The Soul principal in man is described in many texts and traditions as the highest body or part of us. Sometimes we have glimpses of the Soul's true quality in times of illumination and growth; often these come unexpected and leave in exactly the same way. But there is a way to grow towards a more integrated Personality/Soul integration through Wisdom and practice. However if we are to understand and develop these Soul qualities then we must first understand the Personality both in terms of how it effects us now and how we can "transfer" or "transcend" the personality traits into higher Soul principles. At this stage a good understanding of the subtle bodies of man and the inner planes would help and if you haven't already done so please read our section on this here
In that text we learnt that there is -according to Esoteric and Ancient Wisdom Teaching - a definite process of incarnation that involves bringing past Personality and Soul qualities through to existence once more. This past energy is often referred to as "Samaskara's" in the oldest Vedic texts. So generally in each incarnation this is what we have to work with firstly, the sum total of all our past actions that have made us what we are, an evolving Soul that has now chosen once more a physical existence. From birth we are also developing new processes, physically, mentally and spiritually, often picking up baggage along the way from our parents and peers. So the evolving Soul not only has to deal with past Karma or personality traits but also added traits from this life. We are born with two basic fears, loud noises and being dropped, that's it no more than this, all others are acquired. In most cases of Spiritual evolvement these acquired traits are dealt with first before any Soul development can take place and often manifest themselves in trauma or some sort of "life crises". This is the Souls mark pushing it's counterpart to grow and develop, this is probably why many self development programs talk about the "no pain no gain" principle largely along the line of belief that we only grow through advercity. This is not always the case as some Souls have what can only be described as massive Spiritual experiences that seem to almost wash away the seeds of this past Karma. If you are in this category you are perhaps one of the lucky ones, but here we will deal with the full process of Personality/Soul integration and assume that you are slowly trudging the path of return.
The immediate or acquired imprints that we just described that include all manner of fears, guilt’s and anxieties produce deeper trauma in our subconscious that manifest in all manner of actions and personality traits. The Soul is hidden and masked by layers of psychological build up where the personality has protected itself and made full use of the subconscious aspect of self. Dealing with the Lower Self or Shadow as it is sometimes called in Esoteric Teachings can take years of digging and therapy certainly in terms of traditional psychotherapy. But the Esoteric way of integration is often faster and safer for the seeker mainly because it is a process that is being guided from the Soul from the very start. This isn't to say that we do not use some traditional methods of dealing with the personality, we can and do, but generally there is a higher aspect at work here, an almost Alchemical / Magical process bringing the lower aspect ever closer to the higher aspect. This is why it is important to invite the Soul to do its work within us from. Many consider prayer and meditation an excellent way of getting in touch with this higher principle within us, others consider ritual the best way. From the Esoteric viewpoint meditation is considered the best way as it opens up higher levels of consciencousness that facilitates Soul growth, we will talk at length in other teachings about meditation.
In the first section of this teaching we will look at how we identify and deal with present Karma and acquired personality traits while looking at how the Soul can help to heal and integrate
Paul The Seer Dec 07