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The Nature of Your Soul

posted by Deepak Chopra Apr 13, 2009 5:00 am
The Nature of Your Soul
11 comments

We each have a soul, but because we are each observing from a different place and a different set of experiences, we do not observe the same things in exactly the same ways. The variations in what we observe are based on our minds’ interpretations. Our minds interpret the observation differently.

Interpretation happens at the level of the mind, but it is our individual souls that are conditioned by experience, and through that memory of past experience the soul influences our choices and interpretations in life.

These tiny kernels or seeds of memory build up in the individual soul over a lifetime, and this combination of memory and imagination based on experience is called karma.

Karma accumulates in the personal part of the soul, the wave at the core of our being, and colors it. This personal soul governs the conscience and provides a template for the kind of person each of us will turn out to be. In addition, the actions we take can affect this personal soul, and change our karma, for better or worse.

The universal, nonlocal part of the soul is not touched by our actions, but is connected to a spirit that is pure and unchanging. In fact, the definition of enlightenment is “the recognition that I am an infinite being seeing and seen from, observing and observed from, a particular and localized point of view.”

Whatever else we are, no matter how much of a mess we may have made of our lives, it is always possible to tap into the part of the soul that is universal, the infinite field of pure potential, and change the course of our destiny.

Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).

More on Deepak Chopra's Tips (523 articles available)
More from Deepak Chopra (540 articles available)

11 comments

11 comments

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11 comments add your comment
Gershon M.

DEAR ALL...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT...
BEST WISHES...
GERSHON...


Dwight Baker

MEL

I contacted CARE 2 office and Deepak about what you did and asked both to respond. They will and then you might not have the last laugh.

And I doubt if your club is any other than just you.

Mel Lockwood

dwight flag club

berry lee

It's hard to find a good shoe repair place!

Brenda Elliott

About evolving consciousness - I think there are more people evolving consciously today than ever. It kind of makes the others squirm at bit. It always has.

Uma Chernoff

Dixon you give me the strongest inspiration of all here that comment on the comments. Just when I am feeling tired and not planning to contribute, without fail, you have me up and running again. First, we do not have souls, we ARE souls. No soul can be anything but pure because it is an immortal fragment of God;all living beings,not just humans, are this divine material,evolving consciousnesses, materializing into infinite forms in infinite planes of existence. That is the meaning of God the Creator, since God is the All That Is there is nothing else to be created from. Next: what is this business about purity? How do you define it? Usually it is a fairly complicated cultural definition of someone whose energy is toxic to the community until "purified" or neutralized. Like a Catholic priest coming from saying the mass has to clean himself ritually before being able to be touched because the energy in his hands is considered "taboo",too strong, will cause harm in contact with the everyday world. Contact with death, birth, menstruation, must ritually cleansed because they are considered TOO holy, taboo, capable of causing harm;these are specific cultural applications, what do you mean when you use this term? Sometimes the term is used to denote the idea of wholeness (it's no accident that "holy" sounds like "wholly" as being wholly committed to an action) Surely being wholly whole is an ongoing life lesson. Why do you start every comment as an anti Deepak statement? It's wierd!

Lynn T.
  • Lynn T. says
  • Apr 14, 2009 9:20 AM

Dixon, your comment says more about your own limited beliefs than whether Deepak disagrees with God. There are as many beliefs and interpretations regarding "God" as there are people on this planet. What you believe God "says" are your own interpretations from what you have been conditioned and/or chosen to believe during your lifetime. It seems to me that if you believe "not all of us have pure spirits", than you do not believe we are all "made in the image and likeness of God", that some of us got the lucky card and got a pure soul and others drew the short stick and got the impure soul. Do you really believe in a Creator that plays these kind of games? What we call evil does exist in the world but have you ever given those who do evil a compassionate prayer? It must take an extreme amount of wounding that makes another human feel the need to hurt another. I hope you can explore your own beliefs and try to see that others live very different lives, lives that many of us cannot even begin to imagine that are so filled with pain that they need to lash out like wounded animals. Hatred for these souls only breeds more hatred. I hope you can choose compassion instead.

Brenda Elliott

That was very interesting information Dwight. I appreciate your posting it. :)

Giving information or just sharing one's ideas or thoughts are always uplifting.

On the other hand, derogatory remarks don’t do much for anybody that I can see accept for the speaker/writer who gets something from it. Oh,wait! ...maybe it helps the listener/reader to remember why he/she chooses a different way of looking at things. (huge, impish grin here)

Lisa Ertz

Dixon, your kidding right? how could someone have an unpure soul, that makes no sense. And if you think it's YOU that has the unpure soul, why do you think that?

Dixon Murrah

As usual, Deepak disagrees with God. Not all of us have pure spirits.

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