Words have many different meanings and connotations. So let me try to give the meaning of the word ‘soul’ as I use it. In life on earth we have a clear consciousness of the being of our body – as long as we are not asleep. Even if I never have philosophical reflections, I know about my being as a living body. If I really have nothing other than this knowing, I will have to fear the death of my beloved body – because it will mean the end of me. It remains an unsolved riddle, however, as to where my conscious knowing comes from, and when I go asking science this question, I do not get clear answers. I myself once had a discussion on a platform with a professor at university, who stated that human consciousness is no different from the ‘consciousness’ of a computer, of a robot. In this picture, a human being becomes merely a smart body with smart brains. Technicians try to ‘read’ this smartness and copy it as perfectly as possible – and it is only a matter of time, before they achieve this ‘perfect state’. In this concept of the human being, there is no place for a soul, she doesn’t make sense at all.

My view on the soul is more vast, and is not confined to the existence of the body. I call the soul a ‘she’, not because she is a woman visible with physical eyes, but because she has all the aspects of a feminine being, but without a body. Over here, high above her, there is another being – we could call it a ‘him’ – he is the spirit that rules. He could never incarnate in a human being, if she were not there to mediate between the spiritual worlds and the physical world. Her head, the top of her being reaches into the world of the stars, where she can think all the wisdom of the worlds… Her feet stand firmly on the earth, where she can act for better and for worse. In between, about the region of the sun, she feels, she has her sympathies and antipathies… Her gift is consciousness of all there is, all that can be felt, all that can be thought.

But within her, the faculties of evil are also present. She has to keep the balance, but she can also decide that she doesn’t want do so. She can give in to temptation, to forget her earthly duties and strive for a ‘better world’ where there are no hard things to conquer, where everything is good – but where there can be no further development, where she will have to stay exactly as she is now… On the other hand she can forget heaven, forget herself as a soul-being, and try to become as ‘earthy’ as possible.

All the wisdom and love a human being needs can be found in her, but also all idleness and stupidity. There must be another entitywithin the human being that can choose the one or the other –a power that has some freedom to do so, to understand her, the beautiful soul, and to determine which direction she should take: the way too high up, the way too far down – or the balanced way.

Lady (Mother) Holle and Golden Mary (Anton Pieck)The soul by Mieke Mosmuller