Visualizing the Soul

When we can mentally visualize a concept, it becomes more tangible and easier to understand. It transforms abstract ideas into reality, making them accessible and comprehensible. Whether it’s understanding the mechanics of an engine or the strategy of a soccer game, visualizing it is almost essential. It serves as a gateway to a realm of possibilities that the idea opens up. However, one concept that is difficult to understand and therefore visualize is the soul.

One of the best ways to think of the soul is relating it to a flame,

🕯🕯 a flame within you 🕯🕯

A flame has several intriguing characteristics that can be related to the soul, both physical and spiritual:

Interestingly a flame is the only visible thing that defies gravity. Likewise, your soul can be transcendent within you. And just as a flame needs something physical to exist upon (like wood), the soul needs a body to be present in the world. There is a soul in everything- a music note has a physical look, however its soul is expressed when it’s played. A table has a physical body for which the table is used for, but it’s soul manifests as your appreciation and benefit from what the table gives you. The bodies can be erased or eroded though the soul will always live on. The body gives it physicality, the soul gives it purpose.

Firstly, “within” refers to a higher realm or another dimension that is intricately connected to our universe. Just like the idea of radio waves or infrared would seem like witchcraft in the not so distant past, this concept may seem obscure. It is not a frequency that resides in this world, rather this world resides in it. Even the slightest action, word or thought can have a massive impact on the inner world. This concept has been referred to in various cultures as the spirit world or heaven, although these words may not be the best to describe it due to perceived connotations.

Secondly, there are multiple characteristics to a flame, with each different aspect relating to a comparable one in the soul. Take a campfire for example; the first of the characteristics that can be noted is the simple awe of the fire itself. Everyone, sitting around the crackling flame, just watching it, enamored with its existence, almost as if in a trance. Staring into someone’s eyes can be just as if not more engaging than that campfire. You feel the intensity, staring straight into their soul, and that you’re really connecting with that individual- this is even possible with animals. Sometimes it can be so bright or intense you can’t even hold it for long.

The second characteristic is the size of the flame, and this can represent the size of one’s spiritual energy level. The bigger that campfire is, the more people are drawn to it and warmed by it. The same is true with people, the biggest influencers of our time all have personalities that others are drawn to, and this is because they feed their own “inner flame”. A person who goes out for a run because they enjoy it will be able to get others to come along with them, but a person who drags themselves to do so will have a hard time motivating anyone else. When you have a consistent flame that resonates with you and your environment, the flame will become brighter and more intense. This gives you more spiritual energy and allows you to have a more powerful impact on people.

And lastly, there is the color of a flame. In science class, you might have seen your chemistry teacher show you how adding different elements to the flame can change it from an orange and blue to a green or maybe even a pink flame. This process happens all throughout one’s life as well; we all start with a pure and untainted flame as a child but life adds things to us that changes how we shine. A negative environment can cause a once colorful flame to gradually adopt dull colors, while being around positive people or environments can add color to one’s flame. It is crucial to be aware of these changes and watch your flame, just as you would take care of your physical body.

Once you can feel your soul in yourself, or even at least visualise it like this, you can begin to connect more spiritually to experience as opposed to merely physically, with your five senses. You can feel what brings you energy and what drains it. You can see who or what’s being a positive or negative impact on you and changing your colour. You can feel the energy level in yourself, the size of your flame, as it grows and shrinks. And you can connect to others in more of a deeper way than with just your body. You’re also a soul and it’s important to remember that.

Someone that always looks outside themselves defines themselves as the body and thinks ‘what they do is who they are’. Another who looks within first, shows who they are through what they’re doing.
At the end of it all, for you to increase your flame is a simple process. It starts with first recognizing your soul and its inherent power to positively affect yourself and others. And once you begin living life with this awareness, the growth and use of that power comes quite naturally. You see, many people believe that it is from giving to yourself that helps build and strengthen you, but in reality it’s the opposite- by giving to others, you not only help them, but you also grow your own ability to then give back to yourself and receive from others. It is that process of giving and receiving that helps build the flame in all of us- just as when one flame is used to light something else and it does not diminish from the original flame, so when we give to others, we only end up increasing their flame without taking away from ourselves at all.

This is a subjective concept, and everyone may have their own personal representation of how it looks. Nonetheless, it is a powerful idea that can help us connect to the truth of the soul and others.