Soul Making

Call the world, if you please, ”The Vale of Soul Making” Then you will find out the use of the world.

John Keats Cited in Mystical Hours

Brother Wayne gives us some valuable background on Keats

And what this statement on life can mean for us in these words:

“[Keats like Thoreau, made a religion of nature. The world of human community and the world of nature surrounding it, nurtures, sustains and inspires us aesthetically and spiritually. 

The world in both senses is a place of formation and education for the soul. The world around us is our teacher, the environment of our growth into mature human and spiritual beings. In this education, the worlds of humanity and wildness converge….

We are all in the process of soul making.”

Looking back over Keats’ quote, it was a more definitive way to state the purpose of our lives.

In my first years out of seminary, I was given readings that included the pioneering Christian Unitarian, A. Powell Davies, who said a similar thing in these words:”Life is a chance to grow a soul.”

A more cautious approach to be sure- less poetic, still true, but reflective of the age and times when a more a rational and seemingly scientific skepticism had begun to take hold of our society; and as a consequence, we had begun to drain poetry of its inspirational potency to inspire us; To act as a catalyst towards creating and sustaining a more noble and worthwhile purpose that I believe Keats had in mind…

If only such a poetic ecology were taught more widely! If it were more than a quick Sunday School lesson on the purpose of life in nature. If only it were taught as a source of soul making by mentioning how a reverent intimacy and a knowing cooperation with nature assists humankind in identifying life affirming values. 

And if we must interject science, let us be sure it is science that has within it a poetic and soulful conscience;  Lesson(s) on how our stewardship of the environment can teach us to grow a soul, and to become more ethical and responsible to the whole soul making process…