
If we are broken---regardless of whether I did it to myself or you did it to me---healing will come and it typically takes time. This is where spirituality comes into the picture. Maybe we can equate much of the spiritual journey to a healing journey. Often our journeys begin in misery and can end in majesty.
If the journey begins in brokenness, then it is miserable. The good news is healing is majestic!
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