NPM - Nobody Knows What the Soul Is

[This poem was read at church today.]

It comes and goes like the wind over water.

But just as we can name the functions of the wind, so we can name some of the
functions of the soul without presuming to penetrate its mystery.

The soul wants to keep us rooted in the ground of our own being, resisting the
tendency of other faculties, like the intellect and ego, to uproot us from who we are.

The soul wants to keep us connected to the community in which we find life, for it
understands that relationships are necessary if we are to thrive.

The soul wants to tell us the truth about ourselves, our world, and the relation
between the two, whether that truth is easy or hard to hear.

The soul wants to give us life and wants us to pass that gift along, to become lifegivers in a world that deals too much.

~Mary Oliver