How Old is Your Soul?

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Sometimes I wonder...how old is a soul? I mean the idea of a soul is ambiguous enough but then its age? Now that's an entirely different question. Does a soul gain age through experience, trials, love, sorrow, or the passage of time? Or perhaps it is something that encapsulates it all...perhaps the soul exists in time as a measurement of our "Reachings." Reaching for something more, a connection with the divine, or even just touching another soul.

It is not hard to believe that the heart is unique in its capacity to love without regard, expand past known limits, break inextricably, and wither under the neglect of rotted emotion. But what is left unexplained and truly amazing is that each capacity whether to our joy or pain adds to our soul.

It is not hard to remember the common phrase said by Leonardo da Vinci, "The eyes are windows to the soul." They light with each excitement, fall with each rejection, and tear when we cannot contain the expression of our deepest feeling.

In Shakespeare's day, love was believed to be much more than it is thought of today. Or perhaps the cliches were simply reality back then. It was thought that the human soul literally gave off particles of being, which were taken in through one's eyes and stored in the heart, creating love. Love was touching, knowing, and containing another soul in your own. I do not assert that the soul is defined by only love or the lack thereof. But love goes by other names, "human connection," "emotional risk," "unshakable trust," and "unconditional perseverance."

George Eliot said, "Blessed is the influence of one true loving human soul on another." And it's true, the soul grows by being given. It may be misused or adored, casually tossed aside or treasured, but it only gains age by being given. Much like our heart, we can close off our potential, shielding us from pain and ensuring that no one will ever reach us. But we can also risk the pain and find the worth in every other soul regardless of how we are affected, gaining a year or two for every soul we take into our own.

How old is your soul? What a curious question...but it seems to me that your answer makes all the difference.

I Won't Give Up (Jason Mraz)

When I look into your eyes

It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
There's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No: I won't give up

-Natalie Cherie