Journal of Sacred Work

Will I miss you
uncanny other
in the next life?
   -From "To My Soul" by Jean Valentine

   Only poets like Valentine can frame for us a question that provokes a particular inquiry into the relation of soul and body. "Will I miss you/ uncanny other…?" Until reading these lines, I never wondered if my soul, when it takes wing and my body falls away, might someday miss this body.
   The notion of the soul is confusing. Does the soul have a consciousness separate from the mind? If so, what kind of awareness would that be?…

   I can’t imagine my soul missing the troubles my body has experienced. Who, or what, would want my nights of pain sprawled out on tiled floors? Who, or what, would want to wear my daily skein of anxieties or engage the occasional dance of fear that dilutes and distorts my experience of life?
   Perhaps, though, my soul would miss certain joys. I doubt my bodiless soul will feel the face of a rose the way my fingers can. I question if she could appreciate the way summer rainstorms vibrate in my heart, taste the surge of the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto, laugh at Seinfeld re-runs, hear the color of spring, see my grandson’s hope, or smell Cezanne’s red.

  Some believe the soul has a weight. A recent movie even quantified that weight at 21 grams. There are many, including some hospice and hospital caregivers, who believe they have seen the soul "depart" the body at the moment of death, as a heat-like wave rushing from the head. This image is portrayed at least as far back as ancient Egyptian paintings.   
   In any case, our bodies offer a five-way path to our souls. And when the world reaches the soul along one or more of these roads, the soul may form answers of its own. Perhaps it creates a sixth sense the body knows but the mind cannot fathom.
   I have felt exquisite things my mind can neither absorb nor describe. Haven’t you? Is this our souls experiencing the world?
   My body, like yours, and also unlike yours, has its own intelligence, its own interpretation of the world. Perhaps my soul does as well.
   Maybe my soul will miss my body’s five-senses. Or perhaps, the soul transcends everything so powerfully that the five senses will seem primitive.
   If we are all one soul, than it is our bodies which are unique to us. If we are vibrations of energy, than our life soars each time we find ourselves aligned with Love’s energy. This is a gift which loving caregivers may experience each day they open their hearts to the needs before them.
   My most exquisite life moments coincide with an alignment with Love. When I am in Love’s flow, it is because I have, if only briefly, transcended my body and joined with the energy of another – perhaps another in need.
   Love is ours to engage together. When we enter Love’s field, we are joined with joy. 
   One day, my soul will be glad to be freed of my body’s troubles. But, I think that soul will miss my body’s ability to engage the earth. I know it will miss my life experience of you.

-Erie Chapman