4.5 - Note to Self
If I had the chance to talk to my 14-year-old self, what advice would I give? I would say: read! Read the classics and poetry. Linger, and let the language move you. Also, listen to great music and let it stir something within you. Again, linger and listen, not with your head and/or hormones, but with your heart. Allow them to awaken and expand your soul.
This thought is not original to me. Charles Darwin said, “If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”
Why this advice? I think life today is top-heavy, too head-heavy. For the sake of the economy, our economy, we educate the head at the expense of the soul.
When we speak of getting an education, we think first about the goal of landing a good job. I get that. Financial and technology education is essential, giving us the skills to solve problems and be successful.
Our jobs fund our families, but our souls add life to our years. Therefore, I wish I had learned more about the arts—music, poetry, and painting. For example, our friend, Kathy Chambers, sent us the wonderful children’s book Glowrushes. (Thank you!) On its pages, I realized that I have been glancing at paintings all my life, not allowing them to linger in my imagination and enter my soul.
While considering this, I remembered my garden. Watch this! Several years ago, in my self-imposed struggle for the perfect tomato, I tweaked the soil composition, ending up with too much nitrogen. I had the most beautiful tomato plants but very little fruit. Too much head knowledge, not enough soul. I don’t want my offspring to grow up and find their lives have a lot of plants but not much fruit—a life that may be successful yet somehow hollow.
That happened to Dante Alighieri, and it is echoed in the opening line of his Divine Comedy when he says, “Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
“The hollow echo of a life half lived.”
In the lyrics to his song Hymns to the Silence, Van Morrison outlined how he dealt with finding himself “within a forest dark” or when hearing the “hollow echo” within himself:
I want to go out in the countryside
Oh sit by the clear, cool, crystal water
Get my spirit, way back to the feeling
Deep in my soul, I want to feel
Oh so close to the One, close to the One
Close to the One, close to the One
And that’s why, I keep on singing baby
My hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Oh my hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
Oh hymns to the silence, oh hymns to the silence
Oh hymns to the silence, hymns to the silence
So, I would say to my 14-year-old self, “Don’t let your soul go undeveloped!” And I want my great-grandchildren to understand the need to grow their souls, which is why I don’t want them to overlook Jesus, history’s preeminent teacher of all things related to the individual soul. He said, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his very soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
Like Van Morrison, is there something I can do to develop or expand my soul? I think so. My initial step is to acknowledge the right to feel and the right to pleasure in my life. I have somehow thought it “wrong” to stop and enjoy life - like I wasn’t trying hard enough. It’s OK to linger and listen, to gaze deeply. The five senses are the thresholds to the soul, the only ways an outside stimulus can advance toward the soul. While many don’t, some of these stimuli strike a resonant cord within the soul, causing it to feel profoundly and expand. There are tastes that transport, scents that transcend, touch that trembles, sounds that soothe, and sights that excite. You get the picture.
A Soul Expansion Exercise
With this in mind, I discovered a simple exercise to help develop the soul. It goes like this:
Write the five senses across the top row on a sheet of paper: sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch.
Under each heading, write two or three things that you love.
Review the list occasionally
Add to the list as you think of more
When you encounter one, pause, take a deep breath, and express gratitude. Linger. Please take it in.
Try to add more of these things to your everyday life.
Example: My Expand the Soul list
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Sunset
Sky at night
Smiles
Happy Children
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Loss-Less Music (HD)
Poetry
Laughter
Distant train whistle
French Language
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Salty/Crunchy
Chocolate
Fried Chicken
Spicy food
Ice Cream
-
Bacon frying
Roses
Coffee in morning
Babies ready for bed
Freshly cut wood
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Hugs
Hot Bath
Clean shave
Massage
Soft flannel clothes
Sun on my face
When I encounter one of the items on my list, I need to remember to say, as my friend Bill Thomas says, "It doesn't get any better than this." Or, as coach Jim Harbaugh was taught by his dad to say, "Who's got it better than us? NOBODY!"
“Socrates and Jesus, two teachers of virtue and love, were executed because of the unsettling, threatening power of their souls, which was revealed in their personal lives and in their words.”
Soul Recognition
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.
I like to imagine how those two days he spent with them unfolded. Although John didn’t give us the details, he likely thought we would fill in the blanks with our shared knowledge or imagination. I can picture Jesus engaging in one-on-one chats, intimate conversations, and addressing larger audiences. They ate meals together and shared stories with moments of laughter and sadness. His words and actions awakened and expanded their souls. “We have heard for ourselves,” they shouted as their souls “recognized” his. You get to know someone after living together for a couple of days.
According to Marchetti, “The concept of ‘soul recognition’ refers to the feeling of a deep and immediate connection with someone upon first meeting them, as if you have known them for a long time or have an inexplicable bond. It’s often described as a feeling of familiarity, comfort, and resonance that goes beyond physical attraction or intellectual compatibility.”
Many, But Not All?
During this time, many more believed. What does that mean? I’m sure he told them the same things that he had said to Photina: the spiritual nature of God, his identity, and the source of life that resided in each one. Their actions indicated they trusted what he said and who he was. It wouldn’t make sense to believe in “who Jesus is” but not “what he taught.” Consequently, they comprehended that worship is a present experience rather than a past or distant one.
It’s worth considering that John is clear that not all believed. He says many and then says many more but never says all. Despite observing his actions and listening to his words for two days, some individuals couldn’t transition from a self-centered mindset to a spiritual one. Their souls did not recognize his. Maybe they were too heavily invested in the current religious structure. Perhaps their livelihood depended on it, or they owned property in Mount Gerazim. Who knows? For some reason, they were too head-heavy with undeveloped souls—too much plant; not enough tomato.
43 When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee 44 (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). 45 When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival, for they, too, had gone to the festival.Intriguingly, John mentions Jesus being in Samaria for “two days” again. John wanted to emphasize that Jesus wasn’t simply tolerant of the Samaritans, but he genuinely connected with them. This wasn’t a drive-by. He spent time with them. He met them soul to soul. After two days, the Samaritans would have been able to detect any hint of insincerity. Maybe we should spend more time with those we do not understand.
Perhaps this experience inspired Jesus’ parable of “the Good Samaritan.” What if it was based on an actual experience or something similar, and he heard it from the “real” good Samaritan?
More Than A Healing
46 Then he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” Healing the official’s son was a good thing, but even more critical for Jesus was for the official to learn to believe and live from his inner being, to expand his soul. Jesus teaches us to seek God within ourselves and live “from the inside out.” Looking for God in external signs and wonders first is “outside-in” living. These external phenomena challenge our beliefs and encourage us to look within our soul for our true source.
49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. John wanted us to see that the official “believed and started” without external proof—“inside-out.” He heard the words “Your son will live” in his ears, reverberating in his soul. That should be my pattern, too. Make time and space to listen for the words in your soul and act accordingly.
From Believing the Words to Believing the Man
Also, Jesus heals the son of a royal official, an enemy of the Jewish people. Could Jesus be any further outside of the cultural norms? Watch out! Following our soul may take us “out of the box.”
51 As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” 53 The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. 54 Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.First, the official believed the words. Now, he believed the man.
How did this happen? Was it due to Jesus’ prayer or God’s intervention? Did Jesus foresee the boy’s recovery through his consciousness? Was it the unwavering faith of the official that caused the healing? What is the combination of these? Or was it all coincidental? I don’t have the answer. It’s not something I can puzzle out in my head, but I can take it into my soul and allow it to work magic there.
Remember, John considers this a noteworthy event, the second miraculous sign - second only to the wine, and both are occurring in Cana, 4 miles NE of Nazareth.
Key Takeaways
I must learn to invest in my soul by allowing it to love what it loves, whether music, art, poetry, literature, scripture, or all of the above.
Practice “Expanding the Soul” through the five senses
Learn to meet people soul to soul and watch for any hints of recognition.
Every day, practice living from the inside out.
With two signs under his belt, Jesus returns to Jerusalem in our next segment, and things heat up.
