Soul Work
In his remarkable work, Lost Christianity, Jacob Needleman makes the case that what we have lost in modern religious life especially within the Christian tradition is not only missing elements in the life of Jesus, or doctrines that have been misplaced or suppressed, but the very essence of spiritual life itself—what has been lost is “soul work.” The work of the soul is, in fact, soul-making; that is, the recreation of the soul of each human being according to a template other than what is imposed upon it at the surface level of existence—its social construction as an egoic identity, and that this kind of work requires that we expend considerable effort and pay close attention.
Soul work, or soul-making is the secret inner work that each individual must accomplish in life, and what is striking in the religious domains of modern Christianity is that the very doctrines and teachings that we cherish—the teachings about love and grace, for example—seem to imply, at least to many contemporary believers that all one needs to do is give up and rely instead upon an external force that will impose itself upon the soul. We need “do nothing” (or perhaps, “do little”). Salvation is regarded as a “pure gift” over which we have little or no control, and in which the only hope is becoming passive recipients of this grace. God will do it all, if we will just let Him (sic).
Is that true? Does grace mean that we are passive recipients? Or is soul-work the most demanding work of all, and one that requires our complete and honest attention; that we are each co-creators of our own souls? Yes, there is grace, and help, and guidance from Transcendence in many forms, but the real work is done when we throw ourselves into it and “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (as the good Apostle suggests).
The whole of the biblical lineage which we inherit suggests that human life in the realm of space-time is indeed soul-work, requiring sincere attention and considerable effort. And yet, as Yeshua suggests in the Gospel of Thomas, "it is movement and it is rest."
Soul work, or soul-making is the secret inner work that each individual must accomplish in life, and what is striking in the religious domains of modern Christianity is that the very doctrines and teachings that we cherish—the teachings about love and grace, for example—seem to imply, at least to many contemporary believers that all one needs to do is give up and rely instead upon an external force that will impose itself upon the soul. We need “do nothing” (or perhaps, “do little”). Salvation is regarded as a “pure gift” over which we have little or no control, and in which the only hope is becoming passive recipients of this grace. God will do it all, if we will just let Him (sic).
Is that true? Does grace mean that we are passive recipients? Or is soul-work the most demanding work of all, and one that requires our complete and honest attention; that we are each co-creators of our own souls? Yes, there is grace, and help, and guidance from Transcendence in many forms, but the real work is done when we throw ourselves into it and “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (as the good Apostle suggests).
The whole of the biblical lineage which we inherit suggests that human life in the realm of space-time is indeed soul-work, requiring sincere attention and considerable effort. And yet, as Yeshua suggests in the Gospel of Thomas, "it is movement and it is rest."
posted by Lynn Bauman at 5:33 AM
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