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This is the final episode in the history series on The Soul. We started in episode one… 70,000 years ago, then moved forward, through the human journey. We saw how The Soul has always been a part of our history. And how -long before the development of written language- we always knew there was more to us than the body. We saw people fight to preserve the right to connect to the deepest part of themselves. And we saw what well-known philosophers had to say about it. 

In this episode we’ll hear from some of the greatest minds of the past 100 years -and hear what they had to say about The Soul. 


SHOW NOTES:

Quotes:

"This is what is sad when one contemplates human life, that so many live out their lives in quiet lostness...they live, as it were, away from themselves and vanish like shadows. Their immortal souls are blown away (like dust), and they are not disquieted by the question of its immortality, because they are already disintegrated before they die." – Kierkegaard

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” - Jung 

“There's no coming to consciousness without pain.” -Jung

"So, I had to speak to my Soul as to something remote and unknown that does not exist by me but by whom I exist.” -Jung

“It is very difficult to elucidate this [cosmic religious] feeling to anyone who is entirely without it. . . The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man's image; so that there can be no church whose central teachings are based on it ... In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it." -Einstein

"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness." - Max Planck

“… We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter.”  ― Planck

“Of course it is quite obvious that we're all going to die, and this is the sad finale of everything, but never-the-less, there is something in us that doesn't believe it, apparently, but this is merely a fact, a psychological fact.” -Jung

“This life of yours which you are living is not merely a piece of this entire existence, but in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance. This, as we know, is what the Brahmins [wise men or priests in the Vedic tradition] express in that sacred, mystic formula which is yet really so simple and so clear; tat tvam asi, this is you. Or, again, in such words as “I am in the east and the west, I am above and below, I am this entire world.” - Erwin Schrödinger

"After the conversations about Indian philosophy, some of the ideas of Quantum Physics that had seemed so crazy suddenly made much more sense.” – Schrödinger

"I am endeavoring to see God through service to humanity, for I know that God is neither in heaven nor down below, but in everyone" -Gandhi

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It was a time of massive change in Europe. In the 1700s the Renaissance was coming to a close the Age of Enlightenment was beginning. And one aspect of the age of enlightenment was open skepticism. People started to drop any sort of blind faith they may have once had, and they questioned authority more openly and with more intensity. They started looking for truth and proof, before granting belief. This was partly due to hundreds of years of abuse by the Catholic church. 

This skepticism overflowed into the spiritual beliefs of people. And the way people wrote -and talked- about the Soul began to change. Martin Luther made a bold move, which launched a massive movement across Europe and further. Freedom of religion was becoming a rallying cry... and people we're taking back the ownership of their spiritual work. 

SHOW NOTES

Corrections: 

For several episodes I’ve mentioned Angelus Silesius -and I have been mis-pronouncing his name. In this and future episodes I will do my best to pronounce it properly. 

Reading Recommendations:

Spinoza: Practical Philosophy –by Gilles Deleuze

Age of Enlightenment: A Captivating Guide to the Age of Reason..

Quotes:

“The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure...” ― Spinoza

“I believe in Spinoza's god, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a god who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.” – Einstein

“The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure...” ― Spinoza

"All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” - John Locke

"I believe the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy." -Thomas Paine

"Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable, and life is more than a dream." -Mary Wollstonecraft

 “Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.” - Alexander Pope

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” - Thomas Paine

“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.” - David Hume 

“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding,  and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.” - Emmanuel Kant

“Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.” - Denis Diderot

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We travel to the middle ages -a time when people are being persecuted for speaking about the sprit inside. We see how the Soul triumphs over hate and fear.

Show Notes

Recommended Reading: The Mirror of Simple Souls (paperback) by Marguerite Porete… 

Free online copy (scanned copy of the 1924 edition).. 

QUOTES:

"The soul, an eternal spirit, is beyond time's hold:                                                                                                    Even in this world it is in eternity's fold" - Angelus Silesius 

"I am God, says Love, for Love is God and God is Love, and this Soul is God by the condition of Love. I am God by divine nature and this Soul is God by righteousness of Love." -Marguerite Porete

"God is born in us as soon as all our soul-powers, which hitherto have been tied and bound, are absolutely free and when the mind is still and sense troubles us no longer." - Meister Eckhart

 “A day of Silence
 Can be a pilgrimage in itself.
 A day of Silence
 Can help you listen
 To the Soul play
 Its marvelous lute and drum.”– Hafiz

"Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you."- Hafiz

"I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being."  -Hafiz

"The vengeful God of wrath and punishment is a mere fairytale.” - Angelus Silesius

"Even before I was me, I was God in God; And I can be once again, as soon as I am dead to myself." -Angelus Silesius

People:

Meister Eckhart - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meister_Eckhart

Marguerite Porete - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Porete

Angelus Silesius - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Silesius

Hafiz - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafez

 Historical References:

List of people burned as Heretics: Wikipedia 

List of People killed in the Papal States: Wikipedia 

(Note, there is some overlap of names from those on the list burned as heretics) 

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In this episode we see the end of an old religion and the rise of a new one -and see how the belief in The Soul continues across the divide. We're see dark clouds rise on the horizon, as the Catholic Church claims ownership of The Soul.

Show Notes 

Recommended Reading: The Bhagavad Gita 

Phaedo (aka On The Soul) -Plato

Quotes:

"Socrates could not prove that the soul was immortal. He

merely said: This matter occupies me so much that I will

order my life as though immortality were a fact - should it

prove to be wrong, eh bien, then I won't regret my choice." -Soren Kierkegaard

"I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, that the living spring from the dead, and that the souls of the dead are in existence."  - Socrates

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

"The soul of man is immortal and imperishable." -Plato

"And indeed, the Soul reasons best when none of these senses troubles it, neither hearing nor sight, nor pain nor pleasure, but when it is most by itself, taking leave of the body and as far as possible having no contact or association with it in its search for reality." -Plato

“For when a man is self-controlled, his will is the Atman’s friend. But the will of the uncontrolled man is hostile to the Atman, like an enemy.” - The Bhagavad Gita

"All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am 

I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, 

I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there. Who looks out with my eyes? 

What is the soul? I cannot stop asking. If I could taste one sip of an 

answer, I could break out of this prison for drunks. I didn’t come here of my own 

accord, and I can’t leave that way. Whoever brought me here, 

will have to take me home." -Rumi

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?” – Rumi

"There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life. There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine. O traveler, if you are in search of that, don’t look outside, look inside yourself and seek that." – Rumi

"Sit quietly and listen for a voice that will say, “Be more silent.” As that happens, your Soul starts to revive." – Rumi

“The ego is a veil between humans and God.” – Rumi

Definitions: 

·         In Sufism, the word rūḥ references a person's immortal, essential self.

·         Phaedo is one of Plato’s writings. (Also known as On the Soul) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedo

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Thousands of years before modern religions were born, people around the globe understood that when we sit quietly we can connect with the spirit inside. What can we learn from these ancient humans?

Show Notes:
Correction – In this episode I said the Lothagam North Pillar Site is located in West Africa. It is not. It is located in Kenya, East Africa. 

Lothagam North Pillar Site 

Souls of the Sheepeater Shoshone- 
The suap  is the “ego-soul”.  
The navushieip or “free-soul” 
The mugua or “body-soul”  

Quotes:

“I am accused of mysticism. I do not, however, hold myself responsible for the fact that man has, everywhere and always, spontaneously developed religious forms of expression, and that the human psyche from time immemorial has been shot through with religious feelings and ideas. Whoever cannot see this aspect of the human psyche is blind, and whoever chooses to explain it away, or to "enlighten" it away, has no sense of reality.”

― Carl Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

“You can’t get wet from the word water.” – Alan Watts

“This “Oneness” is not much brighter in the sky, as It is not much dimmer on earth. It is not more glorious in a saint as It is not more fainter in an ordinary person. It is everlasting and cannot be named.” – From the 14th Verse of The Tao Te Ching, 

"Once you label me, you negate me." - Soren Kierkegaard

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Centuries before the religions we know today, people on all continents were talking about the soul inside all of us.  What can we learn from these early people? 

Show Notes:

The Sumerians had a word for the Soul -  “Zi”  (which is pronounced “Shi”) 

Egyptian for Soul  “Ka” 𓂓

Sanskrit for Soul  Pūruṣha  पुरुष

Tamil language for Soul…   āṉmā  (ஆன்மா) or ātma (when used as a noun)

Quotes:

"Happiness is a quality of The Soul...not a function of one's material circumstances." - Aristotle 

"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy." -Rumi

"When you lose yourself, you find the key to paradise." – From the song Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band

“He who sees all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings, he never suffers; because when he sees all creatures within his true Self, then jealousy, grief and hatred vanish.” – The Upanishads

Recommended Reading: The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition                                                          

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More than 6,000 years before Stonehenge we were writing about the soul. Before Saber Tooth Tigers and Woolly Mammoth had gone extinct people were already seeing ourselves as immoral. 

Show Notes:

Göbeklitepe (link to more information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe )

The Vulture Stone (image and article)  https://www.ancient-origins.net/editorials/vulture-stone-gobekli-tepe-world-s-first-pictogram-004348 

Quotes:

"Because it is so unbelievable, the truth often escapes being known." – Heraclitus

“What we don't know is much more than what we know.” – Albert Einstein

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Evidence that Stone Age people believed in the soul. Today we start a journey into the history of the human relationship to the soul. You may be surprised how long we've known we are more than just the body. 

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What to expect from the show... 

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