Soul StorieS
What is a Soul Story?
We know Soul when we see or feel it. “Wow, what a good, true, beautiful or happy Soul!” or “Gosh, what a sad, miserable, dark or bitter Soul.” If we told our ‘knowing’ to others, they’d ‘get it.’ Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung wrote: ‘to be able to recognize or identify something immediately” and “The meeting of two personalities [or souls[ is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
What types of stories should you submit?
Soulful stories bring people together; they heighten and expand our sense of wonder, and gratitude for and enjoyment of being live. They can deepen and broader our ideas about the eternal values of beauty, truth, holiness/wholeness and goodness. They often change us, sometimes significantly. Here are some possibilities to nudge your memory and get you going.
SoulStories in words (two hundred words or less):
Narratives should tell an essential SoulStory about a person, place or thing. Write about yourself; a loved one/friend, ‘soulbuddy/mate or animal; a religious/spiritual, supernatural, miraculous, or dream experience; or a place or setting that ‘wowed’ you.
Poetry and Prose with author’s credit if applicable. Share why these words were significant to you and how your thoughts, emotions and/or actions changed.
Quotes (under 100 words with author’s credit if applicable) Share why these words were important to you and how your thoughts, emotions and/or actions changed.
SoulStories in images, i.e. video, audio (two minutes or less)
Video or visual material should be edited so it tells the essential SoulStory about a person(s), place or thing. See above ideas about person, place, or thing via image (play, painting, photo, cinema, dance, TV) or audio (music, spoken word), add why it’s Soul-Full to you.
Quotes About Soul Stories
*Lao Tsu, Chinese philosopher: “Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, can you avoid separation? Can you let your body become as supple as a newborn child's? In the opening and shutting of heaven's gate, can you play the feminine part? Can you love your people and govern your domainwithout self-importance? Giving birth and nourishing; having, yet not possessing; working, yet not taking credit; leading without controlling or dominating. One who heeds this power brings the Tao to this very earth. This is the primal virtue.”
*Irish playwright Oscar Wilde wrote: “Nothing can cure the soul but the senses just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.”
*German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art and knowledge.”