Belief Compost and the Inviolate Nature of Your Soul
Despite thousands of years of spiritual teachings and evidence that affirms the eternal nature of the soul, a large body of people continue to believe that matter forms consciousness. I myself was one of them, and at times still notice some internal conflict surrounding this idea. Despite having studied metaphysics for over 20 years, I still continue to experience periodic crises of belief where the existential fear that comes from materialism (consciousness arises as a result of matter) dominates my vision and fight or flight goes into full effect.
These recurrent crises and their persistent nature recently caused me to question the nature of beliefs. If I’ve gathered so much evidence in regards to the inviolate nature of the soul, then why might these crises of belief still occur? From this question, the idea of belief compost was born, a process where one can take old ideas, beliefs, and energies that may have once served them but no longer do and turn those beliefs into compost — not to be annihilated but to be transformed into something new and useful.
The idea of an eternal and inviolate soul is nothing new. It has been a mainstay belief for just about all cultures with the exception of our modern age. It persists in our modern religions, but in my opinion, the idea lives there in a somewhat limited or even distorted fashion. As a teenager I recognized these distortions which caused me to reject mainstream religion and turn towards science for the answers. I pivoted and travelled head first into scientific materialism. You can trust me when I say, I thought science had ALL the answers.
My exploration in regards to consciousness arising from matter formed my dominant worldview from my teens until my early twenties. This worldview was disturbed significantly when an almost unbelievable synchronicity laid itself on my metaphorical lap. Although the details of the synchronicity are a tale for another time, encased in the synchronicities message was the first description of the depth and complexity of soul that made any sense to me. It felt like I found my philosophical holy grail — Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Discovering this book was a key pivot point in my own personal spiritual transformation. Many years after my discovery it coninutes to hold up a light to assist in transforming my life as a physician into that of the metaphysician. I’m not the first that was touched by this incredible tome. The cover includes endorsements from metaphysical giants like Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson — each crediting Seth Speaks and the work of Jane Roberts as a key step in their own spiritual journey. The basic premise is that each human is the reflection of an eternal and immortal soul that is not static but ever changing. Wait a minute! Both immortal but also changing? It’s quite paradoxical and zen-like. My head still hurts thinking about how a soul could simultaneously be immortal but also changing. I guess God must have thought we need something to scratch our head about to keep us busy if our soul is indeed inviolate and eternal. I don’t pretend to fully understand this myself but somewhere beyond the limitations of my rational mind the ideas of immortality and constant change exist simultaneously and in harmony just like yin and yang.
So where does this idea of an eternal and inviolate soul intersect with beliefs? Although this understanding of soul has become a cornerstone of my life, its existence and mechanisms go in the face of a materialistic worldview. But why, if I have been moving toward holistic mind body medicine that embraces our whole being, do the limitations of scientific materialism still cause my faith in my inviolate soul to waver? The answer lies in the nature of beliefs, how we acquire them, and why we resist changing them.
Beliefs are acquired in our childhood. And according to Seth and other sources we also have certain established beliefs prior to birth and after death that influence our development. In healthy times, we acquire these beliefs in childhood to fit into our family systems and then as we age and mature these beliefs fall like the leaves dropped by an autumn tree. These no longer needed beliefs are transformed into a psychological compost. This process forms the necessary materials to nourish and grow a new set of beliefs and eventually this forms an entirely new experience.
The process of letting go of old beliefs and allowing them to form your own psychological compost is difficult in our day and age. There are strong forces at play that encourage us to keep things the same and not rock the boat. In fact, these may be some of the very same beliefs you developed and absorbed in childhood to keep you safe within the family system. Later in life, these ideas act to keep you trapped in place. I know for me I held onto my materialistic beliefs far past their expiration date.
At first, shedding the old beliefs and starting your container for your belief compost can be hard. If you spent decades trying to keep old and outworn beliefs the same, there may be considerable traumas and pent up emotions attached to them that may rise to the surface during the process. What would happen to a tree that never shed the dead leaves it no longer needed? It would eventually kill the tree. With practice you can begin to recognize your own internal cycles and flow with them. These cycles occur within your inner space just like we see the changes of the seasons. Once mastered, the process of letting go of old beliefs and establishing new ones will rejuvenate your being rather than exhaust you. You might even find that you revel in some of the pain and discomfort of the process knowing that spring is right around the corner and something beautiful is stirring and growing in you.
One way to encourage the shedding of these beliefs is to put yourself into a light meditative and hypnagogic state. Imagine a tree whose leaves are turning orange, yellow, and red and about to drop. What beliefs or ideas are you ready to let go of? What are these leaves in your life? Shame? Self-judgment? Self-betrayal? In your mind, let the energy of those beliefs drift into the aging leaves and watch them fall to the ground. These leaves are not annihilated but become part of the earth and soul. They nourish the development of new life. As you engage the imagery, notice any feeling tones and emotions that arise, these will connect you to your inner cycles of renewal. Allow any other images connected to the cycle to arise naturally. Write down the experience once you are finished.
My intermittent losses of faith in the inviolate nature of my soul remind me that learning to recognize my own cycles is a process. At least in western culture, honoring our soul’s inner cycles and processes is not something that is widely taught, so I find it helps to give myself some grace and not beat myself up when I lose touch with my soul and head down the disconnection spiral. It is that grace I allow myself that reconnects me to soul.
It is by reestablishing connection with your soul and divine nature that leads back to wholeness. Most recently when I had a crisis of faith, I asked my own inviolate soul to help me establish a greater consistency in maintaining and embodying the idea. Good golly, did synchronicity deliver. I follow the Dr. Wayne Dyer radio show podcast on spotify. The next day, after requesting assistance from my own inviolate soul to assist in building awareness of my connection to it, I pulled up the podcast and the show spent a great deal of time touching on the nature of the identity and of the inviolate soul. What are the odds? Ask and though shalt receive.
If you ever find yourself losing faith or getting lost in the darkness of life that occurs when connection to soul and spirit seems lost, then know that you are not alone. We live in a time where this idea is openly scoffed at or misunderstood and so many people are striving and struggling to connect with their inviolate soul. Try letting go of those beliefs holding you back like the autumn trees drop their leaves. Watch them form the belief compost that will nourish the next phase of your life. Let them go, listen inward, and let your own inviolate ever changing soul whisper its secrets to you.
