UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young

What is a soul and where does it reside? It is easy to think of soul as some kind of amorphous “thing” that evaporates like a puff of smoke when we breathe our last breath. But since we cannot see it or measure it, some may even doubt its existence. While we cannot go to the literature on the subject and come up with a definitive description, volumes have been written about it and it is something with which many humans have had an experience.
To my mind, the best place to do research on the subject is within our own consciousness. We are connected to everything that has ever been; we are a part of all of nature – not just the Earth – for we are affected by the phases of the moon and the flares upon the sun. We are one of the by-products of the “Big Bang.” Our existence is a result of the co-creation of forces of nature.
If we close our eyes and stop all thinking, what is it that we experience? We still have awareness, but our attention shifts from the here and now of the world to something much larger. Many consider this to be just a little “time-out” from the real world, just a little empty space between the unfolding scenarios of our life. With this kind of thinking, we are like the little ants who think it’s all about the hill. With their heads down, they go about their work, completely oblivious to the context in which their lives exist. Well, the Earth might just be our own little hill.
We do have consciousness, however, and it is like a receiver/transmitter; we can use it to connect to and communicate with the world beyond our own bodies and we can also use it to perceive what is outside of us.
Imagine concentric circles of awareness: The first circle is all that we can perceive, directly with our senses, in our immediate environment. The next circle may include information we are given, but with which we have no direct experience. Subsequent circles may include ideas and intuitive or psychic qualities. We can be fairly certain that there are many, many circles beyond even these.
We may not tune into them because we keep our “tuner” at the same spot all the time. Perhaps when we do move the dial, we do it so quickly or fleetingly that we miss the fact that there was actually something coming through.
Soul, I believe, is a frequency. On some level, we are all part of one big soul, like the airwaves. At the same time, I think we all have our own distinct frequency, much like individual radio stations. Another analogy is that we are like a drop of water from the ocean. One drop is not completely identical to any other drop, but all are made of the same stuff. It is when we close our eyes and stop all thought that we can simultaneously feel our own frequency and are ready to receive. When we stop all thinking and detach from who we are in this lifetime, ego falls away and all that remains is soul.
First and foremost, we are soul. When we come to Earth, we slowly assume the cloak of ego. Like an actor who stays in his role after the curtain closes, we come to believe we are that ego-being. However, ego is only a layer that formed in reaction to being in the world. It is not who we are at our very core. Ego carries all the suffering, struggle, attachments, vulnerability, fear, insecurity and wounding that can come from being in the world.
Soul, on the other hand, is a place, an energy, a frequency of peace, calmness, equanimity, love, compassion and infinite understanding. It is like the calm, clear surface of a clean lake on a bright spring morning. Given that, we just might choose to tune ego out more often and rest into a little soulfulness.

Gwen Randall-Young is a psychotherapist in private practice and the author of Growing Into Soul: The Next Step in Human Evolution. For articles and information about her books and personal growth/hypnosis CDs, visit www.gwen.ca