What Is the Soul? Reclaiming the Sacred Essence of Being Human

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Introduction: The Forgotten Word in the Modern World

What is the soul?

It’s a word we hear often—whispered in poetry, echoed in sacred texts, hinted at in therapy sessions, and sung about in music. And yet, in our modern, fast-paced, and rational world, “soul” has become somewhat of a forgotten language—intuitive, powerful, but largely misunderstood or neglected.

The soul is not something that can be measured, diagnosed, or fixed. It does not fit within the frameworks of productivity or pathology. Instead, it invites us into mystery, depth, and sacredness. It calls us down and in—not up and out. The soul does not ask us to become better versions of ourselves, but truer ones.

In this article, we will explore the soul as it relates to being human—drawing from depth psychology, mythology, shamanic wisdom, and the teachings of Bill Plotkin and Thomas Moore. We’ll journey beyond the surface of personality and ego, into the terrain of essence, longing, and purpose.

1. Defining Soul: Beyond the Ego, Deeper Than the Mind

1.1. Soul Is Not the Same as Spirit

In many spiritual circles, the words soul and spirit are used interchangeably, but they point to two very different directions. Spirit is often described as the upward movement—toward light, transcendence, unity, and freedom. Soul, on the other hand, is a descent—into darkness, depth, uniqueness, and embodiment.

Bill Plotkin, eco-psychologist and author of Soulcraft and Nature and the Human Soul, writes:

“The soul is a person’s unique purpose or identity, a mystery seeded within each of us and waiting to be embodied.”

While spirit seeks the heavens, soul roots us in the world—calling us into intimate relationship with the Earth, our emotions, our wounds, and our deepest callings.

1.2. Soul as Innate Blueprint

The soul can be understood as our inner blueprint—a sacred code that holds the unique myth we are here to live. It’s not about what we do for work, or how we perform in society. It’s who we are at the core, beneath our roles, titles, and conditioning.

Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, invites us to see the soul as a poetic, imaginal, and mysterious presence in our lives. He writes:

“Soul is not a thing, but a quality or dimension of experiencing life and ourselves. It has to do with depth, value, relatedness, heart, and personal substance.”

Rather than being something to achieve, soul is something to remember, reveal, and return to.

2. The Soul’s Journey: Descent into Depth and Wholeness

2.1. The Underworld Path

Unlike many spiritual teachings that emphasize ascension or transcendence, the soul’s journey is often one of descent. This is the archetypal night sea journey—a plunge into the unknown, into grief, shadow, longing, and transformation.

In shamanic traditions, this descent is called the shamanic initiation or dark night of the soul. Illness, crisis, loss, or inner emptiness may initiate this process. These events strip away surface identities and push us toward what lies beneath.

“The soul doesn’t evolve upward; it dives downward into the depths of the psyche and the wild.” – Bill Plotkin

This descent is not a mistake—it is the necessary initiation to remember who we really are.

2.2. Soul and Suffering

The soul does not avoid suffering—it often reveals itself through it.

While the ego seeks comfort and certainty, the soul is drawn to meaning and authenticity. Many of our emotional and existential struggles arise not because we are broken, but because our soul is longing to be seen and lived. Depression, anxiety, or burnout can often be signs that we are living a life disconnected from our essence.

Thomas Moore suggests that rather than trying to "fix" ourselves, we must learn to care for the soul. This means honoring our grief, befriending our shadows, and making space for mystery and imagination.

3. Soul-Centric Living: A Life Aligned with Depth

3.1. Bill Plotkin’s Soulcentric Wheel

Bill Plotkin’s model of the Soulcentric Developmental Wheel offers a powerful map for human maturation. Unlike the mainstream culture’s obsession with productivity and self-optimization, this wheel focuses on psychological and spiritual deepening.

The central aim? To become a soul-initiated adult—someone who has discovered their mythopoetic identity and lives in service to the greater web of life.

According to Plotkin, the soul is not a personal possession, but a role we are meant to fulfill in the larger story of Earth. Each soul carries a unique ecological niche—a sacred offering to the community of life.

“To embody soul is to discover what the world longs for through us.” – Bill Plotkin

3.2. Wildness, Mystery, and the Natural World

The soul speaks not in logic, but in symbols, dreams, and images. Nature, in particular, is a powerful mirror for the soul.

Many soul-centric practices—vision quests, wilderness solos, dreamwork, ceremony—invite us into direct relationship with the wild, both outer and inner. The natural world is not just scenery—it is a co-creative participant in our soul’s unfolding.

In shamanic traditions, plants, animals, elements, and ancestors are seen as allies in the soul's journey. The forest may whisper our true name. A hawk may deliver a message. A river may cleanse a forgotten pain.

To live soul-centrically is to remember that we are not separate from the Earth, but woven into her story.

4. Thomas Moore and the Art of Soulful Living

4.1. Soulfulness in the Everyday

Thomas Moore brings soul down from the mystical and mythical into the fabric of everyday life. In his work, soul is not only about purpose or transformation—it is about presence.

He encourages us to tend to our inner lives the way we would tend to a garden—with care, attention, and reverence. A soulful life is one that values slowness, beauty, ritual, and emotional depth.

“Care of the soul is not about fixing but about accompanying.” – Thomas Moore

This means giving equal value to joy and sorrow, ambition and failure, light and shadow. Soul thrives in paradox.

4.2. Embracing the Shadow

Moore emphasizes that to care for the soul, we must make space for all parts of ourselves. The soul is not purified by removing the dark, but by embracing it.

This echoes the shamanic principle of wholeness: healing comes not from perfection, but from integration. The wound may become the doorway. The breakdown may become the breakthrough.

Our so-called flaws—sensitivity, intensity, longing, anger—may be expressions of soul that are waiting to be dignified.

5. The Shamanic Perspective: Soul as Sacred Embodiment

5.1. Soul Loss and Retrieval

In shamanic traditions, it is understood that parts of the soul can fragment or “leave” during traumatic experiences. This is known as soul loss. It may manifest as a feeling of disconnection, numbness, chronic emptiness, or not fully being “in the body.”

The healing practice of soul retrieval involves ceremonially calling back those lost parts—restoring vitality, memory, and power.

This understanding reminds us that healing is not just about changing behavior, but recovering sacred parts of ourselves that had to go into hiding to survive.

5.2. The Body as Home of the Soul

Unlike some religious traditions that view the body as lesser or sinful, shamanic perspectives hold the body as the vessel of soul. Movement, breath, ritual, and sensuality are all pathways to soul connection.

To be soulful is to be embodied. To feel. To grieve. To dance. To belong.

Shamanic healing does not aim to transcend the world, but to deepen into it—honoring the Earth as a living, breathing expression of the divine.

6. Soul in Practice: How Do We Live a Soulful Life?

6.1. Soul Practices for Daily Life

• Dreamwork: Pay attention to your dreams. Write them down. Ask what they are revealing.

• Time in Nature: Go alone into wild spaces. Let the land speak to you.

• Creative Expression: Paint, write, sing, dance. Let your soul speak through art.

• Ritual: Create rituals that mark transitions, losses, and celebrations. Soul thrives on meaning.

• Inner Work: Dialogue with your parts, your wounds, your desires. Use modalities like depth psychotherapy, IFS, or shamanic journeying.

6.2. Questions to Explore Your Soul

• What breaks your heart in a way that also feels meaningful?

• What images or dreams return again and again?

• What longing have you carried since childhood?

• Where do you feel most alive, most yourself?

• If your soul had a voice, what would it say?

7. Conclusion: A Return to the Sacred Self

To ask “What is the soul?” is not to look for a tidy definition, but to enter into a lifelong conversation—a holy inquiry.

The soul is the sacred thread that weaves our individuality with the collective, our wounds with our gifts, our body with the Earth. It’s not something to be understood intellectually, but lived experientially.

As Thomas Moore reminds us, “When soul is neglected, it doesn’t just go away—it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning.”

To reclaim the soul is to remember what it means to be human.

Not perfect.

Not efficient.

But deep. Embodied. Whole. Connected.

So may we listen to the call of our soul. May we descend into its depths. And may we offer its song, fully and fearlessly, to the world.