What Is The Soul?

John 7:38, “He who believes in Me… out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Matthew 12:34, “… For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”

I have this nagging question. Actually I have a lot of questions, but one in particular has my thoughts and prayers. The question is, what is the soul? And not only what is it, but how do I become conscious of it? How does it interact with the Spirit and the Flesh? What about me is Christ like character in the soul, and what is flesh run a muck?

In my time alone, driving, doing yard work, the 3 to 5 min I have before I fall asleep these are the questions I ask of God. I sometimes even ask God if other asks the thousands of questions I ask Him a day. And His reply is most often silence. But to the last question He said, “31.”

What? 31? What kind of an answer is that?

It was then that the Holy Spirit said, “You ask an average of 31 questions per day.”

I laugh at the humor of it all, and it makes me wonder… is laughter flesh or the soul?

Isn’t the heart that scripture speaks of really the soul? After all, conversation, words, thoughts originate in the brain, and so is the heart (soul) the motivator behind those words and conversations?

Surely the brain, and the body have nothing to do with our consciousness and awareness of God, least our salvation or ability to be saved. If this were not true then salvation and closeness to God would not be as possible for those who are mentally or physically impaired. May that never be.

The Soul does not control our sense of fairness, science has proven this in that monkeys, and elephants in particular demonstrate consciousness of fairness.

Agape Love must originate in the soul, but how? Human kind seems to be the only extractors of justice, so is this too a function of the soul?

How about a murderous heart? Are murder, covetousness, glutton, and the other deadly sins symptoms of a deformed soul? Or are they simply depraved mind?

I recently read a story online of a woman who had a stroke. He ongoing symptoms are a compulsion to give to others. Has her brain finally been removed as a barrier to her God fearing soul? Or is giving too a function of the flesh?

I heard a contrasting story of a pastor’s wife who too had a stroke. God fearing, God loving, pillar of the church community now cannot be taken out in public without starting an argument. It is said she no longer has a “filter.” Has the abundance of her heart spoken? Has her soul shine through, even though that shinning is dark?

And so I wait for the answers. They are not always as simple as 31, but they do come. And with this one I hope, I pray, that like Christ I can connect with the consciousness of the soul, so that I can disconnect with the consciousness of the flesh… so that I can be more like Him. 

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