WHAT IS SOUL MAKING?

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Put simply, a soul-making approach to life suggests that we come into this world not only as biological infants, but as psychological or spiritual embryos. Each of us enters this world as an unformed soul-seed that gradually evolves into a uniquely mature individual.

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Origen (c. 185–253 AD), the 3rd century AD Christian theologian suggested this idea can be found in the phrase in Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness.’ Origen said this implies a two-step creation process:

“The fact that the human was made ‘in the image of God’ means that s/he received the power of reason and freedom of will. But that s/he was made ‘in the likeness of God’ means that s/he was to become like God through the free will exercise of virtue [while living on the earth]. The raw image is given from the beginning; the completed likeness is attained in the end.” ~ Origen, On First Principles 3.6.1 (paraphrased from the surviving Latin)

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In other words, from the divine potential called the “image of God” emerges a completed human being called the “likeness of God”.

 

Origen notes that there are two different Hebrew words in Genesis 1:26—image (tzelem צלם) and likeness (demut דמות)—implying that creation of the soul has two distinct stages. Being made in God's image refers to the initial infantile condition of each human soul at birth. While being made into God’s likeness refers to the life-long process of becoming a mature completed soul. The two Hebrew words in Genesis—image and likeness—refer to a developmental process with a beginning, a middle and an end. Our individual souls are constructed between our birth and death on this earth.

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This is why the Apostle Paul speaks of two Adams as stages of development: “The first human Adam (in Eden) became a living being. Later the (resurrected Christ) became the completed Adam as a life-giving spirit. The spiritual Adam did not come first, but the natural Adam, and after that the spiritual Adam came into being” (I Cor. 15:45-46).

 

In this view, the entire biblical story is about the birth and development of each human soul.  This story is my story. I entered this world like the first Adam/Eve as the nascent image of God. Over the decades, through life experiences, I have matured into the completed or final Adam as the completed likeness of God. 

 

In this view, my soul does not come into this world completed, but arrives as an immature infant to become mature by living throughout this earthly soul-creating life.

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The poet John Keats, in 1819, put it like this: “Call the world if you Please ‘The vale of Soul-making,’ Then you will find out the use of the world… Do you not see how necessary a World of Pains and troubles is to school an Intelligence and make it a soul!”

 

The particular environment we enter at birth--including our gender, geography, parents, siblings, culture, talents, basic character and life circumstances--provides the curricula for crafting a unique personality. Every emotion--high and low--is part of our soul-making process. Every person we meet--friends, enemies, lovers, haters, etc.--are all teachers and fellow students in this school of soul-making. From our first to our last breath, whether awake or dreaming, every passing moment conspires to make each of us into a one of a kind soul. 

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Soul-making requires many varied and contradictory experiences, ranging from egoic selfishness, relational sacrifices, traumas as well as triumphs, and every imaginable and unimaginable experience. Incessant sensations of mystery mingled with a chronic sense of alienation are central to the process. One moment I might feel suicidal despair, and the next I may feel some blissful numinous presence surrounding me. My fickle thoughts might tell me that this earthly existence is meaningless and entirely random, or that the entire cosmic adventure is fraught with purpose, fate and destiny. Each of these experiences is normal and necessary--providing me with a litany of failures, successes, ecstasies and depressions. Each of us is assigned private fantasies, debilitating addictions, puzzling erotic desires, secret shames and quirky neuroses. One person may experience a life of wealth and ease, and another poverty and constant challenges. Most of us fall somewhere in between. These and many other experiences are all part of of the complex yet indescribable soul-making process.

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It is common to feel compelled by endless desires to find "something more". We are always seeking that special person, greater knowledge or that possession or experience that will ultimately satisfy--only to be let down once we find it. 

 

A soul-making life requires that we be taken apart and put back together many times. Just as a seed breaks apart in the soil, and puts roots down into the darkness in order for the the plant to rise into the light—so each human soul must disintegrate before it grows up and reintegrates. Traumatic experiences of both falling apart and coming together occur simultaneously throughout a lifetime. 

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Soul-making means that each of us feels compelled to do something and become "someone" while in this world. It is not unusual for us to harshly judge our past actions, attitudes and ways of being...but they are always instructive, moving us toward the next level of consciousness, preparing us to make different choices, to perform other deeds, or misdeeds.

 

It is not uncommon to feel like we are not alone--that we are being nudged by some invisible force, destiny or fate. Soul-making acknowledges and requires such unseen co-participants. Secularists call them genes, neurons, nurture, and natural affects, etc. Spiritual folks call them God, Gods, angels and other terms found in the world's religions and mythologies.

 

If this soul-making view of existence is true, then each of us, in every moment is being molded into a unique individual. In my view, soul is always being made--I am either aware or not aware of the process. Awareness increases conscious participation, and provides a profound sense of purposefulness--especially in the times of unimaginable suffering. In a letter to a Roman church, the Apostle Paul put it like this:

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"All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy." Romans 8:22-25, The Message Bible

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If you are curious about soul-making, you might enjoy reading a letter written by the poet, John Keats, in 1819. He was in his early twenties, dying of tuberculosis, and had a thought about why he had been born into this world of trauma and ecstasy. Click on this link: Keats Letter on Soulmaking

 

Click here a 12 miunute explanation of John Hick’s Soul-Making by Kerry Walters

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Click here to read John Hicks Theology of Soulmaking and the role of evil.