The Soul’s Curriculum

The world of duality has been created from the view of the ego. This includes rich and poor, successful and unsuccessful, right and wrong along with good and bad at the top of a long, long list. Why from the ego? Because all of these ideas originate from the perspective of identity. In turn, all that we are seems to come from race, ethnicity, societal and religious beliefs, economic status, education, diet, even the clothes we wear and the vehicles we drive. Identity is simply what the ego creates to thrive and survive. 

Out of this ego-centered world, a whole paradigm has been established that mimics the natural world in its potential for diversity. Where it diverges from the natural world is through the creation of fear-based beliefs. That fear focuses on the possibility of pain, suffering and ultimately, death. From this place, it is no wonder that worry, anxiety, depression and a general sense of never enough—personally and materially—have become the norm. This is reinforced in a capitalist culture that thrives on the concept that our own financial worth will never be ample. It can also be expanded beyond financial resources to our worth as humans—to ourselves, our families, communities and to the world. This capitalist idea is obsessed with success as an umbrella to validation, acceptance and approval. 

Intermingled with the above is a learning system that promotes success over the origin of the word “education” which comes from the Latin word “educere” meaning to lead out or bring forth. Bring forth what? The old idea is that each one of us is instilled with some kind of genius as a gift of the soul. That genius wants to be discovered and nurtured so that it can help weave the fabric of the world. This gift is the essence of who we are. Our real work is to discover this essence. Happiness, peace of mind, contentment, whatever brings us joy is then found inside through that genius rather than outside with success or approval. The setup is quite clever. When joy is carried within, we don’t have to rely on the external world to make us happy.

This option has always been available but perhaps less so today with the heavy hands of cultural indoctrination that keep the wheels of capitalism greased. As a result, a synthetic world has been created that is dominated by processed food, plastic, transient possessions, pollution, television laugh tracks, social media, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, artificial intelligence, screen time, mindless entertainment, robocalls and Western medicine that is wedded to pharmaceutical drugs and the quick fix of symptoms. For the most part, the world’s culture has become one of instant gratification. This may be partly due to the mentality created through the use of technology. We seem to want to mimic the speed and efficiency of our modern devices. The shadow side is the loss of human attributes like common sense, civility, kindness, patience, intuition and self-reflection. In simpler terms, the seventeenth-century Japanese monk, Gensei, wrote, “The point in life is to know what’s enough.”

What has happened is the dominance of the ego-centered world in relation to the soul which has become practically an endangered species. In the broadest sense, the world’s problems are the result of that ego-centered world believing that linear thinking, analysis and technology can provide all of the answers. Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked out so well, as demonstrated by the destruction of the environment, climate change, racial inequality, economic and social injustice, nuclear proliferation and deadly viruses. From a soul-centered perspective, the ego is subservient to the needs of this deeper part of who we are. And since the soul originates from love, it has no interest in greed, lust, power, hate, anger or pride.

How does one discern between these two worlds? The Persian poet Rumi wrote, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” Fear beyond instinct and survival is something we learn. If it can be learned, it can be just as easily unlearned. Consider an acronym for fear—future events already realized. As an example, worry and anxiety are wonderful red flag warnings of being out of the present moment. Depression is another red flag indicating that one has lost sight of who they are. All emotions related to the fear-based world are further warnings of those barriers Rumi mentioned; the barriers we create to suppress the hidden love underneath, the love that exists within.

The soul makes no distinction between the good and the bad. It’s all just experience that can be used as a gauge to discover what resonates personally and what doesn’t. Learning this neutrality at some point is essential in creating some distance from the world of identity. Many religions use prayer or meditation as a way of reinforcing this point of view. It’s in the silence that the soul can be experienced. Imagine getting in touch with a pure sense of peace inside, then carrying it out into the world for the rest of the day.

Buddhists believe that education should focus on training the mind to control the runaway train aspect of our thoughts. As the bumper sticker says, “Don’t Believe Everything You Think.” In tandem, training of the body needs to take place whether it be through exercise, diet, yoga or walking meditation. It’s all training and it never needs to stop. Basically, there is a continual process of observing the world inside and around us, seeing what works, forgiving ourselves for what doesn’t so that continual upgrading of our metaphorical operating system takes place for the duration of our physical lives. In other words, growing into our souls. That’s the work.

To slightly alter a line from a Jack Gilbert poem, to make fear the only measure of your attention is to praise the devil. To make love the only measure, knowing that every experience (no matter how difficult) is here to grow our souls, then the world of possibilities becomes endless in the very light and breath that created the universe itself.