identifying with the soul

[Mysterie]

Spiritual practices help us move
from identifying with the ego
to identifying with the soul.
Old age does that for you too.
It spiritualizes people naturally.
Ram Dass

so, ive been listening to a guy (wayne wirs) on youtube and had a strong resonance with some of his frameworks of spirituality and meditation. im not sure if he covers the soul thing in this particular video, but i found his perspective to be very fresh.

he talks about how something that helped for him to create some space with his identification with his self was reading books on near death/after life experiences, before birth, tibetan book of the dead, life between lives (soul realm). because the soul is something that is immortal, it can ease some of the mortal fears that come up with attachment to this body and mind. fears of death, self preservation etc.

i think i am articulating this pretty poorly but i am now curious if anyone has tried to soften the idea of what or who they are, into the being of a soul.

intuitively this step makes complete sense to me. although beyond reading some of the books he recommended, i'm not sure what to do really.

 

[Foreigner]

"Spirituality", to me, is anything that awakens you. I make no claims about the soul or its destination like religions do. I feel that even the Tibetans, for all their revered mysticism, are just a tad fanatical when they expect you to be in control of the situation even as you're dying. Since nobody has come back to tell the tale, we have no idea if the bardo even happens.

My suspicion is that the only appreciable difference between life and death is ego. It's the difference between a rock and a human being. Both are empty but only one thinks it's a living individual. Unless you believe in animism, then nevermind.

 

[Mysterie]

yes i suppose that any convictions of past-life experiences or reincarnation and bardo is all based on beliefs or experiences.

people who are waking up do seem to compare the experience to a subtle death, letting go of the story is a form of death. i heard an analogy today of a person being chased by a tiger and they hold on the end of a branch over the edge of a cliff. the tiger is pacing above the precipice waiting for its prey and the person asks god "what do i do?" and god replies "just let go", the person then asks "is there anyone else out there" :d

i find the practice of self inquiry to be interesting though, to notice that everything the mind tries to identify as, is not who we are. i don't fully understand it though. i'm at the point where if i'm meditating regularly then i feel okay in my skin and when i'm not i blame everything going wrong because i am not meditating enough. its hard to accept everything thats happening in this moment as being 'it'.

 

[Munchkoala]

What qualifies as spiritual? Where does one draw the line between what is spiritual and what is just merely an experience of life?

 

[herbavore]

What qualifies as spiritual? Where does one draw the line between what is spiritual and what is just merely an experience of life?

To me there is no line, especially if you take out the word 'merely'. Ram Dass is only a bit older than me and my experience, as well as that of observing my peers, resonates with what he said about age. I think as your own little dance with your ego is naturally coming to the end of the song, something else in you begins to arise. If you are lucky it is gratitude for the experience of life. For me that is spirituality. I feel my spirit. I know of its presence and existence. It is not confined to either my body or my 'self'. I've been locked in ego's strong, familiar embrace for so long that the rest of the ballroom disappeared. Now it could be a leaf that draws me into ecstasy, it could be water slipping over a rock, human created music or just a baby's lopsided drooly grin at a stranger. The appreciation for life, not as it relates to you, but as it exists outside of you becomes "mind-blowing".