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The Concept of a Soul is Found Across all Cultures
07/08/2022
The Rose Window at York Minster
The concept of a human being having a soul is not restricted to the Christian concept of having a spirit or the inner man but can be found throughout all cultures. The Italian poet Dante Aligheri writes of his guide Virgil as he descends into hell, explores the fires of purgatory and then eventually rises to paradise where he first encounters his beautiful guide Beatrice. Lastly the kindly St Bernard prays to the Virgin Mary as Dante sees the mysterious rose, a vision of the Divine which is beyond human understanding.
In Sufism, the famous poet and mystic Rumi wrote:
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing
,there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other"
doesn't make any sense.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep."
In Buddhist and Hindu Cosmology, the Vedic deva Indra has an infinitely large net of cords which hands over his palace on Mount Meru showing interconnectedness. Mandalas are common artistic drawings showing circular patterns and are found in eastern religions.
The Hebrew word Kabbalah refers to the study of the fundamental laws that support all existence and non-existence.
The Sunsum, Adinkra Symbol of the Soul, Ghana