The Salty Soul
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” Matthew 5:13
Why would Jesus refer to His followers as the “salt of the earth?” He further goes on to say “but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet (Matthew 5:13).” Salt is everywhere, it’s nothing special in and of itself. Salt is in the ocean, our bodies, the earth, and our kitchen pantries. Chemically speaking, salt is a substance produced by the reaction of an acid with a base. It is the result of neutralization, the combining of a positive and negative ion. In and of itself, it doesn’t burn nor does it accomplish anything—it’s neutral. But, when salt comes out of the shaker and is added to food, it enhances the flavor or contrasts flavors creating tastes that are more interesting. If salt was to remain sitting on our pantry shelves for eternity, its saltiness would not be realized and we would not experience the way in which it can bring out flavor making food more delicious.
Salt can also preserve food and is often used medicinally as an antiseptic to clean wounds, dirty mouths, and even kill some types of bacteria. Preservation is an important process. It can be destabilizing when history and tradition aren’t preserved. The experience of one’s history and tradition are part of who they are and what makes them unique—experience helps shape values and beliefs. If this foundation is gone, well, then the salt has lost its saltiness. Salt cleans and purifies, think of “putting salt on the wounds,” which speaks to this aspect of salt. If salt is distorted and finds itself no longer clean, and pure—then it can no longer clean and purify. If the salt is just like everything else around it, it is no longer good for anything and simply blends in with the crowd. Or, if the nature of the salt is changed to something it is not, the salt has lost its saltiness.
In the same way, as the essence of who we are—our fundamental nature—the soul requires tending to maintain its saltiness. In the book “A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life,” Parker Palmer describes the soul as a wild animal. “The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out. But, if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious wildness we seek.” The soul needs space.
Silence and Solitude
“One day I would like to make up my own DSM [i.e., criteria for psychological diagnoses] with a list of “disorders” I have seen in my practice. For example, I would want to include the diagnosis “psychological modernism,” an uncritical acceptance of the values of the modern world. It includes blind faith in technology, inordinate attachment to material gadgets and conveniences, uncritical acceptance of the march of scientific progress, devotion to electronic media, and a life-style dictated by advertising (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life).”
Our reticular activating system (RAS) is constantly taking in sensory input from the external world. The RAS is a small bundle of nerves that sit close to the top of the spinal cord. The RAS plays a big role in the sensory information that your brain perceives every day. It filters information that is let into the conscious mind and this protects your brain from being overwhelmed with sensory information. The most dominant thoughts get stored in the subconscious mind for automatic memory recall and the RAS reinforces what is in the subconscious mind.
Yet, the experience of watching a beautiful sunset communicates there is something even bigger, beyond sensory inputs. Trying to describe this something using only physical or sensory attributes is near impossible. Take drinking a cup of coffee as an example. You can describe the taste of coffee, what it looks like, even what it may feel like. But, none of this compares to the experience of drinking a cup of coffee, the aroma, warmth, comforting sensations, and creamy mouth feel all happening at once. Qualia describes the subjective experiences and sensations, as opposed to mere knowledge and information. It’s the “Be Still and Know” component of life mostly experienced in times of silence and solitude. In solitude, we often enter into a state of contemplation. It’s in this contemplative state that we can discover the poetry of our lives.
“Don’t take anything literally but always look deeper. For example, if you drink too much, what is your soul looking for in the alcohol? If you eat too much, what part of your soul needs nourishing? Think poetically and never respond on a surface level (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life).” So often, learning and growth is characterized in a transactional way—new information is something to be consumed. Especially in today’s world where information is available within seconds, this mindset can result in a state of overwhelm. Mr. (Fred) Rogers said “our society is much more interested in information than wonder, in noise rather than silence. And I feel that we need a lot more wonder and a lot more silence in our lives.” Inviting silence and solitude leads to wonder, contemplation, original thought, creativity, and, you may even hear the voice of God. Silence and solitude offer space for the soul.
Sleep is a necessary component of health and many physical and also spiritual problems can arise when in a sleep deprived state. Rest is also necessary. Instituting the practice of Sabbath rest is a wonderful way to ensure weekly silence, solitude, and recreation is part of your life. The Sabbath is a Biblical practice that’s linked to the 7th day of creation where God rested. If the Creator of the universe needed a day of rest, I’d say we do too. The Emotionally Healthy Discipleship lists four ways to practice Sabbath rest 1) stop, 2) rest, 3), delight, and 4) contemplate.
Of course, Sabbath rest involves stopping activity and this is when we cease from engaging in all forms of work. Resting we engage in activities that are restorative (e.g., napping, hiking, reading, etc). As part of Sabbath rest, we delight. This means we celebrate all the goodness in our life and everything God has given us. We practice gratitude. As an extension of delight, we contemplate on all of the goodness in our life. In Judeo-Christian tradition, contemplation focuses on pondering the love of God. In contemplation, we actively look for God’s hand in everything noting the invisible that lies behind the visible. This is a great time to incorporate the transcendentals by seeking out what is good, true, and beautiful.
Craftsmanship
“Many of the arts practiced at home are especially nourishing to the soul because they foster contemplation and demand a degree of artfulness, such as arranging flowers, cooking, and making repairs (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life).” The pursuit of excellence in our craft is nurturing to the soul—whatever the craft may be. The pursuit of craftsmanship can bring in a process of contemplative expression. My Mom, an artist, said this “I believe that art reflects one’s soul. It embodies feelings, reactions, preferences, and for some people that process of creating is as necessary to them as breathing.” Over the course of her multiple decade career teaching art, my Mom observed that those who regularly engaged in creative pursuits and craftsmanship find that it both consumes and challenges them. This “consumption” is likely in reference to entering the state of “flow” whereby one is fully immersed in an activity as defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Being in a flow state has many benefits to the soul, which are demonstrated, i.e., emotional regulation, fulfillment, happiness, engagement, learning, among others.
The concept of eudaimonia is “concerned with living well or actualizing one’s human potentials. This conceptualization maintains that well-being is not so much an outcome or end state as it is a process of fulfilling or realizing one’s true nature—that is, of fulfilling one’s virtuous potentials and living as one was inherently intended to live (1).” Research on eudaimonia has shown that a high purpose in life was associated with a reduction in mortality among the elderly (HR 0.60)(2). High purpose was also associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s or cognitive impairment, heart attacks, strokes, and lower levels of inflammation (3-5).
Forgiveness
The old adage “unforgiveness is like drinking a poison and expecting the other person to die” rings very true. Unforgiveness is a tremendous threat to the health of the soul, it leads to bitterness and resentment. It rots a person from the inside out and eventually may result in actions that are not so becoming. Many origin stories of comic book villains are the result of unforgiveness and seeking revenge.
The Greeks defined four types of love: eros, storge, philia, and agape. Agape love is very important to the process of forgiveness. Agape love is the love of mankind. It is the love that is given whether or not it is returned, it’s love without any self-benefit. The Buddhist loving kindness (i.e., metta) meditation is designed to tap into agape love. “Often care of the soul means not taking sides when there is a conflict at a deep level. It may be necessary to stretch the heart wide enough to embrace contradiction and paradox (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life).”
Cultivating Virtue
Cultivating virtue is important to fill the soul with things that it loves and is good for its long-term health. This can help avoid the empty soul, or the predicament of a divided life—where the life expressed is a mismatch with desires of the soul. Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches there are four cardinal virtues and three theological virtues. The cardinal virtues are justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. Keeping our focus on the Lord keeps us in justice, in right relationship among people and with God, the characteristic of righteousness. The virtue of prudence refers to wise discernment whereby temperance is about striking balance. Fortitude means courage. Theological virtues include faith, hope, and love. Life is a journey that brings our darkness into the light allowing us to practice applying virtues as a means of replacing vices. Cultivating virtuousness can help produce fruits of the Spirit.
We are all wounded and we may have the tendency to respond with defensiveness or rebelliousness to circumstances we perceive are a threat. This is the way we keep safe. But, over time we condition ourselves and carry this burden accumulated out of our woundedness. Caring for the soul allows us to embody our true self, which lies underneath the armor. I believe that we find out who we are and why we were created in Christ Jesus. This is our original design and truest nature, which is found in Christ alone. The true self is only revealed when in loving relationship with the Father and is built and strengthened by encounters through the Word and Spirit. Your true self is healed and whole, connected, pure, safe, secure, empowered, liberated, accepted, valued, hopeful, and has clarity. Your true self is open to God and reflects our Heavenly Father. It freely gives and freely receives love.
“When we relate to our bodies as having soul, we attend to their beauty, their poetry, and their expressiveness. Our very habit of treating the body as a machine, whose muscles are like pulleys and its organs engines, forces its poetry underground, so that we experience the body as an instrument and see its poetics only in illness (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life).” Strong’s defines “body” as “the instrument of the soul.” During the 5th century B.C., Socrates taught that the human soul is immortal and the physical body (soma) is a tomb (sema), which traps the soul. This teaching implies the body and soul are connected, but distinct realities in opposition to one another. Death is therefore simply the freeing of the human soul from the physical body, according to Socrates. But, Genesis 2:7 says “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” This scripture demonstrates that we are not simply a soul trapped in a body as Socrates believed. Instead, His word shows us that body and soul form a union that is one single nature. Man became a living creature when God formed both the body and soul together, the spiritual and the corporeal. God declared us “very good” at creation, therefore, both our bodies and our soul are good.
Caring for the soul is central to health, but isn’t restrictive or riddled with rules. “Ongoing care for the soul rather than seek for a cure appreciates the mystery of human suffering and does not offer the illusion of a problem-free life. It sees every fall into ignorance and confusion as an opportunity to discover that the beast residing at the center of the labyrinth is also an angel. To approach this paradoxical point of tension where adjustment and abnormality meet is to move closer to the realization of our mystery-filled, star born nature. It is a beast this thing that stirs in the core of our being, but it is also the star of our innermost nature. We have to care for this suffering with extreme reverence so that in our fear and anger at the beast, we do not overlook the star (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life).” The salty soul is a light in this world. But, it can only exist in its truest nature when the soul is nourished and cared for.
References:
1. Deci EL, Ryan RM. Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well being: an introduction. J Happiness Stud. 2008;9:1-11.
2. Ryff CD. Psychological well-being revisited: advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia. Psychother Psychosom. 2014;83:10-28.
3. Boyle PA, Buchman AS, Barnes LL, Bennett DA. Effect of a purpose in life on risk of incident Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment in community dwelling older persons. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67:304-310.
4. Kim ES, Sun JK, Park N, Kubzansky LD, Peterson C. Purpose in life and reduced risk of myocardial infarction among older US adults with coronary heart disease: a two year follow up. J Behav Med. 2013;36:124-33.
5. Kim ES, Sun JK, Park N, Peterson C. Purpose in life and reduced incidence of stroke in older adults: The Health and Retirement Study. J Psychosomat Res. 2013;74:427-32.
