Soul/Self

Radiolab had a most interesting program on about what constitutes a soul.  Is soul the same as self?  What do we mean when we talk about soul/self?  If we deconstruct the brain, take it down to its simplest components, will we find the soul?

They interviewed a neurologist who said it was more likely that our “self” is the stories we tell ourselves about our “selves”.  We would not find a soul but a story.

I remember laying in bed when I couldn’t sleep during a particularly rough patch in my life, and thinking to myself “…and then this happened and then that happened…” and so on.  It seemed to be my way of explaining why I was in a particular muddle.

I was creating a book of my life.  The rationales, the shapes, my reactions and my present moment.

And then, when I reached a point of homeostasis, of calmness and acceptance, I suddenly didn’t need the stories anymore.  I was just where I was, who I was and could move on.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love stories.  But, they are limiting.  Our stories limit us.

“I am just a loser.”

“I asked for it.”

“If only I had…”

Our stories change, they move right along with us as we change, unless we get stuck in a particular one and never move on.  That said, it seems to me that stories change, self/soul not really.  It has always seemed to me that when the crisis is over, I revert back to my truest self.  I wonder if that is true for other people.

Getting stuck in your story must be like getting cut off from the Mother Ship.  You have no home.  You are floating out there in the cosmos;  floating in the cosmos with a smaller limited version of yourself, unable to find your way back.

A selfie as opposed to a soul.