In the Shakespearean play, Macbeth, the protagonist is led astray when three witches prophesy power and influence in his future—a power Macbeth yearns for so deeply he is willing even to kill for it. Throw the promptings of his evil wife into the equation and now there is nothing standing between Macbeth and the throne, not even his moral integrity.
But it is because Macbeth's soul was weak that he was so easily deceived. Even though Macbeth's spirit spurned him, he had so neglected his soul that there was nothing with which to fight against the burning ambition for prominence that welled up within him. There was nothing to offset his crooning wife's duplicitous whispers, and her rebukes when he showed any signs of hesitation.
Macbeth was weak and so he murdered, he lied, he cheated. Seduced by the powers of evil in his world the once mighty Macbeth was slain a despised shell of the respected warrior he had been.
Necessary nourishment
And isn't that a risk we all run into the moment we deny our souls the room, the attention and the nourishment necessary? Make no mistake about it. The universality of Shakespeare's themes lie in the fact that each person, you and me, are just as vulnerable to the lies of the enemy as his characters who come unstuck.
We are just as vulnerable if we do not pay our souls attention, fostering them and building them up for we are at the same time building up a resistance to the enemy's taunts that we are nothing, unqualified and unnecessary entities. Our spirits yell, wisdom indeed shouts, but the voice is drowned out if we let our souls grow without attention; weeds instead of the intended roses.
Jacob and Esau
It is what happened in the story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 27), when Jacob's mother urged him to deceive his father in claiming for himself a blessing not rightfully his. Without his soul in check Jacob carries out his deceitful mother's instructions to the letter, deceiving his father and robbing his brother.
His Macbethian act rewarded by years on the run, hiding, deceiving and working his fingers to the bone all because he had neglected to care for his soul. Notice until the moment Jacob meets God face to face, his soul is uncultivated.
Whilst ever the enemy can gain a foothold in our lives, he will hang there. That voice of deceit telling us to climb over everybody else to get what rightfully belongs to us, a sombre dissatisfaction with the present reality, with what's in our very hands—this is what a neglected soul looks like. Like Jacob and Macbeth, you and I are at the mercy of our souls, lest we tame them and put them at the mercy of our spirits.
Mind, soul, body, spirit.
What are these things?
I have often heard spirit and soul talked about interchangeably, but they are worlds apart. Our spirit reflects our creator and shows who and whose we are.
But it is the soul which is more aptly aligned with our emotions, and it determines how we feel. These entities inform each other greatly but if we are to be holistically healthy we ought to pay our souls good attention, both in conjunction with our spirits and our bodies and also separately.
If you feel sad, perhaps your spirit is deflated, but perhaps your soul is tired or uninspired, craving that attention an afternoon surf or tennis with a friend might bring.
The practice of nurturing
Lately I've put into practice the nurturing of my whole being. I've kept church a constant, meditating on God's word and even listened to a few podcasts, but I'm not painting with broad brushstrokes, believing that those things—as spiritually good as they are—will keep my whole being in check. They simply will not. Rather, I have incorporated this with an evening swim at the beach, the walk along the cliffs on a Saturday morning with my wife and that night in together.
These things are good for my soul. They make me feel blessed and content with my life.
When the soul is pumped up—and the spirit—ain't no crown of jewels shiny enough to lead me astray.
I'm good right where I am.
David Luschwitz constructed a cabinet during the school holidays he was so chuffed with; he pulled up a chair and a beer and sat looking at it for over an hour. It is a pretty neat cabinet.
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